Ongaku Cafe (The 2000s): Morning Musume - The Peace! (July 2001)

Catchy, addictive and just all out fun! Morning Musume’s 12th CD single “The Peace!” is a fantastic single from the group and is highly recommended!

GROUP: モーニング娘。 (Morning Musume)

CD SINGLE: ザ☆ピ～ス! (The Peace)

LABEL: Zetima

CATALOG #: EPCE-5114

DURATION: 22:29

RELEASE DATE: July 25, 2001

ザ☆ピ~ス！
でっかい宇宙に愛がある
ザ☆ピ~ス！(Instrumental)
でっかい宇宙に愛がある (Instrumental)

Reviewed back in July 2001

Morning Musume is back with their 12th CD single titled “The Peace!”.

The single was another #1 hit for Morning Musume (since their eleventh CD single “Ren’ai Revolution”) and sold over 682,000 copies for its first week and would feature fourth generation member, Ishikawa Rika as the center.

The insert features the picture of all nine members with a yellow background sporting their gold outfits, while the reverse cover features the entire group in their gold outfits with a black background.

Inside the 2-page insert are the lyrics to the two tracks and production credits and also a survey card.

Featuring music by Dance Man and the Band Man, “The Peace!” would feature feature brass courtesy of the Horns Man Brothers and chorus by Tsunku.

Catchy and upbeat, the song is unlike any Morning Musume track that I have hard before. Great undergoing bass groove, cool vocals and a finale with multiple false endings, the song has quickly become my favorite Morning Musume song yet!

The song is rather upbeat with lyrics that probably is more about girls going out doing something fun. How everybody should scream, even if it doesn’t mean anything.

The group talks about their love for convenience stores, wanting to go back to their hometowns, signing up for English school, but unable to attend. Voting on election day and then going out for dinner after one has voted. To being in love with a person who understands and treats them well. To lyrics about ordering a pizza and having a hard time of deciding whether or not one wants to order a medium or large size pizza or the difficulty of having to hang up with someone after a long conversation. And after each sentence in the lyrics, we hear the group saying “Peace!”. Just a fun track overall!

The coupling track is titled “Dekkai Uchi ni Ai ga Aru!” (which translates to “There’s Love in this large Universe”) and is an upbeat track that utilizes a Hammon organ courtesy of Kawai Daisuke and percussion and electric guitar.

A catchy, cute pop track, the song is about how in this big universe, if people can share a little bit of compassion, it can turn into something big. And how people should criticize or cry, one should love themselves and others. And if one smiled more, they would feel better.

The next two tracks are the instrumental versions of “The Peace!” and “Dekkai Uchi ni Ai ga Aru!”.

Overall, there is something about “The Peace!” that makes me want to listen to it over and over. It’s catchy, addictive and I find myself listening to this song more than any other Morning Musume track, and that’s considering that I have listened to “Love Machine”, “Koi no Dance Site” and “Summer Night Town” like crazy when they were first released.

I just love the new dynamics with the new group, despite only Iida Kaori and Abe Natsume being the only two members left of the original first generation.

But “The Peace!” is just a fantastic song that I absolutely love! While I enjoy the positivity of the c/w track “Dekkai Uchi ni Ai ga Aru!”, I’m pretty much listening to “The Peace!” most of the time on repeat.

Catchy, addictive and just all out fun! Morning Musume’s 12th CD single “The Peace!” is a fantastic single from the group and is highly recommended!