Customer Reviews

Beautiful

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I own all three of FPM's albums. Though I liked the kitchy aspects of the first two, and their frequent use of bossanova and other lounge sounds, they were far too uneven. The first was better than the second, and I enjoyed it immensly, but neither had the constant inspiration that this album does. This album is well titled, beautifull from beginning to end in all sorts of imaginative and startling ways. Though there is much diversity, all the songs are held together by a thread and I beleive the album itself must be looked at as a whole, not as a collection of individual songs that have nothing to do with one another.

To put it simply, I'm addicted to the album, songs 6 and nine are the two songs I've been searching for my whole life as a lover of brazilian music. They modernize the sound in a way that does complete justice to the source(better justice than most artists who are exploiting the bossanova genre these days, and there are a lot of such artists). This cover of the Whistle Song is one of the best bossanova tunes I've ever heard,and I've listened to a lot. The album doesn't restrict itself to brazilian jazz however, though it is very heavily influenced by it. One can hear a new element, that of seventies soul. This is Jamiriquai territory, and at times the funky base lines on this album seem like they would fit right in on any Jamiriquai record. This addition to the FPM sound is the key to this albums superiority over its predecesars. Every song on this album, regardless how original and out there, is incredibly soulful, and thus more enjoyable. An especially cool thing Tanaka (I hope thats his name) does, is give the singers of many songs unique and interesting voices to convey. By this I mean that the nature of the singing itself hints at the personality of the narrator of the song. Though this done on previous albums, its used to excellent affect here, giving each song a true life of its own. This album single handedly carried me across the United States during my car ride home from school. It is impossible not to feel joy while listening to this album, an upbeat though sometimes surprisingly melancholy journey. When you're done listening to it you definately feel like its taken you somewhere. All fans of FPM must check it out, and those that were previously annoyed by his sound (many people I've played it for) will find this album much more accessible in its own cheesy, kitchy, funloving, and beautiful way.

(...) Personally, I find it very disappointing after FPM's previous album, "Luxury". "Beautiful" harnesses saccharine strings, anonymous vocals and odd rhythmic structures to generally poor melodies, resulting in music that twitches constantly without really engaging the listener; several of the tracks sound more like experiments with software than songs. The lyrics are generally silly and nonsensical without being funny or witty. As someone who usually enjoys what could be termed JapPop I find "Beautiful" an ambitious but unsatisfying addition to the canon.

This album is a good starting point if your are interested in FPM. What I love about this record is how slickly produced it is. Its a borderline dance album but it has plenty of Jazz, string, and flute arrangments. If your expecting something for the dancefloor look elsewhere, Beautiful is something to relax too. The only downfall with the album is that some songs are just not that good to begin with. "God Save the Mona Lisa," Take Me to The Disco" are nothing special, the lyrics on those two tracks are just awful. I would still invest in buying this album, all together it is a notable album worth listening too.

Fantastic Plastic Machine's "Beautiful" is aptly titled. While not totally abandoning his usual mating of Bacharach and breakbeats, on his third full-length release FPM's Tomoyuki Tanaka admits that he's interested this time in developing his sound into something more adult oriented. "Comparing my music to a girl," he says. "I used to like a 'cute' girl but now I prefer a 'beautiful' girl. It is more mature." Tanaka's idea of sophisticated? Why, the satin soul of that walrus of love, Barry White. Yeah, it's mostly a kitschy mishmash, but so what? It's a lot of fun, and the arrangements swing like a house (music) afire. Especially on tracks like the slippery "Paragon" and the wiggy "Love Is Psychedelic." What else? "On a Chair" rides an ethereal wave, all breathy "ahhs" and "oohs" and Philly strings over a chillin' hip-hop clop. Then there's a remake of Frankie Knuckles' classic "The Whistle Song." From start to finish, Fantastic Plastic Machine offers a continuous groove that seamlessly incorporates a world of music. In a funk? Become one of the "Beautiful" people.

The Fantastic Plastic Machine's third album, Beautiful, is much more steeped in disco than his previous two, which is both good and bad. It's bad in that it narrows the eclectic sound that made his first two albums so fun; it's good in that he can still pump out a great track like "Beautiful Days." There's no mistaking the disco strings on "On a Chair"; "The Whistle Song" isn't a remake of the famous Frankie Knuckles track as you might think -- it's a peppy number with more of a flute than a whistle. "I'm Still a Simple Man" sounds like it came straight from vaudeville. Not all the tracks are as charming, though: "God Save the Mona Lisa" seems rambling and "Take Me to the Disco" shows you why disco had a short shelf life. Still, not a bad album.

