Akina In The House!

初めて出逢った日のように ...

The screaming occurred the moment the images of Dani, Kenji and 乱火 appeared on MSN . Just like the first day I met Dani ... there was screaming all around when he realised that Leslie was my friend, and just like the first time I linked up with these guys and Hamu, it was friends at the first sight ...

It was my first trans-atlantic Akina listening party for her newest single 「落花流水」(click on the link for a preview), in fact my first listening party period. I have not seen them since July when we all attended Akina's concert in Tokyo and then another gathering back in Singapore when I first met Kenji, but we have become fast friends and definitely an Akina family club.

Since I have not received the single yet from Japan, 乱火 was very kind to rip it into an mp3 file, so that we could play it simultaneously at both ends of the world via webcam ... and the end result was exhilarating. The moment the first strings hit, there was so much screaming I had to turn down the volume of the speakers from the webcam. It was so good to be able to share these emotions with them all, watching them imitate previous Akina dance movements from 「月華」 and screaming "Omigod! I can't believe it. It's so good.", I was laughing so hard I could hardly concentrate fully on the song. Unconsciously, I was bopping around to the song and caught Dani's attention, which attracted more laughter all around. As the music flowed and Akina's vocals enthralled, we were all caught in mesmerised states of ecstasy. Akina's definitely back in the house!!

It is her first exciting single in many years and many Japanese Akina fans have been generally raving about the new single, describing it to be similar to her previous ethnic songs like 「AL-MAUJ」 and 「原始、女は太陽だった」. Unfortunately, these songs are not one of my favourites of Akina, so I was hoping for something different and more refreshing, and thankfully, I was not disappointed.

It is "exotic" like 「二人静 「天河伝説殺人事件」より」 and 「月華」 but is more exciting due to the uptempo beat of the song. Akina also sounds more assuring and powerful than she has done for quite some time, injecting much strength and refreshment into the song. It is definitely fitting to the period drama 「天下騒乱 徳川三代の陰謀」 that it is the theme song for, and hopefully, it will be featured heavily during the broadcast to attract more buyers. Bring back the old and generate new fans!

The couping song, which is a 2005 revival of her mega hit 「Desire」 follows closely to the arrangement of the original but is given a rockish revamp, and seems tailored for a Kokahu performance that never materialised. Still, it is a good sign that with this new single, Akina has given us fans a breath of fresh air to face the new year with her!

For a more energetic review, please read Dani's review on VAMP, which we are so proud of (Thanks for your very generous compliments on me as well), which if you have not visited for months, is a good time for another revival because it is filled with lots of Akina goodies, including past performances (video), Akina song mixes, gossips and facts that you never knew about Akina. Please also visit my very dear other Akina family websites, like Hamu, 乱火, Dani, Kenji and new friends DJ Suzy and CJ, where you will be able to find out more about Akina!

On another note, I have just received a very early birthday card from Akina (courtesy of Faithway):



It's so nice to think that Akina might know her birthday greetings reaches all the way to Australia now!

Akina has also revealed her song list for her new Best Collection due out on 11th Jan 「BEST FINGER～25TH ANNIVERSARY SELECTION」 and they are as follows:

1 落花流水
2 スローモーション
3 DESIRE-情熱-
4 少女A
5 初めて出逢った日のように
6 北ウイング
7 十戒（1984）
8 Days
9 ミ・アモーレ[Meu amore...]
10 TATTOO
11 1／2の神話
12 難破船
13 赤い花
14 The Heat〜musica fiesta〜
15 TANGO NOIR
16 飾りじゃないのよ涙は
17 華-HANA- (coupling song for 「Days」)

She has assembled many of her past No. 1 hits and it follows the trendof her past "vocal remixes" that she only selects songs from her Warner Glory Years. Nothing from the mid-late 90s, which could be indicative of a period that Akina was at one of her lowest points of her life and would rather forget about them.

Lastly, Hamu found this interesting note on a website, which links 3 members of our Akina family site to an "Akina Ring", even though none of us had actually signed up for it. Interesting to know that anonymous Akina fans could be accessing my blog right now.