Crap. My 360 died. Part Deux.

A long time ago in a not-so faraway land, my launch day Xbox 360 console bit the dust, killed by GPU failure. Tonight, the refurbished console that Microsoft sent me as a warranty replacement for that original unit also bit the dust, also killed by GPU failure. It was a new design, sporting a new chipset, a quieter DVD drive and, most importantly, an enormous heatsink inside. And it failed anyway.

Ironically, I turned on my Xbox tonight because my friend Forster suggested some online gaming. He was undoubtedly in the gaming mood, having just received his warranty replacement Xbox from Microsoft this week after his original console suffered the exact same problem as mine. So we decided to try some co-op in Borderlands, a pretty cool hybrid shooter/RPG that I just got my hands on last weekend.

On our first game, we got about three minutes in before my Xbox locked up hard. Forster was in the midst of telling me something over the chat headset when both he and the game sounds completely cut out. Most unnervingly, I could immediately hear my console’s cooling fans spin down, as if the system had been returned to the dashboard, but it was completely unresponsive and required that I press the power button on the console faceplate to turn it off.

Upon booting it back up, I once again fired up Borderlands and was about to start the game when it abruptly crashed again, this time displaying a solid screen of black and white vertical pinstripes. First tangible sign of GPU failure, CHECK!

Forster and I tried three more times to start a co-op game, and each time I encountered a hard lock a couple minutes in. I was starting to get a little pissed off, so I suggested we try another game — Forza Motorsport 3 — to see if the problem would manifest there, or if it was just something goofy with Borderlands.

So we started up Forza, got into a 5-lap competitive race, and proceeded to finish without any hiccups whatsoever. Hmm.

My other buddy Pooch was also online, so we invited him into our game and got some three-player races started. Everything seemed to be going fine, and I was beginning to wonder if maybe my copy of Borderlands was frakked up — when it happened again. The race froze up solid and the Xbox became totally unresponsive. I had to get up and turn it off once more, and when I booted it back up, the “Xbox 360″ startup animation froze halfway in. The accompanying sound effect, curiously, continued to play, although it was marred with strange scratching sounds. Decidedly unpleasant and a wickedly bad omen.

After shutting it down for a couple minutes, I started the Xbox back up — successfully this time — and jumped back online to rejoin the races, hoping against hope for the best. Unfortunately, we weren’t too far into our next match when I again suffered a hard lock. And then one of the most telling symptoms of all appeared: A purplish checkerboard pattern superimposed over the dashboard. Exactly what I saw on my original Xbox the day it bought the farm in 2007.

Purpley checkerboard pattern GET!

At this point, I knew the console was dead — or terminally ill, at least, to the point where it was no longer usable for gaming. I figured I’d shut it off, let it cool for another couple of minutes and then sign on long enough to join my friends’ Xbox Live Party and tell them I was calling it a night (and a life, in the case of my console). Unfortunately this wasn’t possible either, because on my next boot-up attempt, the system threw the dreaded Three Red Rings of Death (pictured at the top of the post). Kills ‘boxes dead!

Xbox III: The Search For Jasper

Amusingly, the state of Microsoft’s Xbox console evolution is roughly the same as it was when my first unit failed. At that time, a newly-designed chipset and heatsink were making their way into Xboxes, and were said to drastically cut down on the RRoD failures. Although I did get two and a half years of service out of my warranty replacement that utilized these new parts, it did eventually fail in the exact same manner. Now, there’s yet another new chipset out there — the “Jasper” chipset — featuring a smaller manufacturing process with a smaller power supply, an HDMI port onboard, and numerous other revisions. Will Jasper spell the end of the RRoD? I doubt it, but perhaps — at the very least — a somewhat longer service life is in store.

Oh yes, I am getting another Xbox. With any other product, after having experiences like mine, many people would swear off that product (or even the whole brand) in the hopes of not getting burned again. However, Microsoft has built up a loyal following with its Xbox console, and they know it. All of my good gaming friends are exclusively Xbox players, not equipped with Playstation 3s. Perhaps more to the point, there are a number of must-have exclusive games like the Halo series, Mass Effect, Forza, Valve’s Half-Life / Portal series et al. that can’t be played on any other console. I’ve invested the last five years in building up my Xbox library, and I’m in too deep to dump it all now…to say nothing of the fact that I don’t even want to. I lost my Xbox today because Microsoft engineered a shoddy piece of shit with a near 50% failure rate (if the rumors are to be believed), but when I think of buying a new one, I feel only excitement at the prospect of getting the latest and greatest, an even bigger hard drive and the sleek black finish of the Elite. Am I nuts?

Perhaps, but perhaps not. For hardcore gaming is an enthusiast’s hobby, and the hardcore enthusiast puts up with the occasional crap from his equipment because the pleasure he derives from it otherwise is well worth the price of admission. Consider the gearhead who spends days wrenching on his car, or buffing and detailing its finish, only to have it break down on him at an embarrassing moment. Likely he’ll figure out the problem, fix it and keep going. Unless the incident was particularly catastrophic or costly, he likely won’t sell the car, his tools, his mods and everything else that he’s poured into it. He’ll shake it off and invest whatever is needed to fix the issue. And yeah, he probably knows that something else is going to go wrong at some point down the road — it’s the nature of a tuner car, a performance rod or even an restored classic to have issues.

That doesn’t excuse Microsoft for putting together a slapdash product and foisting it upon us all, but I’ll put up with it because the benefit I get from the experience — despite the occasional RRoD fuckups or thermal failures or whatever — is so great. The only bad thing about that is the fact that Microsoft will probably go right on designing slapdash hardware, knowing that we’ll buy it regardless. I guess they’ve got me there. But as long as the ratio of fun to failure is so heavily weighted toward the former, I can’t really bring myself to care. Frankly, I’m too old to stand on principle every minute of the day. With some things, I’m just going to do what I want.

Picking Your Poison

Now, the only problem is to figure out which Xbox console to buy, as they come in a few different editions. There are basically three options these days:

1. Buy a $199 Arcade unit, the low-end one without the hard drive, and simply plug my old hard drive in. Continue as normal.
2. Buy a $299 Elite unit, enjoy the double-sized 120GB hard drive and black finish.
3. Buy a $399 Special Edition Elite, such as the Final Fantasy XIII edition with super-rare 250GB hard drive and extra wireless controller.

I was leaning heavily toward option 3, until I realized that the super special edition FFXIII console isn’t actually special at all. It’s just a plain-jane white Xbox 360 with a big hard drive slapped on it. Until now, these special edition bundles — always priced $100 higher than the regular Xbox 360 Elite — came with custom paint jobs that really set them apart. There was the olive drab Halo 3 console, for example, and the gunmetal gray Modern Warfare 2 console with the military markings on it. But the FFXIII console is just…utterly plain. I don’t even mind the standard white case, but I’d have wanted a cool airbrushed design on it, or a nifty faceplace, or some artwork or something somewhere. But there’s only a little bit of engraving on the detachable hard drive — and a custom faceplate you could only get if you pre-ordered a month ago, which I naturally did not.

Still, it can seem like an attractive deal when you consider that it comes with a free copy of Final Fantasy XIII itself, a $60 value — so you can think of the remaining $40 as going toward the price of the supermax 250GB hard drive. Still, the fact that the console itself isn’t particularly special makes this a hard sell for me. And considering that I don’t download movies, TV shows or more than a handful of Rock Band songs from Xbox Live, nor do I have a massive collection of Arcade games, the 250GB hard drive seems like overkill anyway. Sure, I could fill it up by installing every game I play, but seriously. This may all be a moot point, anyhow, because I can find no evidence on Gamestop’s website that the FFXIII bundle even exists anymore; perhaps they’ve already sold out.

In lieu of the special edition bundle, the $299 Elite looks like the sweet spot. I’ve still got a $100 Gamestop gift card that was a birthday gift from my parents, which I can use to knock the price down to $199. A recent side job payment will take care of the rest. For that, I’ll get double the hard drive space I have now and a new controller in a matching black finish, which I could actually use because my existing controller #1 has a wonky left thumbstick and controller #2 has a janky rumble motor.

The Xbox Hard Drive Migration Complication

Of course, whether I choose the 120GB or 250GB hard drive, I’ll wind up with the same problem: Getting my saved games and downloads off the old drive and onto the new one. Microsoft has historically made this process a lot more painful than it could be, in my opinion. First, the only sure-fire way to make sure you don’t lose all of your progress when you upgrade to a new hard drive is to use the (take a breath) Xbox 360 Hard Drive Data Migration Transfer Kit. These kits, unlike every other Xbox accessory, are not sold in retail stores. Nor are they included with new consoles. In fact, until recently you could only acquire one of these coveted items by:

• Buying the 120GB standalone Xbox hard drive for a mind-numbing $150, or
• Calling Microsoft support and begging for one.

