Ongaku Cafe (The ’90s): Moritaka Chisato – DO THE BEST (1995)

Reviewed back in 1995

Moritaka Chisato released her 25th single last month with “Futari wa Koibito” and here we are weeks later with Moritaka’s first best album “DO THE BEST”.

The album debuted on the Oricon Album Charts at #2

And for Moritaka Chisato fans, this is great news considering she’s had a string of hit songs since her debut back eight years ago with “NEW SEASON” (1987).  But with a best album, it one thing that people should not expect is a complete best album featuring all 25 singles, party because Moritaka has went from Warner Music/Pioneer, Warner Music to her current label at One Up Music.

So, a question that one may have is how many hits are part of the album?

The first thing that fans need to know is that most of the Warner/Pioneer hit singles are not included. To be specific, the first 15 singles are not included in “DO THE BEST”.

So, hit songs such as “NEW SEASON”, “GET SMILE”, “ALONE”, “The Stress”, “Ju nana-sai”, “Kono Machi”, “Fight!”, “Hachi ga tsunokoi” are not included.  But surprisingly, one Warner/Pioneer song is included and that was her her 11th single “Ame”.

But “DO THE BEST” includes her 16th single up to her 25th single, including the double-AA sided tracks.

The album kicks off with “Rock n Roll Kencho Shiyozaicho ’95” (Rock n’ Roll Prefectural Government Office Location) and was featured on Moritaka’s seventh album “Pepper land”. And it’s a song in which Moritaka plays all instruments on the song.  It’s a catchy, fun song but the fact that Moritaka played all instruments on this song is impressive!  The song, the single version, was used as the coupling song to her 18th single “Watashi no Natsu”.

The second track is “Ame”, Moritaka’s hit eleventh single released in 1990 and debuted at #2 on the Oricon charts.  It’s important to note that Moritaka has released two previous versions, one for her 1990 album “Kokontozai” which featured a longer chorus, a rock version featured in “The Moritaka”, while this version features the same arrangement as the original single, but the first chorus is much longer.  This is a sad ballad and a Moritaka hit!

The third track is her 16th single “Watashi ga Oba-san ni Nattemo” (1992) and is an album version and song used as the theme for the NTV drama “Matanashi” and has been a song that many women sing when they feel they have become an older woman (or “aunt”).

The fourth track is Moritaka’s 17th single  “Watarasebashi”, a song which Moritaka said she remembered a person who passed away while watching the sunset at Watarase Bridge.  Prior to hearing that, she would make a lyric about a bridge, looked on the map and looked for beautiful rivers and bridges but wanted a bridge with a good sound and character and so she saw Watarase River.  Moritaka traveled to the area and took a walk around the bridge and wrote the lyrics with that image in mind.  And “Watarasebashi” became a popular song for her and the song was used for TBS “Nippon Iitabi”.  A wonderful ballad!

The fifth track is Moritaka’s “Watashi no Natsu”, her 18th single.  The upbeat song was used as the 1993 ANA Okinawa campaign song.

The sixth track is Moritaka’s “Haeotoko” (single version), (fly man) her 19th double A-sided single which Moritaka wrote and features Moritaka playing the drum on the right sound channel and on the left channel is piano by Hashimoto Shin.  I really like the mix for this song!

The seventh track is Moritaka Chisato’s “Memories” which was the other double A-sided single from her 19th single alongside “Haeotoko”.  The song was used as the ending theme for “Ucchan Nanchan no Yarunarayaraneba!”.

The eighth track is Moritaka’s #1 hit single from 1993, “Kaze ni Fukarete” (Being blown by the wind) and would be the 20th single and also her last release with Warner Music Japan.  I absolutely love the arrangement of this song and the lyrics for this ballad.

The ninth track is Moritaka Chisato’s 21st single “Rock n’ Omelette” and her first single to be released through One Up Music and was the opening theme for  the Fuji TV children series “Ponki Kids”.  The song was kept short and the lyrics made simple for people to remember the song.

The tenth track is Moritaka Chisato’s 22nd single “Kibun Sokai”, a song released last year (1994) in which many people enjoyed for it’s alcohol drinking, have fun with friends music video and cool and catchy lyrics!  The song was used for Asahi Draft Beer’s “Z” commercial.

The eleventh track is “Natsu no Hi” and is Moritaka’s 23rd single and is the theme song for TV Tokyo’s “Asakusabashi Young Youhinten” and is a country-style type of song.

The 12th track is Sutenkina tanjoubi” (a wonderful birthday) is from Moritaka’s 24th double AA-sided single and sounds like another consecutive country style song and was used in the Asahi Draft Beer “Z” CM and debuted #1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts.

The 13th track is “Watashi no Daiji na hito” (my important person), the other AA-sided single released with “Sutekina tanjoubi” and the song has a Bossa Nova and Rumba style of feel to it.

The 14th track is “Futari wa Koibito” (remix) and is the theme song for “Koi mo 2 Domenara” and is a catchy song in which Moritaka also performs on drums and cowbell.

And the final 15th track. is “Kyo kara” (Starting today) which is a new track Moritaka included for this best album and is a beautiful ballad.

Overall, “DO THE BEST” is fantastic best album containing many of the singles from 1990 to February 1995. Unfortunately, it’s not the ultimate best album and while it’s a shame that Warner Music/Pioneer didn’t allow all previous songs to be included on this best album, hopefully in the future they will release the other 14 Moritaka’s hit songs.

But Moritaka Chisato has released solid hits in the past six years that are included on this best album which makes “DO THE BEST” worth owning and worth recommending!

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