Search - Momoe Yamaguchi :: 2000 Best

Momoe Yamaguchi - An astounding voice from J-pop's past

Brian Camp | Bronx, NY | 09/17/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Momoe Yamaguchi was the reigning megastar of Japanese pop music in the 1970s. She ended her career in 1980 at the age of 21 when she married her longtime costar (in TV series and movies), Tomokazu Miura, and turned her back on show biz. The songs in this CD were hits she had from 1973-80 and it's hard to believe that she sang most of these when she was only a teenager. There's something in her voice that's older and historic, that soars back through time to express some long suppressed lament of Japanese women over the centuries. I hesitate to even call most of these songs J-pop, especially her later ones, because they're so different from everything I associate with the styles of J-pop that came after her, from Seiko Matsuda to Namie Amuro to Aya Matsuura to Morning Musume, etc. (If she has any spiritual heiress among contemporary J-pop stars, the closest in my estimation would be Ayumi Hamasaki, but only because they share a similar intensity.) Momoe has a strong, deep voice and can sing slow and soulful or fast and aggressive. Some of these cuts have the quality of "torch songs," the kind sung in clubs late at night as the last paying customers nurse their drinks. The only Japanese singer I can really compare her to is Meiko Kaji, a brooding actress who sang the theme songs in some of her films (e.g. the LADY SNOWBLOOD and FEMALE CONVICT SCORPION films, all made in the early 1970s). Two of Kaji's songs were heard on the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL VOL. 1. Like Momoe, Kaji has that subtle but fierce quality, a beautiful voice laden with pain and defiance.



I have other Momoe CDs with a far wider selection than this 15-track collection. One even has an array of Broadway showtunes, mostly sung in Japanese, while another has classic western rock 'n' roll songs, all sung in Japanese, including an impressive rendition of "House of the Rising Sun." But this one offers a solid introduction to her Japanese singles and includes many of her best known hits, including "Imitation Gold," and "Playback, Part 2." I'm particularly fond of the softer, more emotional pieces, as in tracks 7 ("Cosmos"), 10 ("Leaving on a Good Day"), 14 ("The Other Side of Goodbye"), and 15 ("Ichie," her last release). But it's also fun to hear her rock out on the fast-paced, guitar-and-drum-driven "Rock 'n' Roll Widow," track 13. Given all of my dabbling in Japanese popular music over the past three years, I have to say that Momoe remains the most fascinating discovery."