Hello! Café Pâtisserie

Welcome to Hello! Café! Today we have fresh cake hot from the oven.

Countdown to Spring! ~Ichi~

The vernal equinox is on March 20 this year, so let's have a countdown to spring!

Urara (うらら)
Nakazawa Yuko



A very sentimental song of spring time and Yuu-chan's penultimate single.

Sakurairo no Yakusoku (サクラ色の約束)
Melon Kinenbi



The theme here is casting off winter and donning spring.

Come back tomorrow for more spring time celebration.

Hello! Café Lunch Specials

Welcome to Hello! Café! Would you like to see our lunch specials?

Hello! Café Tea Break

Welcome back to Hello! Café! Have you come for a tea break?

A Covert Operation - Mission 5: Folked Up

By the end of 2001 Nakazawa Yuko had served her tenure in Morning Musume and established a solo career. In November of that year she teamed up with former second-gen musume Ichii Sayaka to release a folk music cover album, FOLK SONGS. The album turned into a five-part series with two concerts.

Mission 5: Folked Up

A Covert Operation - Mission 4: Singled Out

For five years Tsunku wrote nearly every single released by Hello! Project, but in late 2002 Goto Maki released the double A-side Sans Toi Ma Mie / Kimi to Itsumademo. "Sans Toi Ma Mie" was a cover of a Salvatore Adamo song that Tsunku had translated into Japanese. Two months later Morning Musume released a cover of "Hyokkori Hyoutanjima," the theme song of an old children's show of the same name. It was the first true Hello! Project cover single, and seven H!P acts have gone on to release cover singles as well.

Edit: A new discovery! Heike Michiyo's second single, "Sotsugyou ~TOP OF THE WORLD~" (卒業 〜TOP OF THE WORLD〜), is a cover of The Carpenters' 1973 hit single "Top of the World." Former Sharam Q member Makoto wrote the Japanese lyrics for Michiyo's version.

Mission 4: Singled Out

Namida no Taiyou: a cover for every decade

Lately I've been spending a lot of time reformatting the release pages for Melon Kinenbi over at wiki.JpopStop, and today I ran across an interesting tidbit that I was previously unaware of. Melon Kinenbi's twelfth single (Namida no Taiyou) is a cover. But it's not just a cover, it's song sort of ultimate debut song.



The song was originally released as Emy Jackson's debut single Namida no Taiyou (Crying in a Storm) back in 1965. It's in English and is a rockin' little track. It's credited to Emy Jackson to Smashmen, whoever the Smashmen are.


Eight years later Anzai Maria, who was a quarter European by birth, released her debut: Namida no Taiyou with Japanese lyrics! It's definitely got that '70s sound like early Pink Lady.


Tanaka Minako debuted in 1989, and guess what her first single was. Yep, a new version of Namida no Taiyou. This time we get both Japanese and English lyrics, and an '80s-tastic instrumental. Ah, the synths and the sound of breaking glass!


That same year Sandii & The Sunsetz released their own cover of Namida no Taiyou (with English lyrics) for a slim mentholated cigarette commericial. Fun fact: TV ads for cigarettes were outlawed in the U.S. in 1971 and in the U.K. in 1965 but are still legal in Japan.


After a 14-year lull the world saw the return of Namida no Taiyou on B'z guitarist Matsumoto Tak's cover album THE HIT PARADE with vocals by Aiuchi Rina. This version's got a hard guitar track and with a nice modern sound.


Of course 2004 brought the version we all know and love. Melon Kinenbi's twelfth single Namida no Taiyou. I believe this is their only cover released under Hello! Project aside from MEGA MELON's "GIVE ME UP."

Nearly every major group and soloist in Hello! Project has released at least one cover single. Don't believe me? Here's a list of H!P cover singles:

• Goto Maki - "San Toi Ma Mie" (originally by Salvatore Adamo)
• Matsuura Aya - "Watarasebashi" (originally by Moritaka Chisato)
• Morning Musume - "Hyokkori Hyoutanjima" (originally by Maekawa Yoko & Young Fresh), "Pepper Keibu" (originally by Pink Lady)
• Berryz Koubou - "Dschinghis Khan" (originally by Dschinghis Khan)
• °C-ute - "Shochuu Omimai Moushiagemasu" (originally by Candies)
• Abe Natsumi - "The Stress" (originally by Moritaka Chisato)
• Minimoni - "Rock 'n' Roll Kenchoushozaichi" (originally by Moritaka Chisato)
• v-u-den - "Nanni mo Iwazu ni I LOVE YOU" (originally by Morning Musume)
• W - "Koi no Vacance" (originally by The Peanuts) and "Koi no Fuga" (originally by The Peanuts)
• Melon Kinenbi - "Namida no Taiyou"
  

I wonder when Mano Erina's first cover single will come :D

Tracklist for Melon Kinenbi's "MELON'S NOT DEAD"

Melon Kinenbi's third album MELON'S NOT DEAD will be released on 2010.02.17, and the track list has been released on Melon Kinenbi's official site:

1. メロン記念日のテーマ (Rock Ver.) (Melon Kinenbi no Theme (Rock Ver.))
2. DON’T SAY GOOD-BYE / Melon Kinenbi x BEAT CRUSADERS
3. ピンチはチャンス　バカになろうぜ (Album Ver.) (Pinch wa Chance Baka ni Narouze (Album Ver.)) / Melon Kinenbi / NEW ROTE'KA
4. sweet suicide summer story / Melon Kinenbi x Midori
5. 青春・オン・ザ・ロード (Seishun-on-the-Road) / Melon Kinenbi x THE COLLECTORS
6. メロンティー (Melon Tea) / Melon Kinenbi x GOING UNDER GROUND
7. ロマンチックを突きぬけろ〜Break it now〜 (Romantic wo Tsukinukero ~Break it now~)
8. ALL AROUND ROCK
9. 愛だ！今すぐROCK ON！ (Ai da! Ima sugu ROCK ON!)
10. ALWAYS LOVE YOU / Melon Kinenbi x BEAT CRUSADERS

The album comes with a DVD that has music videos for each of the collaboration singles.

Well, this is certainly exciting news, huh? I've really enjoyed the collaboration singles this year ("Pinch wa Chance" was a personal favorite), and this album looks like it could turn out pretty well. If nothing else it's great to see some of the graduated elder club actually releasing some stuff as part of UFA.

Granted, there are only four really new songs as "Melon Kinenbi no Theme" was on their first album and performed at nearly all of their concerts and tracks 2 through 6 were released as singles (though I'm curious about this "album version" of "Pinch wa Chance"). However, the new songs sound promising! According to the blurb on their site, "Ai da! Ima sugu ROCK ON!" was written by Shindo Atsushi, who also wrote/composed my all-time favorite Melon Kinenbi songs "This is Unmei," "Saa! Koibito ni Narou," and "Girls Power, Aisuru Power." He also did "Wa! Kaccho E na!" and "Ai Meramera Koi Yurayura." "Romantic wo Tsukinukero ~Break it now~" was written by a former member of Princess Princess, the group that brought us "DIAMONDS," one of my favorite songs covered on Champloo 1 ~Happy Marriage Song Cover Shuu~. And of course, we've already heard one great collaboration between MK and BEAT CRUSADERS so I have high hopes for "ALWAYS LOVE YOU."

The DVD claims to have music videos for the collaboration singles. Whether these will just be the live performances released on Dohhh UP! or a more traditional PV we'll be getting something new since "Seishun-on-the-Road" never got a video on Dohhh UP!