This is one of the few J-Pop CDs I have purchased where I had no idea whatsoever what it would sound like.  My motivation for purchase: domestic release.  The Pizzicato 5 are one of the few J-Pop groups I have encountered whose music is widely avaliable at regular music stores.  This is good considering I always seem to get lost when trying to get back to the financial district to see my dad from Japantown.  Anyway, I was totally surprised how cool this CD is.  The first song, "La Depression", is a song that puts into words the feeling of every single girl on this planet: "Good boys, I don't really find them lately, a sweet cute rich boy".  And the way they sing it, with the instruments in the background, is just so... cool.  The next song, "Rolls Royce" is okay at first, but it gets sort of repetitive.  In fact, it goes on for eight whole minutes.  So after a while it gets really annoying, except the end is cool because there's this sax solo going on, and the strings seem kind of annoyed and keep trying to cut it off- yeah, that's right, the instruments on this CD kinda have personalities!  Cool, right?  "A New Song" is a very Rock 'n Roll-ish song, with really awesome lyrics.  It's very fast, and very fun.  "Week-end" reminds me of cheezy music from a 50's vacation movie.  It's very big band, and like most of the songs on this album, hyper.  The lyrics are really sweet.  In fact, most of the lyrics on this CD remind me of my precious boyfriend who is away at the moment.  I just thought I'd throw that out there really quickly.  Then there's "Magic Twin Candle Tale", which has a more R & B feel to it.  It's also kind of Judy & Mary sounding.  And again, I love the lyrics.  "Concerto", the next song, is surprising at the beginning, but ends up sounding really "Happ Days"-ish.  It's a very sweet song, and it follows the pattern of cute songs on this album.  "Such a Beautiful Girl Like You" is one of my personal favorites because for a while I could really identify with the lyrics.  This song reminds me of a lot of girls I know, because a lot of teenage girls that I know feel this way.  "Playboy Playgirl" is a really fun and bouncy song, because it's really fast and has interesting musical selection.  "La Regle du Jeu" is basically a continuation of the last track, I can't explain it, but I don't like it for some reason.   I really enjoy the next track "I Hear a Symphony", mostly for the lyrics.  Konishi Yasuhiro, who writes the lyrics, is really, really good at it.  "Drinking Wine" is an interesting song, but I don't really like the harmonies in it.  "The Great Invitation" is really awesome, and has much better harmonies.  But my favorite song on the album, "Stars" is so much better.  It's a much slower song then most of the songs on the album, and lacks most of the instrumentation.  I like it that way, and the lyrics are beautiful. 
The only real problem I had with this CD was at the end of some of the tracks some guy starts talking, and it kind of ruins the end.  But if you can look past that, this is a great buy.
 
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