"The Puffy" Album Review

A review that has been a long time coming for an album that has really been a long time coming.  "The Puffy" by Puffy comes not so hot on the heels of their last album "Thank You" which was released in 2011.  A lot has happened over the decade plus between albums.  Starting with two two greatest hits albums; "15" and "20th Anniversary Best Album which I have one and kinda felt a bit squeezed by the other. 10 singles. Yumi had a kid. Various tours, festivals and so on.  

Of the 10 tracks, we see quite a few of the singles make their way onto "The Puffy" so some of the songs like "Paffipipoyama" stretch back five years.  I think it would have been nice to throw in "Datsu Dystopia" and "Sweet Drops" onto the album as bonus tracks.  I mean why stop at five year old songs?  

As a bonus is a DVD with their 25th Anniversary Concert at Line Cube Shibuya.  I have not watched that one yet, but I will get around to it... which I think I totally lied about when I did the the review of "Bring it on!"  Okay I have two things to go watch.  

Some of the good news here is Puffy wrote the lyrics for five tracks. Of note, "The Puffy" was in the making for years and different producers handled each track.  The production is not wildly inconsistent across tracks produced over an extended period, which was a surprise.  Puffy has done albums that way before to good effect.  The issue is with many of the songs, more on that later,

Here is the track list for "The Puffy"

1. Essafossa

2. Pathfinder-

3. Choegoist-

4. Paffipipoyama* 

5. Susume Nonsense*

6. May Be Sinful-

7. Coco Hawaii*

8. Bouken no Dadada-

9. Sunlit Hill

10. Always-

    * Previously released as/on a single

    - Lyrics by Puffy

I'll get into more over all feelings after final grades.  Here are my thoughts about the songs after a re-listen of "The Puffy."  I go this route because I think it gives a more honest review of what I hear at the time.  I only did a second pass to clean up my writing. Here is a track by track breakdown:

The lead in track "Essafossa" is a standard kind of Puffy song these days that could be written in their sleep.  Not a bad thing, but also a sign of things to come. Its funky, not too up or too down.  I think it was probably the better choice than "Pathfinder" for the first track. I also do not think it is the better song between the two.  This is the start of many conflicting feelings about "The Puffy."   

"Pathfinder" is a little more upbeat than "Essafossa" and feels like a track that should have been on "Bring It!"  Also the song is in English and I would have to guess Ami had more of a hand here given she speaks English.  The song itself has nice pacing and jumps from some fast bits to slow to mid to fast in a rock wrapper.  Its my favorite song from the album and a good choice as the single.

"Choegoist" is a song that feels like a big girl group jpop song with tinges of Perfume.  There are also rap elements, to which I wish they would avoid that, it does not resonate.  Overall this is a nice song to listen to, but it also feels a little out of place if you look at their career arc.  Anytime Puffy tries to flex this way it doesn't work, they can be themselves... they owe nobody an apology for their uniqueness!

I was going to try and give "Paffipipoyama" another chance a half decade would blunt my complete distaste for this song.  Nope.  Its just a random mix of song styles and sounds with a frenetic weird Japan sound.  Nothing about the song works. Again this got onto the album and slightly older and better songs were left in the dust?  In the strata of bad Puffy songs it sits above "Wake Up, Make Up" and "Himitsuno Gimmy Cat Ufufu Hontouyo" but that is a low bar.

"Susume Nonsense" has a throw back feel to earlier jpop songs.  Not a bad thing.  Vocal delivery is a little less intense than the instruments.  Probably by design, but Ami and Yumi feel a little in the back seat on this one.  There is a lot going on in the underlying mic of this song, so it is interesting and engaging.  

Slowing down the album is "May Be Sinful" which maybe would have been well placed in their earlier albums, it isn't a sound that I think holds up.  Its not a bad song, not one I would seek out either. 

Written for a travel TV show, "COCO HAWAII" is a fun non-sequitur of a song.  Back part of the song is in English, which kind of like "Good Buddy" is an interesting twist.  "COCO HAWAII" is kind of all of the place but in a quirky way that works.  Ami and Yumi and very much in command on this one and I like their assertive delivery.

Leaning on a lot of horns and a 70's sound, "Bouken no Dadada" didn't work for me.  I'd say it is a notch above easy listening and that is not music I liked at the time, much less now. It is not badly sung, it doesn't land a sonic punch.

"Sunlit Hill" steps up the pace and kinda feels like Puffy doing a song that is more contemporary in the jpop scene.  Puffy has a bit of an edge on this one, I could see a band like Nemophila doing it with a ton more energy.  Overall this is a good song but if you threw "Sunlit Hill" at me blind I would not recognize it as a Puffy song either.

Wrapping up "The Puffy" is "Always" which vibes a jazz / ska song.  Puffy has used this sound to good effect over the years and it is alright, it isn't quite dialed in and ends the album on a slight "meh" note. 

