What happens when TM NETWORK gives their masters out to America’s top producers to recreate the music of popular songs. It may not be for everyone, but for those intrigued by the concept, may want to check it out!
BAND: TM NETWORK
ALBUM: DRESS
DURATION: 13 Songs (1 Hour, 11 Minutes)
RELEASE DATE: May 12, 1989
In Japan, one of the most successful music groups during the the ’80s was the Japanese music unit TM NETWORK. From the beginning of the 80s, the band was a Japanese rock, new wave and pop music band who created “futuristic pop songs with a synthesizer” which was prevalent during the ’80s.
Formed in 1983, TM NETWORK aka TMN consisted of Komuro Tetsuya (synthesizer/keyboard), Utsunomiya Takashi (vocals) and Kine Naoto (guitar/keyboard).
For those wondering what the TM meant, originally, Komuro wanted the group’s TM to be derived from Tama, like the band Chicago. As Tama, a district in Tokyo, is where the group members are from. But the record company and office wasn’t for it and instead of TAMA NETWORK, they would call it TM NETWORK and thus it was rumored that TM meant “Time Machine”. The “Network”, according to Kine Naoto, was inspired from Australian band, Men at Work.
While the group was not signed to a major label, in August 1983, they took part in the “Fresh Sounds Contest” sponsored by Coca-Cola and they performed “1974” and the performance was aired on television which led to a record label. The group would make their debut with “Kinyoubi no Lion” (Friday’s Lion) and would release their first album “Rainbow Rainbow” in 1984.
While the band started out they were a rock band but shifted to dance music and classified themselves as a synthesizer band.
The group would disband in 1994 after the celebration of their 10th anniversary but would restart once again in 1999.
The band cumulatively has sold 16 million copies of singles and albums (including LPs and cassettes).
In 1989, Komuro was working on a concept for their fans (aka FANKS – a word derived from FUNK + PUNK + FANKS) and he was planning on a remix album titled “Reproduction”. But it would eventually be changed to “DRESS”.
Back in the ’80s, “remixes” in Japan, meant tweaking the sound of an original track’s sound source (ie. adding reverb to vocals, removing the guitar sounds and adding synth sounds). Sometimes these “remixes” were referred to 12-inch single versions and were often used by DJs at clubs, as these songs would have intros and interludes padded to lengthen the songs playing time.
But for the remix album “DRESS”, the concept was to give the master tapes to famous overseas producers on the condition that only the original vocal track would be used, and do whatever they want with them as they liked and researched what kind of tones from these producers can come up with for the Japanese audience.
So, what TM NETWORK did with “DRESS” was groundbreaking at the time because it incorporated outsourced remixing and “reproduction”, rather than remixing.
So, while the vocals, melody and lyrics remained, the songs were re-recorded from scratch based on these overseas musicians/producers.
The version I am reviewing is the 2013 re-release by Sony Music Direct as a Blu-spec CD2, which is the name of Sony Music Entertainment’s high-quality music CD technology launched back on December 2012. It will work on pre-existing CD players but the difference is that it uses Blu-ray Disc manufacturing technology such as a silicon wafer for semiconductor manufacturing and enables ultra-fine processing and employs a metal oxide resist (thermal recording) for the recording layer of the master disc vs. the conventional photoresist (optical recording).
For the group’s 15th single “COME ON EVERYBODY”, American music producer and guitarist Nile Rodgers (of the band “Chic”) and mixer Andres Levin would be responsible. And a cassette tape and 8cm CD single with “COME ON EVERYBODY” with the B-Side “COME ONE LET’S DANCE (DANCE SUPREME”) (and also featured as the fifth track on the album) produced by Nile Rodgers and mixed by Greg Smith was released. Rodgers would comment that the song would do well in America.
The second track “BE TOGETHER” would be produced and remixed by Jonathan Elias. The song was from their fifth album “humansystem” (and would become popularized in 1999 by singer Suzuki Ami). Elias was known for scoring the trailers for “Blade Runner”, “Gandhi” and “Back to the Future” and co-produced Duran Duran’s 1988 album “Big Thing”.
