Ongaku Cafe (The ’90s): Amuro Namie – CAN YOU CELEBRATE? (February 1997)

1. CAN YOU CELEBRATE? [Straight Run]
2. CAN YOU CELEBRATE? [Seventh Avenue South Mix]
3. CAN YOU CELEBRATE? [Back With TK]

The Namie Amuro and TK domination continues as the collaboration between the two have created the romantic ballad “CAN YOU CELEBRATE?”, the ninth CD single from Amuro and her largest selling single thus far (over 2.2 million copies sold).

The single is being used for the popular “Virgin Road” Japanese drama series and I have no doubt that this song will be one of those songs that will be used in weddings for many decades to come. It’s a wonderful track and I just love Amuro’s vocals and TK’s romantic musical arrangement. Everything just works right with this single and it’s definitely my favorite Amuro song. I’ve been listening to this CD single non-stop for the last week and I can’t get enough of it. It’s awesome!

The single kicks off with the “Straight Run” ala normal version of “CAN YOU CELEBRATE?”, while the second track features a Seventh Avenue South Mix. And it’s pretty much an instrumental for the majority of the track with TK just doing some experimentation ala synth-wise and adding some crazy beats to the original arrangement. Until the sixth minute of this eight minute song, then we start hearing Amuro’s vocals.

The third track features the karaoke track titled “CAN YOU CELEBRATE? [Back with TK]” with TK backing vocals.

Overall, this is a fantastic Namie Amuro CD single and if you are an Amuro fan, go to your local Japanese music store or call them and buy this single right now! It’s that good! Highly recommended!