The Pillows - Happy Bivouac

When I first looked into modern foreign music I instantly thought of Japan first. Watching many Anime shows as a child I knew that Japan was capable of producing some pretty awesome music for their television programs. The soundtracks never seemed to fail; from Cowboy Bebop to Lupin the Third, the music always sucked me in. The first band I found in my musical journey happened to have composed one of the soundtracks to a popular anime show in the 90s.

FLCL was the name of the Anime and it was insane; full of action and suspense, amazing, fluid animations through every scene, and a story that gave you the smallest possible amount of information directly regarding the plot, keeping you conjuring ideas non-stop. The best part about this anime was how well the music fit the story. However, when I found out that almost all the music was recorded before the Anime was ever even conceived, I began to wonder how they found one band that had such an array of musical ingenuity to integrate their recordings so well into every scene. To this day I still haven’t found a band (in or out of Japan) that is as ingenious as the band they chose for this soundtrack. That band is The Pillows.

The Pillows are a Japanese alternative rock band that debuted in 1989. Having recorded sixteen studio albums alone to date, all of which that have been reasonably successful, the band has become one of the most successful in Japan, alongside others such as B’z. Their stellar studio album success comes from their diverse selection of songs on each record they produce. However, what makes The Pillows diversity different from that of Dir en Grey or B’z, is that The Pillows maintain a diverse selection of music while still retaining the alternative rock genre in every recording. This is an incredibly difficult concept to take in, but I can personally say that out of the over 150 songs the band has written over the years, each one has its own style and clarity. Some of the differences small, but they are never subtle. Each song speaks a different story, and it shows.

Happy Bivouac is not an exception to this concept. Although many of the songs off this album are written in similar fashions, the way they are presented through the difference in slurring of Sawao Yamanaka voice, or the varying intensities of the guitar and bass, make for a new experience on every track. Along with changing each band member’s style from track to track, the diversity of the songs on the album also comes from the slight changes within each song itself.

Songs like “Carnival” and “Beautiful Morning With You” both contain the same sort of growth in the recording as a whole, but the product results in a completely different reaction to each song. “Rush” and “Back Seat Dog” contain very similar strong structures, but “Rush” leaves me feeling determination in Yamanaka’s voice after every refrain, where “Back Seat Dog” comes off as a very bubbly love song. The vocals in “Funny Bunny” seem almost like they were copy/pasted right out of “Our Love and Peace,” but with the instrumental styles differing so greatly, you can’t help but feel a completely different emotion coming out of each vocal presentation.

I guess in the end this was more of a review of The Pillows themselves, but the reason I wanted to show you Happy Bivouac is because of the great deal of internal connections between the tracks on the album. Happy Bivouac is, in my opinion, the best way to introduce anyone to this band. It contains some of the best recordings from the band’s entire career and at the same time, it paints an amazing picture of the band’s shining success through diversity within the genre. I don’t care what kind of music you like to listen to; The Pillows are a band for you. They will have you singing along with every song even if you don’t speak or know Japanese. Check these guys out. You’d be a sucker if you didn’t.

Once again I couldn't find this album anywhere on the internet, which is a real bummer. If you go to the following YouTube link, this user has the entire album in their posted videos. They are all located in the bottom two rows of the first page, with the exception of the title track "Happy Bivouac," which is on the top of page two. Please check it out, I promise it's worth the work.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=magonzamusic&view=videos