Morning Musume - Egao YES Nude

Morning Musume are in something of a transition as one of the most popular members - Yoshizawa Hitomi - departs with this song. Hitomi was both leader, and the last remaining member of the Fourth Generation that saw such releases as The Peace and Renai Revolution 21 in 2000. Further, this single sees the introduction of the Eighth Generation of Morning Musume, in the form of Mitsui Aika.

Egao YES Nude, Yoshizawa Hitomi's last song and Mitsui Aika's first song with Morning Musume is a real blast from the past. It has a mature sound laden with disco influences, hints of RnB and a rather mid-nineties song. In particular it really feels like a classic Morning Musume song from the same era that produced such songs as Love Machine. The girls all sound great, handling both harmonies and solos adeptly, and the melody is infectiously danceable. New member, Mitsui Aika has a small solo and her voice sounds superb for a girl of her tender age of 13 years. Egao YES Nude is a lot of fun, and seems to herald a new-old era of Morning Musume, and is a breath of fresh air compared with more lacklustre recent releases.

The second track, Sayonara no kawari ni, is more of a cutesy ballad song with a slightly childish melody. It is more in the 'bubblegum pop' mould, and quite generic but the girls' harmonies again sound great and it rather makes one smile a little with it's happy, cute and summery sound. It is a pleasant enough second song but nothing overly special. Finally, there is an instrumental version of Egao YES Nude as the third song.

Egao YES Nude is one of Morning Musume's strongest single releases in a while. Both songs are fun to listen to, although title track Egao YES Nude is truly a great song from Morning Musume past as they enter a new era.