pizzicato five was a japanese pop band active from 1985 to 2001. the lineup of the band changed a lot throughout the years, and their discography can be divided into different "eras" where these changes, and especially main vocalist changes, caused the band to explore new styles, genres and visuals. they are most known for their post-1990 shibuya-kei releases, when they started experimenting with more pop and electronic elements. however, this page is dedicated to a more soft rock, lounge-y era prior to that, my favorite pizzicato five era, in which the group consisted of konishi yasuharu (bass, keyboard), takanami keitaro (guitar, keyboard) and tajima takao (vocals, guitar). between 1988 and 1990, they released three amazing albums that i love a lot: bellissima, on her majesty's request and soft landing on the moon.
in this shrine i want to talk about why i love these albums so much! also, i want to share a bit of the story of the band. i think it's really interesting...
listen on youtubethe first time i found some songs from bellissima years ago, i knew i found something special. this album doesn't take as many risks as the other two, but i think it demostrates how pizzicato five doesn't need to be extravagant to sound amazing. it's not especially groundbreaking style or genre wise, but the composition, the melodies and the beautiful vocals are all so perfect that it still manages to blow my mind. it's just pure talent! i think it's the album that proves that all three of them are amazing musicians. it's especially obvious with tajima, the main singer. his vocals really shine in this album, they sound so powerful yet so smooth and effortless... i think he became one of my favorite vocalists. such a timeless and beautiful soft rock, soul, pop album.
"i wanted to create something that was light and easy to listen to, but the lyrics and the feeling you get after listening to it are really heavy and dark"- konishi
early years
a bit about the first version of pizzicato five, pre bellissima: founding members konishi and takanami (college students at the time) met in 1979 at a local music society meeting. though the idea to form a band was present since then, it wasn't until 1984 that they found a vocalist for the project. so, with singer mamiko sasaki, keyboardist ryo kamomiya and drummer shigeo miyata, they formed pizzicato five. the "five" in the name almost instantly lost meaning when miyata left the band shortly after, but the four remaining kept the name anyway... only one album, couples, was released by this quartet in 1987. apparently, it wasn't very commercially successful, and their record label pressured them to find a new main vocalist. mamiko sasaki and ryo kamomiya left the band this year, leaving only the two original members in search of a new vocalist. not too long after, takao tajima would join the band as the new main vocalist, under the condition that he could work on his own band at the same time. and so my favorite pizzicato five era started!
this might be my favorite out of the three... i really love how it keeps the essence of bellissima while also introducing a lot of the elements that would be the foundation of their sound later on. it's still sweet and romantic soft rock, but in a more bold, experimental and playful way. the brass sections and classic instruments mix with new techniques, sampling and new electronic sounds in a really awesome way. i am not super knowledgeable in 80s music but i still think this album was really ahead of its time. for example, this track on it called satellite hour?? who was doing vocal chops in 1989!!! NO ONE!! (probably). it is also a super conceptual album, specifically made for a fictional spy movie, and i love how commited it is to that. it really makes you believe it's a soundtrack of something. they're all just playing characters and having fun with music. god i love this album
"well, in magazines, even a small column can contain something that has nothing to do with the surrounding articles, and i thought, maybe we could capture that kind of fun in a recording" - konishi
the second lineup
even though i think it's perfect as it is, i kinda wish this pizzicato era lasted longer... around 1990, maybe because the project was getting more experimental, or maybe because these three pizzicato five albums also weren't comercially successful (u_u), the main vocalist tajima left the band as well, only two years after joining, to concentrate on his own band original love. he was replaced by maki nomiya, who had been a backup vocalist in some songs before, and she became the face of pizzicato five, completely changing the band's image and sound. i am a bit jealous of the fans of this post 1990 era because there are sooo many photoshoots, music videos, interviews... meanwhile i have only seen these three guys together on video once LOL. but anyway... it wouldn't be long until founding member takanami left the band as well in 1994, leaving pizzicato five as a duo until its end in 2001.
when i listened to this, i knew it would be the last i'd hear from this pizzicato era, but i didn't know most of the songs on it would be just different versions of old songs. however... i ended up loving these new versions so much that i wasn't even bothered by that :P it was such a blessing to hear a bit of the new, modern pizzicato five style mixed with the old. it's almost like a collage, a love letter to their own music. it has vocals from past, present and future pizzicato members, a ton of samples, a wide range of genres, a cover, old unreleased music, and even interviews (that i REALLY wish i could understand... i can't find translations for these anywhere). it's a bit chaotic but i really like it. and it's so different from the other two that sometimes i forget that they were released just one and two years apart. their growth as musicians in such a short amount of time is truly insane... i think this is a perfect ending to pizzicato 2.0, and a perfect introduction for what the future releases would be.
pizzicato forever!
after doing some research i found that all three members are still making music, which made me happy to hear! i found out konishi is kind of a legendary producer and writer for other artists (mostly japanese) and that he's credited on a HUGE amount of songs from the 80s until now. and the list is still growing! you can check it out here. he also released music kinda recently under the alias pizzicato one. takanami has been writing for other artists as well, as you can see here, and tajima is still singing and doing shows for original love, though it's less of a band and more of his solo alias now.
i had a lot of fun making this shrine and searching every corner of a bunch of dead websites to find info and pictures of this band lol! here are some various links to pizzicato five related pages i found. most of these are very old, in japanese, and/or can only be accessed through the internet archive. if you know of any interviews, videos, or pictures of the band during this time please let me know!
- tiny bit of a live performance + small interview [jp]
- translated pizzicato five lyrics
- complete discography + magazine appearances (mostly maki nomiya stuff)
- konishi interview about the first P5 album [jp]
- huge pizzicato blog / fansite [jp] [archive]
- pizzicato fansite [archive]
- full konishi discography
