Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Hair

Disc 2:

1. Spiritual Message
2. Blue Heaven
3. Summer Heartbreak
4. Moon Light Lover
5. Before the Storm
6. Saudade
7. September
8. Tsunami
9. Love Affair
10. Sea Side Woman Blues

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15981 in Music
• Released on: 2000-11-22
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .29 pounds

Album Details
Compiles various singles, b-sides, & out-takes from 1987-2000.

Customer Reviews

Ballad 3
I love Southern All Stars. I only speak a little Japanese, but have many good Japanese friends through work and have been there several times. They let me listen to some of their music and I fell in love with Southern All Stars. One of my friends sent me this CD and I listen to it all of the time. If they came to the U.S. and sang in English, I think they'd be a big hit!

best collection by "the Beatles of Japan"
Southern All Stars are arguably the most successful Japanese pop/rock band ever, with a career spanning more than 30 years and numerous top-of-the-charts hits (they had 44 songs in the top 100 in Japan at the same time!). This collection of 28 ballads (their third) from between 1988 and 2000 covers the period, in the '90s, when they were at their artistic peak, including many of their best-known songs, such as Tsunami, Manatsu no Kajitsu, Namida no Kiss, Sayonara Baby, Anata dake wo -Summer Heartbreak, and Ai no Kotodama -Spiritual Message.

It's a little difficult to classify their music precisely. Sometimes top J-pop, sometimes laid-back soft rock, with all kinds of other influences, such as Okinawan folk music, hip hop (Ai no Kotodama has an Indonesian rap), or Brazilian jazz. While a range of instruments and musical styles are employed, there are no instrumental songs or even really guitar solos.

All the songs are in Japanese, although, as is typical in Japan, they frequently contain some English words mixed in. However, the lyrics are often a little more sophisticated than typical Japanese pop songs, employing some obscure words and odd turns of a phrase, in addition to lead singer/songwriter Keisuke Kuwata's unusual pronunciations (such as in Ai no Kotodama, where he makes Japanese sound like French, or how he intentionally mispronounces Japanese r's as if they are English l's). If you want to sing some songs in karaoke that your Japanese friends (in their 20s to 40s) will recognize, this album is all you need.

There is a large overlap with Umi no Yeah!!, another collection of songs released just prior to this one, but I find Ballad 3 to be superior (e.g., Yeah!! doesn't include Tsunami, their most famous song, or my personal favorite, Natsu no Hi no Drama). But if you're going to order a new copy, buy it from Amazon Japan (they have English pages on their website and the ASIN is the same as for the Amazon.com) and have it shipped overseas.