"The Puffy" is an album fans of Puffy have been waiting a decade for and as great as "Thank You" was, this album is a let down.  Just not worth the wait and a bit heavy of an admixture of songs that we've heard years ago which is to say songs like "Paffipipoyama" got no better with age.  I'd say if there were other albums in the decade since "Thank You" I'd probably feel less disappointed. Every group has ups and downs so waiting a decade for this is a tangible disappointment for me.  

This is is an album of halves.  Half the songs are okay to pretty good and the other half not.  The front half of the album is better than the back half.  Half the album sounds somewhat contemporary the other half more throwback.  Half the intensity as other albums. All of this leaves me confused where Puffy wants to go or what the heck the have been doing for a decade now.

Maybe the most noticeable thing in "The Puffy" is like their live performances in recent years.  There is a less energy and fun.  Puffy's show-womanship is something I always liked about them.  Ami and Yumi are now well into their 40s and maybe high energy power pop is best left to younger acts.  I'm still happy they remain a duo and are doing things.  There was a heavy dose sentimentality as I chugged through "The Puffy" for this review.  The feeling of wanting more of what they were and wanting something different nagged me through out this process. 

There are no Puffy albums I hate, but "The Puffy" to me this is Ami and Yumi's weakest effort in a remarkably long jpop career.  This might explain why it took me a year to write this review. These couple of passes are the the only time I have come back to the album and honestly other than "Pathfinder" and  "Essafossa" which are on my jpop playlist I'm probably not returning to "The Puffy" any time soon.  

Final Grades 

-------------------------

Music: C-

Production: C

Performance: B-

There is Not Lazy and Not Lazy

I like the fact that Puffy is playing in the US after a fairly long hiatus and this post is probably going to upset some fans.  I get that.  Frankly, I thought they had all but abandoned fans across the Pacific.  So the Not Lazy Tour does represent something of a surprise,  I do take issue with calling it a tour much less dubbing it not lazy. This had been bothering me for a while and I could not put my finger on why exactly, until I saw Shonen Knife announce their US tour and I have some tough love to dole out which pleases me not at all to do so.

Shonen Knife's touring is the precise definition of Not Lazy.  They do double digit cities on a nearly annual touring basis.  They are a band that has never had the same success as Puffy in their native Japan.  They have never had the same media exposure in the US like Puffy.  They have not had a vastly power label like Sony supporting them.  Yet Shonen Knife has far greater tours in the US.

The question I as myself now is why is that so?    

This is less of a shot at Puffy than it is acknowledging that Shonen Knife (Naoko Yamano) is personally invested in touring the US.  Not only does she seek labels to distribute her band's music, but she has laid the ground work for decades by touring the US.  People obviously show up as it is not a charity.  Ami and Yumi seem less personally invested and it would be my best guess that tours and many other things are handled by their people.  Which may be a byproduct of their overwhelming success compared to Shonen Knife in Japan.  It may also be that Shonen Knife has always been Noako's creation whereas Puffy is a group that was forged by Sony.

Perhaps it is an issue of personal investment and here is a rub as a fan of Puffy (more so than Shonen Knife, whom I like but not nearly as much).  What Shonen Knife has done for decades cannot and probably will not be something Ami and Yumi can replicate.  First the ground work is a decade behind Shonen Knife, but also  it simply seems like it is not of serious interest to Puffy to do so.

The lines of thinking between Shonen Knife and Puffy seems to boil down to this. Shonen Knife approaches a US tour like lets see where we can play and put together a tour.  Puffy approaches it by who wants us to play.  I think it speaks to Shonen Knife having some personal investment in touring the US whereas Puffy takes a more passive approach facilitated by their people.

I do not doubt for one second that Puffy could have a twenty date US tour and do well.  Puffy is arguably the best known band from Japan in the US, this might change over time as a band like Perfume makes headway... but for now a far lesser band, namely Shonen Knife is really Not Lazy and that is because Naoko Yamano has invested her energies into the US fans.

The smartest thing Puffy could do if they have any desire to invest in US tours is have Naoko Yamano manage their US tour dates and have Shonen Knife open for them. It would be a win-win for both bands.

All this said, I am sure Ami and Yumi will work hard to put on the great shows they have committed to.  They are not just engaging, but also professionals.  Perhaps if these dates are successful a door will be opened and there will be a new vector for them to apply their energies outside of Japan.


P.S.  I like Puffy far more than Shonen Knife and it genuinely pained me to write all of this.  I continue to listen to Puffy still far more than any other Japanese band and they hold the largest share of my Japanese music heart.  Puffy has vastly more range and talent than most Japanese groups, but I acknowledge that there is little substitution for determination of which Naoko Yamano has in spades when it comes to the subject of US touring.