Interesting and not bad, I say, though I wish it wasn't a simple mirror image. A slight variation to show it's actually two people would have been nice.
Still, sort of at least invokes their old art style from the Rodney Alan Greenblat days - it looks Puffy-like, to me, in a way that a lot of their recent covers haven't. This sort of rough hand-drawn thing suits them.
This artist's name is HONGOLIAN-san, and he does the artwork for Ken Yokoyama's record label Pizza of Death. (I have a couple of his t-shirts.)
What do you think?
UPDATE: Since you guys asked, I may as well add the album track list:
1. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
2. 日曜日よりの使者 (Nichiyoubi yori no Shisha) - The High-Lows
3. BASKET CASE - Green Day
4. フロンティアのパイオニア (Frontier no Pioneer) - Shi-taka version - Tamio Okuda
5. JOINING A FAN CLUB - Jellyfish
6. 天使のウィンク (Tenshi no Winku) - Seiko Matsuda
7. Lucy in the sky with Diamonds - The Beatles
8. 人間はもう終わりだ! (Ningen ha Mou Owari da!) - MAGOKORO BROTHERS
9. Radio Tokyo - Marvelous 3
10. 健康 (Kenkou) - Tamio Okuda
11. Not Listening - Snuff
12. 東京花火 (Tokyo Hanabi) - NEW ROTE'KA
13. CAN-NANA-FEVER (環七フィーバー) - Guitar Wolf
14. ひと夏の経験 (Hito Natsu no Keiken) - Momoe Yakaguchi
15. Don't Bring Me Down - E.L.O.
16. 雪が降る街 (Yuki ga Furu Machi) - Unicorn
17. [BONUS TRACKS] Hi Hi Spanish (スペイン語ver.)
18. [BONUS TRACKS] Hi Hi Portuguese (ポルトガル語ver.)
19. [BONUS TRACKS] HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
I always find it funny when albums have "bonus tracks" on their original first-pressing release. It's kind of like a movie having a "special guest star". (Either you're in the movie or you're not.)
Like Little Orphan Annie with a shag cut.
ReplyDeletevince.
That was my first impression, too, Vince.
ReplyDeleteAmi and Yumi look an awful lot alike in the Hiyori Hime photo. You've also commented on the fact that they are harmonizing less these days ("joined at the vocal chords" was your expression, I think). Maybe they're actually merging into one identity. "Amiyumi".
However, I do like the new album cover.
I assume that, once again, their will be no American release.
ReplyDeleteI mean, there should AT LEAST be an iTunes of this available, right?
vince.
Cute cover.
ReplyDeleteNo LE, though?
RF.
I don't see an LE, unfortunately. I think it's because this is in reality just a quick thing they're shoving out the door in hopes of repurposing some stuff they already have for some quick cash.
ReplyDeleteI liked this cover, it's really nice =D
ReplyDeleteit really "PUFFY"
Not a big fan of the cover, but what is in it is more important.
ReplyDeleteIt could also be a contractual obligation album with Sony... Though my gut is telling me this is to buy time for a new album that is running long.
I guess the good news is it is not another greatest hits album. :/
Is there a track list yet?
I just realized something this morning, which is that I *believe* this is the first album they've ever put out that does not have an actual picture of both of them on the cover. (They've done this lots of times on singles, but I can't recall an album that did not have a photograph of them on the front and back.)
ReplyDeleteI'll add the track list right now.
Ok, I forgot about "The Very Best of Puffy".
ReplyDeleteThanks for the track listing! Seems like a mixed bag... of a lot of stuff I bought once. Hopefully this will bang the rust off of Puffy and we can see shiny new material from them.
ReplyDeleteI will obviously buy the CD but I am not exactly jumping out of me boots about the prospect either.
There are some songs I actually don't have... so I guess I should be happy about it. None of them are probably anything I'd otherwise think of paying $40 for, though, which is about what a new import CD costs. So I'll be happy to actually have it for completeness' sake, but I'm also not really happy about buying it.
ReplyDeleteCD Japan has it for 30... which is reasonable... and if I am going to eat a ton of shipping costs I may have to order a few more things.
ReplyDeleteThis is still cheaper than buying their albums off the shelf at HMV in Singapore, which takes Japanese prices and then adds in 50-200% to it.
Which is fine, I tend to time my orders with CD Japan on Puffy albums... which back fills other artists like Kaela Kimura.
I was factoring in the shipping... which for me is $15, since I do EMS (so I can review them here quicker). So it's actually costing me $45 to get this thing... though $35 once I add the commissions I get for that link in the top right on. Yeah, I've gotten about $10 worth of commissions in the past six months :)
ReplyDeleteBetween us we've about broken even, then.
ReplyDeleteI've had a couple of 500 yen coupons expire unused because I kept tacking on to my existing order at CD Japan. Never added enough at one time to exceed the required minimum purchase. Grrr...