Now, Microsoft has discontinued the 120GB standalone hard drive, so scratch that option. (I imagine they’re about to replace it with a 250GB standalone model instead, but you didn’t hear that from me.) Fortunately, you no longer have to call into their telephone queue and hope you can get some outsourced schlub to send you the right cable (after which you’d end up waiting 4-6 weeks for it). No; today you can order one right from the Microsoft Online Store. It’s still not as fast or easy as just picking one up at Gamestop when you buy your new console (to replace the one that just red-ringed on you!), but it’s better than nothing — and once you have the migration kit, you can use it for future upgrades, too.

So tomorrow I get to do something rare, coveted and fun: Buy a new fancy-pants electronic toy. Yes, it’s a toy meant to replace an existing toy that just took a dump, but at least I’m getting an upgrade while I’m at it (to a better chipset, a bigger HD and a newer controller). Which is why, incidentally, I don’t go with the most obviously cost-effective option: Buy the $199 Arcade unit and just attach my hard drive to it. Because if I did that, I’d really feel like I was just paying $199 to duplicate the exact setup I have now, and that makes me mad because it reminds me that Microsoft is the cause of that expense. If I choose a better Xbox while I’m at it, such as the Elite, I’m treating myself to an upgrade and justifying it with the fact that I needed a replacement unit (and what better time to step up to the next level?).

Conversely, I could never bring myself to just trade in a perfectly functional Xbox for an Elite, as it would feel wholly unnecessary. So this situation right here is literally the only one in which I can live with myself if I buy an Elite. The money’s in the bank, so I’m gonna take advantage. Aw yeah!

Tomorrow, in fact, is shaping up to be a pretty good day, all told. It’s Saturday, and I’m coming off a week of hard work in which I got a ton of things done — and got fairly well caught up after being on the road all last week, helping my boss shop for a house here in Florida. I’ll get to splurge on my new Xbox, chat with the husband of Apple’s Thai friend about more computer-related gadgetry, and then take the GTO out in the evening to grab some sushi for dinner. And then, of course, some gaming — perhaps that Borderlands adventure can finally get off the ground! Yeeeep, it’s going to be hard to go wrong with a docket like this.

But for now, I’m going to try to get some sleep. I hear it’s good for you.

Shishousetsu Album Cover

Shishousetsu, released August 26, 1998, was Shoko Suzuki’s first album under her record contract with Warner Music Japan, with whom she signed after leaving Epic/Sony Records in 1997. Like her previous two albums there is an appreciable rock and roll influence; however, this is balanced with orchestrated pop, ballads and even a country number, making for a fairly diverse album (and more-or-less setting the pattern for many of Shoko’s future releases, which all tend to have a fair bit of diversity to them).

Once again, both Hiroaki Sugawara and Takeshi Namura are along for the ride (the latter even leaving his A&R position with Epic/Sony in order to take a similar job with Warner), but not in the same fashion as on the previous two albums (where the trio recorded and performed as a band). The three of them — with Shoko on drums, Sugawara on guitar and Namura on bass — appear together on only one track, “Atashi no Basho de.” Otherwise, Sugawara is a driving force on the record, playing guitar, bass, keyboards, arranging strings and programming.

However, despite his considerable input on the record, this would prove to be Hiroaki Sugawara’s last apperance on a Shoko Suzuki album. His influence on Shoko’s musical development is pretty significant, as arguably without Sugawara, Shoko’s music wouldn’t have made the turn from pop balladry to a more rock sound. The reasons why this was his last work with Shoko are beyond me, but Shoko’s next album would see her return to her original producer (Yoshiyuki Sahashi), and after that she started self-producing, which she still does to this day.

This record is probably more notable to a casual fan because of its main guest star: rock legend Tamio Okuda. Okuda co-wrote and appears on two tracks, “Tashikamete Ite yo” (the album’s single) and “Akai Mi ga Hajiketeta” (the single’s B-side). Takeshi Namura plays bass on both of these tracks, his only other appearances on the album. Yuta Saito, who worked with Okuda on many things — including almost all of Puffy’s albums up to that point — is also on hand, playing keyboards on the two Okuda songs. Additionally, Shoko and Tamio Okuda’s paths would cross again the next year, when both of them wrote songs for and appeared on Puffy’s Fever*Fever album.

In addition to Tamio Okuda’s appearance, Shishousetsu received another boost when “Tashikamete Ite yo” was chosen to be the theme song to the televised drama Koori tsuku Natsu, which aired on YTV from July to September of 1998. The double exposure of the song — Tamio Okuda’s apperance and its theme song status — likely helped it to become Shoko’s highest charting single ever as an artist, which was probably welcome news for her new record label (and perhaps Shoko herself, after her most recent singles had failed to chart).

Shoko continued to write for other artists in this period, as well; 1998 saw her reunite with Kyoko Koizumi for a duet on the latter’s KYO album, which reached the top 30 in late 1998. Other artists Shoko wrote songs for at this time include SOY, Naoyuki Fujii and Seiko Ishii.

Chart-wise, Shishousetsu represented a bit of a rebound after Candy Apple Red, staying on the charts for 2 weeks and reaching a peak of #45. Along with “Tashikamete Ite yo” charting, it was the first time since 1993 that Shoko charted a single and an album in the same year. Things were definitely looking up for Shoko, especially after the way her tenure with Epic/Sony had ended.

THE SONGS: (Click on a title for a sample, where applicable)
Kanzen na Ai

The record opens with a lush, orchestrated pop song driven by a sitar part from guest musician Tadahiro Wakabayashi. The track is a bit of a departure from the material on Shoko’s previous two albums, featuring a light pop sound that harkens somewhat to Shoko’s pre-Snapshots material. Of course, the song also runs for six minutes, so it’s not too much of a stereotypical light pop song.

Also popping up at one point in the song is a slowed down Shoko fill. Hooray!

Another polished, orchestrated pop song, one carried by Yuta Saito’s piano and a lush string backing.

This was supposed to be the album’s single; it was given a catalog number (WPD6-9176) and a release date (June 5, 1998) before being canceled at pretty much the last second, and “Tashikamete Ite yo” was released in its place.

The first “rock” song on the record, unusual in that the dominant stringed instrument on the track is a banjo. The result is not nearly as weird as you might think, though, and this is one of my favorite songs on the record. Features some forceful vocals from Shoko.

A mid-tempo, country-ish pop song. Shoko’s vocals and harmonies really shine here. Nobutaka Tsugei, who played banjo on the previous track, is responsible for the pedal steel guitar part on this song.

Despite Shoko’s recent forays into guitar rock, and Tamio Okuda’s own reputation as a rocker, their collaborations on this album are both mid-tempo pop. In addition to Tamio Okuda playing guitar and singing backing vocals, Yuta Saito plays keyboards and Takuo Yamamoto plays saxophone behind the rhythm section of Shoko and Takeshi Namura. As noted above, this was the album’s single, and reached a peak of #50 on the singles chart.

Note: Had I published this review a few weeks ago there would have been a YouTube link to the song’s PV right here. However, the person who had it up on their YouTube page had their account suspended. I could probably upload it to YouTube myself (all of Shoko’s Warner-era PVs are available on the 2002 compilation Friends, lovers, my journey home) but I don’t want to get hit with the copyright warning from Warner Music Japan.

The B-side of “Tashikamete Ite yo,” and Tamio Okuda’s other apperance on the album. This track is a bit more upbeat than its A-side, and features Yuta Saito on accordion.

A really good blues-rock number, somewhat reminiscient of something the Rolling Stones might have recorded on Let It Bleed. The track stays mostly quiet until exploding into full-on rock mode at the end. In recent years, when playing this song live, Shoko will often extend the song with rewritten codas (as heard on I Was There, I’m Here in 2003) or spaced-out jams (as seen on the Life,/Music&Love DVD, where the track runs for nearly ten minutes).

Yoshihiro Matsuura plays slide guitar on this track.

A slower ballad featuring Shoko on piano accompanied by string and brass sections. A very pretty song.

A slow-paced country ballad, with Nobutaka Tsugei on steel guitar and mandolin. The only track on the record with a drum track that Shoko does not play drums on (Hiroaki Sugawara is credited with programming).

Shoko would occasionally return to country ballads in the future, most notably on “Rose Pink no Cheek (my mama said, so)” on Sweet Serenity in 2008.

A mid-tempo rock number led by Yoshihiro Matsuura’s slide guitar and some nice vocal harmonies from Shoko. One of my favorite songs on the record.

The record ends with one of my favorite Shoko songs ever; a straight-ahead rock song driven by Shoko’s drums and harmonies, and Hiroaki Sugawara’s relentless electric guitar. Interestingly, they are the only two musicians on the track (Sugawara also plays bass).

