The Unremarkable '13 Colourful Character'

So, Morning Musume have just released their new album '13 Colourful Character' and after last years very enjoyable, if oddly titled, '12 Smart' I was hoping for something of the same standard. And while this new album is by no means bad, it does not excite me like the last did. At the moment it sits around the middle of my album ranking along with the likes of 'Rainbow 7' and 'First time'. If anyone is curious I would classify albums 2,4,9,10 and 12 as favourites, 1,7,8 and 11 as good but rather "meh" in the grand scale of things and the remainder (3,5 and 6) as albums that have good tracks on them but don't work as a single entity.

The regular edition cover is one i reckon looks better in the flesh (well, plastic) . . .

The limited edition cover meanwhile, is actually one of my favourite Momusu album covers ever.

The album opens with the recent single 'One.Two.Three' which makes sense, given the song's success. It then moves on the the brilliant 'What's Up! Ai wa Dou na no yo' which is an infectious blend of all the things I love about the group recently before arriving at 'Be Alive' which I guess you could regard as this album's 'Loving You Forever' or 'Seishun Collection'. The melody is uplifting and in a way nostalgic but i feel something more could've been done with the arrangement. We then get to hear Sayu's solo song 'Lalala no Bibibi' which is cute and generally ear-pleasing if a bit of a rehash of last year's 'Suki da na Kimi ga'. This is followed by 'Dokkan Capriccio' which is frantic, full of 'crowd noises', and very similar in style to the 2011 album track 'Ok Yeah'. I won't dwell on 'The Mantenrou Show' as it feels we can't get away from it lately . . . So, moving on. While it's nice to hear the non RR member's voices a bit more 'Zero Kara Hajimeru Seishun' is a wee bit of a snooze fest. 'Renai Hunter' is still great and 'Chikyuu ga Naiteru' is not quite what I expected from the title but is passable and some of the vocal melodies in the verses are good fun. I do however feel that we could've done with something slightly less hyper from this particular track. Reina's solo 'Namida Itteki' is in fact very interesting. Despite the r&b styled beats the melody is very 'Japanese' in style and feels like it could've been written decades ago. The 9th and 10th gen song 'Waratte You' is perfectly pleasant but not particularly remarkable and well, 'Pyoko Pyoko Ultra'  . . . is best forgotten.

In conclusion, 'What's Up! Ai wa dou na no yo', 'Lalala no Bibibi' and 'Namida Itteki' are where it's at in terms of new tracks and they are the ones you should be skipping off to itunes to purchase!