Favourites: The first three album era was always going to have the most longevity for me, but I finally know which is my favourite: ★ Shouso Strip. Sakana, Yokushitsu, Honnou make an idiosyncratic, exciting pop album you can get lost in. Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana is still an intricate patchwork of amazing - maybe unusually I like the feminine, jazzy tracks on the second half of the album right now, they opened up new ways for music to move me... Muzai Moritorium sweeps you away with a first-rate, addictive set of songs. Each ends in her scat singing, which is awesome. At other times I would have voted for one of those, but Shouso Strip feels right.
★ Electric Mole is my favourite DVD.
I also really like: Utaite Myori is good to own and as TeslaGuy says upthread, songs like Autumn Leaves and I Won't Last A Day Without You get very sonically pleasing pop reworkings that you can play all through with a nice vibe. Always recommended to hear artists' influences. Tokyo Jihen broke the spell somehow but most of Kyoiku grew on me as a sexy mix of jazz and rock (I think people understand you, chii!) Maybe another band will pick up Phase 1's ball and run with it.
More mixed feelings: Adult. I want to hear this wonderful SR lounge-pop album people blog about, that would be my kind of thing! Parts of Adult sound like that (Himitsu, Kabuki) but other parts (Yukiguni, Superstar) sound a little plain. I prefer the Shuraba single, it's like a perfect mini-album in itself. Sanmon Gossip has its excellent moments mixed in with a bit too much of what Kuronekodow disarmingly calls "bold orchestration", at least for my tastes. SR + orchestra can sound a little too much like theme music, but then I really enjoyed YouTubing Baishou Ecstasy, so ~ I'll go figure. Heisei Fuuzoku has a personality of its own despite being mainly rearrangements, but Hatsukoi aside it was just always at the bottom of my listening pile, or becomes "enough" after a track or two.
Not a fan of: Sports or Variety. There are one or two undeniably likeable tracks on Sports, but otherwise TJ have lost me.
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