Naomi Kawashima - TOKIO APPLAUSE (2004)

The most distinctive feature of the 7th album and the last album "TOKIO APPLAUSE" is that Kawashima himself is working on the lyrics of all songs (under the name of NAO Mi). In contrast to the previous album "SCOOOP!" (1985), which had the impression that it was a controversial work that was far from the conventional style, it can be said that it is a difficult album to evaluate as it seems to have adopted the elements of the previous work while becoming slightly milder. . I don't think Kawashima is very suitable for listeners who want the style of idol pop songs, but the dramatic flavor that can be felt in some of her songs is hard to throw away.

Her lineup of composition and arrangement has been renewed from the previous work. However, Mari Sugi and Ginji Ito participated in the work "Heroine of the Silver Screen" (1984) two years ago, and Hiroshi Shinkawa, Natsumi Hirai, and Masakazu Togo have been participating for a long time since their early albums and singles. Not just new members. I don't know how much Kawashima was conscious of it, but I have the impression that this last album was a culmination of musical activities that mixed old and new members. Kawashima used to release one album every six months, but this album was released a little over a year after his previous album "SCOOOP!" feel.

The composition is that the first "Welcome to TOKIO" and the last "Replise ~ He (TOKIO)" are songs positioned as prologue and epilogue, respectively, and the music box-like intro that flows at the beginning of the former is sung with lyrics in the latter. there is In general, it can be taken as if the theme is to depict the human relationships of people living in the city. The city that is sung in "Welcome to TOKIO" is a bit too glittery and I don't think it's flimsy ^^;

The second song "BE BOP CRAZY" was released as a single. The lyrics aren't particularly worthy of mention ^^;, but the melody composed by NOBODY is uptempo yet has a sorrowful feel to it, and it has a charm that's hard to get rid of. The 3rd track, "'Fall in Love' ni Iwainai", has an image of a transformation to the later style of Kawashima's early masterpieces, "Namida no School Days" and "Ichinen Toki Kara", but it is worth listening to. It's a ballad, and it's one of the best on this album. The 4th track "Koibitotachi no Panic" isn't a bad song, but the sudden change in development between the first half and the second half leaves me with a sense of discomfort ^^; The 5th track "Tokio Princess Hotel" was composed by Sugi. The lyrics may have been inspired by the story of Cinderella, but it's a fantastic piece and quite a good song.

The 6th song "Bye bye Yellow cab" is a rare song that is made into a duet song. The 7th track, "Ladies until 5 o'clock", is a light touch song dealing with office love, but I think the melody composed by Ito is clever. Even though the sound effects of a typewriter are used, you can feel the times ^^; The lyrics are reminiscent of Kawashima's I-novel, who was 25 years old at the time. While making you feel, it has the dramatic depth of late Kawashima, and is quite worth listening to. However, the 10th song "Applause" is probably the most important song that Kawashima has reached. The lyrics may have been inspired by the 1929 musical film of the same name, but they can be listened to on their own rather than relying on the imagery of the film as they did during the "Heroine of the Silver Screen" period. Composed by Hirai and arranged by Shinkawa, it can be said to be a dramatic ballad.