Biyuden Single Best 9 Vol.1 Omaketsuki [w/ DVD, Limited Edition]

This CD has, over time, become one of my favorite H!P albums outside of the Morning Musume ones. I don't know why it took me so long to get into Biyuden, but I didn't really embrace them until just about the time they disbanded in mid-2008. (This has been the history of my Hello! Project fandom: I become intensely attached to units and performers just after they disband or lose their best members or get expelled!) I'm a big fan of Rika Ishikawa and I've been pushing for a solo album from her for some time now. (She was already gone from MM when I signed on as a fan.) The great thing about the Biyuden albums is that I can actually hear all the Rika I want. She's the lead singer here and her two partners, Erika Miyoshi and Yui Okada, have just the right voices to complement hers. And when the three sing together the harmonizing is just so smooth. I like all ten songs on this album (five of them were on their previous album, "Suiteroom Number 1"). They've got nice melodies and are imbued with abundant spirit and exuberance. Even the slower ones. And Rika's English lines on "Kacchoii ze! Japan," "Welcome, welcome, welcome to my home," and "Welcome, welcome, welcome to my town," are particularly inviting. I just get a great feeling listening to this album. This is what great pop music should do. Hard to understand how Biyuden produced only two full-length albums in nearly four years. I want more. This edition of the CD comes with a DVD consisting of three different closeup versions of the video for "Aisu Kuriimu to My Purin," one with each of the members. Rika's is the one to watch. She plays it for all it's worth. Wow. "Aisu Kuriimu" indeed!