Orange Range -- Melody

 

Orange Range has been a band that I've known for their rock and hip-hop music in the 2000s such as "Locolotion" (ロコローション) but it's been a while since I heard from them.

It's been a few months, but if memory serves, Orange Range did make an appearance on "Uta Con"（うたコン）to perform a song from their latest EP released in February this year titled "OKNW.ep". High energy is what I've been accustomed to when it comes to this band, but this particular track "Melody" is much more easygoing and heartwarming with a slower tempo and the Okinawan feeling although the rap is still in there.

Written and composed by the band, "Melody" has also been designated as the official theme song for NHK Okinawa's "Hondo Fukki 50-nen"（本土復帰50年...50 Years After the Return to the Homeland） program, according to the Orange Range website. The music video, set in Okinawa (presumably Naha), had me confused for a few minutes when I saw that last scene focusing on the photograph of the tousled-headed boy and his mother which was dated May 16th, 1975. I was wondering about the significance of that date since I knew that Okinawa had been returned to Japan in 1972, thus this year's 50th anniversary. The only thing I could find about that day vis-a-vis the country was the fact that Junko Tabei（田部井淳子）became the first woman to reach the top of Mt. Everest on May 16th, 1975.

So, also judging from how the mother dressed and the interior design of the home in Okinawa (take a look at the old-fashioned TV set just before the photo pops up), I figured that the two were living in the mid-1970s. However, "The First Times" website describing the song and the video states that the Naha being displayed is very much contemporary (there is one present-day kid giving a weird look to the 1975 boy), so I guess that the kid and his Mom are somehow able to traverse the timelines. Maybe the various members of the band walking through Naha are playing cosmic guides. All I can deduce is that it was all about how the prefecture has come along in the past few decades with the kid looking all wide-eyed at what has changed.

(instrumental)

Orange Range -- Ishin Denshin （以心電信）

 

It's been a while since I wrote about an Orange Range tune. When I did my first article on the band via their hit "Locolotion" (ロコローション) from June 2004, my initial impression of them was that they were more of a hip-hop or hip-pop act. Since then, I've discovered that they have been known as a mixture rock group which combines rock with a plethora of other genres, although I don't think that they've ever infused any jazz to create fusion.

Because that initial impression of Orange Range has stuck with me over the years, I was a little surprised on hearing "Ishin Denshin". I didn't think that there was anything R&B about this upbeat song which was never made into a single but was a track on the band's 2nd original album, "musiQ" which was released in December 2004.

"Ishin Denshin" struck me as being a happy pop-rock tune about a romantic couple who may currently be separated by distance but not by spirit. In fact, it seems so upbeat that I had assumed that it was used as an anison somewhere but such wasn't the case. The other interesting thing is that the song shares the same title with a totally different tune by Yellow Magic Orchestra, right down to the slightly changed last couple of kanji as a bit of a pun. I also mentioned this in the YMO article, but the expression ishin denshin is actually written as 「以心伝心」 meaning telepathy but the title as it is for both the Orange Range and YMO songs comes across as being defined as electronic communication via the heart.

Well, how fortunate then that the mobile phone company brand au via Japanese telecommunications operator KDDI was able to use "Ishin Denshin" as their campaign tune for their products. There's nothing like a cellphone to keep the love connected. As for "musiQ", it hit No. 1 on Oricon for two weeks and ended up as the No. 1 album of 2005. It even currently occupies No. 33 on the all-time album rankings, selling more than 2 million copies.

Orange Range feat. Soy Sauce -- Sushi Tabetai（SUSHI食べたい）

Oh, yeah. I do love my sushi. The above is from my trip to Akasaka Midori, thanks to my generous hosts in Tokyo. I would say that even the sushi chefs were very generous in their servings especially when it came to that tremendously long slice of anago that you can see at the very left of the photo. However, everything on that wooden board was splendid!

Actually, I was looking for another song by Orange Range called "Family" which has been featured as one of the "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）songs on NHK, but it doesn't appear that it currently exists on YouTube. On the other hand, I did find this really intriguing video for the band's "Sushi Tabetai" (Wanna Eat Sushi) which looks amazing and somewhat terrifying at the same time. The folks behind the video is animation craft team AC-bu（AC部...Department AC）, the same group behind another "Minna no Uta" entry, "Obake de Ii kara Hayaku Kite"（おばけでいいからはやくきて）by rock band CreepHyp.

