GYUU
KICS-482 ¤ 1995.04.21 ¤ 3,059 yen

Review written by Aijinn.

Overall : The first Okui album I got, was the first one she released as well and I really have to say that I love it. I was born in 1983 so my childhood was influenced by all this 80's music and really, even in 1995, when it was originally released, this album must have been like a backdrop in time. You're just feeling the synthesizers playing in some of the songs and even the melodies still have this "easy going" feeling, so if you like this kind of music, you'll love this album. But, of course, it has a variety of songs, with a variety of themes and melodies, and finally, it's Masami! Listening to her early songs is very interesting, especially if you get the chance to listen to the new ones as well, just seeing this incredible progress of her music. And as a last clue of this album, it contains the song that I love most of all the songs, that Masami has ever written or performed.^^

01. REINCARNATION
mus & arr: OOHIRA Tsutomu
This is an energetic opening for the album and, yeah, it's the 80's!!! (you so can hear that in the chorus, it's like instant nostalgia^^). It's a little bit ... uhm, I would call it "convenient", because despite its enjoyable melody it's just standard stuff. There's no real climax. It follows the scheme of a typical pop song: stanza, chorus, stanz chorus, bridge, instrumental, last chorus. That's not bad at all, but it doesn't seem very original as well. It's just easy listening, you're not overwhelmed, but you can listen to it again and again... without getting tired of it. This song was released as the opening of the Tekkaman Blade 2 O.V.A.

02. Moonlight Angel ~Ashita ni Mukatte~
lyr: OKUI Masami, mus & arr: YABUKI Toshirou
"Wowowowow, Dancing in the Moonlight"^^ Yeah, this song is easy going, cheerful, it just makes you wanting to run around. It's quite familiar to REINCARNATION with its synthesizers and following the pop scheme, but this song definitely has this kind of development, because on the one hand it has this line "dancing in the moonlight" that always returns, but it has this real good chorus, too. It's melodic, ambitious and, yeah, it has its climax^^ (I realize, I'm very, kind of "climax-focused" ^^). I even do like this song much better than the song before. As far as I know, this song was never released by Okui-sama, but there is a version sung by Megumi Hayashibara.

03. I WAS BORN TO FALL IN LOVE
lyr & mus: OKUI Masami, arr: OOHIRA Tsutomu
This song comes alomg with a much more offensive melody and although it has many English lines it sounds much more Asian than the other ones. It starts quite mysterious, and creates this distant atmosphere, for example by using a little echoe for Makkun's voice. But soon it gets an enthusiastic pop song with its very own dynamic. In general the pitch of this song is quite high, which makes Masamis voice sound a little more frail than in other songs, but therefor the melody is quite monotone, not in the boring way, as you may think now, it rather has an alarming character, or it sounds like an urgent pledge. Unfortunately I have practically no skills in Japanese, so I don't understand what she's singing. I WAS BORN TO FALL IN LOVE was released for the anime "Compiler".

04. Ryoute Ippai no Yume
lyr: OKUI Masami, mus & arr: YABUKI Toshirou
The "Track 04 tradition". This is Masami's first album and logically, we ought to find the origin of this tradition here, don't we? But unfortunately, I don't think so. This is just standard stuff again. I just even don't know much to say about it and, honestly I needed quite long to get acquainted with it. But once you like it, it's really nice, not more, but even not less^^. After all I really like the chorus, but, sorry, it's not more than just "nice" to me. This song came coupling with REINCARNATION on the Tekkaman single, but what makes it special in my eyes, is the fact that it was played in "Neon Genesis Evangelion" as one of the songs Shinji used to listen to on his little DATA recorder (episode 23).

05. FULL UP MIND
lyr & mus: OKUI Masami, arr: YABUKI Toshirou
FULL UP MIND was released on the same single as I WAS BORN TO FALL IN LOVE and it was used in "NGE" as well. You can hear seconds of it when Shinji drives around in the monorail in episode 04. FULL UP MIND is definitely "nicer" than Ryoute ippai no yume, but after all I have to admit that it's not more than just "nicer", too. It's quite swift and it has this jingle all over it, that makes it sound more cute or even childlike.

06. BEATS the BAND
lyr & mus: OKUI Masami, arr: OOHIRA Tsutomu
Yeah, yeah, yeah!!!! This song rocks! It's completely in English, it's completely 80's style and it's just WOOOOOW!!!!!^^ Thinking about it, I just can't say why this song is so extraordinary, but it really sounds great! Masami's voice sounds so strong, especially in the chorus, she sings with such a "pathos" and, of course, at last I do understand what she's singing. The lyrics of this song are more than just stylish, you just feel your selfconfidence rising. It's really encouraging, enyoyable from the very first to the last second. And though it's so positive you won't find a funny, cheery pop song here, it's a song I could imagine to be sung after a period of negative experiences, when you feel like your fed up, and you just don't care anymore what other people may think... (BtB was released coupling with "My Jolly Days" on the Ghost Sweeper Mikami Single)

07. FACE
lyr & mus: OKUI Masami, arr: OOHIRA Tsutomu
This is the first ballad on this album. While the stanzas of this song are quite calm, the chorus is full of emotions with a very wavy and rhythmic melody, climbing from climax to climax. Especially in the end you find Masami giving everything in this song and it seems not easy to sing it. This is another Song that was played in Neon Genesis Evangelion, at the very end of episode 04.