BONUS TRACKS (B-sides, rarities, etc.):
On August 21, 1999 (bumped from an initial release date of April 1), Sony released its second Shoko Suzuki compilation, Atashi no Tabiji, which features songs from Hourglass through Candy Apple Red. Additionally, the record featured four bonus tracks, including two demos, a live cut and an actual outtake. Interestingly, at least two of those four bonus tracks were recorded in 1998 — during or around the time Shishousetsu was recorded…and well after Shoko had left Epic/Sony. I was always under the impression that this would mean that Warner Music would own those masters (as they were recorded under Shoko’s contract with them), but apparently that’s not the case in this instance.

Abunai Hashi (live)
This is a live recording of the song from Kaze no Tobira, recorded in 1998. It sounds virtually identical to the album version, except for a slight additional piano part that wasn’t on the original version. As such, I didn’t bother posting a sample.

Natsu wa Doko e Itta (Naked Love Mix)
A scratchy demo version of Shoko’s debut single, with the bonus of the lyrics being in English.

No sample here, either, because it’s a scratchy demo with rather poor sound quality — like, “recorded on a mono cassette recorder” sound quality (honestly, it probably was recorded on such a device).

The true find from Atashi no Tabiji, an outtake from the Shishousetsu sessions (which goes back to my “why does Epic/Sony own the rights to this recording?” bit from above).

This is a wonderful mid-tempo piano-led pop number, with nice harmonies from Shoko and Hiroaki Sugawara (I believe). I can’t see any reason why this didn’t make the cut on Shishousetsu proper, as it would have made an already-excellent album even better. Shoko has retained a fondness for this song through the years; a live version appears on I Was There, I’m Here, while a live in-the-studio performance is included on the upcoming DVD release of Shoko’s documentary, Mugonka ~romances sans paroles~. Additionally, a version of this song is slated to be released on Shoko’s upcoming single, “Sweet Surrender,” due out on April 8th.

Todokanai Mono
A very brief piano demo of an otherwise unreleased song. No sample because the track is barely a minute long.

Sadly, Shishousetsu is out of print. I purchased my still-sealed copy through Amazon Japan’s marketplace, but roughly half of the album’s songs later turned up on the Friends, lovers, my journey home compilation, which is still sold through some online retailers.

Oddball Verdict: An excellent, diverse album.

OTHER/FORTHCOMING SHOKO SUZUKI REVIEWS:
Viridian (1988)
Mizu no Kanmuri (1989)
Kaze no Tobira (1990)
Long Long Way Home (1990)
Hourglass (1991)
RadioGenic (1993)
Sings Bacharach & David (1994)
Snapshots (1995)
Candy Apple Red (1997)
Atarashii Ai no Uta (1999)
Love, painful love (2000)
I Was There, I’m Here (2003)
Suzuki Syoko (2006)
Sweet Serenity (2008)
Romances sans paroles~bande originale du film~ (2009)

The big news about this box, to me, is the fact that the long-familiar TiVo user interface has been completely redesigned using Flash, of all things. It now runs in full HD resolution, unlike the existing UI which is 480p only. It also adds a “picture in picture” view of the channel you’re watching in the upper right corner like most cable company DVRs, an oft-requested feature. But the central point of the TiVo Premiere’s release, if you believe all of the TiVo marketing speak, seems to be the fact that it’s a “single box solution” for all of your video needs, including streaming video from Netflix and Amazon as well as web video from YouTube and what-have-you.

Personally, I found this announcement strange, because my TiVo HD already does all of those things. I’ve long been able to watch Amazon video on demand, although I never do because of the cost. I’ve long been able to watch YouTube, although I never do because, trust me, most YouTube videos look like total shit when they’re blown up to 1920×1080 on a 57-inch screen. I’ve even been able to stream Netflix Instant Queue titles to my TiVo, although I never do because the interface is poor and the performance is far inferior to the streaming on either my Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 (the latter of which is currently my Netflix streaming device of choice).

So it was hard to see the TiVo Premiere’s apparent raison d’être as anything but a new skin on a feature set that’s already been there for months or even years. If I were to get really derogatory, it’s almost like the TiVo Premiere is the next generation of Microsoft’s WebTV — a set-top device designed to as an alternative to a computer that allowed people to browse the web on their TVs, albeit at standard-def resolutions (a miserable experience) and without the features of most PC-based web browsers.

Now, realistically, TiVo is known for their great UIs, and from what I can see of the new UI in action, the Premiere UI looks to be no exception. Still, as a current two-TiVo owner and lifetime subscriber, I can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed — my current TiVo seems to be at least as capable as the Premiere when it comes to being a “single-box solution” for getting content on your TV. And, as one commenter on Engadget remarked, how can the TiVo Premiere be a “single-box solution” if it doesn’t play Blu-ray discs and DVDs?

The hardware has been updated as well, of course, but not in any especially meaningful way. The new TiVo box is a good bit slimmer and simplified, and undoubtedly costs less to manufacture than the TiVo HD or the uber-expensive Series3 with its OLED display. However, the Premiere no longer supports single-stream CableCARDs, providing a slot for just one M-card. That means I couldn’t use the box even if I wanted to, thanks to the local Comcast office’s backwater equipment loadout.

Additionally, the Premiere still doesn’t solve the problem of being unable to use the cable company’s On Demand services due to its lack of support for two-way communication. Having tried it before, I can say that Comcast On Demand doesn’t interest me in the slightest, but TiVo’s lack of support for such services are nevertheless a frequently-lobbied complaint. More to the point, cable companies might treat a customer’s TiVo box like less of a black sheep if those boxes were able to use their On Demand services, which are like the proverbial cash cow for your typical cable TV business.

The new TiVo DVR is available in two configurations: the Premiere, with a 320GB internal hard drive, and the Premiere XL, with a 1TB internal hard drive. I believe those are the same configurations that the TiVo HD is currently available in, as well. I have a standard TiVo HD but upgraded the internal hard drive to a 1TB several months before the XL hit store shelves, so I’m already enjoying the benefits. (And I would never go back to an HD-capable DVR with less space than this!)

TiVo has also introduced a new Bluetooth remote control with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, but it won’t come in the box with either the Premiere or the Premiere XL — you’ll have to buy it separately. I’m not a big fan of Bluetooth remotes, despite their obviating the need for line-of-sight, because I can’t program their functions into my Logitech Harmony universal remote. Really, this is Logitech’s fault — they need to come out with a Harmony universal that supports Bluetooth commands, although I admit to being ignorant of the technical feasibility of such an idea.

Also being introduced is a new TiVo-branded wireless network adapter which supports Wireless-N, which will be very useful for streaming HD content over the Internet via your in-home router or access point. With Wireless-G, it’s possible that things could get a little choppy.

Unfortunately, we existing TiVo subscribers won’t be getting the new user interface on our Series3 and HD/HD XL devices. Apparently our hardware just isn’t powerful enough to handle the task. It would be nice if TiVo would back-patch support for the Wireless-N adapter, though — I could really go for an upgrade to an N router. But I don’t really see that happening, either.

In the end, the TiVo Premiere looks like a great device for those who are new to TiVo, so long as your cable company has gotten with the times and can actually provide you with a multi-stream CableCARD. But for existing TiVo subscribers, I’m not seeing any reason to upgrade — unless you want to pay several hundred dollars for some visual gewgaws. I may be a designer, and appreciate good UI design more than most people, but I say no thanks.

Candy Apple Red Album Cover

Candy Apple Red, Shoko Suzuki’s final album recorded for Epic/Sony Records, was released on March 1, 1997. In hindsight, Shoko leaving her record company seemed to be a foregone conclusion — the record company wasn’t happy with Snapshots, and Shoko presumably wasn’t happy with how they handled her career after Hourglass. So after recording this record, she jumped ship and signed with Warner Music Japan in late 1997 (though she didn’t leave the Sony fold completely, as her artist management company was Sony Music Artists, with whom she would remain signed until 2003).

Despite whatever hard feelings toward her record company were there on Shoko’s part (if any), she didn’t let it affect the quality of her music — Candy Apple Red is spectacular from start to finish. It continues in the rock-based vein of Snapshots, except it’s even harder-edged. The band is once again the Snapshots lineup of Shoko, Hiroaki Sugawara and Takeshi Namura (no longer referred to as “Snapshots,” though), augmented by the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra horns, several female vocalists (some of whom even share lead vocal duties with Shoko), and a few others. Though the record was also produced by the “Snapshots” trio, Sugawara alone is responsible for the arrangments this time out.

