Momoiro Clover Z vs KISS - Yumeno ukiyoni saitemina

By idol standards, Momoiro Clover Z have been quite unorthodox in their choice of collaborators. Besides recording two songs with expat guitarist Marty Friedman, in 2014, they re-recorded their theme for the anime series “Moretsu Pirates” with Swedish guitar legend Yngwie Malmsteen, godfather of neoclassical “shred” metal. Still, even with these under their belts, there can’t be many people who could’ve predicted the Momoclo girls would next team up with one of America’s most recognized bands.

For those not so familiar with KISS, they were one of the world’s biggest bands in the 1970s, influencing a generation of musicians across the globe: X JAPAN’s YOSHIKI amongst them. Better known for their distinctive makeup and onstage antics than music, by the mid-‘80s, their profile waned to the point where they gave up their trademark stage garb for a decade. Despite this struggle for “street cred”, they never suffered financially, thanks to licensing over 3000 products of official KISS merchandise.

As if to underline the transpacific nature of this collaboration, Yumeno ukiyoni saitemina’s title track opens with the resounding crash of a traditional “taiko” drum before Gene Simmons’s pulsating bassline kicks in. As ever, Kanako sings first, and she and her bandmates urge listeners to put some color back into their lives. Compared to Momoclo’s pop-rock efforts with Friedman, there’s not much in the way of guitar here - Tommy Thayer chips in a couple of fills between verses. Instead, the infectious bassline and drummer Eric Singer’s unremitting backbeat provide the song’s musical lifeblood. Momoclo fans who were sceptical about them teaming up with KISS can rest easy: Yumeno ukiyoni saitemina is probably the girls’ best rock-flavored song of their career so far.

The B-side Rock and Roll All Nite marks a first for Momoiro Clover Z; it’s the first song released by the band to be sung entirely in English. A cover of KISS’s 1975 hit, this version, co-arranged by Yuyoyuppe, part of the creative team behind BABYMETAL, is a full ninety seconds longer than the original. The song is pretty much identical to the original as far as Tommy Thayer’s guitar solo, after which the track suddenly jumps to more familiar J-pop territory, with synthesizers entering the mix while Kanako and team repeat the song’s chorus. Despite this weirdness at the end, it has to be said that the girls’ English vocals are flawless throughout, and almost completely accent-free.

Buyers of the Momoclo Edition of this single will have a Blu-ray of the Nagasoe Masatsugu-directed music video to enjoy. Meanwhile, owners of the KISS Edition are treated to a third song: SAMURAI SON.

Whilst musically identical to Yumeno ukiyoni saitemina, this track features different lyrics penned by KISS frontman Paul Stanley. As titles like Rock and Roll All Nite and I Was Made For Lovin’ You will attest, KISS’s fame was not built on their lyrical ingenuity, and SAMURAI SON is really no exception. Between shouts of “Cat’s eyes, so wide” and references to Tokyo locales like Ginza and the Lexington Queen nightclub, it’s hard to find a consistent theme in Stanley’s vocals. Luckily, the women of Momoiro Clover Z are on-hand with backing vocals that’ll give you something to sing along to if you can’t quite keep up with Stanley’s scattershot lead.

So, whatever your opinion of KISS’s musical legacy, don’t let that alone stop you from checking out Yumeno ukiyoni saitemina. Momoiro Clover Z have a well-deserved reputation for being more musically adventurous than rival idol acts, such as the Yasushi Akimoto sisterhood, and this would be a worthy addition to any Momoclo fan’s collection; hell, the title track’s bassline alone is worth the price of admission.


Below, you can watch the music video for Yumeno ukiyoni saitemina: