A "Lost" Hikaru Nishida Album...Discovered at Last!

 While watching old Hikaru Nishida videos on some video channel (can't remember which one it was, maybe vevo or vimeo or something), I was surprised to see a PV for a song called "Promise Land" by an artist called "Panache" listed in the sidebar along with Hikaru's other videos.

The song and style was completely R&B, with a bunch of disco guys dancing in it, and even the woman singing didn't look all that familiar to me...But listened to the song, I was blown away as the VOICE was UNMISTAKABLY Hikaru's!!!

I had to watch it over and over- only then did I realize the heavy glammed up chick was indeed Hikaru herself under all that mascara and makeup, and I HAD to find out MORE!

reading up online, I found out that in 1996, Hikaru did a project for label AVEX RECORDS re-imagining herself as R&B singer "Panache"...not sure if this was meant to be a one off side project or a rebranding of her career for the English market, but be that as it may, the stint produced two singles and one album of music! I needed to GET this!

I saw that there were a few sellers who had the CD up for grabs, sadly they were all in Japan! At the time I did not know that ways of such proxy dealers as Suruguya (whom I do fantastic business with!) but my friend Groink regularly did Japan purchases for his Bowling magazines, and agreed to add the order to his next batch of goodies! Took a few months for his cart to fill, but in time I was finally able to get my hands on Hikaru's PANACHE CD, entitled "You'll Never Know"!

The album was six tracks, including the two singles, so I didn't need to hunt those down:

1 You'll Never Know

2 Needing You

3 Lookin' For The Promise Land

4 Don't You Worry

5 Wild Temptation

6 Lookin' For The Promise Land (Club Mix)

I have to admit, it's a very different style of music for Hikaru and a big shift from her professionally crafted pop tunes on Pony Canyon, but it's refreshing to hear new music from her after all this time, and the two singles are bangers!

My Hikaru Nishida Collection (So Far!)

After watching my Hikaru Nishida PV Collection video (twice!), I just HAD to dig up all my Hikaru Goods, and decided to take pics of 'em all! In celebration of the this awesome Nishida Hikaru DVD release, I present my entire Nishida Hikaru Collection along with its new addition!

Updated: 07/13

First up, my Nishida Hikaru 3cm Singles Collection…

Then Albums, EPs and Maxi-Singles…

Hikaru Photobooks and Magazines:

And my Hikaru Videos including the *new* DVD Collection!!!

Just about the only thing I wish they could have included were the commercial inserts that were in the original two video clip collections because those were just as fun to watch as the videos themselves! But I’l still pleased as punch here- So NICE to see my favorite Pony Canyon Idol girls in DVD format! Now if only RIBBON can FINALLY get a DVD treatment of their own, I will be SET!

* This Single was a song Hikaru sang with a group called Sweet Beat Soul, MAN, whatever happened to these guys? They accompanied Hikaru on a couple of her later concerts and they were SOOOO GOOD! The guy and girl had such beautiful voices, they really gave the concerts an added PUNCH!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Hikaru Nishida "Just Lovin'" is HERE!!!!

My Nishida Hikaru CD "Just Lovin'" Comes in Today!!!

YATTTTTTAAAAA!!!! Just spent the day off listening to some of my beloved Hikaru Nishda CDs (this time A File Of Life, Love For All Seasons and 2-4) and came home to the most AWESOMEST of surprises waiting for me on my doorstep- her brand new CD Just Lovin' arrived today!!!! WHOOOHOOO

Aw man, can't stay long to write much since I am going to go out cruising and listen to this album RIGHT AFTER I post this entry up! Already heard some of it through her promotional video clip, can't WAIT to hear how the whole Maxi-Single sounds!!!! 
OK, SEEYA!!!!

Hikaru Nishida "Just Lovin' Back Booklet Pic

EDIT:

Okay, just back from giving the album a few whirls, and AW YEAH, Just Lovin' is so damn GOOD! Man, I was happy to hear that she sounds exactly like the Hikaru I know and love; Her voice as warm and carefree sounding as ever, and these happy, upbeat tunes could have EASILY been on her earlier Pony Canyon releases, that’s how much she’s retained her signature sound!!!

From the album’s opening with “Egao No Tane~ Seeds Of Smile”, I was beaming from ear to ear (so I guess that song really DID have the power of growing smiles!), parts of the song even reminded me of her super-catchy “Dear My Soul”, but it was all mixed into this fresh new tune!

