Moving Ballads: Midori Karashima and Carrie Underwood

(tags music, Midori Karashima, Japan, USA, country)

This week I swung by the Tower Records Kobe to pick up my anticipated Bouquet Garni (ブーケガルニ) CD by Midori Karashima (辛島美登里). Unfortuately it wasn't prominently displayed in the eye-catch racks. :-/ And yeah, I already like the new track (no. 4) "dakishimite" 「抱きしみて」. And the lovely revised version of "anata no ai ni naritatai" 「あなたの愛になりたい」, is an update of the song from her 1997 album. It totally reminds me of my spelunkering and puttering around Tokyo at the time. Geez, 1997.

While I'm talking about her, I may as well mention that I found the YouTube video of her song for the Yawara! television anime, called "Egao o Sagashite" 「笑顔を探して」. I never watched Yawara! though, even though I got the CD single. 8cm CD! Geez, 1990.

I drifted over to the other half of the store which was foreign music section. I checked out some favorites, but Carrie Underwood's (newest?) CD stood out. I passed on Trisha Yearwood, sorry! I'm now entranced by her rendition of "I Told You So". I first heard this song through Randy Travis, which has to be my favorite from him. Geez, 1988.

Midori Karashima new album "Bouquet Garni" out 11/21

(tags music, artist, Midori Karashima)

I'm in the music artist Midori Karashima Greenfields fan club and I was excited to see that she's coming out with a new album "Bouquet Garni" (ボーケガルニ) next month. It's suprising that a bouquet garni is something you add during food preparation to make something taste better, but you ultimately take it out. Is this really a good name for an album?

I went to one of her live events but I couldn't see much. She dedicated a song to a newly married couple, but it was amusing to hear directly from her that she doesn't have many happy songs. She proclaims in the article above doesn't have many heartbreak songs since her breakaway hit "Silent Eve". I'd like to hear more upbeat stuff from her, really I do.