E.m.u: First live
Date of Recording: 19th May, 1996
 Laser Disc: Front |
 Laser Disc: Lyrics Inlay |
 Laser Disc: Back |
Track Listing: Boku-tachi no Kotae ~Rule~
Shounen A-Z
Seishun Ni Riyuu Wa Iranai
American Rock Medley (Black Night~House of the Rising Sun~You Keep Me Hangin' On~Born To Be Wild)
Live Drama Scene (Sotsugyou M)
Boku Datte Otoko Da Zo (Sakaguchi Solo)
Rock & Roll Beethoven (Hayashi Solo)
Otokogi (Ishikawa solo)
Uwasa No Rock Star (Okiayu Solo)
Tsubasa Naki Sedai (Midorikawa Solo)
Juudai Wa Paradaisu
Namida Ga Niji Ni Kawaru Made ~Girl~
Boku-tachi no Kotae ~Rule~ (Reprise)
General Review
I like the First Live a whole lot. I may even like it better than the Equal Live because of the emphasis on real instruments and the adventurous nature of the performance. There is a hell of a lot of life in this show. And the banter between the artists is funny as hell, especially when Midorikawa-san is on the stage. He's so cheeky.
Performer Review
~Midorikawa Hikaru
As I already said, he's so cheeky, and his teasing of Okiayu-san is really funny.
Midorikawa has one solo song - Tsubasa Naki Sedai - which is one of the best performances of the concert, in my opinion. He sings it really well, full of life and fight. I really love Midorikawa-san's voice. I don't care if other people don't - I think he's a star. Definitely a top class performance.
In terms of his other parts, I love listening to him sing the opening of "The House Of The Rising Sun." His voice is cute, his English pronunciation is cuter...it just makes for a great moment all round.
I don't know how good his bass playing is, but he looks good with the guitar either way :)
~Hayashi Nobutoshi
It's no secret that I consider this guy to have one of the best singing voices among seiyuu at the current time and back in 1996 was no exception to that rule. What I didn't realise until I saw him perform his solo, Rock & Roll Beethoven, was quite how good a guitarist he also was. Much much respect. I could listen to him sing and/or play forever, to be honest. Somehow Rock and Roll Beethoven and the American Rock Medley (his English pronunciation was quite impressive for House of the Rising Sun) seem to be more on his spiritual wavelength than the more Jpop tracks like Juudai Wa and Shounen A-Z. Not that he doesn't pull them off - he does, and very well too, thank you. His voice can cope with most styles of singing so there are no complaints on that level. I just feel he's more at home with a guitar in his hand than he is doing dance steps in sync!
~Okiayu Ryoutarou
Full props for the English pronunciation on "Keep Me Hanging On." Very, very cool. I don't think Uwasa no Rock Star is Okiayu-san's best ever live performance, but it's not terrible by any stretch of the imagination. He has such a deep voice that it comes over better on the more pensive songs...I think maybe he's at his best, though, in this concert singing in English (!).
He's also very cute on stage - forgetting to introduce himself, and being teased by Midorikawa a fair bit. I love the chemistry these guys have...
I also like Okiayu-san with a guitar. That is one of the better parts of Uwasa No Rock Star (which is a song I love, by the way). I really sound like I'm ditching his performance and I don't mean to be because it isn't bad. It just has a slightly wobbly beginning - overall it's good :)
~Ishikawa Hideo
If this guy had any more energy he'd be marketable as an alternative to battery power. I mean, Hayashi-san is pretty lively on stage, but I think Ishikawa maybe takes the biscuit. His solo Otokogi is one of the most lively of the whole concert. Oddly, though, I prefer Ishikawa's voice on slower and more reflective numbers, so this one isn't a big hit with me. But he does give it everything he has, and then some.
I think the problem is partly because Otokogi is a very Katou Yuusuke kind of song, and he performs it (logically) in a very characteristic Yuusuke way. Unfortunately I think Yuusuke is a dolt and I want to shake/hit him most of the time I'm reading about or watching him. So yeah. This really doesn't work so well for me.
Also was somewhat impressed with the percussion. I don't know how good a percussionist he actually is, but he looked good behind the kit.
~Sakaguchi Daisuke
I have a real love-hate relationship with Sakaguchi Daisuke and his role in E.M.U. I think he's a good seiyuu, and I think he's a really fun character...on stage he's always involved, always bantering with the others and he has a great personality and chemistry with the others...so if he wasn't there it would be a fifth less sparkly a performance. But I'm really not a fan of his voice - or maybe it's his singing style that I'm not so fond of. It might be because he's trying to be too much like Mikimarou at times, but it's a little 'cute' and it takes him off key from time to time.
Despite that, Boku Datte Otoko Da Zo is probably the best solo song he has. It is catchy, and even though it's not one of my favourites, it bears listening to. He's also impressive in the American medley, singing the opening to "Born to be Wild" (I think maybe this is his better singing voice, when he's not trying to be Mikimarou but he's just singing straight). Sakaguchi-san's talent really lies with acting, though. There's not much more I can say about that.
Song Review
My favourite performance is probably Seishun ni Riyuu Wa Iranai, because it mixes live instrumentals with solo sections of singing and it has a really beautiful tune anyway, so it works really well. The general bouncy J-pop tracks that are probably E.M.U's best known songs (Boku-tachi no Kotae, Juudai Wa Paradaisu, Shounen A-Z) are there too and sung with gusto (and nicely in tune, which is always a worry for me when it comes to live concerts!). The dancing is interesting at times, but I think it's quite cute really. Girl makes for a really beautiful finale/encore song, because of the depth and emotion in it.
The American Rock Medley is a live exclusive which wasn't released as far as I know on CD - which is sort of a shame, although the challenge of singing in English did get to the boys a little bit at times and there are a few interesting notes in the chorus of House of the Rising Sun. That aside, though, the solo sections of the medley more than make up for it and I have a LOT of respect for them daring to do something so ambitious and out there in their first live. I really like Hayashi and Midorikawa's opening to House of the Rising Sun - and the whole thing has a great rock feel to it.
The solos are all well pulled off and the live drama is a nice touch which is missing from the later Equal Live Tour.
The Drama Scene Live
This is so funny. It refers a lot to manga themes - Takagi's cross-dressing, Arai and Mikimaro's "secret" among other things. And there's some funny banter with breaking the fourth wall, too. Hayashi-san claiming not to know who the hell "Hayashi Nobutoshi" is and explaining clearly to Ishikawa-san why he has to go feed the cats is a scream...and Okiayu's Takagi is almost sinisterly narcissistic at times. Honestly, they are all so good...I swear, I wish I could have seen them do more scenes like this :D It's a rare thing to see it actually acted rather than a read scripted drama, and they get points for that too :D
Particular Highlight: The American Medley. And Midorikawa-san relating how he likes sexy voices...like Okiayu-san's...;)
Best Perfomances: Seishun Ni Riyuu Wa Iranai, Tsubasa Naki Sedai, Rock & Roll Beethoven.
Overall Remarks
I need some of their energy! It's a really mixed concert, from sixties American rock to nineties J-pop. Ambitious for a first live, but it works for them. I like the way they think, and they're fun on stage, too. Kudos. It would have been nice for them to end the encore with a different song from Boku-tachi no Kotae, which they'd already performed - but I have a feeling that at that point the E.M.U repertoire was a little limited, so I won't hold it against them.
