Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra – ワールド フェイマス (World Famous)
welcome back to the Skaject folks! today, we’re back to Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra with 1991’s ワールド フェイマス (World Famous)!
リボルバー・イレヴン (Revolver Eleven), opens the record with a very spy-like vibe – really fun track, especially with the extremely jazzy bridge. ホール・イン・ワン(Hole in One) has an extremely jaunty energy, and it definitely feels like it should be paired with like, a very bouncy cartoon. another track that’s a lot of fun. 黒い太陽 (Kuroi Taiyou, or “Black Sun”) comes right out the gate with an incredibly strong brass line, and the bass does a ton of heavy lifting on this track. big fan. the vocals are a very nice pair, and i like the background singers too – give the track a retro vibe in places. セサミ・ストリート(Sesame Street) is an arrangement of the theme song from the show. downright delightful. エレキでゴー! (Eleki de Go!, or “Go Electric!”) feels like racing music. lotta fun, and im getting some pretty strong surf rock vibes from the bridge here. 日の出マーチ (Hinode March, or “Sunrise March”) is aight. feels like parade music. ジャングル・ブギ (Jungle Boogie) is doing some fun stuff with the percussion, but im just aight on the track overall. ユー・アー・ア・ミラクル“ナイスなおまえ” (You Are a Miracle “Nice You”) has a very nice, bright, positive energy to the melody. very sunny here. i haven’t listened to a lot of traditional Russian music, but ラシアン・カウボーイ(“Russian Cowboy”) def channels what i imagine – probably unsurprising, given that they’ve covered the song used as the Tetris theme. スカティック・インベーダーズ (“Skatic Invaders”) is p solid. アイ・ビープド・ホエン・アイ・シュド・バップト“あんたに夢中” (“I Beeped When I Should Bopped”) has a very funny name, and is a very loungey song. アイオライトの祈り(Iolite No Inori, or “Iolite Prayer”), named after a type of mineral used in some meditation. im not huge on this one. nothin against it, just not for me. 四次元山脈 (Yogien Sanmyaku, “Four Dimensional Mountains”), comes out the gate strong with the saxophones, and man i really dig this one. レッツ・グミグミ(Let’s Gumigumi) is another track i dont have a ton of strong feelings about. neat jazzy energy here, especially closer to the spy vibe from Revolver Eleven, but as much for me. ガッツィー・ボンゴ (Gutsy Bongo) is a more laid back track. really like what the trumpet gets to flex alongside the electric guitar on this one.
スタア・スタア・スタア(Star Star Star) is a pleasant, almost daydreamy track. ワールド・フェイマス (World Famous) is an odd, winding path towards the end. strange little song.
faves – リボルバー・イレヴン (Revolver Eleven), 黒い太陽 (Kuroi Taiyou, or “Black Sun”), エレキでゴー! (Eleki de Go!, or “Go Electric!”), 四次元山脈 (Yogien Sanmyaku, “Four Dimensional Mountains”)
dislikes –
was legit kinda bummed im having such a hard time finding translations for TSPO, cause i feel like that’s an element im not able to assess, esp as this record started using more vocals. this record came out the gate real strong – there’s some really really excellent tracks here, but kinda mellowed out for me in the middle. still a very strong collection of tracks, especially if you’ve been enjoying the vibes TSPO has been putting down so far.
World Famous – 7/10
next week, it’s Fishbone’s The Reality of My Surroundings!
previous: Skafunkrastapunk | next: The Reality of My Surroundings
previous TSPO record: スカパラ登場 (Skapara’s Intro) | next: Pioneers
Discussion ¬