Nippon Girls 2: Japanese Pop 1965-70 / Various

This is the great compilation CD of '60s groovy Japanese girl pop, some were huge hits and some were very obscure songs. All the props go to the Sheila Burgel, her knowledge and taste of music are superb. Especially I was so impressed by digging out songs like "Saike na Machi de""Kizudarake no Taiyo""Wild Party""Wayashi ga Kemeko yo""Ore to Kanojo." All these songs are full of energy, dreams & innocence that Japanese lost a long time ago. My Favorite "Saike na Machi de" means "In the Psychedelic Town" and describe young people of '60s Japan in big cities. "In the Psychedelic Town, as I met you, psychedelic flowers falls, Me & you dancing with empty pockets, the momentary rainbow sparks, In the dreams that nobody knows, In the Psychedelic Town, keep dancing till the dawn comes to my lonely heart" I hope they will continue this series with '70s Japanese Soul, Funk & Disco girls. There are tons of undiscovered treasures.

Very light tunes and when listening gives good vibes of 70s

Who doesn't like "Girl Groups"? This is an interesting if not sometimes perplexing collection. Trying to get those "hangers on" to get out after the party has died? Go ahead, put this on and watch the run begin! Seriously, "hip" has no borders. This collection if nothing else, gives us an opportunity to savor a bit of the Japanese pop scene circa 1960's.

The liner notes are fabulous. If you're into funky sixties music that sounds familiar, but a bit exotic, you'll enjoy this. The others in the collection are also good.

Came to me very safely and was brand new, no scratches or anything, the music is wonderful and i would recommend this to others looking for older Japanese music, my friend loved it!

cool

The pop music was entirely musical terrible. I don't recall in my life music with no appeal.

I had both Nippon Girls off Vinyl to CDand on to the Tower.

I raved about volume one, well volume two is even sexier. On her blog, compiler Sheila Burgel explains that when compiling her dream list for volume one tracks by the likes of Chiyo Okumara, Akiko Nakamura and other prime-movers on the Japanese Girl pop scene were denied her. Thanks to Sheila's dogged persistence her original dream list can now be experienced.The girls run through a plethora of styles blowing in from the west, from breezy bossa nova to cage-busting go-go, from bratty ye-ye to crunchy psych, most of them sing in Japanese, but a few tackle English. The sounds of traditional Japan are curiously absent, and I wonder if any artists during the period dared venture into fusion. To my ears the comp includes a few misfires, but even they include something of note to make them worthy of a repeat.Too many faves to shout about, but here are a few. Opener 'Bazazz No. 1' (Kayoko Ishuu) features the wheezy organ sound that characterized much of Piero Piccioni's soundtrack work. The funky 'Saike Na Machi' (sampled by P5) features some exemplary grunt work from former dancer Reiko Mari. 'Mini Mini Girl' (Katsuko Kanai) sounds like the proto-type for the 5,6,7,8's. Of course fans of 'Stray Cat - Delinquent Boss' will need no introduction to Akiko Wada who was famed for her rebellious attitude and striking androgony; 'Boy & Girl' is one heavy funker. If you listen carefully to 'Kizudarake No Taiyou' (Bay Beats) you can hear strains of 'California Dreaming'. Anyone who owns the comp 'Cinemania Series Reel 8' will recognize the next act Anne Mari who is pictured lying on a bed, wearing only black knickers, and brandishing a gun. On the frenetric hillbilly surf rocker 'Wild Party' Anne gives the Fujiyama Mama, Wanda Jackson a run for her money...and the list continues.Refreshingly, the sound is uniformly excellent, meaning the volume dial can be turned up without fear of distortion or bleeding ears.The booklet is a joy of informative, humorous text, and pictures galore of Japanese beauties dressed in mini-skirts and thigh high leather boots, astride motorbikes or holding a gun.Sheila, all I can say is keep dreaming the dream, I want Nippon Girls 3.

Fantastic compilation featuring music quite unlike anything i've heard before. It's not like they are ever going to play stuff like this on day time radio, makes a refreshing change to Oly Murs and his ilk. Maybe other people in society would like this too if they weren't so sheep-like, stupid and unadventurous and didn't know anything about anything outside of what they are force-fed by the media! The musicianship is top-notch on every track, often with string and brass accompanyment and often with a very similar (stereo) production. The reproduction of the recordings is crystal clear, considering the majority of these are from the 1960s it shows the Japanese producers of these records certainly knew what they were doing in the studio. The influences of western music is there, including nods to psychedelia, surf, bossa nova and ballads among others. Some songs have obvious comical appeal. Some songs could be from a Japanese James Bond film soundtrack. Great stuff. I will be buying the other CDs from this series.

An interesting release, the second in the series from Ace records. I'm not sure if I like or hate it. The tracks span the years 1965 to 70. The tracks range from very light and through away, to exotic, to eccentric and wacky to the insanely catchy. One or two sound very good - especially 'Daniel mon amour' sung in French by Mari Henni and the guitar driven sung in English 'Namida no heart' by Emy Jackson & Smashmen. There are one or two others that are good but mostly I found myself at odds with it all. It comes with a very good 20 page colour booklet with some great pics and record covers. The sound quality is excellent. Overall, I enjoyed it to a point but it was like I was trapped in a weird go-go club with bongo's ringing in my ears. Not for me, but you may love it - you'll never know until you buy it - take a chance. 6/10.

Great collection of Japanese pop rock songs from mid sixties. I love it but not as instantly likeable as Vol1.That is just a personal opinion .For anyone who likes sixties girl singers this collection is a great introduction .

One of the best cds I've ever bought!