yeah, i'm a slacker. i forgot about this one for a while. hopefully part three won't take as long.
[url=http://pirouzu.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1017]first part[/url] if you missed it. article is from summer 2004, they're talking about [i]turn back[/i].
y = yamanaka
s = satou
m = manabe
[b]manabe-san, you're smiling, but weren't there a lot of challenges redoing the songs? [/b]
m: yeah. right after we finished, i was really pleased. but then the staff shelved it without a release date. since we'd taken great pains with it, i wondered if the three of us should practice the horn.
all: (laughter)
m: and since it didn't sound like we'd recorded it live, well...
s: we decided to do something.
y: we could all play the sax.
m: i thought the pillows could do horns from now on.
y: we thought, 'should we turn into a horn section?' (laughs)
m: even if i couldn't do that, i'd do my best.
s: it ended in failure, it was all over. actually, we put horns in all the songs (laughs).
all: (laughter)
m: thinking that, i completely devoted myself. it was extraordinarily difficult, but i'm really glad we did it, and it was really rewarding. although someday i'd like the three of us to do a horn section.
s: aren't you quick to remember we all worked hard.
all: (laughter)
[b]the other unreleased song, 'ano koro ni modotte'- from what time period did that song originate? [/b]
y: well, i think it's a song from when we first formed in '89. we just did a re-release, '90's my life returns'. to put together that album, we pulled out the old master tape from a cardboard box in our office storage, and watched and listened to a lot of different things. there was a cassette tape from a shinjuku loft show we did on january 6, 1991, and as soon as i saw it i felt nostalgic. there were songs i'd forgotten and so many other things in there. when i saw the title, 'ano koro ni modotte', i remembered, that was definitely a good song. we changed the chord progression on the A melody a little, but i seemed to remember the lyrics. i went home and listened to it, the show that day was at some acoustic corner. manabe played the acoustic guitar, and i just played the intro and interlude on the electric. and the MC for the show said, 'here's a song we haven't heard in a while!' (laughs). it was january 1991 (laughs).
[b]did you also change the arrangement? [/b]
y: there were no drums or bass. it was an acoustic corner. but the intro phrase i played on the electric, i tried to make it almost exactly the same. i mean, i did (laughs). yeah. but we had no recordings of the rest of the song.
s: of course you'd played it, but it was a faint memory, wasn't it.
y: so i played it like it was a new song. of course, i seriously wondered whether i should look to see if we had a tape somewhere, but there was no time to do that so i just performed it as usual.
s: it's better not to listen to the original, when doing a self cover. if you do, you end up copying it, and the new version ends up being very similar. thank goodness i didn't.
all: (laughter)
[b]but the other songs that have already been released- you've heard those already, right? [/b]
s: yeah. but i don't listen to them often. if you can't help remembering it, you can't help it. like 'our halley's comet'. but yamanaka said he really liked the arrangement for 'our halley's comet' so he was fine with copying it. i played it like usual, but when i listened to it afterward, it was quite different.
y: well, in the first place the bass is different. he (jun) did it his own way (laughs).
s: when i listened to it carefully afterward, the way the guitar solo was played was different.
y: the solo part was different?
s: yeah. it's DUN DA DON.
y. too detailed... this conversation won't work in a magazine.
s: DUN DA DON!! so, udon and don. [1]
all: (laughter)
y: udon and don are totally different. (laughs)
s: certainly there's differences. for songs back then, we'd be changing the arrangement and the solo a certain way and practice like crazy, but then it would just end up changing anyway. so it's better not to practice (laughs).
y: it's natural, we'd end up practicing the original way.
s: we'd spend days and days on a song, months and years trying to decide on the arrangement. there really is one song we've been working on for years. that's not so good. we just get tired of it and decide to change it. if i listened to it now, i'd probably think it sounds strange.
all: (laughter)
s: because the new version of 'halley's comet' is usually good, i want to put a lot of quality into it, drum-wise.
y: in those days it couldn't be helped that my singing was so bad. honestly speaking those two sound fine, then and now. if only my vocals could be fixed (laughs). that's my personal wish. i like to listen to my own music, but i just don't feel good listening to this stuff.
[b]what parts do you not like?[/b]
y: all of it. it's like dumplings were coming out of my mouth!
m: i don't get it (laughs).
y: it's like i was eating while i was singing! like something was stuffed inside my cheek! (laughs)
s: there was something in your mouth, wasn't there (laughs).
all: (laughter)
s: you were such a pig.
y: (laughs) oh yeah. it's like, 'was he wearing a hidden corset?!'
[b]uh huh.[/b]
y: 'uh huh' he says... you're wondering too!
all: (laughter)
[b]ah, sorry.[/b]
y: but yeah, it does seem that way.
[b]but you know your voice has really changed.[/b]
y: i'm a different person... a different person or something. (laughs)
s: we switched members, without knowing it.
[b]the feel of 'tiny boat' also changed a lot.[/b]
y: yeah, i tried to listen to myself from before. from what i remembered of 'tiny boat', it wasn't all that soft of a song. i didn't go in thinking that i wanted to change that in particular, usually that just becomes something difficult to obtain. it's my dream that it'll be treated as a really famous song, so because i hear the voice i want to hear, i wonder if what i recorded sounds kind or not. i thought i'd do it with more tension now. although even back then i was worried if it sounded good, more important than whether it was good or bad was that the mood was wrong. i shouldn't think about whether i like my singing. it's the mood! it's wrong! i didn't think it was so soft.
s: like a nice person.
y: wasn't it? even back then i was doing all kinds of confusing things behind the scenes (laughs).
[b]when it's softer, there's more of a pop feel.[/b]
y: yeah. i remember from the campaign at the time, i was talking to this female radio personality, and she told me 'there's a spitz influence, isn't there' and while i said 'yes', i was thinking 'i want to kill you!!'. but recently i was listening and thought 'there IS a spitz influence...' (laughs)
all: (laughter)
y: it's true. i don't want to be misunderstood as saying spitz is bad, but when you're given a concrete name, being told you sound like such and such, of course you're not happy, right? even though i like spitz. but this time i'm sorry.
s: sorry masamune! [2]
all: (laughter)
y: i did admire them (laughs).
[1] don here means 'bowl' - unfortunately to translate would lose the pun.
[2] kusano masamune is the leader of spitz.
