[SR] 1999.02.24 - Muzai Moratorium (CD) [Album]
 

無罪モラトリアム (Muzai Moratorium)


01. 正しい街 (Tadashii Machi)
02. 歌舞伎町の女王 (Kabuki-chou no Joou)
03. 丸の内サディスティック (Marunouchi Sadistic)
04. 幸福論 -悦楽編- (Koufukuron -Etsuraku Hen-)
05. 茜さす帰路照らされど... (Akane sasu kiro terasaredo...)
06. シドと白昼夢 (Sid to Hakuchuumu)
07. 積木遊び (Tsumiki Asobi)
08. ここでキスして。 (Koko de Kiss Shite.)
09. 同じ夜 (Onaji Yoru)
10. 警告 (Keikoku)
11. モルヒネ (Morphine)
Total Playtime: 41:00

Retail Availability: Amazon.co.jp, CD Japan, HMV Japan, YesAsia

Re-posting something I said in the old thread...

I was looking at the MM cover today... does anyone know what it means? Ringo in a crowd of people surrounding a politician-like guy brandishing a banner with the album's title on it. Kind of an odd image for a debut album, I'm surprised they let her get away with it. Does anyone have any material where she states her intentions about the cover and what she wanted to do with it?

Or personal interpretations. What do you think it means? :)

I even translated her little commentary blurb about the album--but it just concerns the title. Here it is anyway:

Translation:
"This album has to do with what my teenage self thought of as “living as a person.” Having naïveté, only to lose it – it always seems like an imperfection, this process you can never get past. That’s the kind of meaning I put into my first album title."

Other things I'm noticing about this album now that I've pulled out my copy and am inspecting it: on the front page of the insert is a Marunouchi line, with a Yamanote line intersecting it. Instead of Yamanote stops, there are the tracks of the album (whereas Marunouchi has all its normal stops). This is so freakin' cool I just can't get over it!! I can't believe I never noticed this before.

Then on the last page, after all the credits, there is a little paragraph that I believe is a personal message to her fans.

Translation:
"In having been able to meet so many of you all, above all the people who used even a little bit of fuel for a missing person such as myself, thank you very much. Though I want to express my gratitude by naming everyone off one by one, as that would never end, and be awkward, maybe next time--who knows what shape this will be done in again. And, from tomorrow onwards as well, please be well."

I believe it was discussed in the old thread that, since the man on the cover is holding the sign while Ringo kind of stands in the back, the art for this album signifies the "backseat" that an artist takes when their music is released on a major label. As in, the label takes the credit while the artist does all the work. Or something like that...

They probably let her get away with it because they didn't understand it, either. XD

By the way, why is Zac's post and the rest of the page inside Frecklegirl's post? @_@;;

I don't knowww, it keeps eating into my post and then I edit it to fix it and then it does it again ;_;

They let her "get away with it" cuz they were laughing all the way to the bank anyway ;)

Anyway, I listened to this album yesterday, probly the first time this year I even listened to anything Shiina that wasn't new. And during my listen I remember why I liked Shiina so much. It's a monster album. You can really feel shes into everything. Trying different things (Akane, Morphine, Tsumiki, Sid) -- and not afraid to try, not keeping with whats par for the course. Its a fresh album and I think is more striking than anything post KZK. It really gets underrated being in the league as SS, KZK, and even Adult (which gets the love here). I think its tper capita better than SS (however, song-for-song, SS has the monsters) and has all the accessability that KZK and Adult lack. (And um, its just plain better than Kyoiku i guess.)

Its unfortunate more don't wave the MM flag. Myself included, cuz...well, KZK...but y'know, still!

^ This is my favorite album and it's probably because Morphine is so awesome. It's got a couple of songs that I regularly skip (Onaji Yoru, Shido), but every album is like that for me. I can't name an album I usually listen to straight through. Not even KSK.