Intriguingly, Shoko (in the liner notes of the Life,/Music&Love DVD) wrote that, at this time, two albums that deeply affected her — musically and lyrically — were Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On and Bob Marley’s Live! Musically, Candy Apple Red bears little resemblance to either of those albums; it’s definitely more of a straight-forward guitar rock album. The few times it does step into R&B/funk territory, it’s more of a upbeat R&B/funk (as opposed to Marvin’s slow-jam-style funk and R&B), while there is no appreciable reggae influence to be found anywhere. Of the album’s songs, Shoko is solely responsible for five tracks on the album, while Hiroaki Sugawara gets co-composer credit on about half the album. “Gogo no Sakamichi de” and “Angel” have lyrics by Keiichi Sokabe and Megumi Ogura, respectively, and Natsumi Tadano co-wrote the lyrics of both “Shelter” and “Sangatsu no Sei.”

The album’s title came about due to Shoko’s then-recently acquired Fender Jaguar guitar — its color is named Candy Apple Red. The guitar was featured in the promo photos and album art for Candy Apple Red (the album) and “Angel” (the album’s single). That guitar, along with a Fender Statocaster she acquired later (I believe), has remained Shoko’s electric guitar of choice to this day (it’s also featured heavily in the cover art and promotional photos for 2008’s Sweet Serenity).

In addition to recording this album, the 1996/97 period was busiest for Shoko as a songwriter up to that point. Nothing she composed in this period matched the success of “Yasashii Ame,” but it was during this time she began a lengthy association with Puffy, which would see Shoko’s songs present on several major hit albums. Shoko’s “Watashi no Nozomi” appeared on Yumi Yoshimura’s half of Puffy’s solosolo album (featuring a solo disc by each member of Puffy), which hit #2 in the summer of 1997 (several years later, Shoko would record and release her own version of “Watashi no Nozomi” on her Love, painful love record). Aside from that, Shoko’s work was recorded by artists such as Emi Wakui, Akito Hayase, Mutsumi Inoue, Hikaru Nishida and Seiko Ishii.

Despite the phenomenal songs and musicianship on hand, Candy Apple Red did not set the album charts on fire. It stayed on the Oricon charts for 3 weeks, but only managed a peak position of #62. With that, Shoko’s tenure with Epic/Sony Records had come to an end; she had achieved success with them, but in the end she left for a new record label — A.K.A. Records, owned by Warner Music Japan. There, she would expand her musical palette even further, and even partake in some groundbreaking work…

THE SONGS: (Click on a title for a sample, where applicable)
Candy Apple Red
The record opens with a brief, somewhat somber sounding brass piece, played entirely by the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra horns. No sample because the track is literally 40 seconds long, and a sample would be essentially the entire piece.

The record immediately kicks into high gear with this funky rock track, which features horn work from (again) the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra brass section, and outstanding backing vocals from Yasumi Maeda and Reiko Sakai (from the female vocal group E-cups, who would continue to occasionally work with Shoko in the following years). There’s also a wonderful drum track (and lead vocals) from Shoko, and appropriately funky guitar work from Hiroaki Sugawara. On an album filled with amazing songs, this is one of my absolute favorites.

A bluesy number, with Shoko’s effect-laden vocals and brushed drums taking center stage. Features some busy (and bouncy) bass guitar courtesy of Takeshi Namura.

Another upbeat rock number with an awesome drum track by Shoko, and some nice slide guitar work by Sugawara. I wonder if Epic/Sony cut Shoko’s budget for this album, as all of the string parts on this record are played on a synthesizer (while on past albums she had actual string sections). It doesn’t make a difference (the songs are still awesome), but it’s something I’ve wondered about.

A ’60s-inspired mid-tempo pop/rock number featuring another great bass line from Takeshi Namura.

Another ’60s-influenced song, one that definitely reminds me of circa-1967 Beatles (I think it’s the bouncy piano track and bouncy bass line in the verses that does it; for some reason they remind me somewhat of “Penny Lane”…or perhaps more accurately, “Doubleback Alley” by the Rutles).

The most “out there” sounding track on the record. In spots it reminds me of “Strawberry Fields Forever” by the Beatles (mostly the mellotron-esque keyboard part at the beginning of the song); in others it makes me recall The Bends or OK Computer-era Radiohead. There’s a bit of nice synth work on hand here, mostly courtesy of the EMS VCS 3.

Yet another ’60s-inspired song, with some Phil Spector-style girl group production touches here and there (like the tympani and castanets). Another one of my favorites on the record (though, again, pretty much the entire record is filled with great songs).

The hardest rocking song on the album, and another favorite. Lots of loud guitar from Hiroaki Sugawara, and great vocals from Shoko.

Another girl-group-influenced track, featuring an actual girl group: “The Sexy Thresholds.” Well, okay, it’s not an actual group, but a name given in the album’s liner notes to the song’s four lead vocalists: Shoko, Yoshiko Goshima, Megumi Shinjou and Yoshiko Takahashi. The four vocalists split lead vocals and all sing backing vocals, and it certainly sounds like everyone involved with the song had a great time. Also: another killer bass line from Takeshi Namura (seriously, the man can play bass; have I mentioned that yet?).

The album’s single, a horn-driven light funk number (with horns, yet again, from the guys in Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra). Yoshiko Goshima, who sang co-lead vocals on the previous track, is also featured here as the “angel voice” during the song’s breakdown near the end. Like most of Shoko’s previous singles, this record didn’t chart.

Like Shoko’s other singles in this period, “Angel” received a PV, which was seemingly filmed mostly in Shoko’s home (more budget cuts from Epic/Sony?). Along with many shots of her Fender Jaguar, the video offers another surprise — Shoko (or Hiroaki Sugawara, I suppose, since she was married to him at the time) actually owns a Monkees-brand Gretsch 6123 (it’s first clearly visible at the 2:04 mark of the PV). The guitar, seen to the right being played by Mike Nesmith of the Monkees back in 1967, can be easily identified mainly by the Monkees logo on its pickguard. Aside from the mind-blowing revelation of a Monkees-brand guitar in a Shoko Suzuki video, I also giggle at some of the dinner table scenes where Takeshi Namura is just chilling there with his bass, while everyone else eats (and Shoko, uh, sings).

Another solid rock song with awesome vocals from Shoko; for some reason I really like the clavinet part.

This song is “Dedicated to the very soul of Taro Okamoto,” as the liner notes state. Okamoto, who died in 1996 before this album was released, was a famous artist; he is perhaps most known for his work Tower of the Sun made for Expo ‘70 (the tower itself was the subject of a Shonen Knife song, on their Brand New Knife album). As for the song itself, it’s driven along largely by a mandolin line by KYON, and also a violin part by Hiroo Muto. Shoko’s lead and backing vocals are also very nice.

Candy Apple Red (Reprise)
A reprise of the first track; it’s essentially the exact same thing. As such, no sample again, because it’s a very short track.

BONUS TRACKS (B-sides, rarities, etc.):
Never My Love

The B-side of “Angel,” and actually a leftover from the Snapshots sessions. The song is a cover; the original was a hit for the Association back in 1967. In the liner notes for SHO-CO-SONGS collection 3, Shoko makes a point to note that the drum track on this song was not played on her trusty Ludwig kit; rather, she notes, a Yamaha YD9000 kit was used.

A demo from the Candy Apple Red era, unreleased until SHO-CO-SONGS collection 3 in 2009. Since the track’s release, Shoko has occasionally played it live. It’s a fairly fast rock number, and pretty good.

Candy Apple Red is out of print, but is available (along with Snapshots) on SHO-CO-SONGS collection 3. “Never My Love” and “Kuroi Yoru” are also only available on that compilation currently.

Oddball Verdict: A brilliant record.

OTHER/FORTHCOMING SHOKO SUZUKI REVIEWS:
Viridian (1988)
Mizu no Kanmuri (1989)
Kaze no Tobira (1990)
Long Long Way Home (1990)
Hourglass (1991)
RadioGenic (1993)
Sings Bacharach & David (1994)
Snapshots (1995)
Shishousetsu (1998)
Atarashii Ai no Uta (1999)
Love, painful love (2000)
I Was There, I’m Here (2003)
Suzuki Syoko (2006)
Sweet Serenity (2008)
Romances sans paroles~bande originale du film~ (2009)

In fact, today was the first time I logged onto Star Trek Online in almost two weeks. I have Mass Effect to thank for this — as much as I love all things Trek, Mass Effect is simply a far superior sci-fi RPG in every conceivable way. But I like to bounce back and forth between my hobbies (and obsessions!), and because today was a Star Trek day in every other regard (hint hint), I decided to change things up and take a seat at the helm of my Constitution-class starship once more.

Star Trek Online has been steadily improving over time, and a number of the more irritating bugs have been fixed since I last ventured out into the Alpha Quadrant. Notably, my ship’s bridge officers are finally allowed to wear the custom Next Generation style uniforms that came with my Collector’s Edition of the game, so now we all look pretty spiffy as we tool around on those away missions. (Also, if you have the TOS-style uniforms, the “Roddenberry Special” miniskirts are now available to your female officers, for which I’m sure they’ll, ah, thank you.) There has also been a litany of gameplay enhancements, new missions, new ship designs and other errata that are detailed in much depth on the STO website. If you hate the lack of content on the Klingon side or have a beef with the overall gameplay mechanics, you’re going to continue to be disappointed — probably forever. But there it’s clear that Cryptic does keep improving and evolving the game as we go.

