B’z J-WAVE Radio Segment Translation

Posted on July 17, 2012
Feature

Koshi: Good afternoon to everyone who tuned into J-WAVE HOLIDAY SPECIAL: PEPSI NEX presents ALL TOGETHER NOW. I’m Koshi Inaba.
Tak: And I’m Tak Matsumoto.
Koshi: So, today’s topic is what you could enjoy with somebody, what could get you excited. In other words: “Together!”. What we’ve been producing as B’z together with everyone else’s effort is the latest installment in our series of Pepsi NEX commercials.
Tak: Right. I’m sure you’ve seen it. It conveys a summer feeling and is really bright!
Koshi: Yeah. There was a concert scene in a country to the south and everybody was standing around.
Tak: The main point of the commercial was our live performance and a lot of people would just stream into the audience.
Koshi: It looked just like a normal live performance. Everyone was getting excited about it. We all created a “Together”, indeed.
Tak: That’s right.
Koshi: If you haven’t seen it yet, feel free to switch on the TV. You should see it if you zap through the channels a bit.
Tak: Yes. (laughs)
Koshi: Feel free to watch it. The song that’s playing in the commercial is one we’ve produced by the title of “Love Bomb”. It’s a song you’ve all probably heard already, because it’s the English version of a hit song we released in 2005, “Ai no Bakudan”. The song didn’t just receive an English version but has also been re-recorded.
Tak: Yeah.
Koshi: In other words, we’ve used a re-recorded song for this commercial.
Tak: Yeah, but I have to say I enjoyed re-recording an old song from years ago and seeing how it turned out.
Koshi: That’s true. Right when we were working on it, Pepsi approached us with their summer version of a commercial and I think they were a perfect match. Now, please have a listen to “Love Bomb”.
「Love Bomb」 Full version on air

Koshi: The song you’ve just listened to was the new Pepsi NEX commercial theme song, “Love Bomb”. “Love Bomb” will also be featured on our debut worldwide digital album release, “B’z”. In addition to “Love Bomb”, there’s “Splash”…
Tak: That’s right.
Koshi: “Juice”, “Ultra Soul”, as well as “Into Free -Dangan-“, that are all going to be on the record. Depending on the song, we’ve changed a few bits here and there, including the guitar work.
Tak: Indeed. Compared to their original versions, we have—of course—added English lyrics, but we also changed a couple of things concerning the sound in some places. I’m sure you’ll enjoy listening to it, too.
Koshi: It should also be fun to listen to both versions and compare them with one another. The title of the album is “B’z”, which is actually the same title as our original debut album.
Tak: That’s right.
Koshi: Beyond that, “B’z” is…
Tak: Well, considering it’s a worldwide digital release, I think there are people who don’t know about us yet, so for a start…
Koshi: It’s also our band’s name. Since only the fact that it’s a worldwide release has changed, we wanted to make such an impression by choosing “B’z” for the album title.
Tak: Indeed.
Koshi: We’ll also embark on a North American tour in September. If you think about a “Together” that’s created by everyone, it’s a concert.
Tak: Yeah.
Koshi: We held a North American tour last year, too, and I enjoyed it very much.
Tak: Me too. We’ll be in some of the same places from last year, but this time we’ll also get to go to the East Coast for the first time.
Koshi: That’s true.
Tak: I’m very excited to be there.
Koshi: There are also a couple of states we haven’t been to.
Tak: No matter how you put it, it’s simply that we don’t frequent the East Coast as much.
Koshi: Rarely. We really have that kind of image. I sometimes wonder if there are really people coming to our shows. (laughs)
Tak: There are things I’m looking forward to and there are things I’m afraid of. (laughs)
Koshi: That sounds about right. (laughs) But I’m very happy to be able to play in places we’ve never been to before.
Tak: Me too.
Koshi: This year we’ll embark on a tour that’s on a wider scale than last year. If you get the chance, even though it is overseas, feel free to stop by! I would like to bring you 3 songs from our digital release album “B’z” now. The first song would be “Splash”. We played that song on stage during the “C’mon” tour last year.
Tak: Yeah. I get the feeling that the English version is very different from the original.
Koshi: That’s true. It became extraordinarily funky.
Tak: Indeed.
Koshi: People who have been able to listen to it at one our shows will be able to listen to it once more in CD quality… well, it’s actually a digital release. (laughs)
Tak: It’s a digital release, however.
Koshi: Yes. This one’s going to be of great interest I think. The second song will be “Ultra Soul”.
Tak: Yeah.
Koshi: Well, uhm, as the original Japanese version has had a very strong finish…
Tak: That’s right.
Koshi: I felt there were a lot of parts that made it difficult to produce an English version of the song. But after I got everyone’s feedback, I think it turned out to be a good tune.
Tak: The final result was very satisfactory.
Koshi: Indeed.
Tak: The mixing is also very different from the Japanese version.
Koshi: That’s right, we changed a lot of things.
Tak: I think it’s interesting.
Koshi: Yeah. And the third song would be “Into Free -Dangan-“, which you may already know about. It’s the theme song to the game “Dragon’s Dogma”, and was also used in a promotional trailer for the game. I think it turned out to be an extraordinarily great song. Now, please listen to “Splash”, “Ultra Soul” and “Into Free -Dangan-“. This has been Koshi Inaba.
Tak: And Tak Matsumoto!
「Splash」 Full version on air
「Ultra Soul」 Full version on air
「Into Free -Dangan-」 Full version on air

4 responses to “B’z J-WAVE Radio Segment Translation”

  1. Christian says:

    I was so lucky to find short sequences of 「Love Bomb」 (including the very last part of the refrain), 「Splash」 and 「Ultra Soul」. So far, it sounds as good as expected. But I wonder why they “mechanised” Koshi’s voice.

  2. Odon says:

    Hi Christian, what do you mean by “mechanised”?

  3. Christian says:

    I’m pretty sure that they added some (pseudo-modern, technological) effect on Koshi’s voice in 「Love Bomb」, 「Splash」 and 「Ultra Soul」. To me, its sound differs from the one in 「Juice」 and 「Into Free -Dangan-」, where one hears Koshi’s mere voice without any editing.

    Maybe I’ mistaken, since the uploaded J-WAVE segments are only available in low quality. I’ll come back to it once I’ve bought the album.

  4. Odon says:

    I am curious to hear that, even if I listened to the little part of Love Bomb in the commercial.

    But it seems that they use an echo-effect for a long time. When I’m listenning to songs I often think that there are several Koshi’s voices and not just a clear one.

    Let’s talk about this first international mini album soon. I’ll buy it already on wednesday, that’s fort sure!

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