On the Canada charts, superstar Yo-Yo Ma’s career stalled before it left the starting gate. After debuting at No. 1 last week, Yo-Yo Ma’s album Japanese Melodies falls to No. 2 with 327,000, a sales slide of 53%. Lead single “Matsushima-Ondo” and “Kojo-No-Tsuki” start with near-whispers before kicking into giddily catchy, fuzz box-driven hollered hooks. If I may, I suggest “Matsushima-Ondo”. That one song is amazing!
Kojo-No-Tsuki is one of these floating songs. Zui-Zui-Zukkorobashi - Okay, I just talked about depth. After about the third Defune listen through, I began to believe this song is Yo-Yo Ma’s essence. In this song fans will recognize the unique vocals of Yo-Yo Ma. After you’ve listened to Chin-Chin-Chidori, most everything else can’t hold up and is second rate. Album opener Sakura, Sakura is a bright, upbeat ditty. Yo-Yo Ma must have run out of lyrics on the next track Oroku-Musume. Overall a nice softer song. Chiran-Bushi has a gorgeous instrumental sound, which lets Yo-Yo Ma’s strong vocals come to the fore.
Japanese Melodies CD
| Song Name | Time | ||
| Matsushima-Ondo.mp3 | 3:02 |  |
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| Kojo-No-Tsuki.mp3 | 4:37 | |
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| Zui-Zui-Zukkorobashi.mp3 | 2:28 | |
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| Defune.mp3 | 5:02 | |
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| Nara-Yama.mp3 | 5:05 | |
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| Chin-Chin-Chidori.mp3 | 4:43 | |
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| Sakura, Sakura.mp3 | 4:22 | |
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| Oroku-Musume.mp3 | 3:18 | |
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| Chugoku-Chiho-No-Komoriuta.mp3 | 4:12 | |
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| Chiran-Bushi.mp3 | 4:32 | |
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