I like this album. It isn't as complex or "alternative" as albums like KSK, but I like its fresh "feeling"...when I listen to it I want to run everywhere and sing along :o

i am kinda obsessed with this period of ringo (along with kzk). it's basically loud loud and loud from start to finish, and the enunciation of r's is at its strongest. she's a desperate young transplant to tokyo, and the lyrics reflect this. this is easily my second favourite album.

I think all of her albums really compete with each other. There are so many positives in each of them that it is really up to the individuals taste to pick their favorite, but its hard not to find someone who will argue for each album. I love Ringo :wub:

I've just recently gotten into 'Akane Sasu Kiro Terasaredo'. Am I the only one who likes this song? I can't get it out of my head!!! (I've also recorded it twice myself XD!) It's definitely not the only song I like from this album though, I think I love everything except 'Sit to Hakuchuumu', 'Onaji no Yuru' and 'Keikoku', and they're just the ones that I don't usually listen to that's all...

Muzai Moratorium was the last Shiina Ringo album I bought among The Big Three. I went for nearly a year of just Shouso Strip, KSK, and Kyoiku, on CD. I even downloaded a Dynamite Out MP3 rip that was floating around, and fell in love with most of that concert before I'd even seen it.

When I found out that Muzai Moratorium had Marunouchi Sadistic (which I was only familiar with from Dynamite Out), I had to get this album. And I ended up being quite pleased with the first three tracks. The album version of Koufukuron has taken year(s) since then for me to warm up to.

Currently I love nearly everything on the album except Sid to Hakuchuumu, which I'd heard the Mayonaka wa Junketsu B-Side version of first, so I think the album track lost its chance to grow on me. Koko de Kiss Shite is one of the most overplayable songs Shiina Ringo ever made, but sometimes hearing other versions of it, restores my love for the single/album track.

I don't think any tracks on this album are really underrated. I see a lot of people standing up (at different seasons) for Akane Sasu Kiro Terasaredo... or Keikoku, asking why hardly anyone else likes the track, but I think the truth is, each of these 'underrated' tracks are loved a lot more by the overall memberbase than most individual members are aware.

I wish I'd heard this album first. It sounds so young and I already know the progression into SS and KZK.....not to say it's a bad album, it's very good, but I've already heard sid to hakuchuumu, kabuki-chou, marunouchi, koko de, and koufoukuron. Sid is better in this album, kabuki-chou and koko de are the same, new ver. of koufoukuron doesn't do anything for me (I need to get into the right mood to hear it),and marunouchi sounds superiorly better live. That's almost half the album that doesn't sound new to me.
It's safe to say the album was spoiled to me. I'm sure I would've like the album much more had it not. And the thing is it's a great start for a new artist like shiina was at the time. It's such a good album that despite the age (so it's 8 yrs. old...half the 8yr. olds I know don't age as gracefully as this album has + it's obviously been made in the 90's) and shiina knew what she wanted to make and made it. *unlike Variety* But again....it's nothing new....so I can't give it the praise it deserves.....:huh:

Favorite songs: sid, onaji, akane :wub: , tadashi, tsumiki, 'n keikoku

Let's hear you sing that Carmen! ;)

I like Akane but it sorta breaks the momentum after the first 4 brilliant tracks.

Oh, when I saw that, I was all like,

"OKAY I'LL BE WELL FOR YOU RINGO" and sounded creepy.

It's one of my favorites. I can even forgive the poor English in the song since the rest of the song is so great. My overall favorite from the album is definitely Morphine though.

I could sing it for anyone who does an instrumental of it LOL :lol:

haha golem make something for CARMEN!

I was already thinking about it^^
Anyone have sheets for that?

^ Can you do Tadashii Machi as well? XD
I think I got into this song as well since my last post.

I'll keep practising in the shower. At the moment my vocals suck big time LOL!

I saw the frecklegirl post about the jacket and I found it on her official website

does it say anything interesting?

Translation:

I always loved MM's cover. Even if it's not my favourite album, the cover is probably the best of them all.
Thanks for translating that piece of information frecklegirl :)

MM is easily the best Shiia/Jihen cover. And I think one of the cooler album covers of mine

ROFL. dangerous pheromones from old men. I like how it makes Ringo seem like some maiden out to get raped and only she all like "this is so sketchy and just what I imagined! sugoi!" rofl

After some months without listening to it, now I'm listening to MM and I just must say that this is such a great album to make a debut with... When Tokyo Jihen said that "Variety" would be MM-like, they should be jokin'...

