01. Your Birthday
An odd choice for an opening track, but it's a great song. It's on the softer side, but it's actually really catchy. I can't help but think that it sounds kinda familiar, though. Someone out there will probably be able to figure out what song I'm thinking of...
02. Ame no hi wa ningyo
Another slower song, but this one isn't sung as sweetly as the previous track. Good, but just a little bit too generic.
03. Rakuen no megami
A more upbeat song, and a pretty decent one. It isn't the greatest production, but the singing is as good as you can expect it to be. An enjoyable track, for sure.
04. Kon'ya, nagareboshi
The second single from this album. This is a slow song, which is largely uncharacteristic of Nakamori's 90s singles. I think she may have missed out by not releasing more singles like this during the decade. Sales would tell another tale, though. This only peaked at Number sixty six on the Oricon singles chart. It's a shame because it's reminiscent of her earlier successful singles done with some much better singing.
05. Kisei ~Never Forget~
Here is the lead single from the album. It's very good, but fairly slower. I don't know exactly how to describe this one other than...very 90s and very Nakamori. I like it a lot.
06. Shukufuku
Not sure I dig this one too much. It's a slower song with a pretty lame choice of piano tone. We get Nakamori's sweet voice once again here at least. It's always nice when that shows up. It was pretty common around this time it seems.
07. Yuki no hana ~White X'mas~
I'm not entirely sure why this song is on this album given it's June release...but here we are. I should also mention that an alternate version of it appears on the single for Trust Me in 1999. I wonder what the deal was. A very slow song with almost haunting vocals. It does lighten up a little bit at least...and it isn't a bad song either.
08. Arashi no nakade
The B-Side to Kon'ya, nagareboshi. Really good song, but it's on the slower side like everything else on this album. It was a great pairing for the single needless to say.
09. Genwaku
Another slow song, but definitely one that you can groove to. Some great structure and equally as strong singing to go a long with it. It's dreamy in a really good way.
10. BLOWING FROM THE SUN
Very slow song. I mean...do I really have to say it at this point? It's good in it's simplicity. Just a light music track and Nakamori singing.
11. Hanakumori
This is a slow one, which is fine, but the lousy piano choice from Shukufuku is back. It at least feels like an outro song, which is nice.
OVERALL: There are two things I should probably mention before I really give an opinion about this album. One: Nakamori produced this herself and I give her credit for the consistency of music on this album. Two: Another record label change. Yep, Nakamori was done with MCA Victor and was now signed with THIS ONE...which was a subsidiary of GAUSS Entertainment...which was a subsidiary of Tokuma Japan Communications. I know the US music industry was awash with sub-labels within sub-labels in the 90s but I didn't realize that it was a thing in Japan as well.
There isn't much of a pulse in this album, but it definitely isn't bad. It's just not one for my tastes. I kinda feel like the variety and liveliness of the previous two albums were kinda the result of Nakamori finally being able to branch away from Warner and do new stuff at her own pace with names that she previously weren't able to work with. This almost feels like a return to the Warner days...and that isn't bad thing. I might not be the biggest fan of this album, but it sold pretty well.
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