Buying recommendations, please :)

[Kurious]

Hello All,



I came across H!P music some months ago, and I gotta say that I love this music. I've mostly heard Morning Musume and some C-ute, along with a few others (Ayaya, GAM, etc). I have been studying Japanese on and off for some years now, but I did not have the idea to check out their music. Darn, I wish I knew earlier. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':wub:' />



I want to buy some of their CDs/DVDs and I'd like to ask forum members to help me make a wise choice here.



At this point I'll mention my current 5 favorites so far, in no particular order: Go Girl Koi no Victory, Ai Araba It's Alright, Ai no Tane, Aruiteru, Sakura Mankai. There's also a live performance for C-ute's Homerare Nobiko no Theme Kyoku, which I think is excellent.



The first thing that I will buy will be "Morning Musume All Singles Complete Zen 35 Kyoku - 10th Anniversary" because I love PVs. Are there any recommendations about buying other MM songs not on this DVD?



What is the name of the concert where C-ute sings Homerare Nobiko no Theme Kyoku? I'll buy that concert. What else do you recommend, from C-ute?



Which other H!P "best-of" albums have sold highly or do you otherwise recommend? (And if they have PVs, all the better.) Please note that I prefer groups/duets to soloists.



All feedback is welcome. Thanks in advance. お願いします！ ^.^

[fpd]

I would suggest the older Pucchi Best cds. 3 is one of my favorites. I would suggest you check out Buono! if you haven't yet, because if you like C-ute you'll more than likely like them, and imo they're far better. Buono is the only group I pay any attention to anymore in H!P.

[Madara]

The recent Shuffle Unit Mega Best CD/DVD release contains all the Shuffle Unit videos, 15 total. You'll like some (most?) of those. Given the songs you mentioned, I'd steer you to the 2003-2004 MM/H!P concerts, esp. the one that got me started, Hello! Project Winter 2004 C'mon Let's Dance. I have to say that the concerts are often the best showcases for the girls' talents.



C-ute's done a few good concerts lately. The one from last summer, Summer 2008: “Wasuretaku nai Natsu,” taped on August 30, 2008 at Pacifico Yokohama, was very good. That DVD came out late last year. They tap dance in that one. Also, the joint Berryz/C-ute concert from last spring, Berryz Kobo & Cute Nakayoshi Battle Concert Tour 2008 Haru - Berryz Kamen vs Cutie Ranger, was fantastic.



I've covered a lot of stuff I'd recommend in my blog (link below), including various older concerts, and have reviewed some things on CDJapan as well.



But, yeah, the collection of MM PV's is the best place to start, esp. the string of 13 great videos from 2000-2004, from “Renai Revolution 21” to “Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari,” that are the highlights of that collection. You can catch up to the later ones some other time. They're not nearly as good.



Oh, and make sure you check out the "All for One & One for All" video with the "H!P All Stars." It's on Petit Best 5 and the recent Special Units Mega Best CD/DVD.

[Kurious]

Good recommendations there, I'm checking them out and hope to make a decision soon. (Additional recommendations are always welcome.)



What is the name of the concert where they sing Homerare in the same outfits as in the cover of 3rd Love Escalation CD? I can't seem to find a concert with those outfits in the cover. I'm going to decide between that concert and Wasuretakunai Natsu concert, which also looks fantastic.

[Hana]

I *think* the concert you're looking for is "C-ute Cutie Circuit 2008 ~Love Escalation!~". It's an outdoor concert, they're in the outfits from the cover, and there are cherry blossoms in the background. Does that sound right?

[Kurious]

The description is correct. I didn't realize that there are both a CD and a DVD with the name "Love Escalation". However, the cover on the DVD box for the concert of that name shows them on different dresses that are all white (and which also look nice ^.^). Can you please confirm that that's the DVD? Thank you.

[Hana]

They typically change outfits several times over the course of a concert, so you can't go by the cover alone.



Anyway, the clip of the song on Dohhh Up confirms it.

[AEUGNewtype]

That is probably the most enjoyable concert that I've seen from C-ute so far, and I've watched about 6 of them. It had most of my favorite songs by them and the outfits, stage setup, performances, and skits were all extremely good. The sound quality is the only bad part, but I've learned to overlook that because everything else is so good. It doesn't drag on forever like so many H!P concerts do. A lot of the songs are cut short, but not annoyingly so, and most of the skits are concise and lead right into the next song, at least compared to some that I've seen. Highly recommended to watch the whole thing if you can get past the sound quality.

[Kurious]

Thank you for the info. I think C-ute must be my favorite H!P group after all. I've yet to check Buono! though.



I had searched Dohhh Up, but the search had come empty. Now I realize that I must use kana (ほめられ) instead of roman characters (homerare).

[freezingkiss]

My favourite MM concert ever is the 2002 LOVE IS ALIVE! Concert, Maki's graduation one. It's the first one I ever bought and is still kick ass to watch today!

[Madara]

[quote name='freezingkiss' post='57910' date='Jan 28 2009, 03:23 PM']My favourite MM concert ever is the 2002 LOVE IS ALIVE! Concert, Maki's graduation one. It's the first one I ever bought and is still kick ass to watch today![/quote]



Funny you should mention that. That was actually the second H!P concert I bought. The night after I bought (and watched) my first H!P concert (the Winter 2004 one where Nacchi graduated), I went to another store and found this one and bought it. It's another one that I've watched frequently. I only discovered last year or so that my DVD has a special feature devoted to the performance of "Souda, We're Alive," in which you can watch it on a split screen showing 4 different angles.



Speaking of recommendations, right now I'm listening to the first "Folk Songs" CD, the one where Sayaka Ichii and Yuko Nakazawa team up. Who knew Sayaka had such a beautiful voice? Gypchan recommended this to me, so to round out my Folk Songs CD collection, I finally got this and "Folk Songs 2." Nice.

[neshcom]

If you're looking for a good concert, you can't go wrong with the Dairanbu A HAPPY NEW POWER Iida Kaori graduation concert. My first and favorite H!P concert.