"TWO FROM THE STAR"
In mid 1978, released after Live In Budokan, was Two From The Star, something I found to have been rather curious for reasons I’ll explain shortly. As Pink Lady albums go, this was, I have to admit, an unremarkable release with no hit songs, or even songs that were recognizable, save for one, and that was a b-side, still, it was...okay, all things considered. Because the album piqued my curiosity, I decided to give it a review for your consideration. The first track was “Always Hitting The Bullseye”, beginning with some pounding drums, this faced paced song was notable for snippets and strains from previous PL hits sprinkled in throughout, making this interesting in my opinion. “Woman With A Thousand Faces” was a slower paced and breezy song that was made all the more pleasant by a stirring horn section I liked, “Mystery Tour” struck me as a likeable and jazzy tune that was a tailor made foot-tapper while brief was kinda fun. “Friends” (not the old 1990’s TV show) was a cute and extremely peppy song that reminded me of some of PL’s b-sides from the latter portion of their first act, “Two From The Star”, the album’s title song, complete with wailing guitars was perhaps my favorite track and was a song I do believe I had heard during PL’s ill-fated and, if you ask me, ill-conceived TV special that ran against Kohaku uta Gassen on New Year’s eve 1978. “Love Songs In 2001”, I guess this song was supposed to have had some sort of futuristic flair, what with the 21st century two decades away, this was, to me, a standard sort of pop song Mie and Kei made their bones singing but was far from great. Now we come to the track I found to have been curious: a 9 minute medley of jingles from commercials the girls had done during their heyday when they pitched everything from instant ramen to bug zappers, why that was included, I have absolutely no idea. Lastly was “Super Monkey”, the b-side of “Tomei Ningen”, and a song I’m sure every PL fan has heard at one time or another, oh, yeah, not only was that a song, but a kid’s TV show Mie and Kei starred in. Once again, there was nothing spectacular or memorable about this album, still, it was a mildly decent Pink Lady album.