Followed by the cool, relaxing “Nagisa No Gradation” with its gentle samba “Antonio Carlos Jobim” vibe, this was perfect for driving along the beachside (which was good since that was EXACTLY what I was doing!) Note the appropriate picture accompanying the lyrics inside the booklet!!

When I read the tracklisting for the EP and saw “Over The Rainbow” coupled with “What A Wonderful World”, my first thought was, “Hey, is Hikaru doing a cover of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole? Shrugged it off, but when she began singing, I began LAUGHING, for that’s EXACTLY what it was! Though her version is so bright, summery and GENKI that I didn’t recognize it at first, the vocal arrangement is pure IZ (even down to the tru-hoo-hoooo’s), and this made Hikaru’s cover have a bit of a “Hawaii” flavor to it which was like an added BONUS for me! 

Gotta say that when the fourth and fifth tracks were only karaoke tracks, I was SOOO disappointed that my time with Hikaru had ended! NO problem- I went back to the beginning and listened to the CD TWO MORE TIMES before getting home!!! BTW, when I got in the car and first took the CD out to put in the deck, I realized there was one more picture of pretty Hikaru hidden behind the disc! Had to dig out my camera again to capture that!

Awesome CD, Hikaru, looking forward to many more!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

New Nishida Hikaru CD Single Almost Here!!!

Just Lovin' Ready for Pre-Order!!!

After spending the day listening to some of my favorite Hikaru Nishida CDs (19 Dreams, Love Always and Sundance), I was pleasantly surprised to come home to find that her brand new CD Maxi-Single Just Lovin’ (which I’d been waiting for release date news since March 1st!) is not only already available for pre-order, but is set for release in less than two weeks!!!
You best believe that when I saw the CD single up on the amazon site, I pre-ordered that thing RIGHT AWAY and now am eagerly waiting for May 31st to arrive so I can dive into my new Nishida Hikaru Goodness!!! OH My gosh, check out the promotional video here- Hikaru sounds jsut as fantastic as EVER!!!! I LOVE this girl!!!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

An Afternoon ripping my Hikaru Nishida CD singles.

Spent a pleasant afternoon ripping my Hikaru Nishida 8cm singles into MP3s. When I first got my Ipod, the Nishida Hikaru CDs were among the first CDs to get the MP3 treatment, but I didn’t get around to digging out the singles until now. I’d put it off for as long as I ccould, but there were a few singles (like fave song Melody, et al) that didn’t appear on any of her albums proper, and I really needed to get those onto my player! Not only that, but one of the great things about those old Pony Canyon singles was the fact that most of them were BACKED by songs that weren’t featured on any of her albums either, and some of them were pretty darn awesome!
One thing that struck me as I was taking them out of their cases and ripping/scanning them was just how BEAUTIFUL some of the covers were! Hikaru was an idol of the highest degree, of course, and the photographers always made the very most of each shoot, producing some of the prettiest covers ever! Here are scans of just a few of my faves.
Besides the covers, some of the CD singles had cute little bonuses like cards and (in one strange instance) an unusual “Hikaru All- Access Pass”(!) What in the world was this supposed to give me aceess TO?! Ahahahahaa! Some cd singles even seemed to be given the “deluxe” treatment, and in particular, the CD single for Hikaru’s single “Tokimeite” had this elaborate fold out cover with pretty pictures of Hikaru throughout, packaging that made one wonder if Pony Canyon was making any money on the sale of these singles after spending so much on the presentation!

When I got into Hikaru Nishada (around 1996), I was lucky enough to get all her albums (at that point she had just released the awesome “2-4”) 90% of her concert videos, and about 80% of her singles, as well! If memory serves, I think that by the time I discovered the Used J-Pop CD store Otokichi Preium, I only needed to get two or three singles (and one concert) to complete my Hikaru Nishida collection!

In 1994, Pony Canyon released a CD collection called “The Very Best Of Hikaru”, which featured many of the elusive B-sides like Koi Wa Shiroi T-Shirt and Truth, but a single CD just wasn’t enough space to cover them all, not to mention all the singles and b-sides that came out after 1994! So tracking down the actual singles seems to be the only way to get em all! Besides, when the CD packaging and artwork is so nice, it really makes it worth the effort!

Hikaru ‘s last album release was the sweet “Love For All Seasons”, and her last single was “Sorairo”, way back in 2000, almost ten years now! She left the biz for a bit to get married and raise her family and though we’re extremely happy for her, we’re still waiting for her to stop by again with some new tunes!