Audio CD review:
Yoko Kanno, Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop: Future Blues

Yoko Kanno, Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop: Future Blues

Band: Yoko Kanno, Seatbelts Title: Cowboy Bebop: Future Blues Rating: Release Date: 22 August, 2001 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: 24hours Open 2: Pushing the Sky 3: Time to Know 4: Clutch 5: Musawe 6: Yo Pumpkin Head 7: Diggin' 8: 3.14 9: What Planet Is This! 10: 7minuets 11: Fingers 12: Powder 13: Buterfly 14: No Reply 15: Dijurido 16: Gotta Knock a Little Harder 17: No Money

Customer Reviews Brings the Cowboy Bebop soundtracks to new places and then back home. S. Cowboy Bebop - Future Blues For me, the greatest appeal of the first Cowboy Bebop disc (O. T. 1) is that all of the pieces (except the abysmal "Rain") work well together and form a cohesive whole. No Disc approaches the sounds of Cowboy Bebop from multiple perspectives and from various bands. There are more actual songs (music with lyrics) on No Disc than on O. S. T. 1. At first, I didn't like this approach, but the music grew on me with time. Not every piece or song is as complete as those of O. S. T. 1, but there is plenty of great music to write about. The third original soundtrack album, Blue, follows No Disc's lead and offers more songs and fewer instrumental pieces. As on No Disc, Blue has some hits and misses. Future Blues is a fine finale to this soundtrack series. I take a quick peek at each track below. "24 Hours OPEN" is hilarious, if disturbing. The piece sounds like a violent crime occurring at Chucky Cheese, and someone left the security camera on. The goofy elevator music is mixed with random gunshots, people screaming, and sirens blazing. The worst, however, is when the people stop screaming, because you know everyone's dead. Nice way to start your album. "Pushing the Sky" is an excellent hard rock song. Mai Yamane's low, smoky voice works perfectly here. The guitar work is reminiscent of Slash from Guns N' Roses, a definite plus. If you sped up the tempo of the theme song from "The Love Boat" and inserted a rap over the top, you'd have something similar to "Time to Know--Be Waltz. " Sounds crazy? Sounds great! "Clutch" is a fast jazz piece with a lot of great solos. Expect nothing less from The Seatbelts. "MUSAWE" is a jam session, and like most jam sessions, it doesn't really go anywhere, but I like it anyway. "Yo Pumpkin Head" is a syncopated big brass exploration. The energy of the piece is great in itself, but I must admit that this is the first piece of music I've ever heard that incorporates a crowd as a musical instrument. Must be heard to be appreciated. I've hated prior Cowboy Bebop songs featuring the vocals of Steve Conte. "Diggin'," however, is a vehicle that finally works well with his otherwise thin, weak voice. The blues-country guitar work rocks, indeed. The song gets a bit long in the middle, but it's still a good one. The lyrics are good and in keeping with the themes of the Cowboy Bebop series. "3. 14" is a Japanese a cappella song featuring the girl-like voice of Aoi Toda. It's not a complete piece, is in Japanese, and so it has a novel quality to it that doesn't last. "What Planet Is This" is a fast, rock jazz piece with a fantastic sax solo. The Seatbelts don't disappointment here, and they mix it up in the middle to give the piece shape. "7 Minutes" is a genre-blasting tour de force. It's almost impossible to characterize. I suppose the word "fusion" comes to mind. Great piece all around. The piano work in "Fingers" drives this spacey sounding. There's also a kalimba (finger piano) at work here, which offers a twinkling accompaniment. The chorus is underplayed and gives the piece some sway. "Powder" is a chorale song and doesn't interest me much. I appreciate the talent that went into the performance, but the song doesn't strike me. "Butterfly" features the sultry vocals of M. The accompanying jazz guitar and piano work well. It feels like a complete song, which doesn't always happen on Cowboy Bebop soundtracks. Steve Conte's vocals are so-so in "No Reply. " The song sounds like an early 1990s ballad when everyone started rejecting the synthesizer and started using full, live orchestras. It's too sappy for my taste. "Dijurido" doesn't really go anywhere. The vocals are rather flat. In the middle of the piece, the strings explore a tune that reminds me of Disney's Fantasia when the splinters of broom are being reanimated into many smaller brooms. "Gotta Knock a Little Harder" starts slow, but it's worth the wait for the blues piano and awesome vocals to kick in. Rockin' piano songs are rare nowadays. I don't see the point in "No Money. " It's essentially a half-sung poem. Mai Yamane's take on "Rain" is vastly superior to Steve Conte's rendition on the first Cowboy Bebop soundtrack. When Conte sings it, I find the song impossible to listen to; when Yamane sings it, I believe her. Future Blues is a nice conclusion to the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack series. It's amazing that a 26-episode anime could give birth to such varied, experimental, and inspired music. I recommend buying Future Blues used. The retail price is robbery. But do get this album if you are a Cowboy Bebop or The Seatbelts fan. Great music, only one cd. I mean, 51 bucks for one cd is messed up. Reason for my rating is the fact I only got one cd. I guess I bought it after reading the reviews hoping the cd had like a bonus disc inside that they didn't put on the description. . . oh well. If you got the money and would like to own atleast ONE of the cd of this album, buy it. If I could give it 10 stars I would do so... All of Yoko Kanno's stuff for Cowboy Bebop, and most of her stuff in general, is mind-blowingly varied, creative, and engaging, but this is the jewel of the crown. Holy toledo this album is absolutely amazing. It's the pinnacle of the Seatbelts as a music collective, and it features a deep and wonderous sampling of all the group is capable of. When playing this disc for friends, I feel a need to say, "And this is the same band" at every track, because they're all so different. The album--which is the soundtrack to "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie"--opens with "24 hours open," a strange circus-esque carnival of chaos which is both amusing, disturbing and highly forgettable. But from there the album takes off. "Pushing the Sky" is aggressive, echoing anthem rock. "Time to Know" is a flute-tinged waltz with what appears to be Japanese rapping at the end. "Clutch" is some of the best freeform jazz I've ever heard. "Musawe" sounds like Arabian folk. "Yo Pumpkinhead!" is a big band extravaganza (from the Martian Halloween parade, for those who have seen the movie). "Digging" is bluesrock. And so on. Nearly every song is from a different genre ("7 Minutes," an orchestral techno metal number in 7:4 time, qualifies for several) and nearly every song is a masterwork of said genre. "Fingers" is flowing piano/fingerpiano dub. "Butterly" is a gorgeously subdued ballad. And "Gotta Knock a Little Harder" is an awesomely crafted pop anthem reminiscent of Annie Lennox at her very best. And that's just the first disc. The bonus second disc has 11 more songs, which range from ambient electro ("Chapter 23") to stomping scavenger pop ("Ask DNA," which might owe its existence to Beck's "Where It's At"). A few of the songs, particularly on Disc 2, are from the show, not the movie, but these are all so good that they fit right in and you won't care. I cannot say enough about this album. It's one of the greatest triumphs of music I've ever heard, a tribute to 100 years of American musical tradition and a fair amount of Japanese music as well, and an outstanding release in its own right. It is worth whatever you have to pay for it. . You can see a complete list of all Yoko Kanno, Seatbelts discography, or go back to the Yoko Kanno, Seatbelts tabs