Lately, there aren’t many good English albums around and though you may see Japanese albums keep popping up in my website, Japanese CDs only contribute to less then 5% of my CD collection, believe it or not.
Fans of Mika including me are shocked that she has ventured into the genre of rock music when time after time, she delivers pop to pop-jazz albums. The band “Nana Starring Mika Nakashima” was formed from a live-action show “Nana” (which subsequently has a sequel called “Nana 2”) that Mika has acted in based on the manga of the same name. This album “The End” is Nana Starring Mika Nakashima’s debut and their last album (hence … the end).
“The End” is written by a number of famous Japanese artists such as L’Arc~en~Ciel’s front-man Hyde, Glay’s leader Takuro, as well as the manga’s author, Ai Yazawa. The melody of the entire album is catchy and I find myself repeating listening it again and again.
The song 一色 (One Colour) as played below is the theme song for the movie “Nana 2”. In the album, there is a faster version that I like better. Nevertheless, this version is well-liked by many. I often find it odd when such a soothing voice meets with the rock music tracks. Perhaps it is what makes this album stands out as different.
My favourite track is the last track called “My Way” that is a complete rewrite of the English oldie. I guess they picked the song because it fits the theme of the album well with the beginning of “And now the end is near …”. It is a live recording when the band just jammed out the song for fun – which is very fun even to listen to. There are mistiming, doubtful reaching of high notes, and hilarious lyrics. I don’t remember the original version has the F words as well as killing a cat that they have tastefully censored with a beep.
If you like catchy tunes in a rock music background with a not-so-rock female voice, “Nana Starring Mika Nakashima” is for you.
