Search - Tokio :: Yesterday & Today

Calculated, corporate entertainment at its finest

David Goodwin | Westchester, NY United States | 08/30/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The pop music industry in Japan should be a model for the sort of *absolute efficiency* possible in the entertainment industry. It's almost entirely calculated and devoid of spontaneity. And if Americans think that Britney Spears and others receive far more news coverage and reverence than they deserve, well, they should get a load of Japanese pop institutions like SMAP that vertically and horizontally integrate themselves thoroughout the entire pop-cultural mainframe.



SMAP, by the way, is the brainchild of Johnny Kitigawa, head of Johnny's Jimusho, the "pretty boy factory" that birthed Tokio in 1994. Tokio was supposed to be a break from Kitigawa's usual pattern, in that they're (allegedly) a real band--albeit a prefab real band--that (allegedly) plays its own instruments and (allegedly) writes its own songs...in between appearances on top-rated dramas, of course. I have no idea if any of this is actually true, but who am I to doubt the good word of the Japanese pop establishment?



In any case, Tokio is almost as disposable as most of Johnny's other creations.



Almost.



I really liked Tokio's song for the anime series "Kodomo No Omocha"; it was simple, catchy, and actually somewhat clever. The song doesn't appear on "Yesterday and Today," but the album (if it *is* a proper album...the subtitles on some of the tracks make me wonder) follows in its spirit. It is catchy, well written melodically, and actually somewhat interesting production-wise. The lyrics are likely dire (not speaking Japanese has its advantages), but singer Tomoya Nagase is a pretty solid studio vocalist, and he delivers them well.



I like to think of "Yesterday and Today" as Paul Revere and the Raiders' "Spirit of '67" updated for 2000 and refracted through the Japanese point of view. It's not going to win any awards for originality, but it's an enjoyable piece of pseudo-power-pop. If you're going to buy one entry from the Tokio canon, and you're approaching this delicate task from the perspective of one not generally enamored with mainstream J-pop, "Yesterday and Today" should be the album you pick."