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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 26, 2012
Shonen Knife's latest album has been in release since early June of 2012. At this writing, their North American tour is well underway, and I saw their show in Portland, Maine on 07/25/12. SK puts on a killer rock show- the kind of show that is all too uncommon these days. If you get the chance to see them this summer, by all means do so...I'm betting that you won't regret it.
That said, POP TUNE is another fine release by this criminally underrated band. The current lineup of Naoko, Ritsuko and Emi rivals the original Shonen Knife in their 1990s heyday. They mean business as they tear through this selection of pop/punk songs in the signature SK fashion. As always, we get a mix of styles: hard rockers "Welcome To The Rock Club", "Pop Tune", "Osaka Rock City" and "Ghost Train"; pop confections "All You Can Eat", "Move On" and "Paper Clip" (Ritsuko's bass work is outstanding here); the very catchy and country-flavored "Mr. J."; and songs sung by Emi (the 1960s acid-rock tribute "Psychedelic Life") and Ritsuko (the very nice and almost Michie-like "Sunshine"). All songs were written by Naoko, and I'm at a loss to explain how she is able to write such consistently good songs album after album. Naoko is simply a wonderfully talented songwriter who knows rock music inside and out. Lest I forget: her buzzsaw guitar attack will get inside your head and never leave!
Shonen Knife of Osaka, Japan, have been flying under the radar for far too long. Please buy POP TUNE, and see their show, and perhaps we can get SK the attention they deserve.
That said, POP TUNE is another fine release by this criminally underrated band. The current lineup of Naoko, Ritsuko and Emi rivals the original Shonen Knife in their 1990s heyday. They mean business as they tear through this selection of pop/punk songs in the signature SK fashion. As always, we get a mix of styles: hard rockers "Welcome To The Rock Club", "Pop Tune", "Osaka Rock City" and "Ghost Train"; pop confections "All You Can Eat", "Move On" and "Paper Clip" (Ritsuko's bass work is outstanding here); the very catchy and country-flavored "Mr. J."; and songs sung by Emi (the 1960s acid-rock tribute "Psychedelic Life") and Ritsuko (the very nice and almost Michie-like "Sunshine"). All songs were written by Naoko, and I'm at a loss to explain how she is able to write such consistently good songs album after album. Naoko is simply a wonderfully talented songwriter who knows rock music inside and out. Lest I forget: her buzzsaw guitar attack will get inside your head and never leave!
Shonen Knife of Osaka, Japan, have been flying under the radar for far too long. Please buy POP TUNE, and see their show, and perhaps we can get SK the attention they deserve.
