Sweet Sweet Sweet by Dreams Come True

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is the coolest video games of all time.

This is not up for debate.

I'm sure some of you will call me biased because Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Genesis—or Mega Drive, if you measure things in kilometers—was the first video game I ever played.

However, you're just wrong.

Listen, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 had everything a good game should have: great graphics, exciting levels, an excuse to bully your little brother by making him play as Tails, plus it makes great Julian Fries. most importantly, it has great music.

Sonic is notoriously famous for its fantastic soundtracks, but Sonic 2 easily ranks among my top ten video game soundtracks of all time.

From the exciting, disco energy of "Emerald Hill Zone," to the jazzy swagger of "Casino Night Zone," to the strange & cryptic funk of "Mystic Cave Zone," the soundtrack delivers on all fronts.

But the track that has always stuck with me the most is the song that plays right after you beat the game.

Once you defeat Dr. Eggman for the final time and skydive out of the Death Egg—from space, mind you—the sequence that follows was probably one of the most satisfying moments of my childhood.

And the whole thing is accentuated by the triumphant melody of the ending theme.

Now here's the fun part. 

The composer of the first two Sonic games, Masato Nakamura (中村正人), just so happened to be a member of the enormously popular J-Pop band Dreams Come True.

And to top it all off, some of Nakamura's Sonic melodies would eventually find their way into Dreams Come True's own repertoire.

Case in point: "Sweet Sweet Sweet," featured on their 1992 album The Swinging Star.

The song is essentially the Sonic 2 ending theme transformed into a full-fledged J-Pop ballad, complete with lyrics and a much more elaborate arrangement.

And somehow, it works perfectly.

The album version almost feels like a wedding anthem, especially with all those bells ringing in the background. The melody still feels very triumphant like the game version, but with the addition to Dorikamu's signature ballad stylings and Miwa Yoshida's wonderful voice, suddenly it becomes warm, sentimental, and romantic.

Rediscovering Sweet Sweet Sweet outside the context of Sonic felt pretty satisfying. It was the perfect recreation of my childhood.

Then, in 2006...they ruined it.

2006 was not a good year for Sonic, as most fans already know. Sonic the Hedgehog for PS3 and XBOX had just release, famously just called Sonic 06, to polarized fanfare. After playing the game for myself, there are a few things that I can forgive it for...but this remix is not one of them.

Look How They Massacred My Boy

Who thought this was a good idea!? I'm not sure when this trend began, but not everything needs a hip hop remix. To top it off, they got Akon to do weird vocal fill-ins for the song. I'm not familiar with the Senegalese-American singer, outside of his philanthropic work in Africa (which I commend him for), but if this song is anything to go off of, I'll pass on his discography. I'm not kidding when I say this version is annoying to listen to. they might as well have went all out and put DJ Khaled on the track to shout "WE DA BEST MUSIC" at the top of his lungs. 

I'm sure there's somebody out there that has nostalgia for this version, it's just not me. If you want to hear how it's supposed to sound, go check out Dorikamu's best album, The Swinging Star. or even better, go play Sonic 2!

Ryo Kawasaki & Joanne Brackeen -- Trinkets and Things

From Wikipedia

The first time I wrote about the late great jazz fusion guitarist and composer Ryo Kawasaki（川崎燎）was back in 2020 when I posted an article on his "Raisins" from his 1976 album "Juice", and from listening to the song, I got the impression that he really liked the rock and funk side of fusion.

Well, a couple of years later, Kawasaki and American jazz pianist Joanne Brackeen collaborated on their own album of duets titled "Trinkets and Things". Brackeen composed all of the seven tracks except for the first track which was also the title track. Kawasaki handled this one and "Trinkets and Things" goes into a more tropical and jazzier direction which flows through the beaches and Tiki bars with much aplomb. Although it's mostly an instrumental, there are a couple of parts where a female singer provides some accomplished vocalese but for the life of me, I couldn't track down who she was. 

Curtis Creek Band -- Take Off My Jet

From Discogs

Happy Sunday! I've gotten over my post-Sunday breakfast drowsiness and I'm back behind the computer to put up my two regular KKP articles. And I think I have something appropriate for the brunch set to start things off.

The last time I mentioned about the Curtis Creek Band was back in May when I posted the article regarding "City Morning" which was part of their 1983 album "Windy People". The thing is though that if you're thinking about getting this album for specific tracks you like, you gotta be careful here. For one thing, I noted in the May article that there were two different versions of "Windy People", identifiable by different subtitles, one being "Winning History ni Dakarete"（ウイニング・ヒストリーに抱かれて...Embraced by a Winning History） with the cover of a pretty woman looking down at the word "white", and then the other one which has a snazzily-dressed fellow on a motorcycle with its subtitle being "Shinkyo Monogatari"（心響物語...Heartbeat Story）.