I’m still a lowly Lieutenant Grade 6, which essentially means I haven’t amounted to a hill of beans in the STO universe. Unlike two weeks ago, now I find myself surrounded by huge Galaxy and Sovereign-class ships as I fly through sector space, a grim reminder of the fact that tons of other players have leveled way, way past me while I was busy recruiting the galaxy’s best and brightest for Commander Shepard’s suicide mission. (Hey, the Normandy ain’t gonna fly herself, no matter what EDI might tell you. I make no apologies.)

While I haven’t yet spent enough time to offer a more in-depth review of the new content and the other enhancements that lurk just beneath the surface, I did take a bunch of screenshots that might give you a glimpse into the exciting and ever-changing world of Star Trek Online. If you have a soft spot for the original Enterprise as I do, some of these shots may be a real feast your eyes.

U.S.S. Songkhla (NCC-104750-A)

Tugboat Duty: Towing a Wrecked Freighter

Entering Standard Orbit While Deftly Avoiding the Asteroids

Ensign Sansanee and Captain Harvie on the Bridge

Not Exactly an Ideal Vacation Spot

The Constitution-Class Ship's Unique Blue Phasers

Sansanee, More Interested in a Tribble than the Mission

Ready to Repel the Klingon Invasion of Vulcan

It's Drive-In Movie Time at Starbase One!

My Recreation of a Classic TOS Orbit Shot

Second Star to the Right, and Straight On Till Morning

Lending a Hand to a Disabled Crewman

If It's Borg, Shoot It!

For my birthday this year, my friends Pooch and Reaper gifted me with the Season 1 and 3 boxed sets of Star Trek: The Original Series on Blu-ray disc. Since this series (hereinafter referred to as TOS) was perhaps my first television love, and sparked an obsessive fanaticism which hasn’t waned for a minute since, I thought it appropriate to post my impressions of these all-new, high-definition episodes. They are, after all, the most significant reissue of TOS yet.

Since the moment the final episode aired in 1969, the original Star Trek became one of those iconic shows that has seen release on just about every media format ever conceived by man. Over the years, I’ve owned episodes on Betamax, VHS and DVD, each release getting progressively better — the VHS tapes added preview trailers, the initial DVD releases added remastered picture and sound, etc. The Blu-ray discs, however, add more than any of the others, for they contain the remastered episodes with all-new effects shots created by CBS Digital and rendered in high definition. This enhanced version of TOS has, amongst Trek fandom, become known as TOS-R.

What CBS has done here is monumental. Almost every effects shot in the series — ship flybys, phaser combat, etc. — has been reproduced digitally. This effort was apparently sparked by the format of the original effects composites, which were apparently low-resolution and could not be scaled up to high definition without massive quality loss. CBS’s solution was to recreate the effects entirely, and what we end up with are some (mostly) pretty impressive renders that add a whole new level of depth. Every time you see the Enterprise on screen, it’s like seeing her with a totally new set of eyes. Even several minor composite shots have been replaced, like some of the hand phaser effects and what-not.

The Blu-ray discs bring to life not only the new effects shots, but the old tried-and-true footage of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest of the gang as well. TOS has never looked better — or sounded better, either, thanks to the new 7.1 surround sound mix. While watching the episode “Wink of an Eye” on the big screen earlier tonight, I was stunned by the level of detail that’s visible. At times, this even had the effect of cluing me into the crummy paint jobs and slapdash construction of the set pieces, which made me chuckle because I’ve never noticed them despite years and years of watching this same footage over and over.

Unlike the DVD releases of the past decade, the massive capacity of the Blu-ray format gives us a lot of advantages. For a start, there are five episodes per disc, meaning that each season fits on a very manageable six or seven discs. (I know that this isn’t that much of a step up from most TV-on-DVD releases, but the last time I bought TOS DVDs, they were the original orange boxes from the late ’90s — where only two episodes were fitted per disc. While that allowed for excellent picture quality, it meant buying 40 discs in order to own the whole series. Which I did, naturally, over the course of nearly a year — hence my hesitation to buy any more until now!)

More importantly, the Blu-ray format gives purists an extra treat by providing the original video and audio track for every episode on each disc. This means that if you’re one of those folks who thinks the new remastered effects look “lifeless” or “amateur,” you can simply select “Original Version” from the disc’s episode menu, and your original 16mm model shots will be there in all their 1960s-vintage glory. Likewise, the original mono audio track is also available for each episode, so you can go full-retro if you really want.

For an extra dose of awesome, you can switch between the original and remastered version of an episode in mid-stream. Let’s say you’re watching “The Tholian Web,” and you get to the part where Kirk & Company come upon the stranded U.S.S. Defiant — one of the better visual re-imaginings in the TOS-R series. If you want to compare the original effects to the new ones, simply hit your Blu-ray player’s angle button and you can toggle back and forth without interruption. It’s pretty darn cool.

There are tons of extras included on the Blu-rays; with a few omissions, all of the special features that came on the previously-issued set of now-defunct HD-DVD releases are present and accounted for. Easily the coolest features of all are “Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest,” containing rare on-set footage from Trek background actor Billy Blackburn’s personal film camera. This gives you a glimpse of candid moments during the filming of Trek, the likes of which I’ve never seen before. If you thought William Shatner hammed it up in front of the camera, you should see some of this stuff.

Rounding out the presentation are the menus, which resemble 3D renders of the Enterprise’s bridge consoles, complete with the requisite sound effects. While you drill through the available options, the bridge’s main viewing screen shows you an amalgamation of Enterprise wireframes and clips from the various episodes on the disc. The menus are very slick, easily navigated and perfectly functional overall.

There’s one more special feature, if you can call it that, in the third season boxed set of TOS-R. A little promo card slipped into the disc case entitles you to a free “Wrath of Khan Admiral’s Uniform” for the Star Trek Online PC game, meaning you can put the “movie-style” crimson jacket and ribbed turtleneck uniform on your in-game character. Now you can dress your female Vulcan bridge officer in it and run around calling her Saavik until she nerve-pinches your abusive ass into submission.

Paramount has a long history of overcharging for Star Trek DVD sets. When The Next Generation first arrived on DVD, each season was selling for a flat-out ridiculous $130. (I started buying them, but had to give up after season 3 because of the expense.) But with the TOS-R Blu-rays, you can actually pick up each season for a fairly affordable price, provided you shop at the right places. Amazon has each set for around $50, which I think is perfectly reasonable. Unfortunately, if you want to trip down to Great Best Buy and pick them up instead, you’ll be asked to pay more like $80, which is a much tougher pill to swallow.

The only bad thing about these sets — and this only applies to seasons 1 and 2 — is the packaging, another area where Paramount typically drops the ball. The plastic case that the discs come packaged in is as thick as two standard DVD cases, and inside is a rod-like spine that’s attached to the case itself by way of two brackets. Attached to the spine, in turn, is a flipbook of disc trays that holds each of the Blu-ray discs. The problem is that the two brackets are very easily broken irreparably off their mounts, leaving your disc trays to flop wildly about inside the case. This, as you might imagine, is very prone to occurring during shipment. My season 1 set arrived with the brackets already broken. As I write, Amazon has actually suspended shipments of season 2 because of overwhelming complaints about the same issue.

Paramount seems to have wised up by the time they got around to releasing season 3. The third season set comes in a slimmer case that’s no thicker than a standard DVD, and contains a revised interior design that’s less prone to “violent disassembly.”

Unfortunately, Paramount’s disc labeling still leaves a lot to be desired. As with every other Star Trek release on record, they refuse to print the episode titles on the label of the disc itself, so you have to go digging through the case or box to see which disc to put in if you’re looking for a particular episode. (Okay, the Voyager DVDs do have the episodes titles printed on the disc, but they’re printed in a spiral around the inner hub, making them almost impossible to read!)

Fortunately, packaging is of little importance when it’s the content that matters, and the content is presented in about as flawless a way as I can imagine. As home entertainment technology continues to progress, CBS Digital’s remastered effects coupled with Paramount’s Blu-ray release ensure that we’ll be able to keep boldly going back to the 1960s for many years to come.

A big round of applause to Pooch and Reaper for making this review — and tonight’s dinner theater — possible!

I will be the first to admit that I have a massive case of schadenfreude against Toyota. Over the last decade this company has proven that they aren’t infallible after all; that they are capable of the same greed-fueled mistakes and inestimable stupidity that, at one time or another, plagues almost every car company — even great ones like BMW or Mercedes-Benz. Yet the media has been blind to the slowly mounting quality concerns of Toyota vehicles, always holding them up as the good guys while demonizing the domestic automakers in the same breath. A common refrain is how much more concerned Toyota is about fuel efficiency, which is a patent falsehood betrayed by the wide swath of SUVs and trucks they sell, many of which get inferior mileage to their domestic competition. Worst of all are those hacks at Consumer Reports, who until recently were giving every new Toyota model an automatic recommendation, sight unseen, simply because of the company’s past reputation.

