Oh wow that solo album. That's gorgeous stuff, I looked up some other tracks. Dare I say, but it's use of classical song structures and traditional instruments sounds almost KZK-ish to me?

Would you recommend any Go!Go! albums? Should I start with their best album?

Yeah! Her solo album is very different and spans a lot of genres. You could say it's her KZK.

As far as Go!Go! I would say start with Tategami - that's their masterpiece IMO. After that I would start from the beginning at Dasukuhokou and work your way from there. They have so many albums. Parade is my second favorite album of theirs.

This gets my vote for best song off Parade. Love the chorus so much. You got me back on a Go!Go! kick.

雨上がり。。

They also killed it live.

浮舟

What's the trick to liking Go!Go!7188? They're like one of the other 'big' bands that a lot of Shiina Ringo fans like... but I just can't get into it. I've always liked Ukifune or whatever it's called... that had some real character (but also sounds like something that could have fit on Shouso Strip easily), but the rest, I dunno, it's pretty take or leave it to me. Maybe it's just her voice that isn't off-the-wall and unique enough for me to care passionately.

It's the same question I ask when listening to Blur: What am I missing here??? :-/

On the contrary, I think her voice is very unique. It's certainly not your generic, average J-pop star voice. She's also very talented at guitar.

To be fair, there's nothing to "get" and there's no "trick". It's enjoyable music. Thumping bass lines, tight and creative drumming, excellent guitar playing coupled with vocal harmonizing of Yuu and Akko. A lot of their albums sound different, too.

Ukifune is the live song I posted above and I honestly can't hear that fitting on Shouso Strip.

Couldn't people say the same thing about Seiko? Especially for Seiko, actually. Her voice borders on grating a lot of times and it's on purpose. "I don't get it" "What's the trick to liking this?" :P It works both ways. The difference is Go!Go! is (mostly) easily accessible and Seiko is an acquired taste, which is where your tastes lean a lot of times - as far as I've noticed.

Does not reward more than being acquired... IMO of course.

Maybe that's it, it's just too "normal" for my spoilt ears. Maybe if I'd started listening to them before Ringo/Togawa things would be different. But then... I like Yasuha Kominami. A conundrum.

I was going to bring that up, actually. Yasuha's voice isn't anymore or less unique than Yuu's. They're both excellent, female rock singers. There's no shame in liking both spectrums of music. I like my weird, off-beat, challenging-to-listen-to music just as much as something like Yasuha or Go!Go!. Depends on my mood.

Yasuha does have that weird "breaking-voice-whisper-yell" (I'm sure you know what I'm referring to- I'm gonna call it her "brell" from now on :P) that I adore though. Noone else does that (that I know of).

I do like both spectrums of music though- I'll listen to Sunn O))) immediately followed by Ayumi Hamasaki. (One true to life example). Just haven't been conviced with Go!Go! I guess, most likely my loss. I'll try again. It's the same with Judy and Mary, I'm re listening to their catalog in hopes of hearing the reason why people love them as much as they do- though I expect a lot is to do with nostalgia in their case. YUKI's solo work... well, let's not talk about that. I have the same problems with it as I do with most of Salyu's work haha (to put it crudely/last.fm comment-y.... it's just... well, boring to me). But I'm going off topic, sorry. *waiting for hailstorm of hate and/or Oomori bashing from JAM fans*

Yuu's best material (inside or outside of GO!GO!7188) was in the early to mid 2000s, in my opinion.

Here's a good example of her solo career:

Yuu - Amai Mizu

As for GO!GO!7188, you should try the Tategami album as a whole, deadgrandma. It and Hatsuiku Status occasionally remind me of each other.

I really liked Go!Go!7188 when I first heard them, which is a unique mix of rock and enka, but got over them quickly. Reason being Yuu's voice is nowhere as versatile as Ringo's, more like Ringo stuck on one note on every song. The only Go!Go! CD I own is Tategami, I downloaded the rest. Both Yuu's solo album and Chirinuruwowaka stuff are pretty boring IMO.

Yasuha Kominami's new song is a bore. I don't care how confident she sounds. She's on her way of becoming another Hitomi Yaida.

Also I do not acknowledge the existence of any kind of savior in the current music scene. I only follow Goto Mariko and the Jihen chick these days. :wakka:

Yet, Goto Mariko is a bit of a one-trick pony herself. In her solo-albums she only uses her cutes-y singing voice. In Midori she would switch between wailing/yelling and the cutes-y singing. However, my point (and I think yours) is invalid because both Goto or Yuu have no reason to be as versatile as Ringo. Their voices fit for the situations brought about in the music. Ringo has many different vocal styles, because she plays lots of different music.