"KEI: VOICE COLOGNE"
Of the half-dozen solo albums Kei turned out since Pink Lady broke up in 1981, "Voice Cologne" from 1990 may very well be her best ever, mainly because of the amazing uniqueness of Kei having sung half of it's 10 tracks in French, something that absolutely floored me. But, at the same time, it was a most logical decision as Kei's low, throaty vocals made the songs she did in French superlatively sexy, she even got to use her English on four other tracks while the tenth was one of the French tracks done in her native Japanese, and it made for quite a brilliant effort. We begin right off the bat with one of the French tracks, "Simple Confidences", a fast paced tune with an 80's style beat and hauntingly elegant vocals from Kei. Next up are three straight tracks with Kei singing in English, "Some Kinda Guy" featured high, soaring vocals and a peppy, even cute beat; "Don't Make Up Your Mind" was pure power pop all the way with Kei's trademark deep sounding voice that I love while "A Man I Respect" was a song with a sort of light, airy and whimsical tone.
Now, we come to four straight tracks in French where Kei excelled, "Odyssee A Deux" was a sultry, smoky torch song handled with delicious perfection; "Avec Le Feu", my favorite track was a bouncy, sassy soft rock number that made my heart beat fast; "Comme Les Hommes" was an electric, fast paced song Kei absolutely nailed while "Beaute Fragile" was a sexy, dynamic power pop song I enjoyed. The last English track, "Sing An Old Tune" was a delightfully sweet and charming ballad with it's props to Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. The last track was a second version of "Avec Le Feu", but with over half the lyrics sung in Kei's native Japanese, and yes, she nailed that as well. Overall, this had been a downright amazing album as Kei sounded smoother than silk in French , and her English wasn't too bad either.Like I said, I thought "Voice Cologne" was Kei's best solo album bar none, and it didn't at all disappoint.