I guess it’s always 1989 in Consumer Reports land, because these same hacks would always turn right around and lambaste the domestic automakers for continuing to churn out crap, even when that so-called “crap” was comprised of legitimately competitive products like the current Ford Fusion or Chevy Malibu. A huge crisis of credibility has been going on in the auto journalism of this nation for so many years, I’ve almost gotten to the point where I avoid auto news on principle.

Indeed, for the last several years now, I’ve despised and avoided two things: Toyota Motor Company, and the U.S. Congress. There’s Toyota, trying to paint themselves as the self-appointed “great American car company” and our benevolent “green savior” while all the while they’re just another corporation cutting corners and stepping on toes wherever they can to get to the top as fast as possible, for little more than bragging rights. And then there’s the U.S. Congress, filled with people with so much more money than sense that it’s a wonder the House and Senate don’t collapse inwards on themselves in a vacuous singularity of wanton ignorance. Our senators and representatives are such unbridled egomaniacs that they all fancy themselves the babysitters of the entire American public who could not possibly know what’s good for them — yet, by and large, they accomplish nothing, have little-to-no private sector experience and would probably fail miserably if forced to deal with a working man’s pressures without all their perks and hired help. Today’s headlines, for example, brought news that Congress’ approval rating has dropped to a record-breaking 10%.

Now imagine these two forces — Congress and Toyota — coming together. Peter DeLorenzo of AutoExtremist predicted the results weeks ago: An embarrassment of epic proportions. Peter, no fan of Toyota himself (his book, “The United States of Toyota”, helps explain why), urged Mr. Toyoda not to accept the U.S.’s invitation to personally attend his company’s hearings — for the bloviators on the hill would only turn it into an embarrassment and further fuel the PR nightmare. After all, look at how the Big 3 bailout hearings were handled: as little more than an opportunity for our CongressCritters to beat up on auto executives, treat them like little babies and then argue (in the Republicans’ case) that they deserved no government support, when those same Republicans were already supporting the likes of Toyota to the tune of millions of dollars in tax credits in their home constituencies.

Although it first appeared that Mr. Toyoda would not be attending the hearings this week, Toyota’s problems have only gotten worse in the last week or so — including a grand jury being convened in regards to the company’s conduct. So Toyota’s president did in fact appear before Congress today, and the result was exactly the clusterfuck that you’d imagine (and which Peter DeLorenzo predicted). It truly was a case of culture shock — here was a Japanese executive taking personal responsibility for his company’s recent failings, apologizing profusely for their results, and admitting that Toyota took its eye off the ball and lost its focus on quality and safety in pursuit of the “World’s Biggest Automaker” prize.

This was, frankly, refreshing. Toyoda’s admission gets a lot of credit from me. It’ll be a cold day in hell before you see an American corporate executive doing anything like this, largely because of the legal ramifications — after all, the attorneys would immediately bring suits arguing that if you apologize for an unfortunate incident, that’s the same as admitting culpability. However, any sincerity that his words might have carried was lost on the candor-proof U.S. Congress, who — with many of them being lawyers or former lawyers themselves — were blind to everything but the opportunity to pounce upon Toyoda and Toyota alike.

Make no mistake, folks. Whatever sins Toyota has committed, whether they conspired to hide evidence of safety concerns or whether they really are just caught up in all this, our so-called representatives in Congress are not interested, primarily, in getting to the bottom of it. They’re interested in making as much political hay from this as is possible, giving their constituents the impression that yes, they actually do give a crap about a public issue, actually do want to help people and actually have the capacity to get something done. What that something is I’m not sure, but they’re all facing a serious rout at the polls come the next election, because the American people have frigging had it with these assclowns, so they have to look like they’re doing something.

And so as a result, we get truly Broadway-quality acts like this one, from our own Florida representative John Mica:

“This is indeed a very embarrassing day for NHTSA. It’s equally a very embarrassing day for Toyota to have the grandson of the founder to come before the United States Congress. I’m embarrassed for you, sir.”Rep. John Mica (R-Florida)

My wife was watching the hearings at this moment, and she said the man kept saying “I’m embarrassed, I’m embarrassed” over and over and over, like he was trying to establish a mnemonic.

I’m embarrassed, too. I’m embarrassed for the United States of America and our so-called elected officials who are clearly among the biggest bunch of idiots ever to hold office in this country’s illustrious history, who are so head-over-heels in love with themselves, and the money and power that their office grants them, that they resort to schoolyard bullying and name-calling in a vain attempt to generate an air of authority that, given their alarming lack of intelligence, would necessarily have to be artificial. I was embarrassed by their handling of the Big 3 last winter, and I’m embarrassed by their conduct now. In fact, I daresay that there’s not a single day that goes by when I’m not embarrassed by the hacks in Congress and, increasingly, by the entire federal government of this nation, which is apparently in a race to prove that they can be just as dysfunctional and corrupt as even the most infamous third-world countries.

I am not a fan of Toyota. Their cars are mostly well-built but boring beyond belief; their attitude is two-faced and predatory and the media treats them like some kind of messiah when they are little more than a half-step removed from their rivals from the U.S., Korea, Germany or even Japan, the rest of whom don’t receive anywhere near the same “automatic pass” when placed under scrutiny. However, Toyota is now being forced to recognize that the same fickle press that treated them like kings even as they churned out increasingly slapdash automobiles has now turned upon them in a heartbeat, proving that the same irrationality that leads men like Thomas Friedman of the New York Times to pile undeserved praise upon Toyota can also lead major news outlets to create sensationalist “runaway Toyota” pieces designed to shock viewers and boost ratings, at the expense of any and all credibility.

To be sure, Toyota has made their bed and now must lie in it, and frankly, they’re going to get their just deserts. But that does not include, in my view, this ridiculous and over-the-top posturing from the likes of the U.S. Congress — members of which, in my view, are the absolute last people who ought to be lecturing anybody about the proper way to do anything, short of weaseling out of a traffic citation.

As The Saga of Toyota continues, I think we’d all do well to remember that those who live in glass houses should not cast stones. And, at the same time, it might be prudent to borrow a page from Mr. Toyoda’s playbook and make sure we all stand behind our Toyota automobiles. It would seem, after all, to be much safer than standing in front of them.

I feel like things started taking a turn for the better today, though. It seems odd to say that now, because the first half of the day was filled with little stresses that really got under my skin: incompetence at work; awful seasonal traffic filled with bad drivers making dumb decisions; my doctor treating me like my time wasn’t valuable by making me late for a meeting while he carried on a conversation with his next patient during my appointment time. After that, though, things got a lot better — thanks in part to my wife and family, and thanks in part to my simply freeing my mind, taking charge of things and declaring, “Fuck it.”

I had an impromptu meeting (which I was late for, as I mentioned) at work, during which I received another massive assignment that came out of nowhere as they always do, to design all the user interfaces for a new web app that’s going to do project management, customer management, task management, time tracking, employee management, support queueing and just about everything else. At its conclusion, I pretty much said, “Bye, fragsters.” I hung up the phone, logged off the computer and went to Gamestop. Yeah, no shit.

My wife bought me Heavy Rain (the new PS3 game) and more Microsoft points. We picked up my parents, who are here in town, and went to Carrabba’s for dinner. After a good meal we came back home for some birthday cake, and queued up the Office Space DVD for a few laughs (we’d been quoting it in the car all the way home). It was a great time, and a great way to kick off the next decade of my life. For the first time in a while, I felt like I actually have something to look forward to as that next decade marches on.

I’ve always allowed myself to be taken advantage of to some degree, and I’m about tired of it. If I could make one personal resolution as I enter my thirties, it’s to stop being such a goddamn pushover. Or, if I absolutely must accept being pushed around, to have the balls to push back when it’s strategically advantageous. My company has really put the screws to me over my health care, and since Christmas it’s been one stress after another, more and more bills, confusion and red tape — all so they could save their W-2 employees a few dollars a month while I lose my coverage entirely. For the month of February I’ve paid for two insurance companies at once while my employer drags me through this transition, and most of it I don’t really expect to get back. How bad do you think I feel about “cutting class” early today so I could do something for my own birthday? Not a damn bit, frankly.

I am, however, going to go into my work tomorrow with a clear head, with a renewed focus and energy on my tasks. I finally feel like I’m breaking through into a place where I can actually care about my work again, in a way that I haven’t been able to for weeks upon weeks. At the same time, I’m going to remember that that in this world, no one gets ahead without taking advantage. If you play the nice guy every day, you’re not going anywhere. You just have to know when the right time is to unleash your inner “bad guy.”