What? When did they said that? >_>

When they announced they'd release OSCA, Killer Tune and a new album made up by all the members' songs and all that shit... Nobody remembers that? Yahiko?! xD.

Jesus Christ.
Then that means they seriously screwed up their perception of what is a good album. In their minds, Variety is like their greatest work or something... that's how messed up they are.
Hope there's a cure for it!

That comment surely embarrasses them now ? if they were an unknown band and launched with that, they'd still be unknown! nothing on Variety matched MM.

I hate it when a band/Artist says that their best work is always their current release!! when we all know it usually is not true.

In the band's defense, that quote was take on Opposite Day.

Shiina must reaally hate MM ='(

No, Ringohime loves MM, Jihad. That's why she performed more MM songs with Phase 1 than Phase 2. She realizes the new band can't do justice to the old songs. Could you really imagine them playing Keikoku or Morphine or even Tadashii Machi? Perhaps the comparison to MM was that they're laying down the groundwork for the next album like MM did for SS. The next Jihen album will be an extension of the crap Variety sound.

does this means that she hate honnou?
cause she killed(or at least half-killed) honnou with that last performance with SAPS on that tv show that I don't remember the name now XD

Top Runner xDDD. Well, it didn't sound that bad, Lena T_T! Only a little worse than in JCHI :hmph: LOL.

Aw, SAPS lounge Honnou wasn't bad. It's not crap like Phase 2 Sounan or Kyogenshou.

Nobody else thought JCHI Honnou was nearly as good as the album version? I understand if you don't like the piano bridge, but other than that I thought it was pretty amazing.

I liked it!! wasn't wild about the Piano but it was a good performance.

Honnou -- Death Muzak ver. is the Hindenburgh disaster in musical form. You're getting out of touch Maou =p

As for JCHI, the whole theme of the dvd was clearly to take decent performances, and then totally distract you from them.

PS - Howdy, Ringo Bingo.. don't think I've ever spoken to you due to my absence.

Howdy Fluff!! nice to meet you :)

I liked JCHI's honnou, because Ringo picked a guitar (that means at least a rawk-looking tentative) because izawa piano paying aaaaand because teh "I wanna be with you, I really really do... AAAAaaaaa AAAAAaaaa HEEEEEEeeeeeeeieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIII~" at the end (that gives me orgasms)
I liked the phase2 sounan, but to me it's like another song (the same that the two yattsuke shigoto)
and I don't like kyougenshou at all... well, I like, but it's my least favorite on SS, and I don't care if they rot this song... I should care, but compared with how they like to kill the songs that are on my favorite list...
I liked that medley that TJ1 with some SAPS members performed jazz a gogo and honnou
but if honnou is performed full IT MUST RAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
O_____________O
but in top runner it didn't T_T
I wish this never happened, and that I could sleep in peace and honnou was still immaculate ~3~

I'll send you back in time Lena!! a time long before Honnou's innocence was dirtied and you will sleep like a little Lamb :lol:

then please,
send me back to the time that I didn't have to work XD
I would only study and stay home listen to my darling Ringo, and Ringo would just still on her Suguroku Xstasy tour with the REAL jihens X3

HAHAHAHA, take me there too! xD

It was utter shit, if she realizes the current band is incompetent, she should put an end to this nonsense already >_<

edit: Lol bongo, but..

I think some of us were ready to pull the plug on the band after JCHI... In fact, I was ready for new bandmates after the Virgin Line show (particularly Service). OK, yeah, the SAPS Honnou was easily the worst and I'd never want to hear a stripped down version of it again, but the song is still too strong to ever be referred to as "shit."

lol my nerv tshirt XD
the past that bongo is sending me reminds me looney tunes
XDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

OOOOOPS

according to the japanese wiki souretsu was written and intended to be included on this album, but for some reason or other she held off and didn't end up using it until KSK. Crazy, huh.

