TOHOSHINKI's Japanese release of a Korean album...
TOHOSHINKI (TVXQ) are currently enjoying huge amounts of success outside of Korea, particularly in Japan, so it is sometimes easy to forget that they started out in Korea. While they were still reasonably new to the Japanese music scene, they released an album at home, 'O'-Jung.Ban.Hap. To give the Japanese a taste of what they were doing back in Korea, this album was re-released in Japan with the same songs (still sung in Korean) with one Japanese song as a bonus track.
'O'-Sei.Han.Go (same name, different reading) was released in Japan almost a year after its Korean counterpart and signalled the beginning of a long period of Japanese activity for the group, which has led to them topping the Oricon charts and collaborating with one of the biggest artists in Japan, namely Koda Kumi.
The album opens with the title track, which is probably familiar to all TVXQ fans regardless of their nationality. The song is insanely catchy and you are guaranteed to be singing it without even realising it after the first hearing. The song makes perfect use of all the members' vocal abilities and uses harmonies to their full effect, particularly during the chorus.
Once the first track has come to a somewhat abrupt end, the album takes a sudden change of pace with Sesange dan hanappunin maeun (Sekai ni hitotsu dake no kimochi (You're my miracle)). The verses give the song a definite ballad feeling but when the song makes it to the chorus the members' voices give the song a lift and offer it an almost summery feeling.
The next song is Hey!Girl, which is classic TVXQ ballad. The song is littered with little specks of percussion, which add another level to the simplistic song. The following track, Get me some, which was originally by Australian boyband Mercury4, shows yet another change of pace for the album. The song is a dance song with another catchy chorus, which is mostly sung in English making it easy for people who can't speak Korean to sing along. At the half waypoint, the song takes a short interlude, which one would imagine is where a dance part would take place during a live.
The following tracks: I'll be there, Ije mak sijakdwin iyagi (Kimi no soba ni iraretara (White lie...) and Remember are ballads (along with Hajimatta bakari no monogatari (The Story Has Just Begun) on the Japanese release), which act as a nice, peacefully segment to mark the half-way point of the album.
ON&ON ushers in the second half of the album with a beautiful ballad, possibly one of the most beautiful on the album. The song uses the members' harmonising throughout, often with members singing a different part to the melody, giving the song an interesting effect.
Phantom hwanyeong (Phantom genei) is a light pop song that gives the album a much needed lift. It doesn't have the same effect as 'O'-Jung.Ban.Hap or Get me some in that it is more forgettable and probably won't be one of the songs you'll be singing for weeks to come. Having said that, it is a pleasant song and fits well on the album.
Pungseon (Fuusen (Balloons) starts off with an almost 70s sounding synth intro, which almost makes you forget you are listening to a TVXQ album. It becomes obvious the second the vocals kick in, with sweet sounding harmonies and a pleasantly catchy melody line. The song is upbeat and summery throughout, bringing the Korean version of the album to an end.
As a bonus to the Japanese listeners, there is a Japanese language version of Sesange dan hanappunin maeun simply entitled You're my miracle -Japanese ver.-. For people used to hearing the Korean version, it sounds strange to hear the song in another language but after a few listens it becomes clear that although it's different the song works just as well.
Overall the album is well rounded with a mixture of ballads and dance songs, which should be enough to keep all kinds of listener interested.