So, while I go forward into my thirties with the aforementioned in mind, what else have I got in store for my week? Well, when I’m here at home — this doesn’t apply in Thailand, where I don’t have full control over my activities — I like to bring a little slice of birthday celebration to every day of my birth week. A nice meal, a slice of cake, a marathon session of gaming, a favorite Star Trek episode, or whatever else suits my fancy.

On the gaming front, there’s plenty for me to do. I’m still going through Mass Effect 2, which is easily the most amazing game I’ve played in 2010 — and which I feel will be a Game Of The Year contender, even knowing the kinds of titles that are yet to release this year. It’s the perfect blend of adventure, role-playing and shooting, all tied together by a well-written story with a cast of excellent characters voiced by some real powerhouse talent. If you even remotely like sci-fi space opera, Mass Effect 2 is unquestionably a game you must play.

There’s also Heavy Rain, a PS3 exclusive that I just picked up today (thanks honey!). This is a different type of game — a sort of interactive narrative that makes you feel like you’re playing a movie. Admittedly, there could be limited appeal with such an approach, leaving players to grow bored or complain that they’re not playing so much as watching. But the free demo I tried was actually quite engaging, and despite the fairly wonky controls, I decided it was worth a purchase. I like these “interactive story” type games, and felt like rewarding and supporting the developer rather than saving it for the bargain bin or the rental store.

I almost picked up BioShock 2 today as well, but had to be realistic: I wouldn’t be playing it for weeks to come. I’ve still got Mass Effect to get through, and then — although I am embarrassed to admit it — I still need to finish the original BioShock! It was a game that I got about halfway through before putting it aside thanks to a tidal wave of amazing games that all landed at the same time, and the fact that I missed the first three weeks of the game’s launch due to my Xbox failure. Once I get ready to play the sequel, I may frankly pick it up used. To be honest, I never thought of BioShock as a game that needed a sequel — but I hear that, as a sequel, it’s actually quite good.

As an outro, I’d like this post to serve as a the first in a new line of posts that return to my original theme — commentary on news items, reviews of movies and games, and general gabbery about work, music, life, and whatever else I may be into at the moment. I’ve really let this place go, because in a way I think I really let myself go, emotionally at least. With so much to talk about in the news now that personally interests me, and with my goal to set foot on a new path, now seems like the perfect time to get back to that. Starting tomorrow, I hope, that will come to fruition. Stay tuned.

Snapshots Album Cover

Snapshots, released June 21, 1995, is generally considered the album where Shoko Suzuki’s music went rock. Of course, this isn’t something on the scale of Dylan going electric, as Shoko had recorded rock songs as far back as her first album…and she would continue to showcase pop songs and ballads on her future works. However, her musical style definitely changed on this record: whereas Shoko’s previous albums were rooted more in contemporary pop and balladry, from here on out her style would be rooted more in a ’60s rock style, with numerous stlyistic divergences (country, jazz, blues, etc.) occurring from there. It’s sort of like how Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Beatles are considered “classic rock” albums, but have numerous different styles — often non-rock — contained within (and really, that’s not a bad metaphor for Shoko’s career as a whole). I feel I should note that, from this point on, I consider pretty much everything Shoko released to be fantastically great. While there are bits of the eariler albums I might not care for too much, I pretty much have nothing bad to say about anything Shoko has released since 1995.

Interestingly, this album was not initially conceived as a “Shoko Suzuki” album. After the sessions that produced her previous mini album, Shoko decided to form a rock band with her husband/producer Hiroaki Suagawara and Sony A&R executive Takeshi Namura. The band, named “Snapshots,” featured Shoko on lead vocals, drums and occasional keyboards, Sugawara on guitars, keyboards and backing vocals, and Namura on bass and occasional guitar. The trio was assisted in the studio by a number of friends and colleagues, including the horn section from Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, keyboard player Tsuehiko Yashiro, and multi-instrumentalist KYON (who still works with Shoko to this day). Also, for the first time in her career, Shoko began collaborating on song compositions: a number of songs on the album were co-written by Shoko and Hiroaki Sugawara in tandem (while before Shoko handled almost all composing by herself). Additionally, one track was written and composed by former Utopia member Mark “Moogy” Klingman (somewhat fitting, as Shoko is a big fan of Todd Rundgren, Utopia’s leader), and another was composed by the rock band GREAT3 (who would release their debut single a couple of weeks after Snapshots was released) — oddly enough, this gives Shoko Suzuki a link to Shonen Knife, as GREAT3’s bass player (Kiyoshi Takakuwa) played bass on Shonen Knife’s 1999 single “Yamucharou de Mecha Umakarou” (a single which I purchased at the last Shonen Knife concert I attended).

For the first time ever, Shoko handles all the drum parts on an album; her apparent pride in her drumming extends even to the album cover, which prominently displays her beloved red Ludwig drum kit (one of the alternate back cover images has a snapshot of her and the kit, with the caption “Look!! it’s my ludwig ‘62!!”). In addition, on the track “#7 Shuffle” she handles nearly all of the instruments (including guitar and piano), a bit of foreshadowing of her Love, painful love record five years down the road.

Of course, Epic Sony Records probably wasn’t keen on the whole Snapshots/rock band thing — after all, Shoko’s last full-length album for them had reached the top 20; it can be assumed Epic Sony didn’t like the idea of their rising pop star suddenly being hidden behind a drum kit in an untested, unknown rock group (as this was several years before the trend of female-fronted rock groups in Japan, like detroit7 and GO!GO!7188; heck, even Puffy wouldn’t debut for another year at that point, and Ringo Shiina was still a couple of years away from debuting). So while the resulting record — which itself was named “Snapshots” — is credited as being produced and arranged by the band Snapshots (complete with a credit listing the band members), that’s the only mention of the band’s name anywhere on the record, which was otherwise credited solely to Shoko Suzuki.

As might be expected, Shoko’s change in musical direction was a bit difficult for her fans and her record company to take. One can imagine Shoko’s longtime fans, used to her usual pop and ballad stylings, getting hit in the face with the opening track, “Happiness?” — not the same song as her 1991 single “Happiness” — and wondering what the heck was going on. Grungy guitars, a prominent, pounding bass line (Takeshi Namura seems to be of the Paul McCartney school of bass playing, which is A-OK in my book), and Shoko’s effects-laden lead vocal were a pretty vast departure from what had come before on previous albums. Not only that, but Shoko’s visual image had drastically changed as well; whereas in old pictures she was often in pantsuits, long skirts, jackets and hats, suddenly the Snapshots CD booklet showed her buzzing around New Mexico in red miniskirts, navel-showing shirts, and high heels (Shoko has even written about how, at the time, she received many letters from her fans essentially saying they stopped being fans because of this album).

The end result was that Snapshots barely broke into the Top 40. This was seen as a huge disappointment by Epic Sony, especially following on the success of RadioGenic and Shoko Suzuki Sings Bacharach & David. If the RadioGenic experience hadn’t turned her off from Epic Sony completely, then their lack of interest for Snapshots cemented it. At the end of her contract — after one more fantastic album the following year — she would leave the only record label she had ever known up that point, hopefully for greener pastures.

THE SONGS: (Click on a title for a sample, where applicable)
Happiness?

As I kind of noted above, this song lets the listener immediately know they’re not in for the kind of album Shoko had put out before — heck, Shoko’s distorted vocals alone would have been enough to drive that point home. There’s definitely a late-’60s orchestrated rock vibe going on with this track. Definitely one of my favorites.

I may be the only person on the planet who thinks this, but Takeshi Namura is probably the best bass player to record with Shoko (either him or Shinobu Kawai, who pops up later). Like I noted above, he seems to come from the Paul McCartney school of bass playing, which probably colors my opinion somewhat; I love those fat, rubbery bass lines straight out of the late 1960s.

The SHO-CO-SONGS collection 3 set came with a bonus DVD, on which are eight songs taken from a live performance on October 5, 1995. A few of the tracks feature the core Snapshots band — Shoko on drums and vocals, Hiroaki Sugawara on guitar, and Takeshi Namura on bass — complimented by a few others (such as KYON on keyboards); the other tracks see Shoko climb out from behind the drums and front the band. This live version of “Happiness?” leads off the live DVD tracks, and features Shoko on drums and vocals.

This is the first Shoko song I fell in love with (well, of her own work; I fell in love with Puffy’s “Koi no Line Ai no Shape” earlier). A great, fast-paced pop song driven by Shoko’s drumming and a prominent harpischord part (and as I noted in a past review, I loves me some harpsichord). In some ways, this song reminds me of Care of Cell 44 by the Zombies (one of my favorite songs of all time).

And speaking of Shoko’s drum part on this song: making its long-awaited return to a Shoko Suzuki album…it’s the Shoko fill!