Elias would also provide the remix for the ninth track “RESISTANCE”, which was the group’s 12th single and of all the songs on the “DRESS” album, Utsunomiya said “RESISTANCE” arrangement was what surprised him the most and found the idea interesting.
The third track was “KISS YOU (KISS JAPAN)” which was the band’s 11th single and was produced and arranged by Bernard Edwards (a co-founder of the band “Chic”) and a musician voted by “Bass Player” magazine as No. 53 for “Greatest bassist of all time”. Edwards is known for his music for Chic but he was also instrumental in the ’80s for the formation of supergroup, Power Station with Duran Duran members John and Andy Taylor and singer Robert Palmer and produced Robert Palmer’s successful album “Riptide”.
The fourth track on “DRESS” is the song “DON’T LET ME CRY” (Jellybean Remix) which is a song from the group’s fourth album “Self Control”. The song was remixed by John “Jellybean” Benitez known for his work for Madonna, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and the Pointer Sisters. Jellybean also remixed the sixth song “spanish blue” (from the group’s fourth album “Self Control”) and “RAINBOW RAINBOW” from the group’s first album “RAINBOW RAINBOW”.
The seventh track is “GET WILD ’89”, the 10th single for the group and a song that led to the group’s massive popularity (and featured as the ending theme for the animated series “CITY HUNTER” in 1997-1998). The song was remixed by mixmaster Pete Hammond (a mixmaster who worked with the famous Stock Aitken Waterman) who would become a major mixmaster for Komuro Tetsuya’s dance group T.R.F. (Tetsuya Komuro’s Rave Factory) who was a groundbreaking in Japanese music and is known as a ’90s legendary dance group.
The tenth track on the album was “MARIA MARIA” was produced and remixed by Christopher Curell of Audio Cybernetics who worked with Michael Jackson, Greg Philingaines, Paul Simon, Meatloaf, Luther Vandross, Sheryl Crow and many more.
The eleventh track “CONFESSION” from the group’s third album “GORILLA” was produced by Jimmy Bralower and Peter Wood. Bralower is known for his drum beats and his amazing work for songs such as Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”, his work with Daryl Hall & John Oates albums, Carly Simon albums, Chaka Khan, Steve Winwood, Peter Gabriel, Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors”, drum programming for “Baby One More Time” and “Oops!…I Did it Again” for Britney Spears.
Bralower and Wood would also produce and mix “TIME (PASSES SO SLOWLY)” from the group’s second album “CHILDHOOD’S END” and “FOOLS ON THE PLANET (WHERE ARE YOU NOW)”, the B-side to “GET WILD ’89” and a song featured on the group’s fourth album “Self Control”.
It’s important to note that tracks 12 and 13 are bonus songs which were added to this 12th anniversary Blu-Spec CD2.
For the most part, the release of the album was a way for Sony to promote their Blue-Spec CD2 technology that was released. While technology has changed to the point a decade since this album was released, more audiophiles want actual blu-ray 5.1/7.2 audio releases, as this was not so much different than standard CD’s as it uses the same redbook quality of (44.1kHz/16bit).
In fact, when I first got this Blu-Spec CD2, I was expecting to use my home theater and Blu-ray player for audio. But this was not the case, if anything, what you are getting is a remastering of the album and if you are a big fan of TM Network, you are getting an album which was considered a rarity of its time, giving well-known American producers a chance to give their musical rendition of popular TM Network vocals.
It was no doubt different, but an interesting take altogether. Japanese and western tastes can be quite different and the remixes were no doubt a product of its time during the late ’80s (I feel the same way about a lot of ’80s remixes, not just in Japan but also in the US and Europe, while some are good, many are bad, but the difference with “DRESS”, is that it’s not some DJ but actual big name producers).
But it’s all subjective and if you are a fan of TM NETWORK, then this Blu-spec CD2 version of their 1989 remix album is for you!
