 |
Title |
| Voyager |
| International Title |
| [Misc.] |
| Music By:
Yumi Matsutoya |
| Record Label:
Toshiba EMI |
| |
|
| Running Time: 45:07 |
Discs: 1 |
| Release: February 1999 |
CD Number: TOCT-10648 |
|
| Comments |
 |
Anthony
Romero |
 |
|
|
First
off, huge thanks goes out to Robert Storch for sending
this disc for review!
This release is a reissue of the 15th album by Japanese
superstar Yumi Matsutoya, aka "Yuming",
and features the song "At the Blue Ship"
from the movie Bye-Bye
Jupiter (1984). Originally issued in 1983
as an LP, Voyager made its CD debut two years
later in 1985 (CA32-1141). Near the turn of the century,
the album was given a much needed re-release, remastered
for superior audio quality, on both CD and LP. This
review is of that reissue.
Featuring a stunning cover image, of a woman swimming
in a pool amongst an upside down cityscape, Voyager
was released around the heyday of Yumi Matsutoya's
popularity. However, the content here is overall a
bit mixed from Yuming. Some of the songs work, such
as the bouncy and oddly fun track called "Heartbreak".
Others are uneven, such as "Typhoon" to
which succeeds wonderfully through Yuming's great
vocal work, but flounders due to the rather dated
and inadequate background music. The same applies
for "Tropic of Capricorn", which has more
great vocal work from Yuming but is lost a little
with the odd backup singers present. "The Girl
Who Leapt Through Time", the title song for the
1983 movie of the same name by Kadokawa, is also nice.
A little dated, but with its charm. As it turns out,
though, the star attraction here is probably "Roulette
Marriage", which has a great upbeat tempo, and
"At the Blue Ship", which has a great slow
beat while Yuming's vocals work to make the track
soothing to the listener.
As a side note, this release does not include the
song "Voyager" itself, which was originally
released separately on a 45 rpm record called Voyager:
Undated Tombstone, along with "At the Blue
Ship" (it's b-side), and was also featured in
Bye-Bye
Jupiter (1984). The reason for this is the
delay of the movie, which was originally slated for
a 1983 release, the same year as the Voyager
album. When the release was pushed back to 1984, the
song was pulled from the album and replaced. So the
single, released after the album in an odd twist,
marked the first appearance of the song outside of
the movie. Both songs do appear, though, on the long
out of print soundtrack for the 1984 movie (CA35-1073),
as well as on a 1989 Yuming Sweets: Voyager CD single
(XT10-2384), which is a reissue of the original "Voyager"
45 rpm record.
Overall, there is nothing particularly remarkable
about this release. Not great, not bad, but an interesting
release from Yuming. Fans of the artist should enjoy
the album.
Rating:  |
|
| Tracks |
- Girlfriends
- Roulette Marriage
- Dandelion - Tampopo Serotinous
- At the Blue Ship
- Magical Experience
- Heartbreak
- Typhoon
- Tropic of Capricorn
- When You Forget Me
- The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
|
|
