Puffy - 'Nice'

Thankfully I don't mean Puff Daddy...

After reading a newspaper inteview with Andy Sturmer (ex-Jellyfish singer/drummer/songwriter) I decided to take a chance on this album and bought a copy from a Japanese music shop on eBay.

Now, usually the thought of 'Jpop' (Japanese styled pop music) leaves me cold but in this case, the songs are all written, produced and performed on by Andy Sturmer... leaving two Japanese TV pop talent contest winners to sing the lyrics, some in English but mostly in Japanese.

Anyway, I've had the album for over six months now and I still listen to it at least weekly. Every song is pure Jellyfish inspired power pop and pretty much all of them enter your brain and refuse to leave it after just one play. As with Jellyfish, the 60s and 70s pop influences are all over the record but there's a comtemporary sound to it and the production values are excellent, with a real band and real music backing the vocalists. Even though most of the lyrics are in Japanese, it doesn't seem to matter some how, it kind of just works.

It's such a crying shame that Sturmer himself didn't (want to) sing these songs as the collection is a reminder of just how sorely missed Jellyfish are.

Some of the tracks are just sublime, I defy any Jellyfish fan not to fall in love with 'Tokyo Nights', 'Your Love Is A Drug' and 'Invisible Tomorrow'. The tracks are so infectiously upbeat, startlingly arranged and performed and just fantastic to listen to.

Seriously, this album re-affirms the fact that pop music is still a viable and exciting form of music. Sheer brilliance.