BLU-SWING -- 10th Anniversary Best

As soon as I found out the fact that the group BLU-SWING had put out a BEST album earlier in 2019, my Xmas list already had a space waiting for it. Released in May last year, I had been first enchanted by their "Flash" from 2015 and then came some other songs via YouTube such as "Sunset" which culminated in me getting their 2013 album "Transit". But it was indeed the cho-kakkoii "Flash" that had me frothing at the mouth to get their BEST, especially since I couldn't get the album which was also given the same title.

So, on that note:

1. Sunset (2019 Y. Nakamura remastering)
2. Syndrome
3. I am
4. Find Your Way
5. Pulse
6. Fabulous
7. Sum
8. Golden Time
9. Lark
10. Michite Iku Taion（満ちていく体温）
11. Shinkirou（蜃気楼）
12. Taiyo no Bell（太陽のベール）
13. Rain
14. Like We're Lovers
15. Flash
16. Hitohira（ひとひら）

Allow me to show off a few songs here.

"Syndrome" kinda has that sci-fi feeling from the title but it's actually a shaki-shaki example of what might me neo-City Pop with some of that old disco in there. Originally from BLU-SWING's 2014 "Arrival", "Syndrome" also sends me reminders of the soul angle of J-R&B from the early 2000s. Glad that Yuri Tanaka（田中裕梨）and the guys are still holding the torch for that particular area of music.

Meanwhile, "Michite Iku Taion" is another brisk urban contemporary number but I think the snappy horn section has me thinking fusion. A track from "Flash", I wasn't quite sure how to translate the title. Maybe it can be "Filling Body Temperature", but I feel a little better with "Rising Body Temperature". I realize that this might be considered to be a little too contemporary to be placed into the City Pop genre but perhaps folks like Van Paugam and Rocket Brown might even include this one into the podcasts someday, if they haven't already done so.

Having bought "Transit", this BEST compilation and hearing a number of their other songs on YouTube doesn't necessarily make me an expert on BLU-SWING, but from hearing "Sum" on their very first 2008 album "Revision", perhaps in the beginning, the band was more into the bossa jazz scene. One commenter on YouTube even mentioned how much it sounded like a Bird song from earlier in that decade, and yep, I can agree that "Sum" is rather reminiscent of that mix of Latin and club music.

"Pulse", also from "Revision", has the same sort of feel as "Sum" but this one is an instrumental track that goes more for the jazz. And the crazy thing is that there's a good part of it that sounds like Pat Metheny music. It might be a bit too active for dinner music but "Pulse" still makes for a good listen during its 6 minutes and change.

"Hitohira" can mean anything from a leaf to a snowflake to a petal or anything flat and thin according to jisho.org. To me, it is a free and swinging French jazz ballad and a nice way to finish their July 2012 album "Find Your Way".

Speaking of which, I'm gonna finish this one up with the title track from "Find Your Way" which is a driving jazz number energized by that frantic wood bass and guitar. At the same, though, vocalist Tanaka and some of the other instruments want to stubbornly keep their own languid pace. Yet, the two halves of their own speed somehow make a nice rounded whole.

The "10th Anniversary Best" album is certainly a great way to find out about what BLU-SWING has been about for the past decade or so, covering the genres of jazz, Latin and urban contemporary. It makes for a good starting point to backtrack into their original albums and even find some gems that didn't make it onto the BEST album. That's always been the case with a singer or band that I've just discovered and the backtracking hasn't let me down yet.