08. Fushigi na Yoru
lyr & mus: OKUI Masami, arr: YABUKI Toshirou
Gyuu happens to be an NGE soundtrack, does it? This song was played in episode 22 when Asuka talks to her mother in Germany. This song is quite calm but it has a beutiful melody, I simply love it. And it's quite timeless, just like we would have left the 80's (but we'll be back, I promise ^^). There seem to be only drums and a very strong guitar supporting Masami when she sings this song. Even the chorus starts quite calm, but feels like Masami holds all her emotions back and then she puts them all into the last line of the chorus and then it's getting quiet again. And there is this tiny break everytime before the chorus starts, as if to raise your attention, well done! It works perfectly on me!^^

09. MY JOLLY DAYS
lyr: OKUI Masami, mus: OKUI Masami & YABUKI Toshirou, arr: YABUKI Toshirou
Honestly, I didn't really have had "jolly days" with this song. It's not that I don't like it, but it took me years to get access to it ...^^ After all I really enjoy the chorus. It has a great rhythm and a nice melody, but once again this is standard stuff to me. At least I came to ask myself How did the Ghost Sweeper Mikami opening sequence look like? This is just a good JPOP song, but I couldn't imagine it to be an opening song... don't know why.

10. It's DESTINY ~Yatto Meguriaeta~
lyr: OKUI Masami, mus & arr: YABUKI Toshirou
Oh, I forgot to mention: we are back in the 80's!^^ But this song is just great! It starts with some really Japanese sounds, but in the end you just feel like you are caught in an American "superhero movie" ^^. This song is powerful and has this "speed" (I had never known it would be sooooo hard to express this in English...), you just feel like flying! And for the melody: it's so enthusiastic, it's instant "feel-good" ^^ and makes you just wanting to jump around in your room, or fly! It's DESTINY was released for another Tekkman project.

11. ENERGY
lyr: OKUI Masami, mus & arr: YABUKI Toshirou
This is a dance track, maybe the obligatory dance track, just to cover all genres in one album, who knows? I'm quite sure Energy was supposed to continue the "flying-mood" It's DESTINY got you into, but it doesn't really make it. To me the melody of the chorus seems not really finished, something's missing. Maybe it's not really the kind of songs Masami ought to sing, although, sure, you can come to like that song, but there are better ones to come!

12. Live Alone ~Sennen Tattemo~
lyr & mus: OKUI Masami, arr: OOHIRA Tsutomu
Just like this one! Live alone is a great song again. It's quite more Rock, and it's so intense with Masami singing about a love that didn't work out and about living alone. The electric guitar in the instrumental part just suffers with Masami and so you get a quite perfect impression of this broken heart. Quite perfect, needless to say more! Live Alone was released together with It's DESTINY.

13. Dare Yori mo Zutto
lyr: OKUI Masami, mus & arr: YABUKI Toshirou
Ah... songs that I like! A beautiful piano accompaniment and a more beautiful melody. This song could have been the perfect last track on this album, we would have found a very decent end with it, but that was not supposed to be. Dare Yori mo is just wonderful. Once again I have no idea what Masami is singing, but this song is so soft and gentle and when it comes to the line "kinou byebye" you just have to be touched. But my favourite part of this song is the piano sequence between the second and the last chorus and then Masami starts once more to sing "dare yori"... This song was released as the opening of "Girl from Fantasia".

14. Bayside Love Story ~from Tokyo~
lyr & mus: OKUI Masami, arr: OOHIRA Tsutomu
Really, with Dare Yori mo zutto Gyuu would have found a perfect end, you just feel relaxed, calmed down, but what we get instead is ... in my opinion the best Masami Okui song ever! This song just has to be the last track, a little away from the other ones. At first you hear the needle being put on the record. And then you get to hear a song that instantly carries you away. This song has it all, a piano in the beginning followed by an electric guitar and heavy strings that create this melancholic mood. And then, of course, it has Masami singing. Her voice sounds so clear, especially in the last chorus. There is this kind of longing in this song, like something you can't reach at the moment, or maybe never and you really can feel that in Masami's voice. I just wonder why this song was never released, but unless it was played in NGE, and there's really no need to tell you where, you cannot miss it (it's played several times). And if you ever listen to this song, just make it to the very end, or you won't hear the needle of the turntable jumping back!^^