Despite being huge stars in their native Japan and releasing three brilliant albums in the U.S.,
Puffy AmiYumi
have never made much of a splash with record buyers. The band may finally change that with the release of
Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi Music from the Series
. After performing the theme for the
Cartoon Network
show
Teen Titans
,
Puffy
and the network decided to create their own animated series revolving around the band. The boisterously delicious theme (
"Hi Hi"
) kicks off this disc of singles, album tracks, and rarities that is a necessity for already devoted
fans and may just win them some widespread acclaim. The tracks are taken from the group's two American releases with four songs (
"Boogie Woogie No. 5,"
"Love So Pure,"
"December,"
and
"Into the Beach"
) coming from 2001's
Spike
and one (
"Planet Tokyo"
) from 2003's
Nice
, their first single (1996's
"True Asia"
), the
Scooby Doo 2
soundtrack
(
"Friends Forever"
), their 1997 album
SoloSolo
"V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N"
), singles (
"That's the Way It Is"
), and rare tracks (
"Forever,"
"Sunrise"
and a rollicking cover of
Jellyfish
's
"Joining a Fan Club"
). Every song collected here is first-rate sunburst
pop
that manages to pull off the rare trick of being cute without being cutesy. The duo has so much good cheer, energy, and spunk that any charges of preciousness leveled at them can just be laughed away. It also helps that the two men responsible for crafting their sound,
Tamio Okuda
from the legendary
Japanese pop
band
Unicorn
Andy Sturmer
of the legendary American
, fully understand
's appeal and craft perfect
songs for them, delving into
punk
new wave
girl group
sounds, and even
rockabilly
and giving everything a bubbly
J-pop
twist.
Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi
is a great introduction to the group. It doesn't provide the most rounded picture of the group -- look to 2003's
Illustrated History
for that -- but it does round up a batch of their most glittering and poptastic tunes, and is sure to be a hit with the same people who would be drawn to the cartoon. ~ Tim Sendra