Musical Homonyms: Freesia

Freesia is a fragrant flower native to South Africa.  In the Victorian language of flowers, the freesia signifies friendship and innocence.  Why it shows up as the title of so many Japanese pop/rock songs is still a mystery to me.  Of the many I know, three show up in my tags as 5-star treats, so I feel somewhat inspired to post them after a long hiatus.  Due to the circumstances, I'm using YouTube vids.  I've gone with two live versions, which adds the bonus of cute, very sweaty singers.   

 Gackt – Freesia op. 1 and 2 (live, original song from 'Mars') 

First up is Gackt from a 2000 live.  Even then he was a pop idol (hence the screams).  He just celebrated his 40^th birthday a few weeks ago and still is hugely popular, not only as a singer but in movies and TV too.  I love the bass player doing the upright thing with his electric guitar in the background.  And, of course, I love Gackt's rich baritone. 

MUCC – freesia (2009 single release)

MUCC started out as a visual kei band about 15 years ago, but have moved more into hard rock with a tinge of metal.  I think this was made during the peak of J-rock's AutoTuning days. 

girugamesh– freesia (from 2009 album 'reason of crying')

girugamesh, too, started life as a visual kei band, but lately they're considered industrial.  I love the bass line here, that deep "chunk-chunk-chunk-chunk" leading into the bridge. 

Two other j-rock groups I love have also released different songs called Freesia – Matenrou Opera has one on a 2013 mini-album release, and Penicillin came up with one in 2005 on their "Hell Bound Heart."  I couldn't find vids for them, though; well, vids that can be searched for in English, at any rate.

The Winter Months: 12gatsu no Love Song (December Love Song)

Discussion ensues over who is prettiest – Leehom (left) or Gackt (right)

Gackt & Leehom Wang: 12gatsu no Love Song (December Love Song)

[purchase]

This song is available in no fewer than 9 versions, my music-lovin' peeps, and okay, yeah, I've got 'em all. The first version was released in Japanese, and subsequent years found it sung in, respectively, English, Mandarin, and Korean. I'm letting you experience the Mandarin version because it's another one of those delicious male-male duets that I adore. Like the last one I introduced you to, this song features the Japanese pop star Gackt, this time paired with the other musical co-star of that weird vampire movie, Moon Child, Leehom Wang.

Leehom Wang was born in New York and attended Boston's Berklee School of Music, just like the lead singer of Collective Soul (my last post). He was visiting his grandparents in Taiwan when he came to the attention of the music industry there, and it was a slow and steady climb to fame in the Chinese music scene, where he's a big star now. He was also featured in Ang Lee's film Lust, Caution.

I'd share the English version of this tune, but Gackt's English is right up there with my Japanese (in other words, phonetic), and it makes for distracted listening to what is truly a beautiful song. The lyrics describe a man who's longing for a former lover and wondering if the reminiscence is mutual. And there are jingle bells, so there's that. Happy December!

Mononymic Artists: Gackt and Hyde

Hyde (left) and Gackt bask in their hotness...ah, of the Orange Sun, I mean.

Gackt & Hyde: Orenji no Taiyou (The Orange Sun)

[purchase]

Gackt: Freesia ~op.1~

[purchase]

At dusk, I beheld the orange sun with you.
With a tear-streaked face, you bid an eternal farewell.

I can’t love you any more than I do, and just by that, I feel complete.
So don’t cry, we can always meet again whenever we close our eyes...

Could you hear me squee when boyhowdy announced this week's theme? 'Cuz guess what, SMM fans? J-rockers, bless their hearts, rival western rap/hip-hop musicians in that nearly all of them go by single names. That means either you're gonna get an earful of new j-rock music this week, or your finger's gonna get some fruitful exercise looking for that scroll key. Win-win, right?

Gackt, aka Gakuto Kamui, is one of the most successful J-Pop/Rock singers in Japan. Hyde, born Hideto Takarai, is the vocalist for the hugely popular band L'Arc~en~Ciel. Together they wrote and starred in a pretty strange 2003 film, Moon Child (that I actually own), in which all of the cast but one ends up dead or, well, undead. Orenji no Taiyou is the film's theme song.

And you know what? I think it's utterly gorgeous. It's unusual in any genre to have two guys sing a stunning ballad like this. Check out how well matched their voices are, especially at the climax around the 5-minute mark. I know both of their tones pretty well, and even then I have a hard time working out who's who (Gackt takes the high part). You can hear his beautiful baritone strutting its stuff in the second song, from his 2000 album, Mars.