The video does keep eyeballs glued to the screen while Orange Range's creation from their tenth album "TEN" (August 2015) goes into a robotic rap over a 1980s-style blippity-bloppity technopop melody. Its arrangement has me thinking along the lines of a POLYSICS tune. As for the Soy Sauce（ソイソース）working with Orange Range, according to this site, he's simply the guitarist for the band NAOTO. "Sushi Tabetai" also came out as an EP a month earlier.

Orange Range -- Hana（花）

At the same time that I discovered a classic enka duet from almost 80 years ago on last week's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, I also truly heard for the first time one of the big hits by the rock group Orange Range on the same program.

Their 8th single "Hana" (Flower) came out in October 2004, and I was surprised to find out that this hadn't been mentioned in the J-Wiki article for the song that this would make for a great wedding reception song in Japan. But that's my guess. Written and composed by Orange Range, the lyrics pledge one person's love for another through thick and thin, amity and conflict, and even if they were to be reincarnated into flowers, they would grow beside each other in the garden. Try proposing with that song playing in the background in that Italian restaurant in Tokyo!

"Hana" debuted on Oricon right at No. 1 where it stayed for two weeks twice and quickly ended up as the 4th-ranked single of the year despite its relatively late release date. It even hung around for another year and became the 21st-ranked single for 2005. It became a million-seller and went Triple Platinum and even won the Gold prize at the JASRAC awards. "Hana" is also a track on Orange Range's 2nd original album "musiQ" from December 2004 which also went to No. 1 and became the best-selling album for 2005. In Oricon history, "musiQ" is currently at No. 33 in album sales after hitting 2 million.

2004 was a pretty banner year for the band due to "Hana" and also for its summery fun "Locolotion"（ロコローション）which was the 7th-ranked single for that year.

Orange Range -- Locolotion (ロコローション)

Around the turn of the century, J-R&B began to make its presence known in the mainstream. I was becoming familiar with the soulful sounds of Misia and bird but then came the more hip-hop voices from folks like Orange Range, SOUL'd Out and m-flo.

As for that first example, Orange Range, I didn't listen to much of their stuff but the group consisting of Yamato, Hiroki, Ryo, Naoto, Yoh and Katchan (who left the band in 2005) had their moment in the sun via mass media. I couldn't precisely pin down their form of music although J-Wiki has them categorized in a number of genres: Alternative Rock, Pop Rock, Power Pop and even something called Mixture Rock. That last genre is a new one for me and it's a Made-in-Japan category in which rock music is combined with all sorts of music so I gather that those first two genres in my last statement would be a couple of examples. For me, I saw Orange Range weaving back and forth between hip-hop and rock.

One of Orange Range's catchier earworms was their 6th single from June 2004, "Locolotion" which was faintly inspired by the 1962 "The Loco-Motion" by Little Eva. If you enjoy that sexy and sultry and summery beat while ogling young women slathering on their Coppertone...well, this is your lucky day, isn't it? Those first two adjectives are given extra weight with that female patter that comes on in the intro and later on.

"Locolotion" hit No. 1 in a long series of top-ranking hits starting with their 5th single "Michishirube" (ミチシルベ) which was released earlier in February and going down to their 13th single from May 2006, "Champione" (チャンピオーネ). Incidentally, that is their final No. 1 to date although their succeeding singles until recently have been reaching No. 2 and No. 3.

As I remarked above, "Locolotion" was faintly inspired by "The Loco-Motion". However, the original songwriters for the Little Eva song, Gerry Goffin and the legendary Carole King and/or their representatives felt that even a little inspiration without their names being placed in the credits was enough to raise a red card on the soccer pitch (I guess Kylie Minogue asked politely). Initially, it was Orange Range who was listed as the writer and composer but after the complaint came in, that was changed to Goffin and King. Still, I think the song is sufficiently different that the credits could have been shared between the two parties although I'm not sure if Orange Range had asked for permission beforehand. Well, anyways hopefully a lesson was learned.

Still, the song was a roaring success as it did go Double Platinum becoming the 7th-ranked single for 2004. Orange Range even got to perform the song live from Okinawa at that year's Kohaku Utagassen. And ultimately, it has probably become the theme song for ogling on the beach in Japan.