Ongaku Cafe (The ’90s): avex dance matrix ’95 Live (December 1995)

“avex dance matrix ’95 Live” is one of those live CD’s that I will probably treasure, mainly for the nostalgic factor of the mid-90’s. As a big trf fan back then, to see how the group exploded into popularity was phenomenal. To see how globe would then exploded into the music scene and dominate the charts and of course, Amuro Namie winning the hearts for her music and dance and hitomi winning the hearts of fans by her sexiness, it was a charming time.

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ARTISTS: Various Artists

ALBUM TITLE: avex dance matrix ’95 Live

CATALOG #: AVCD-11357/B

DURATION: (DISC 1) DISCO WEEK in VELFARRE: 1:00:51 (DISC2) TK DANCE CAMP: 1:11:49

RELEASED on December 14, 1995

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DISCO WEEK in VELFARRE

1. Samantha Gilles – Here Comes the Night
2. Maio & CO – Dark in the Night
3. METAL MIND MANIACS – F.A.Y.
4. Cappella – Move It Up
5. Youco Kaido – Every Wednesday
6. The Secret Life – I Want You
7. Nicki French – Total Eclipse of the Heart
8. Michael Fortunati – Bany Break It Up!
9. EUROGROOVE – Dive to PAradise
10. m.c.A*T – Kaze ni Sakebu – Energy Guy no Theme
11. Technotronic Feat. Ya Kid K – Move it to the Rhythm
12. Jaki Graham – Style
13. Bananarama – I Found Love
14. John Robinson – Everybody

TK DANCE CAMP

1. TRF – masquerade
2. TRF – survival dance~no no cry more~
3. hitomi – GO TO THE TOP
4. Amuro Namie with SUPER MONKEYS – TRY ME ~ Watashi wo Shinjite~
5. Amuro Namie – Taiyou no Season
6. Suirei – Koi wo surutabini kizu tsuki yasuku
7. globe – Joy to the love (globe)
8. Sakamoto Ryuichi – VOLTEX OF LOVE
9. TRF – CRAZY GONNA CRAZY
10. TRF – Overnight Sensation
11. H Jungle with T – GOING GOING HOME
12. H Jungle with T – WOW WOW WAR TONIGHT ~toki ni wa okose yo MUUVUMEN’TO~

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In 1995, there were two live events which brought many artists together courtesy of the avex trax label. The first was “DISCO WEEK in VELFARRE” which was promoting the club music scene of the avex-owned dance night club (which shut down on New Year’s Day 2007) and the other was the outdoor concert “TK DANCE CAMP” (a pre-cursor to avex’s a-nation Summer live event) celebrating the emerging popularity of the TK family ala popular producer and musician Komuro Tetsuya.

The album “Avex Dance Matrix ’95 Live” would feature a total of two discs and also two VHS releases.

The DISCO WEEK in VELFARRE would feature the type of groups that would perform at VELFARRE and some songs that would remind me of the early Juliana’s Tokyo years in the early 90’s with signficant songs such as METAL MIND MANIACS “F.A.Y.” (aka Fuck All Y’all) and Nicki French’s club revival with her classic hit “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. And of course, Technotronic feat. Ya Ki K with “Move It To the Rhythm”.

It was great to hear the crowd cheering the artist at VELFARRE and you can tell the club was full of energy. What is missing though on the CD is on the LaserDisc with the debut performance of MAX (Formerly the SUPER MONKEYS) and a cool performance by (the then spelled in lower case) trf. But they do have m.c.A*T’ featured and also a performance by TK’s EUROGROOVE group.

But for me, the disc that I have listened to and truly enjoyed was the “TK DANCE CAMP”. For me, avex trax in the mid-90’s was all about the emerging TK family.

During this time, TRF was the top group and establishing avex trax as a record label. Komuro Tetsuya then would produce the music for teen idol Amuro Namie which would dominate the charts and break records from 1995-1998.

globe would be the group that would come out in the forefront and feature Komuro Tetsuya along with KEIKO and Marc Panther and hitomi would be the fashion model that Komuro Tetsuya was bringing to the masses as a singer.

Of course, part of the TK mystique was taking someone who can’t sing but making them popular and through a dare, he did it with DOWNTOWN comedian (and “HEY! HEY! HEY! Music Champ host) Hamada Masatoshi (aka Hama-chan) which he took the comedian to the top of the charts with “WOW WOW WAR TONIGHT”.

But part of the mystique at that time was that mega-producer mystique of Komuro Tetsuya and what he had accomplished at that time before going to the next phase of the music industry in 1999 with the likes of pop stars such as Utada Hikaru and Hamasaki Ayumi.

But I still listen to this CD because you can hear the crowd as they were excited by these groups and artist. It was definitely a golden time for the J-Pop fan during that time and something I will never forget. One of the few live CD’s featuring various artists from the avex trax label and this album was worth owning for this disc alone.

The CD insert features track listings for both discs and pictures from the live performance.

“avex dance matrix ’95 Live” is one of those live CD’s that I will probably treasure, mainly for the nostalgic factor of the mid-90’s. As a big trf fan back then, to see how the group exploded into popularity was phenomenal. To see how globe would then exploded into the music scene and dominate the charts and of course, Amuro Namie winning the hearts for her music and dance and hitomi winning the hearts of fans by her sexiness, it was a charming time.

But the best part of me was two tracks. When Amuro Namie and the Super Monkeys performed “TRY ME” and got the crowd going like crazy and the final track where H Jungle with T performed “WOW WAR TONIGHT” and everyone from the TK family would join on stage with the dancers and support Hama-chan as he was tired, sweaty and basically just screaming the lyrics and the other performers just singing and dancing along on stage with him. That was incredible.

Definitely a golden year for J-Pop if you were a TK fan.

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