Posted in October 2005

落花流水 Coverart?

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the countdown begins! about 5 weeks away from Akina’s next release! today, the image for her new single is revealed on Faithway. i’m not quite sure if this is the final cover art. if it’s going to be a 3-inch CD single or a Maxi one. that will of course affect the layout and artwork! i think this photo will work very well on treated paper.

also notice that the single will be released on Wednesday (水 yobi). i assume that’s a deliberate marketing move in line with the song title. neat.

and almost one month later, we shall have a new concert video to ogle at! imagine – "Riverside Hotel" in high quality fidelity!!

Faithway updated!!!

WoW~~~~ so W(本物) is really 本物~~~~

Hot from Faithway is the annoucement of the release date for 「落花流水」& 「Empress Live」DVD!

Looks like the image is similar to “AL-MAUJ”. No wonder she put on that gim gim costume and there is a Buddah statue….

Just the same as what W(本物) wrote on this BBS.

As such, I’m more concerned over “そして今年の7/15に行われたライブDVDもリリースされます。こちらは1/11に超大型レコード会社から華々しくリリースされますので楽しみにね。 (In addition, the concert shot on 15 July 2005 will be released in DVD format. It will be out on 11 January by a major recording company. So stay tune~)

I read two messages here:
(1) the “Empress Concert” DVD isn’t gonna be snip shot but a complete live show recorded on 15 July.

(2) Akina could be in the process of changing her recording company.

So what do you think?

DESIRE 1990

the last time 明菜ちゃん appeared in the outfit (with wig) for Desire could be this performance in 1990 for FNS歌謡祭….where she performed Meu Amore and Desire…

FNS1990 

Having DESIRE re-recorded as SIDE B for the new single is a very smart marketing move to ensure that she will get into this year’s 紅白….I really hope that it would be a nice arrangement…as we all have very high expectations of this most popular hit of 明菜ちゃん…also what will she wear for 紅白 if she performs DESIRE…??! she must live up to the standards of the legendary DESIRE 1986 紅白…which had left a memorable impression in many till today!!

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期待ね!!!

Missed You MTV

“Missed You” music video taken off Akina’s last video release “Aspasionado” which also showcased the quite horrendous music video for “The Heat ~ Musica Fiesta” (we will upload that sometime for your sampling pleasure…hahahah). this is the better video of the two.

pay particular attention to the camera work. the video was shot once thru, without edits. brings to mind what David Fincher did in the Panic Room.

!!!!! New Single !!!!!

According to Neowing & CD Japan, 中森明菜 will be releasing a new single on 7 Dec 2005!!!

But er…. why is the title "落花流水"??

The first thing that came to my mind is "谁被谁打到落花流水"?? Seiko 被 Akina 打到落花流水?! Keekee…..

Anyway, "落花流水" will be the theme song for テレビ東京 Spring drama 「天下騒乱 徳川三代の陰謀」. And Akina will re-record 「DESIRE-情熱-」 and place it as the coupling number.

Talking about 「DESIRE-情熱-」, look at 宮沢りえ‘s dressing at the press conference for Fuji TV autumn special, 「女の一代記>」. She played the leading role for 「瀬戸内寂聴~出家とは生きながら死ぬこと」.

Do you see what I observed?

Kimono with boots… A turtle neck inside her kimono….
Well….. it’s so~~~ similar to 中森明菜さんの「DESIREー情熱ー」 image~

Now to some tibits on this single:

(1) 中森明菜さん’s staffs wanted to put 「DESIREー情熱ー」 as the side-B number. It was 中森明菜さん who convinced them that it should be a side-A song.

(2) The staffs were also against the idea of kimono. They thought kimono is too old-fashioned to create any impact. Well… they are dead wrong~~~ I remembered "夜のヒットスタジオ" had a special segment on female artistes singing in kimono. 山口百恵 and 柏原芳恵 were among the artistes being featured.

Tokyo Rose MTV

Nagano

Akina Nakamori in Nagano performance. She performed “Meu Amore” (pay notice to male host’s funny way of announcing the song) and “Aibu”. Something very rare occurs during the second part of the show.

すごい事

Thought this is worth mentioning:

すごい事 – 「飾りじゃないのよ涙は」 is actually a present for 明菜ちゃん!
s10_ep.jpg「飾りじゃないのよ涙は」released 14Nov84, sales =62.5万枚 (最高位=1)

According to 夕刊フジ BLOG: 井上陽水さん doesn’t write song upon request. He only writes for artistes that he likes.  井上陽水さんwrote 「飾りじゃないのよ涙は」 as a certain image formed after he listened to 中森明菜‘s singing. Upon completion, he actually gave the work to 中森明菜 as a present!

Other tibits in the entry include:
(1) 「少女A」(中森明菜‘s 2nd single) was initially meant to be her debut single. However, some staffs were worried that 「少女A」 ツッパリimage is too strong. Hence, in the end, they decided on 「スローモーション」.
s01_ep.jpg「スローモーション」debuted 1May82, sales =17.4万枚 (最高位=30)

 

 

 

 

s02_ep.jpg 「少女A」released 28Jul82, sales =39.6万枚 (最高位=5)

(2) The intial title for 「1/2の神話」(中森明菜‘s 4th single) is 「半分少女」. The staff decided to change the title during 中森明菜‘s recording as they felt the title has no impact.s04_ep1.jpg
s04_ep2.jpg 「1/2の神話」released 23Feb83, sales =57.3万枚 (最高位=1)
中森明菜‘s first duo jacket single.

 

 

 

 

(3) The marketing tactic for アイドル・中森明菜 was one ballad followed by one fast tempo number.

中澤進さん

中澤進さん designed some of 明菜ちゃん costumes for 2002~2004 performances (concerts, DS).

Here’s the link to her works:

http://www.nakazawa.ecnet.jp/works/w_stage/works_f_st.htm 

Click on the numbers on the bottom navigation to view the costumes that Akina wore, designed by  中澤進さん

Akina Nakamori in Japan iTunes Music Store

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i was exploring the iTunes Japan Store yesterday and i did a search on Miss Nakamori of course and see what returns i found! there was a total of 7 albums (mostly from Universal Japan & her recent re-releases of SHAKER, UTA HIME, UNBALANCE+BALANCE. and La Alteracion) & 2 singles on sale and download! pretty good move i say. Akina should put her ENTIRE catalogue of singles, albums, and perhaps some rare tracks and remixes…or even unreleased recordings! you can see that there ARE people buying her tracks. so i think it will actually bring in alot more money for her if she heads this way. especially when so many of her fans are overseas. KACHINGGG!

but currently, iTunes Japan Store is only available to residents of Japan, or you must have a Japan-based credit card. they should just have on single store and open it up to everyone! the record labels and Apple and artistes will make alotta money!!

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