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I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Akina Nakamori -- Caribbean



I've already given most of my thoughts on Akina Nakamori's（中森明菜）24th single, "Dear Friend", namely the big comeback single after recovering from her suicide attempt a year previously. However, until now I had yet to say anything about the B-side of this very sunny comeback, "Caribbean".

Written by Miho Onishi（大西美帆）and composed by Kazuya Izumi（和泉一弥）, I think I like "Caribbean" a bit better than the A-side. The song is definitely upbeat like "Dear Friend" with all of that Caribbean cruise feel. But it, at least in my estimation anyways, sounds mellower and more natural for her. As I mentioned on the article for that A-side, I always had that sense that Akina sounded a bit forced in her gaiety when it came to recording "Dear Friend".

I have to say that she really does look the part of a 19th-century belle in her 1991 concert performance of "Caribbean" above, although I think her apparel would have her fitting more on a riverboat near New Orleans rather than a cruise liner near Port-Au-Prince. In any case, whenever I listen to her 1989 "Cruise" sometimes, I go back to "Dear Friend/Caribbean" to balance the emotional scales, so to speak.

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2 comments:

  1. Marcos V.October 31, 2013 at 1:24 PM

    Hi J-Canuck.

    I'm the opposite of you in this one. I like "Dear Friend" a lot more than "CARIBBEAN". To be honest, though, the "Dear Friend" single as a whole isn't Akina's best delivery. It was nice to see that it could achieve a big success after the sucide attempt, but, at the same time, it was her last real big hit too.

    Back to "CARIBBEAN", the heavy Latin arragement coupled with a more relaxed and carefree feel, didn't quite combine with Akina's style, in my opinion. The same could be told about "Dear Friend", but I like it more probably because of Akina's vocal delivery.

    Luckily, she went back to the dramatic and torch love songs some years later and released great, but kinda unnapreciated songs, like "Yoru no Dokoka de ~night shift~" (1994), "Gekka" (1994), and "Kisei ~Never Forget~" (1998).

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    1. J-CanuckNovember 2, 2013 at 3:54 PM

      Yeah, I think we're probably gonna have to agree to disagree about the two songs on the CD, but we can agree that the single as a whole will not be in the Top 5 of her all-time hits. It is definitely notable for the fact that it was her comeback release. I remember all of the hoopla surrounding it in the days leading up to the release. A lot of people were rooting for her.

      I think there are definitely some gems by her in those years following her comeback. "Genshi, Onna wa Taiyo datta" comes to mind.

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