Really? Souretsu's that old? :blink:

I always thought it was written when Ringo was pregnant.

I guess not....just goes to show how old some of her material was sitting around for.

What I remember is that when Ringo thought to include souretsu in MM or not, she discussed it with Kameda and Kameda said that if you couldn't make a decision then save it for later use.

It just goes to show that the line between MM/SS/KZK/her work in general isn't as defined as people think it is. She could have made material for hundreds of Muzai Moratoriums and Shouso Strips (As is evident by the demo tapes, there's some real potential there), but has chosen not to use it.

What's with that rumour that she wrote over 300 songs in the HF era?

I really wonder what the Muzai-era version sounded like. No doubt it used simplified band instruments, but how simple? The song would have flopped hard if it was like the Phase 2 version, but that wouldn't have fit with the album.

Haha, you don't like the Phase 2 version?

For some reason, I always thought that Souretsu wasn't like the OTHER KZK songs. Yeah, it was all experimental and shit, and this sounds strange, but every song on that album sounds 'blue' or 'silver.' Souretsu sounds 'brownish orange.' And the colour I associate with MM is brownish orange. :unsure:

And if you strip away all the experimental parts of Souretsu, it does sound like a MM song.

I do find the Phase 2 version lacking, but that doesn't really matter. I don't think the song would have hit people like the KSK version if it was recorded like the Phase 2 live. The ending of the song is very important and the live failed hard there.

I imagine the main riff on an acoustic and it's glorious.

Red/Dark Red here =D

Does SS sound pink to you guys? :D

Not really, altough I don't have a color for any SS track, now that I think about it...

I have a grey/black color for Souretsu, but that might be affected by the cover of the album. Yeah, I would say that.

So, so pink (but I could have got that from the album cover as well). Yokushitsu and Stoicism are particularly pink, and Gips tastes like cherry soda. Izonshou has a black background.
SR's voice is pink on songs like Amai Yamai.
Adult is see-through.
Post #100, yay.

wowww, look at all this synaesthesia going on here!

souretsu is grey/black to me
kyougenshou is totally green
tsumi to batsu is yellow
honnou is red
stoicism is an orangeish pink
gips is a pinkish orange
yami ni furu ame is blue/violet

Muzai Moratorium felt a bit weak on my first listen, but I LOVE the album now. Amazing from start to finish. Honestly, even the tracks I don't like too much are brilliant,

I honestly don't think there's a single filler track on Muzai Moratorium. The only weak chain is Onaji Yoru but that's hardly filler. It's a good song but it's one of my lesser liked ballads from her.

Totally agree, it's all so even in quality. For me on SS for example I only really think of Byoushou Public as a great noise orderve before Honnou (I know, Zazen makes it a song!)

Akanesasu Kiro Terasaredo might be the best though. One day, sometime, someone might ask me what kind of chord sequences I like and then I'd play that whole song as an example. Or maybe Kokoro. It's so unlucky to be the sudden mellow comedown after Koufukuron, but it shines. Someone should cover its demo incarnation Headphone in its pop-RnB style.

Onaji Yoru is pretty, its only crime is to be the skip track before the rawk orgasm of Keikoku if you're more in the mood for that, but it's such a sweet, classic song (actually Osiris said it sounded traditional in the ballad thread). SR's songs can be so weird and unique and then she can write music will still be played 200 years in the future on whatever instruments we have then (Rakujitsu...) For all the Knock on Your Doors or whatever on DO, that's my favourite vocal performance. And it's shot so simply, just the one house spotlight with HZM in silhouette.

And there's the violin [recent discussion]... I'll admit this for the Neko-haters, and I agree she has to work with new people, the first time I heard that song I really wanted to learn to play violin! :hmph:

Pointless personal fact: Marunouchi Sadistic is my most-played SR song by a long way. It was too addictive. For this reason I appreciate the JCHI version because seems the most different from the album version that I know. The samba piano at the end is good and there's Kameda's double basssssss... One day Ringo should perform the "Dah-da-dah da-dah da-dah da-dahs" at the beginning of the New Way to Fly demo version again, that would be too funky.

