Dreams Come True – Love Central (Review)

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RETRO REVIEW

Dreams Come True
Love Central

Review by David Cirone

2010’s Love Central feels more playful and experimental than the stellar Do You Dreams Come True? (released a year-and-a-half earlier), but these are musicians who love working with other musicians, so experimentation isn’t surprising. The collage-style of the album artwork is perfectly suited to its musical tone. Love Central is colorful, energetic, and intentionally unpredictable.

(Speaking of DYDCT, listen for the callbacks in the opening theme before Miwa Yoshida decrees “Welcome to the Love Central” with her trademark confidence and warmth.)

The uplifting and “Nee” and “Sono Saki e” are my favorite tracks on this release, with “GODSPEED” and “THE ONE” right behind them. Masato Nakamura’s killer bass line in “Sono Saki e,” along with great vocal harmonies, really make this number shine. “Ikite yuku no desu” sounds so completely like a (really good) commercial song — it played endlessly in Japan for the Pocari Sweat campaign — I can’t seem to enjoy it just as a stand-alone track, but if you ever have the chance to see this song live, it’s a total crowd-pleaser.

There’s a lot of overt sex appeal in the songwriting this time around, most evident in “Lies, Lies” and the not-so-subtle “Another Junk in My Trunk”. Just for fun, “My Darlin Doggys” is a love letter every dog owner will identify with. The silly song just sort of comes out of nowhere, but the playful side of DCT has always been a frequent guest in their catalog, and they haven’t made me smile this much since “Anata ni Salada”.




Buy Dreams Come True – Love Central at CDJapan