Now, I've heard that there is a third version of "Windy People" with the subtitle of "Youkou to Kaze no Area"（陽光と風のエリア...Area of Sunlight and Wind）. Its cover has a more conventionally-dressed guy leaning against his own motorcycle by the side of a highway. And it is there that I found the brunch-friendly "Take Off My Jet". One would think that a song with such a title would be a more upbeat and rock-oriented tune but it's quite the opposite. It's a laidback and flute-led instrumental that could accompany the pre-takeoff procedure to put any terrified passengers at ease. But again, I think it's also good while people noshing are on their Eggs Benedict. I've categorized the band as coming under City Pop, R&B and jazz, but with "Take Off My Jet", I can place this under AOR.

The Molice -- Active Imagination

Wikimedia Commons

 

I was looking through Twitter some days ago when the account for the formerly Buffalo-based rock band The Molice had posted a question which could be paraphrased this way: Do you know a music hall which has had international acts perform there? Well, I responded directly and answered: You can try the El Mocambo in Toronto. The Rolling Stones and Margaret Trudeau (wife of one Canadian prime minister and the mother of one more) were there at the same time and place in 1977. Didn't hear back from them so perhaps their question was perhaps more rhetorical than I'd thought.

Anyways, it's been a while since I've posted about The Molice so I came across this video for their song "Active Imagination" (which is also a psychological process). A track on their 2023 digital album "Pre/Post Re-SING", it's got quite the engine chugging away like one on a locomotive. In fact, it's so catchy and psychedelic that vocalist Rinko herself is doing her own choreographical boogie in both versions of the music video. All hail chromakey!

I also managed to find Rinko's poignant commentary on what has become of the band since 2020 when COVID slammed into the world. It was something that I had been curious about.

Ayumi Amano -- Suki na Mono wa Suki（好きなものは好き）

Pink Sherbet Photography via Wikimedia Commons

Well, just in time for the weekend, I'm feeling rather buoyant today. The inability to provide comments has been fixed, we're coming out from under the shadow of that crazy storm from Wednesday, and I've gotten my preparations done for my student. 

I was browsing through kinuzure's blog "Tamaranaku, AOR Kayo"（たまらなく、AOR歌謡...Irresistible, AOR Kayo） just now when I happened upon one of his entries regarding a singer that I had never heard of before. Ayumi Amano（天野歩美）was once known as Nagisa Amano（天野なぎさ）, one-half of the aidoru duo Kilala & Ulala (キララとウララ) back in the 1980s. Both nikala and I had contributed articles to them years ago. One big bombshell from "Tamaranaku" was that Amano's partner Kanako Ohtani (大谷香奈子) had once been married to Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）!

But getting the train back on the line here, once the act split up, years passed and Amano went solo and she released her first album in January 1992, "Okurimono ga Aru no"（贈り物があるの...I've Got a Present For You）. Kinuzure has described it as an unknown City Pop release (as well as a great girl pop product of its time), but one track "Suki na Mono wa Suki" (I Love What I Love) strikes me as being more of the latter genre. Written by Yoshiko Oga（雄鹿美子）and composed by Katsuki Maeda（前田克樹）, it's a very pleasant mid-tempo number that sounds like something that the aforementioned Komuro or the late KAN would weave, and Amano herself comes across as a more high-pitched and breathy version of Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）. I'd be interested in checking out some of the tracks on the album, especially because kinuzure has highlighted some of them in his article.

Hatsumi Shibata -- Mou Ichido Kikasete（もう一度聞かせて）

 

Finishing off this Friday's take on Urban Contemporary songs on KKP, I've decided to go with something mellow and older...maybe the aural equivalent of good scotch. And I found this one not from the City Pop guides above as you might think, but from a YouTube City Pop compilation video.

However, I was happy to find the song all by itself in a separate video, so I will go with that. This is "Mou Ichido Kikasete" (Please Play it Again) by the late singer-songwriter Hatsumi Shibata（しばたはつみ）. Written by Shibata and composed by Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）, it's got that wonderful flute, the bluesy guitar and the splendid harmonies provided by the singer and others. 

It's been around three years since I've had Shibata up on the blog, so I'm glad to have found this lovely example of 70s City Pop which was recorded onto Shibata's November 1975 2nd album "Singer Lady"（シンガー・レディ）. There's also a goodly amount of soul in "Mou Ichido Kikasete" which reminds me a bit of Minnie Ripperton's music. 

Natsu Summer -- Pretty in Summer

夏-red by Muke Dever 

From what I've read, Autumn 2026 officially arrives on September 22nd, so we've got about another 18 days left to enjoy the hot season. Hopefully, a lot of that can be done over the Labour Day long weekend here in North America.

Something to have with your cocktail is singer Natsu Summer's "Pretty in Summer" which was a 2024 release. Written and composed by Ryusenkei's（流線形）Cunimondo Takiguchi（クニモンド瀧口）, the song follows the singer's style of mixing Neo-City Pop and reggae for a most relaxing number. Enjoy this with a really potent rum punch. 🍹If you would like to listen to another collaboration by the two, there is always "Twilight Shadow" from 2022.