Truly very cool music this dude is talented, he takes from the 70's sound a bit actually although that's not a bad thing at least I think. Now the order he put the songs in flows well although he put the better tacks at the start & end, so he put all of the less outstanding songs in the middle which did not sit well to much ( although not that much). First disc I have picked up by Fantastic Plastic Machine and i'm getting all of his other one's





Very Addictive

The eclectic but funky tracks on this album are perfect for drives, parties, and pure listening pleasures. The best tracks here, aside from the title song, are "I'm Still A Simple Man" and "God Save the Mona Lisa," both sung by Bob Dorough--better known for his song "I'm Just a Bill" of Schoolhouse Rock. An odd choice, but one that works. Accessible and recommended.

I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I purchased this CD but I certainly didn't expect how much fun it would be. You should be warned: this is silly, light-hearted, danceable music with a couple of slower, more thoughtful tracks mixed in.
It's really well produced with so many discrete music elements popping up all over the sound stage that it feels like a party in your head.:)

Tomoyuki Tanaka, AKA "Fantastic Plastic Machine" has once again produced an amazing musical masterpiece.
From the amazing "One Minute of Love" to the smooth "Whistle Song", Tomoyuki will fill your heart with love. I am almost certain that after hearing this album, you will want to give this man a very sizeable smooch.

Tanaka follows the Pizzicato Five trend with "Love is Psychadelic" in having an english speaker sing the lyrics, however it quickly turns hilarious as the words given to the deep speaking, slightly monotonic speaker turn more and more bizzare. ("Then, this guy finally got completely out of me, turned out to be a foot long shining chunk of light, and it was just floating in front of me.
In the next moment, this guy, well I mean this chunk of my love for you, started flying up to the celing slowly, then smashed into the mirror-ball hanging there.
Then it fell apart with it's intense flash, it became thousands millions of dots of lights, expanding to all over the place, and then started spinning around with the music.
But, the next thing I knew, I got back to myself. Was it an illusion? Or, was it real? Oh, by the way, I might have drank too much...")

The only unfortunate thing about this album is that some songs sound less than that Fantastic Plastic Machine everyone knows and loves and more like something you would find while browsing the disgusting fashion encrusted isles of the GAP.

All in all, this album is amazing with simply some minor musical missteps.

I bought this album on a whim after Amazon recommended it for me and I listened to some of the audio samples. I have to say this was one of the smarter purchasing decisions I've ever made. Everything, from the packaging to the inside booklet to the music itself is fantastic. As a fan of dance music and the feel of 60's Brit pop and lounge music, this cd just spoke to me. It's like Barry White on the club dance floor; never boring, always very fun. Wow, I can't stop raving about this cd, yet I really don't know how to describe it. It's bouncy, it's dreamy, and there are plenty of good tracks on it. Beautiful Days starts the cd off on a great note being a Pop-ier song with a male and female vocalist trading off on the vocals (one being a very convincing Japanese Barry White). Paragon is a more Jazz like track, only crafted by a DJ into a more modern dance track. Love is Psychedelic brings back Barry who reads off a very funny narrative of an experience in a club, while more great high energy lounge music plays behind him. On a Chair is just fun. The Whistle Song is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. You feel like you're sitting on a beach, relaxing in the shade of a palm tree as a whistle/flute plays wonderful light notes around a woman's voice singing "da da da's" and "la la la's". Very cool, very relaxing.

One Minute of Love is true to its name and is only a minute long, but I wish it were longer. It has a vaudeville type comedic jouncy piano feel to it, with a synthetic voice singing three lines 3 or 4 times, but at first you wouldn't know what it was saying until you read the lyric sheet. Todos Os Desejos is as the name implies, sung in Spanish (or a Spanish-type language, since I'm not exactly an expert on Latin languages). Very light, fluffy song, in the spirit of the Whistle Song, only a little more dancy and bouncy with horns. I'm Still A Simple Man is an ok track. There's nothing fantastic about it, but it doesn't hurt the album any by being there. Feels kind of like a re-hash of Paragon with a male vocalist (unfortunately not the Barry White sound a like). Black Dada has a 70's funky feel to it, which is very groovy. God Save the Mona Lisa again is ok like I'm Still A Simple man. It sounds like a song off of a soundtrack, with a full orchestra behind it (cool) and I'm Still A Simple Man's vocalist (not as cool) with ok soundtracky lyrics.

Then we get a reprise of Beautiful Days, which is a more down-tempo, slowing down song, but still as great as the original. Last is the bonus track Take Me To the Disco, which doesn't entirely feel like it fits with the rest of the music on this disk, but it still has a great retro feel and (if you aren't instantly disgusted by disco) is a rather cool song. Great for dancing, great for getting weird looks from your friends. Ah, what are you going to do?

Anyway, I think this is a great album, and if you are a fan of all music, then you should pick this up. I've played this for lots of people since I got it, and they all love it. It is truly "Beautiful."