Dreams Come True -- Ureshii! Tanoshii! Daisuki! （うれしい！たのしい！大好き！）

Yup, a thoroughly decent Spring day here in Toronto....still a little under seasonal in the temperature department, but we'll take it. Meanwhile in Japan, the Golden Week holidays have officially begun. People are heading to the holiday resorts within and without the country, and of course, the expressways have changed into the world's largest parking lots. But the folks there probably have the three words from this Dreams Come True title juggling around in their heads right now.

I'm just surprised that after over a year of doing this blog that we had yet to put up this song. "Ureshihazukashi Asagaeri"（うれしはずかし朝帰り）, "Love Love Love" "Kessen wa Kin'yobi"　（決戦は金曜日）...a lot of hits by this band, but for me, everything comes to the first song I listed and this tune. Whenever I hear the name Dreams Come True, these are the ones I think of first. As for "Ureshii! Tanoshii! Daisuki!" (Happy! Fun! Love It!), it truly delivers what it says in the title: happy, happy, joy, joy!

Written and composed by vocal Miwa Yoshida（吉田美和）, "Ureshii! Tanoshii! Daisuki!"was actually the official B-side of DCT's 3rd single, "Ureshihazukashi Asagaeri"(September 1989), although I think it was good enough to have the CD single come out as a double A-side. Not surprisingly, it's pretty much a must-perform at their concerts. And perhaps some redemption was found by having "Ureshii! Tanoshii! Daisuki!" launch the band's 2nd album, "Love Goes On"(November 1989) with an extra intro verse.

When I first listened to it, it was after I had bought "Love Goes On" on the strength of the performance of "Ureshihazukashi Asagaeri" I'd heard on TV Asahi's "Music Station". At the time, I was just bowled over by Yoshida's boomer of a voice yelling out the English, and then when the brass-like synths came in, my impression was that this was the song that British band Swingout Sister didn't record. Of course, Miwa's voice is at a higher register but there was that mix of sophisticated pop/disco in there which reminded me of Swingout Sister's debut hit, "Breakout".

The single itself peaked at a surprisingly modest (in retrospect) No. 49 on Oricon although the album itself got as high as No. 8. Still with the two songs kicking off the album, Dreams Come True was on its way to its career version of "Ureshii! Tanoshii! Daisuki!"