01. BE MY LOVER [Originally by La Bouche]
OH. MY. GOD!
Seriously. This album immediately wins. Nakamori's cover of this is absolutely the greatest thing ever. I mentioned waaaaay back in my review of Shaker that I would be revisiting a topic I brushed upon. Nakamori missed out on being the power house dance singer she was clearly meant to be. The energy of this track is unreal and totally crushes the original version of this song. Seriously, why didn't Nakamori give us an album of songs like this?? She clearly has it in her...
A few notes...and none of them take away from how much this kicks ass. One...Nakamori's singing is better, but not quite as intelligible as the Germans taking a stab at this English thing. Two, the male singer is absolutely better here and I never noticed how creepy those lyrics are ("Not like your brother, wanna be your lover"). Three...this song doesn't quite fit in on this album. Yes, these are all covers of old songs, but the following eight songs are all 80s and this is very much 90s. 1995, in fact.
Who cares, though. This song is flippin' awesome. It's on regular rotation for me.
02. VENUS [Originally by Bananarama]
Definitely not as fussy sounding as the original. The beat is a bit more chill but still poppy as hell. The lyrics are half-translated this time. This one is alright, but I don't see it ending up in a commercial for ladies razor blades any time soon.
Besides, we all know that Cruel Summer is the true Bananarama song. What does that have to do with this review? Nothing. I just felt the need to state that.
03. INTO THE NIGHT [Originally by Michael Fortunati]
OK, I can credit Nakamori for introducing me to the world of Michael Fortunati. Yeah, I'm not much into the whole Disco Italo thing, but this cover is a perfect update to a solid anthem. The lyrics are, again, half-translated. It also features that killer synth solo. I really like this one and am glad to have discovered the original version of the song through this cover.
04. CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF OF YOU [Originally by Frankie Valli, but likely inspired by the Boys Town Gang version]
You've likely heard the 1967 original of this song...or at least one of the 87,000 covers of it. Ehhh, you might as well stick with whatever version you're familiar with. This is the only song on the album I can't seem to get into. The auto-tune is a bit too much and likely exists to hide some of the broken lyrics. The Boys Town Gang version that inspired this is a damn good listen, though. I used to hear it on the radio a long time ago, but I guess Japan is where it endured the most.
05. Give Me Up [Originally by Michael Fortunati]
Another Fortunati jam. Once again, I was introduced to the killer original version which even has a somewhat confusing music video. Really, this a great cover of a song that is just a belter. Whhhhhooooaaaaooooooaaaaa! Nakamori's version is a Japanese-English hybrid to keep in line with the previous Fortunati song. Catchy as all hell......
06. Dancing Hero (Eat You Up) [Originally by Angie Gold, but is a cover of Yoko Oginome's cover]
A cover of a cover. Yoko Oginome's cover of Angie Gold's Eat You Up gained a new title as Dancing Hero and MASSIVE success. It was one of those perfect storm things. The Japanese economy peaked alongside the release of Dancing Hero and the excessively upbeat song became the theme song of the Bubble Economy. Crazy. You know what, though? Oginome has been a total champ about this song becoming something of joke (and eventual meme once the internet became a thing). I don't really like Yoko Oginome that much, but I definitely appreciate this song and her sense of humor. This video with Tunnels sums it up perfectly...
So this cover? It's great! It absolutely nails everything there is to nail. The overbearing beat, the slick singing, the overall earworminess...it's all present. This song in particular is one I was stoked to listen to when I got this album. Nakamori covering a song from Japan that was a hit during her own peak. How fitting!
07. TWO OF HEARTS [Originally by Stacey Q]
I *haaaaaaaate* the original version of this song. I don't know, it's just one of those songs that irritates me for no particular reason. I suppose that it's popularity has kinda miffed me more than anything. That said, this cover is awesome. It's in the same spirit of the original song, but just a little more modern sounding. It's also a reminder that Nakamori has still got it down.
08. SWEET DREAMS (ARE MADE OF THIS) [Originally by Eurythmics]
This is another one I was absolutely stoked to hear. This is actually a pretty faithful cover. The music is largely unmolested from it's original version and Nakamori just gets it. The vocals aren't quite as dead as they should be, but the cover as a whole is just perfect. Lyrically, Nakamori is probably the most qualified person on the planet to sing this song. Who am I to disagree?
09. CALL ME [Originally by Blondie]
While the first track on this album was clear outside the 80s, this one just baaaarely manages to sneak in with it's 1980 release. You know the original, and this cover is an excellent send-up to it. It's just as you know it, but with Nakamori singing instead of Debbie Harry and some minor modern trimmings added in. I couldn't have picked a better song to finish this incredible album with.
DVD - 35th Anniversary Memorial Image
I ended up getting the CD+DVD release of this album. For my troubles I received a bonus region-free DVD featuring a six minute and change video. The memorial video is made up of several 1-2 second clips spanning from the 1990s to 2017 and set to the single version of Hirari -SAKURA-. Lots of fun moments like this...
OVERALL: Blown away. This album is sooooo gooooood. As I mentioned in my review of Akina, this album was released on the same day but managed to peak higher on the Oricon weekly chart. It deserves it because this is just an excellent time start to finish. I can even over look it's relatively short run time. Maybe this could have been remedied with a cover of Haddaway's What Is Love or, if it *had* to be an 80s song, the anthem of a certain red-headed one.
Since Nakamori's cover albums tend to get sequels, we can only hope for Cage 2. Pleeeeeease! I so want this to be a thing every other year or so. So much untapped goodness to be had. For now, just be sure to pick this one up. The cover of BE MY LOVER is absolutely worth the price of admission alone.
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