From the daily archives:

Friday, August 25, 2006

ROMANS

by Lainay on August 25, 2006 · 3 comments · AddThis

Sexy Night ~Wasurerarenai Kare~ ROMANS: Sexy Night ~Wasurerarenai Kare~
Label: ZETIMA
EPCE-5230
1,050yen
01. SEXY NIGHT ~Wasurerarenai Kare~
02. ROMAN
03. SEXY NIGHT ~Wasurerarenai Kare~ (Instrumental)

ROMANS (which is a play on words and is pronounced “romance”) was a one single group of the Hello! Project, consisting of Mari Yaguchi and Rika Ishikawa who were from Morning Musume, Mai Satoda from Country Musume, Hitomi Saitou from Melon Kinenbi, and Ayaka of Coconuts Musume. They took on a sexy theme, with a mature and sexy single and clothing. They released their only single, SEXY NIGHT ~Wasurerarenai Kare~ on August 20th, 2003.

ROMANS was formed because the members were all in a TV show together, Sexy Onna Juku. This one-shot group was different because it didn’t consist of solo singers, like Gomattou and Nochiura Natsumi. Instead, this group had members of Morning Musume, Country Musume, Melon Kinenbi, and Coconuts Musume, which made it somewhat like a shuffle unit.

I actually really like this group and their single. The c/w is kind of.. off, but the a-side is so good! It doesn’t even sound cheesy. You know.. when you get a bunch of H!P girls together, and they sing a cool hip hoppy song, it’s hard for it to not feel too fake. These girls really sound good together, with Ayaka and Hitomi just rapping, and the others singing. That style was later seen in 7AIR.

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ura E ~Complete B-side Melodies~

by spellcheck on August 25, 2006 · 3 comments · AddThis

ZONE backstage at 'ZONE FINAL IN BUDOKAN ~Kokoro wo Komete Arigatou~
ZONE backstage at 'ZONE FINAL IN BUDOKAN ~Kokoro wo Komete Arigatou~
Title: “ura E ~Complete B-side Melodies~”
Artist: ZONE
Release Date: April 18, 2006
First Press: Bonus 28 page booklet
Record Label: Sony Records

Nearly 1 year after the official disbandment of bandoru group ZONE, an official website notice stated that a poll was up for fans to select three of their favorite non-single tracks from their discography. From the poll results, “ura E ~Complete B-side Melodies~” was born. Full of album and b-side tracks hand-picked by the most dedicated ZONE fans themselves, “ura E” was meant as a supplement to the original compilation, “E ~Complete A-side Singles~”. (“Ura”, which means “the other side”, is normally a term used in album titles in this manner, to indicate a compilation of songs other than single tracks.) The first press version offered a bonus 28 page booklet of pictures of the rehearsal and behind-the-scenes happenings from their final concert, “ZONE FINAL IN NIHON BUDOKAN ~Kokoro wo Komete Arigatou~”.

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