Search - Half Japanese :: Charmed Life

One of my favorite 4 HALF JAPANESE albums.

Chris bct | San Diego, CA USA | 12/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the version without the 10 extra trax. Said and Done, Penny in the Fountain, Love at First Sight, 1,000,000,000,000 Kisses, Miracles Happen Every Day are some of their finest songs. Of course, if you have never heard this band at least do yourself the favor of playing some of the snippets from amazon.com listings of their albums. It's not for everyone. His voice is unique and potentially obnoxious, although I've clearly grown accustomed to it just as I have with Fergal Sharkey's for the UNDERTONES and David Thomas' for PERE UBU. When someone else sings for those 3 bands it throws me off and I realize I've grown to enjoy their unusual, even pesky vocals.



Any HJ fan would want to own this album because there's more of their classic material to like here. Really, the only album they did that's not worth owning is the BOO! live album which has fewer band members than usual and just doesn't hit the mark musically, if you ask me. Get lost in this record. It's the usual strange musical journey that no other band takes you on. This and Music to Strip By, Sing No Evil and The Band That Would Be King albums are, to my ears, the 3 strongest albums they have released. They manage to plow along, not in the harmony that one expects from Westernized bands. Yet, it fits together. In fact, for me, because it's a bit of a cocophony, an assult of noise at times, a musical presentation that's not in the smooth synchopation that we've come to expect from regular pop and rock bands and, for that matter, all other forms of Western world music besides avant-gard and some flighty jazz, it stands the test of the years for me much better than most bands do because I cannot predict the journey of each song. I do not master the straight musical path of each song which I do for nearly all other bands, PERE UBU, DNA and TEENAGE JESUS and the JERKS being exceptions. Thus, it remains fresh for me decade after decade. Thanks guys. What a musical gift. chrisbct@hotmail.com"