For fun, I made a chronological list of all the versions of Marunouchi Sadistic I've heard up to this point. I'd imagine there are more that I've forgotten or haven't heard yet. Feel free to contribute. :)

01. Demotape Version
02. Muzai Moratorium Version
03. Senkou Xstacy Version
04. Gekokujyo Xstacy Version
05. Electric Mole Version
06. Meet the World Beat '04 Version
07. Bokura no Ongaku / Just Can't Help It Version / Spa & Treatment Version
08. Ringo EXPO '08 / Sanmon Gossip Version
09. NHK SONGS version

I have to tell you that "Marunouchi Sadistic" has been performed more than 20 times already :P
This website will help you out a bit.

I think you misunderstood me. I was talking about versions of the song, not performances. Speaking of which, I probably should add the GX version to the list because it's intro is really different than most versions.
And that page you linked is invaluable to SR fans. I already had it though. Thanks anyway. ^_^

Oh, I guess I'm not really understanding your guidelines :x
I don't see that much difference between some of the versions/performances you consider, nor between the original recording. Usually every live performance tends to differ from the original here or there, so...

Anyway, I think my favourites are the album version and DO's. Sanmon Gossip's version is really good, but it's almost like a whole different song, to me.

Aren't those the same, basically?

Yeah, I really should merge those. The intros are the only thing that is different, and even then it's not much of a change.

The new "SONGS" performance of Marunouchi Sadistic is up on YouTube. It's like the Sanmon Gossip version but more EXPO-y.

Marunouchi Sadistic (Live at NHK SONGS)

OMGoodness, she looks like a more put together Andy Warhol. I love it.

She's crazy! What about those nerd glasses?!?! And her hair is short again?

Haha, it seems that she put glasses to read the lyrics in the monitor. Relaxed too much?

Her voice sounds just perfect, btw *_*.

Really? I immediately got a Christian Siriano vibe...

Never gets old.

I don't know for certain when this photo was taken, but the original Yapoos Keikaku was released in 1987. The cover of this re-issue looks "eerily familiar"!http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=TEBN-35003

Oh, Jun Togawa's Yappos! I love them *_*. The cover does certainly look like Muzai's cover picture, but well, I don't think that can be considered plagiarism or smth like that.

I don't think they are similar at all. Ringo's cover has to do with media and politicians giving speeches, and the other cover features a protest and picketing scene.

I didn't intend to suggest plagiarism, merely inspiration.

Morphine is the best song ever, in this world, in this galaxy, in this milky way, in this universe (However the order goes).

That is all.

The Milky Way is this galaxy...

Yes, Morphine is a gift from the rock gods. Can you believe I purchased guitar equipment just for a Morphine (well, Gibs too) cover?

well.. sometimes I forget how good ringo songs are..morphine is one of them..

I bought MM 3 months ago... to complete my ringo album collection. Great album indeed! ;D

What's the Morphine drug (pun intended?) and where can I get some? It seems to infect all the inhabitants of EMF except for me. I find it to be a fairly average song in her catalog myself.

This album is completely awesome though.

Would anyone else agree with describing part of "Tsumiki-asobi," the rhythmic horn-like part (that comes in for the first time at around 0:50), as being kind of "big beat"? I've always been a bit fuzzy on the boundaries of that sub-genre, but that part of the song reminds me of some things I've seen labeled that way. The song definitely feels like it has some connection to 90s "dance music," anyway.

I seriously doubt that I originally noticed just how far out Saito Neko goes at the end of "Onaji Yoru" the first couple times I heard it. He's so quiet about it that it just kind of sneaks up on the listener.

