There Are Times Where She Must Sigh / AB'S - AB'3 (1985) Album Review

 

Overall Rating: 7/10

Favorite Track: Heavy Mental Rock / Borderline

The release of AB'S 2 marked a very crucial point for the history of AB'S in general. First of all, it would mark the departure of one of its most important founding members, guitarist and vocalist Makoto Matsushita, in order for him to focus on his personal projects as well as the new progressive rock band Paradigm Shift, marking the beginning of the end for the first iconic lineup of such a peculiar band on the Japanese pop scene of the 80's. Second of all, this particular departure from one of the band's members didn't mark the complete separation of the project, or unless not at that point. On their very essence, AB'S was more of a Fujimaru Yoshino driven project, or at least that is how they started, eventually branching out to become a full time band that was based on the collaboration between all the members in order to create something special. The chemistry had been very present and very promising from their great debut album, something that received an interestingly different approach with the release of the mellow and straight forward AB'S 2, but that still put the band on a promising light due to their fantastic live shows. Their career could have gone to different places, and it could have ended up being something much better with time, but Matsushita's departure seemed to mark an end to all of that, but that end would come a little bit further down the line.

Makoto himself had left the band, but the four remaining members were still part of AB'S, and they still seemed to want to push forward with the project. In late 1984 they entered recording sessions in order to try and build more material regardless of the loss of one of an important member, with Yoshino and Watanabe taking much more presence in the arrangements and compositions, while Ando stayed on lyrical duties for the most part. The loss of one guitarist made Yoshino put himself as the main guitar player of the group, working with multiple compositions that overlapped each other at first in order to retain the main essence of the band, but eventually backing up to seek convenience and try to adapt to the new conditions that the members had found themselves in. After production and mastering, AB'S 3 would be released in 1985, with the group trying to prove that they could push forward regardless of the complications with a fully fleshed out studio album. 

Well, if there is something to give to this record is the fact that it is definitely an improvement over AB'S 2, but at the same time it is a simplification of the formula that made the band special. AB'S 3 is a good album, but it is a slightly different, and at the same time noticeable, approach to songwriting and composition. The technicality of the jazz fusion aspects, with its respective tension building, its unconventional interaction between instruments, and the way everything was handled with a tight and polished production, is replaced for a more conventional approach to pop, focusing more on straight forward compositions and structures that end up being catchy more than intriguing. Of course, the loss of an important member justifies this change in many ways, being a band that just adapted to the conditions that they found themselves in due to a very sudden and unexpected change. This is not inherently bad, since AB'S 3 is definitely a very well crafted release, with very enjoyable pop songs that do have things to offer in the way they are built, but at the same time there is just not a lot to talk about.

There are great songs (like Heavy Mental Rock, Borderline, or the memorable opener By The End Of Century) that end up showing a new promising side of the group with more conventional pop tunes that end up being pulled of in a great way, but there are still a lot of things missing overall. There is just nothing that separates this from the standard and that makes this AB'S outside of the vocal performances. And even then, songs like Ethnic Cosmic, Cry Baby Blues, and Sequence Life end up breaking the pace a bit due to sudden tone changes that don't work all that well due to the lack of build up or a proper setup. The atmosphere could be called consistent, but at the same time it is something that doesn't have a lot of focus, and the same thing could be said about songwriting, arrangements, as well as even the production and mixing found here. It ends up being somewhat odd to find an album that has a lot going on behind it in what makes things right or wrong, but that also feels underwhelming and simple to the point of not being able to elaborate further about why things are the way they are.

It can be inferred that the band thought on a similar way as well, with the band not lasting for very long after this point, eventually breaking up for the first time, but not due to personal or creative differences (the members remained as friends, even collaborating between each other on multiple points across their career), more due to the fact that the initial spark seemed to have faded at that point. It is curious really, AB'S started as a very promising, talented, and very dynamic group that had a lot to offer due to standing out with their personality and musical abilities that differentiated them from the pop standard in 80's Japanese music just to then simplifying themselves even further in order to try to keep pushing forward. As it has been said many times before "it is better calling things to an end before starting delivering mediocrity", and it seems that the band just called it quits before whatever outcome the future could have had for them. 

Personally, 1985 marks the end of AB'S, the end of that group that had a lot to offer from their very first fantastic album and that still managed to provide enjoyable experiences with their following studio efforts. Yoshino would briefly bring back the project in 1988, with a different lineup of musicians and an even more conventional pop approach to songwriting and structure on AB'S 4, but it just wasn't the same, and the quality of that album was definitely nothing compared to their previous work. After that, the original lineup would reunite in 2004 and would keep on releasing music, disbanding and reuniting time and time again over the years, bringing back old and new members, and even getting to the point of Yoshina, Matsushita, and Okamoto, with the help of other new musicians, releasing a new album in 2020, with re-recordings of songs from their first studio effort. The band has produced four more albums after their first breakup (five if we count their 2004 reunion EP), but none of them come close to what they had to their last two albums before 1985, let alone to their wonderful debut. It is a shame really, but things are the way they are. Yoshino and the rest of members seemed to be most proud of that classic period, being that material the one that makes up for most of their usual live setlists nowadays, and for very good reasons. It is such a shame that the band didn't really took things to the next step, but still, their fantastic live shows show their fantastic chemistry even after all these years, regardless if that aspect hasn't been able to be put on studio form yet. Maybe AB'S will redeem themselves in their next project, which is highly unlikely, but one can still dream. Thankfully we have their first three albums as a very pleasant memory of what was a very special band for the deep and convoluted world that is City Pop.

And even if it doesn't stand out that much, AB'3 is still part of that sweet memory, providing simple and captivating melodies that just distract from everything and take one to a place of joy and emotion. A nice album, somewhat underwhelming for a final note to their first era, but still something that I would listen to without complaining one bit.