TT [1/3] : Musumes & Morning Coffee

Morning Coffee was Morning Musume's official debut, after selling their 50,000 copies required copies; Ai no Tane was made into the single's B-side. I talked about this song along with Berryz in the untitled entry from last year. This is part one of the Take Two, because it came first in the entry.

I've listened to a lot of dubs within the last year or so, as I wrote Blabodu. A lot of groups pick the same songs to dub because they're fan favorites, among other reasons. Ai no Tane and Morning Coffee are not chosen a lot. Why? A lot of dubbers purposely stay away from Momusu's early singles because of all the harmonizing that goes on in them. And when the early songs are sung, a lot of leaders and/or mixers often curse the harmony parts.

I find it interesting that MM started out with a great deal of melody/harmony in their songs, and nowadays they have no where near that amount. I think it's quite pretty, and it's probably one of the reasons I like both songs on Momusu's first single so much. The melodies are gorgeous! Sweet, soothing, something you want to sway along to. The girls sound so good together.



Asuka's two solos are probably my favorite out of them all! She sounds beautiful ;w; But I also really love Aya and Yuko's lines; they both have such a rich, mature sound and sing with a little bit of vibrato. I'm a sucker for combos like that. I completely love the melodies in this song!

As I mentioned the other day, I'm not as sour about Nacchi as I used to be. And I have to slightly renege on something I said about Kaori- she does sing well enough that I enjoy hearing her. In Morning Coffee, Nacchi and Kaorin sing together a lot; one taking the melody and one taking the harmony. Though I believe Kaori sings the harmony more often. They make a good pair!

I started looking for concert versions of this song soon after starting this entry, and was surprised and happy to find several. The first I want to share is performed by Morning Musume Tanjo 10nen Kinentai, Iida Kaori and Abe Natsumi (1st gen), Goto Maki (3rd gen), Niigaki Risa (5th gen), and Kusumi Koharu (7th gen).



I love that Nacchi and Kaorin are reunited in this performance!! I like Kaori more after she grew up a little, so I'm lovin' her in this, and Nacchi sounds fantastic, better than in 1997 I think. They harmonize so well ;w; It's beautiful. And I actually like that Gomaki is in the lineup, and I feel the same about her as I do Kaori; I like her more after she graduated MM and moved on to a solo career. The three of them are great for this song.

Then there is Risa! I love Nigaki beyond words, she is my favorite Morning Musume member EVER and I'm so excited that she's going to be the new captain (though I will really miss Aichan). I think her voice is gorgeous!!! And then we have Koharu....who doesn't fit in at all. She is surrounded by mature voices.

It'd be interesting to hear her sing Morning Coffee along with Eri, Reina and Sayumi xD Like this performance. I honestly think it's a crime for someone like Reina to sing this song, she's all wrong for it. It's not meant to be cutesy, it's a truly lovely song. But I do love Aichan on this song!!



And speaking of, here is Morning Musume Sakuragumi! Abe Natsumi, Yaguchi Mari, Yoshizawa Hitomi, Takahashi Ai, Konno Asami, Kago Ai, Niigaki Risa, and Kamei Eri. This is my favorite out of all three!! These girls showed how amazing they are in their single Sakura Makai (which I seriously LOVE) and so I'm not surprised that they totally own Morning Coffee! They sound so good together!

I love Aichan x Aibon!! And I really like Mari and Konno! Plus Risa, Hitomi and Eri are wonderful too! Awesome piled on top of awesome, that's what this group is. I wish they would have done more singles together. And that's it for Morning Coffee. MM's first single is definitely one to listen to. I'll write more about some of these other Musumes later on.