AKB48 – Koko ga Rhodes da, Koko de Tobe Review

Release Date: January 21, 2015

Track Listing

Disc 1 (Type A and B)

1. Kibouteki Refrain
2. Labrador Retriever
3. Reborn (Team Surprise)
4. Suzukake no Ki no Michi de “Kimi no Hohoemi wo Yume ni Miru” to Itteshimattara Bokutachi no Kankei wa Dou Kawatteshimau no ka, Bokunari ni Nannichi ka Kangaeta Ue de no Yaya Kihazukashii Ketsuron no You na Mono
5. Mae Shika Mukanee
6. Kimi no Hitomi wa Planetarium (AKB48 Kenkyuusei)
7. Futari wa Dekiteru (Kojima Haruna, Kitagawa Kenji)
8. Heart Ereki
9. Kokoro no Placard
10. 47 no Suteki na Machi e
11. Erande Rainbow
12. Koi to ka…
13. Ai no Sonzai

Disc 1 (Theater Edition)

1. Kibouteki Refrain
2. Labrador Retriever
3. Reborn (Team Surprise)
4. Suzukake no Ki no Michi de “Kimi no Hohoemi wo Yume ni Miru” to Itteshimattara Bokutachi no Kankei wa Dou Kawatteshimau no ka, Bokunari ni Nannichi ka Kangaeta Ue de no Yaya Kihazukashii Ketsuron no You na Mono
5. Mae Shika Mukanee
6. Kimi no Hitomi wa Planetarium (AKB48 Kenkyuusei)
7. Futari wa Dekiteru (Kojima Haruna, Kitagawa Kenji)
8. Heart Ereki
9. Kokoro no Placard
10. 47 no Suteki na Machi e
11. Erande Rainbow
12. Koi to ka…
13. Ai no Sonzai
14. Saisho no Ai no Monogatari (Owada Nana, Kawaei Rina, Takahashi Juri)

Disc 2 (Type A)

1. Conveyor (Yokoyama Team A)
2. Seijun Philosphy (Minegishi Team 4)
3. Henachoko Support (Team B)
4. Kanojo (Miyawaki Sakura Solo)
5. Downtown Hotel 100 Goushitsu
6. Sailor Zombie (Milk Planet)
7. Junjou Soda-sui (Watanabe Mayu Solo)
8. Ai to Kanashimi no Jisa (Yamamoto Sayaka solo)
9. Birth
10. 7 Kaime no “Les Mis” (Kojima Haruna solo)
11. Oh! Baby! (Takahashi Team A)
12. Koko ga Rhodes da, Koko de Tobe!

Disc 2 (Type B)

1. Bokutachi no Ideology
2. To go de (Kuramochi Team B)
3. Oshiete Mommy
4. Setsunai Reply (Sashihara Rino solo)
5. Panama Unga (Kawaei Rina, Matsui Rena, Minegishi Minami, Watanabe Miyuki)
6. Akai Pin Heel to Professor (Matsui Jurina solo)
7. Yowamushi Kemushi (Kashiwagi Yuki solo)
8. Namida wa Atomwashi (Minegishi Team 4)
9. All of You (Takahashi Minami solo)
10. Tomodachi de Irareru Nara (Shimazaki Haruka, Yokoyama Yui)
11. Kyou Made no Melody
12. Ikisuzukeru

Review

Koko ga Rhodes da, Koko de Tobe is AKB48’s fourth original album (sixth overall). It was released almost a year before the day of Tsugi no Ashiato. The album comes in three editions with differing track listings for the second discs on Types A and B and an extra song added to the end of the theatre edition.

This album is about the great American professional wrestler Dusty Rhodes. The track listing is a chronicle of his time performing in Japan in the early 1980s and his WWF career later in that decade.

The songs describe the character of Rhodes as the epitome of the hard-working, American common man struggling with and overcoming hard times. Inspiring the masses to reach their dreams no matter how difficult.

And if you seriously believed any of what I wrote above and were about to comment that I’m off my rocker, you’re probably right. But I have to wonder about anyone who would be gullible enough to want to whine about such glaring factual inaccuracies.

Now that I’ve had a little fun, let’s get to the actual review, then shall we?

The first disc in this set contains a string of singles starting from Heart Ereki to the latest at the time of release, Kibouteki Refrain. There’s probably nothing on there that AKB fans have not heard many times over.

The song probably worth mentioning the most from this disc is the duet between Kojima Haruna and Kitagawa Kenji, Futari wa Dekiteru. It’s got a jazzy, smoky lounge vibe to it. Kitagawa has a strangely decent cheesy lounge singer voice. He seems to be a better singer than a dancer.

The second CDs in the Type A and B versions are of more interest since they contain the majority of new material mixed in with some popular b-sides from the recent crop of singles.

From Type A the tracks of interest include the solos from Miyawaki Sakura (Kanojo), Watanabe Mayu (Junjou Soda-sui) and Yamamoto Sayaka (Ai to Kanashimino Jisa). The team songs are okay at best, with Conveyor probably the one that stands out the most.

Type B has the same mix of tracks as Type A. The pair of team songs on this disc are not exactly anything to write home about. The solos, however, offer some noteworthy listening. Especially the songs from Sashihara Rino (Setsunai Reply), Matsui Jurina (Akai Pin Heel to Professor) and Takahashi Minami (All of You).

Koko ga Rhodes da, Koko de Tobe is an album full of well-worn singles, b-sides and a few new nuggets for fans to bite on. So fairly status quo for AKB48 albums. I believe it could serve as a decent intro for newcomers to the post-Maeda Atsuko/Oshima Yuko version of the group or to fans of other idol groups who are curious about the whole AKB deal. There should be enough to at least catch the attention of a few virgin ears.

The converted or indoctrinated will have the difficult task of what version(s) to get. Especially the budget minded or picky. (Hey, not everyone out there is a big baller) Since everything that is worth listening to is spread over the two supplementary CDs, you should get both.