Oddly enough, this song — though never released as a single — received a promotional video, filmed in Santa Fe, New Mexico, mostly in front of the Father Sky Mother Earth Gallery & Expresso Bar.

This is another track featured amongst the live performances included on the SHO-CO-SONGS collection 3 DVD — once again Shoko plays the drums as Snapshots rock out.

A fantastic mid-tempo rock song, accented by a mandolin line played by KYON. The arrangment of this song — slower, and slightly ballad-y while still remaining a rock song — shows the key difference between this album and Shoko’s previous stuff. On past albums, traditional rock instruments like the Hammond organ and distorted guitar probably would not have been used. Because really, it’s not so much that Shoko’s songs themselves had changed, but how she recorded and arranged them (and a big credit for that probably goes to Sugawara and Namura).

This song is also among the live performances on the SHO-CO-SONGS collection 3 DVD; it’s kind of amusing because the band (well, mostly the drummer — who is not Shoko) kinda screws up the part where the song comes out of the instrumental break.

For the second song in a row, a Shoko fill is heard (though this one is slowed down slightly).

In the Kitchen ~ Close to You
I must admit, I don’t get what the point of this track is. It’s just the sound of someone (Shoko) in a kitchen frying up some food, while in the background a radio is playing; eventually a very short cover of Burt Bacharach’s “Close to You” (first made famous by the Carpenters in 1970; interestingly, Karen Carpenter — like Shoko — was a talented drummer and singer) starts playing. However, just as the song gets into it’s second refrain the next track suddenly begins.

No sample because: the track is not even 90 seconds long, and it’s not really a song — it almost more of a skit (which you can see in the “Close to You~True Romance” PV linked further down the review).

The album’s single, and one of the first tracks recorded for the album (according to Shoko, this and its B-side were probably the first songs cut during the recording sessions). A catchy pop rock song with a definite R&B influence via the Philly-style strings in the background. The lryics for this song were written by longtime Shoko lyricist Masumi Kawamura, the last time (to date) she wrote lyrics for Shoko.

The single version of this song (only available on the CD single and SHO-CO-SONGS collection 3; it’s not even the version used in the PV) is slightly different than the album one. The performance is the same, but the track is mixed differently for each version. On the single mix, the drums are mixed way down and the Fender Rhodes & strings way up, while the drums are more prominent in the album mix. Since the two versions aren’t that drastically different, though, I won’t be supplying a sample of the single mix (awwww).

The True Romance promotional video, like that of “Tsuki to Snapshots,” was filmed in New Mexico. This one, however, was filmed in and around Las Vegas, about an hour east of Santa Fe (local places like Estella’s Cafe and the Kiva Theater can be clearly seen in the PV).

Possibly the most upbeat song on the record. The track was composed by the band GREAT3, the members of which also provide backing vocals.

This is another track played live on the SHO-CO-SONGS collection 3 DVD — check out Shoko the go-go dancer!

For an amusing comparison to how much Shoko loosened up over the years, compare her stage presence in the above video with the “Koi wa Tsumi” performance I linked to back in my review for Viridian.

A big, brassy pop song dominated by the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra horn section. The track — sung entirely in English — was written by Mark “Moogy” Klingman, and features co-lead vocals by Hiroaki Sugawara.

A really good rock song that goes in a bit of an unexpected direction with its jazzy instrumental break. Shoko plays most of the instruments on this track; Takeshi Namura plays bass, Hiroaki Sugawara plays synthesizers and Wurlitzer, and Yuhei Takeuchi plays the flute solo — beyond that, it’s all Shoko. That makes this the first track on any of her records where Shoko plays guitar.

At this point the record mellows out a bit with a couple of slower pop songs, sounding similar to the orchestrated pop style of the Sings Bacharach & David album (though not quite as slick sounding). This is another track featuring the horn section from Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchesra.

A slower, lounge-style song with some nice lead and backing vocals courtesy of Shoko. Also, a vibraphone!

The one track that might not sound too out of place on Shoko’s previous records, a nice (mostly acoustic) pop song with a catchy refrain (and one that also contains the surely-by-now-famous “Shoko fill”).

Once again, this is a song that is featured live on the SHO-CO-SONGS collection 3 DVD.

A wonderful song with mellower verses that build into a pretty powerful chorus. Some more nice vocal work from Shoko on display here.

Shoko even eschews her usual album-closing ballad, opting instead for a bouncy rock number (with brass, once again, courtesy of Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra). The horn section in the instrumental break reminds me a bit of “Black Messiah” by the Kinks (NOTE: I searched YouTube for a link to put here…that was a bad idea).

BONUS TRACKS: (B-sides, rarities, etc.)
Monochrome no Natsu

B-side of “True Romance.” A really great pop-rock song; before I really learned of the lyrics, the term “Monochrome Summer” (the translated title) struck me as something bad or painful to remember — akin to a colorless, drab summer (somewhat like “My Little Town” by Simon and Garfunkel — “And after it rains there’s a rainbow / And all of the colors are black / It’s not that the colors aren’t there / It’s just imagination they lack”). But the song’s not about that at all; instead, it refers to something like a sepia-toned photograph of a place you’d spend summers at, bringing back all sorts of nostalgic feelings when you look at the photo (that’s not exactly it, but you get the idea).

A demo made by Shoko before the album was recorded. It’s a pretty good track, but I’m not sure if it would have fit in on this album. This was released on SHO-CO-SONGS collection 3 in 2009.

Snapshots — like pretty much every other Shoko Suzuki album from this period — is out of print, but is available (along with Candy Apple Red) on the SHO-CO-SONGS collection 3. “Monochrome no Natsu” is available on the aforementioned SHO-CO-SONGS collection 3 set, as well as 2007’s SHO-CO-JOURNEY collection. “Isshoni” is only available on SHO-CO-SONGS collection 3.

Oddball Verdict: An amazing record.

OTHER/FORTHCOMING SHOKO SUZUKI REVIEWS:
Viridian (1988)
Mizu no Kanmuri (1989)
Kaze no Tobira (1990)
Long Long Way Home (1990)
Hourglass (1991)
RadioGenic (1993)
Sings Bacharach & David (1994)
Candy Apple Red (1997)
Shishousetsu (1998)
Atarashii Ai no Uta (1999)
Love, painful love (2000)
I Was There, I’m Here (2003)
Suzuki Syoko (2006)
Sweet Serenity (2008)
Romances sans paroles~bande originale du film~ (2009)

In the end, I have to admit that these last few endlessly contradictory days have had nothing at all to do with the “milestone” birthday I’m about to celebrate next week; undoubtedly neither my body nor my mind gives a damn about such minutiae. These phases come and go; there are always times now and again when I just can’t seem to muster the will to care about anything.

To that end, I’ve been spending the meantime simply going wherever my mind wishes to go. As if to prove that turning thirty hasn’t changed the things that are important to me, my most recent personal project has involved going back to the stories I wrote between 1987 and 1995, on an old DOS-based word processor called First Choice. Since 64-bit operating systems are becoming the norm, and 16-bit code (like DOS apps) can’t be executed natively on them, I decided suddenly that it was time to convert the whole kit ‘n’ kaboodle to a more modern format, like Word or RTF or something.

So I’ve been going back to the classics, the ancient dreck I wrote between the ages of seven and fifteen. This, too, has been a contradictory experience: So much of what I wrote back then was utterly horrible, and yet there are gems that still make me smile when I read them, wondering how they’ve managed to hold up for so many years. The conversion process itself is essentially manual (what few utilities exist don’t do a competent enough job to be worthwhile), and far more arduous than I expected, but I’ve already converted some 50-60 stories and have put them all on my iPhone for reading whenever the mood strikes.

Meanwhile, some other changes are also afoot, changes which I hope will make life a little more interesting. One of my bosses (the one who’s also a friend) and his family are likely going to move back to Florida, to this very area in fact. Not only will it be great, personally, for both my wife and I to have more friends to hang out with, but having one of the owners of this company back in my neck of the woods can only strengthen my position here. Lately I’ve been feeling marginalized and neglected as the sole remaining employee left in Florida, and perhaps having one of the Big Bosses™ in my corner will help.

I had hoped to write more than this, but the paradoxical phase I’m in doesn’t seem to be over yet. Despite having a variety of ideas with which I wanted to infuse this post, I could never figure out how to put them into words. (Having the Olympics on in the background hasn’t helped my concentration.) This entry will have to stand as-is, perhaps as little more than a reminder that yes, I’m still here. Even if I don’t feel compelled to post much of late.

It’s going to be a busy weekend, with the Asian Festival taking place at the Mercato, my parents coming into town and the possibility that I might see Shutter Island, a movie that I’ve been wanting to watch since I put down the book upon which it’s based. With all of that going on, maybe I’ll have something to post here again soon. Stranger things have happened.