Darlin’s Darlin – Moon

From Japan, Darlin’s Darlin are tailor-made for GDM. An excellent brand of melodic rock with nice touches, these boys really know how to turn up the action.

Written by: gdmonline

ARTIST: Darlin’s Darlin
ALBUM: Moon
LABEL: Sony (Japan)
SERIAL: SRCL 2216
YEAR: 1991
CD INFO: Discogs Info List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan

LINEUP: Atsushi Satoh – lead and backing vocals, computer programming, piano * Junji Hara – guitars, backing vocals * Yoshikazu Yamada – bass, backing vocals * Kohji Nishisaka – drums

TRACK LISTING: 01 Just The Same Way * 02 Bringin’ Me Down * 03 Forever Yours * 04 Please Mr D.J * 05 Cynthia * 06 Children Of The Night * 07 Heart Takes Radio * 08 Crazy For You * 09 Christmas Song For Peace * 10 Kimi Ga Tosugite

Background

From Japan, Darlin’s Darlin are tailor-made for GDM. An excellent brand of melodic rock with nice touches, these boys really know how to turn up the action.

Signed to the biggest label in Japan (Sony), someone there obviously had good taste, because the material on ‘Moon’ is some of the best of the sub-genre to grace a CD, though admittedly it doesn’t extend all the way across the album.

The level of musicianship here is astounding, and you’ll soon be trying to do the impossible and track this down on CD at all costs. Actually, that’s probably what it will take, as I’m sure this will go for silly money.

A Japanese version of Robby Valentine has been made as a comparison, and that’s as good a place to start, but their style is varied, so many comparisons jump out at you.

The Songs

The lead-off track ‘Just The Same Way’ is without doubt the pick of all the material here. The delivery method borders on bombastic, and sets the bar very high from the outset. I don’t think the band surpass this one unfortunately, but they give it a good try nonetheless.

‘Bringin’ Me Down’ is a hi-tech track, with neat keyboard touches, jangly guitars and tight drum-work. ‘Forever Yours’ is a teary ballad, and though OK, it could’ve been pushed down the track order a bit more.

‘Please Mr D.J’ (despite the silly name) is played in the same style as ‘Just The Same Way’, and has some great moments. ‘Cynthia’ is a rich power ballad, it’s followed by the superb ‘Children Of The Night’, the guitar work here is exceptional.

‘Heart Takes Radio’ and ‘Crazy For You’ showcase this band when they are on-song. Solid melodic rock offerings, the latter is particularly racy, like a Japanese version of Fate.

However, the last two songs ‘Christmas Song For Peace’ and ‘Kimi Ga Tosugite’ could be considered as bolt-ons. Both are ballads of which neither hit the mark.

In Summary

I believe this was the only album from Darlin’s Darlin, as I haven’t seen anything else on the Net about them, or their lead singer Atsushi Satoh.

‘Moon’ is the sort of CD that would make a welcome addition to your collection. Hopefully you can pick up a copy without triggering an overdraft on your bank account.

Darlin’s Darlin on Video

Just The Same Way