Namie Amuro – CAN YOU CELEBRATE?

August 29, 2012 at 11:28 AM | Posted in Namie Amuro | Leave a comment

SINGLE REVIEW
Namie Amuro – CAN YOU CELEBRATE?

1. CAN YOU CELEBRATE? -Wedding Mix-
2. Dreaming I was dreaming -Subconscious Mix-
3. CAN YOU CELEBRATE -Heavenly Mix-
4. CAN YOU CELEBRATE -Wedding Mix Instrumental-
5. Dreaming I was dreaming -Subconscious Mix Instrumental-

CAN YOU CELEBRATE? is the seventh single by Japanese singer Namie Amuro, released on February 19, 1997. This maxi single version was released on December 25, 1997, to commemorate her marriage. The single reached #1 on the Oricon charts and charted for a total of 49 weeks, selling 2,750,220 units.

CAN YOU CELEBRATE? -Wedding Mix- opens beautifully with a full orchestra of strings, piano and a violin. It’s a shame in some way that the gospel influences of the original version have been minimized, but this new mix is amazing as well, being very serene and peaceful. There are a lot of pretty instrumental parts in the song, displaying very well the ‘wedding themed style’ of this mix. The good vocals and the background choir are the cherry on top. Beautiful version.

Dreaming I was dreaming -Subconscious Mix- luckily didn’t threw it’s original sound out to the curb, because I loved the smoother arrangement for the percussion in that version, very urban. This version uses the same sound, but just like the previous track it has a more orchestrated sauce. The strings and piano make it a little mysterious and maybe even a little bit serious when compared to the previous track, but it really works and the overall track is very good.

And then they did the unexpected. On a single filled with orchestrated songs, they make CAN YOU CELEBRATE -Heavenly Mix- an urban mix. I guess the beat and the bass work fine for this song too, but the vocals are brought back to a minimum and the new arrangement doesn’t really work around them to make them stand out more. I guess this could’ve been better, but at least it’s original.

I really like the two orchestrated songs on this single, the new Wedding Mix for CAN YOU CELEBRATE? was amazing and left me stunned, while the mix for Dreaming I was dreaming was a nice 180 from both its own original version and the A-side track on this single, being the mysterious song with a serious undertone. I’m not that satisfied with the Heavenly Mix, it felt more like a ghost remix when it comes to the echoed vocals randomly playing in the background. That was quite a bummer but overall this was a pretty good single.

OVERALL RATING

4 stars