I've hardly ever said much about this album, and I don't find all that much comment about it around, even where Shiina Ringo is being discussed, but can I just say that it's a great album, and it needs to be said that "Keikoku" is fantastic. And while I've often emphasized the melodic side of Ringo Shiina's music, her rhythmic sense is also pretty reliable. This stuff is rhythmically solid in a way that a shit load of indie rock is not (which makes me annoyed when I occasionally see people describing SR as some sort of "indie-friendly" j-pop, not that she isn't exactly, but it plays down the pop strengths in her music in a way that bugs me). Anyway "Keikoku" is a good example of how her songs can turn out more rhythmically engaging than you might expect when they start out. There's a switch-up at 0:36/0:37, and then again at 0:55. Plus the beats that start the song feel more funk/hip-hop than vanilla rock, to me.

"Morphine" has a little quasi-Latin percussion figure going on.

Oh, and by the way, this album just won a very odd 90s album poll thanks to my vote.

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anata no heya no rusubandenwa ga, chikagoro mame ni hataraiteiru no ~
 

^ I see what you did there :P. Are there any particular latin tracks you'd compare Morphine to?

Actually, as a 90s dance music guy it's the "no no shiru nanji" koto break of Tsumiki that always captivated me. It sounds really current, like they'd switched production duties over to Kidkanevil for a few seconds. Part of the shock of Ringo's old material is how densely musically interesting the tracks are second by second and you can point to the rhythm / stylistic switch-ups in Tsumiki Asobi and Keikoku etc as much as the reputedly more "complex" tracks on SS or KZK. For me it was difficult to go back to normal music afterwards, like developing ADD. =/

Two more things: Susumu Nishikawa is officially some kind of god. There was a YouTube of Shiina Ringo's guitarists I saw once and I had this real, "that's the guy" moment when he came on, and a genuine sense of loss that the much more mainstream sounding Ukigumo, last on the clip, ends up succeeding him. The other is that noone else writes melodies that do what the prechorus to Keikoku does. It's ace.

<3 all of this late love for MM. I love the time signature change at the beginning of Tsumiki Asobi. It's subtle, but adds to overall craziness of the song. Even a the more pop-ish songs on the album have interesting instrumental breaks that you don't find on other pop songs.

Susumu Nishikawa is an amazing guitarist, but he kinda lacks personality. He just kinda stands there doing his thing most of the time. However, you can instantly tell when Yayoshi replaced him in the Gyakutai Glycogen band as the quality of the guitar went way down. Can't compare.

Well, part of the time the congas are playing something that is either a bolero rhythm or something close to it. I'm not a musician, but:

Bolero rhythm demonstration

Just a random example of a bolero (though I like this singer and I'm pretty sure this song is considered a classic):

Jose Tejedor - En Las Tineblas

from rate your music:

it's funny because i was like him the first time i heard this album .this album is kind of generic (not bad), is my least favorite album from hers.

More extremely late MM love: :wub:

First off, her songs rule. Especially the Tsumiki Asobi beats, the Koufukoron screaming (SR teaching me how to count in Japanese at the end, that's priceless), the Kabukichou no joou vocal melody...and Keikoku is awesome. I wasn't expecting to like this album so much, I don't know why.
Also, I think the production on this is sooo great! It bugs me to no end that every "songstress" I hear on the radio is practically singing in their sleep, no doubt with pitch correction on (not that SR doesn't/didn't use it, but she doesn't sound sterilized!). On MM I can hear her voice straining in most songs, so nice to hear someone actually trying to sing the feeling of the song. Don't sing the words kids, sing the feelings...:P And as a sidenote, if she wasn't trying to sound orgasmic, with all the gaspy endings, cut-offs, and background breathing samples, she sure fooled me. (Ex. Keikoku from 3:00 on)

Hello,

I just bought a second-hand CD of Muzai Moratorium but found it quite dubious and not sure if it's a pirate edition, would some owner kindly upload some pictures of the close-up shots of the disc please? Your help is most sincerely appreciated...

Thanks in advance!

There you go :) Legitimate edition has the camera pic.

Thank you very much, Ringo~Bingo! I have exactly this edition, however, it has only one IFPI code on the outside ring showing IFPI L153 (which is coherent by Toshiba) while usually they have 2...Now I'm really confused...