Duo U&U
Duo U&U (デュオU&U, Duo U&U) is the first album by W, the duo formed by Morning Musume and Minimoni members and longtime friends Ai Kago and Nozomi Tsuji. Recorded while they were winding down their duties as Morning Musume and Minimoni members, the album consists of cover versions of songs released by other female Japanese pop duos from the later Showa period, including covers of songs by The Peanuts, Pink Lady, and Wink. The idea was that W were continuing the tradition that the original artists they covered on this album established, as well as give fans of Kago and Tsuji that had never heard the original recordings a taste of Japanese pop history.
W promoted the album in Japan with a variety of TV appearances, including a June 2004 special during which they performed alongside Pink Lady as both W and as part of Morning Musume. W and Pink Lady performed the latter's "Southpaw" while the full Morning Musume contingent and Pink Lady performed "Nagisa no Sinbad" and a medley of Morning Musume's "LOVE Machine" and Pink Lady's "S.O.S.".
At the end of July 2004, W "graduated" from (i.e. performed their final concert as members of) Morning Musume, allowing them to concentrate on W full-time. Duo U&U would be the only W album containing all classic J-pop covers, as future single releases would be originals composed by Tsunku and their follow-up album, 2nd W, would contain a mix of original material and more classic J-pop covers.
Track listing
- The names in parentheses are of the artist who originally recorded the song, not the composer.
- Koi no Vacance (恋のバカンス) – 2:54 (The Peanuts)
- Southpaw (サウスポー) – 3:36 (Pink Lady)
- Nagisa no "......" (渚の『……』) – 4:15 (Ushiroyubi Sasaregumi)
- Shiroi Iro wa Koibito no Iro (白い色は恋人の色) – 2:53 (Betsy & Chris)
- Osaka Rhapsody (大阪ラプソディー) – 3:09 (Unabara Senri・Banri)
- Matsu wa (待つわ) – 4:24 (Aming)
- Samishii Nettaigyo (淋しい熱帯魚) – 4:38 (Wink)
- Kakemeguru Seishun (かけめぐる青春) – 3:18 (Beauty Pair)
- Nagisa No Sindbad (渚のシンドバッド) – 2:29 (Pink Lady)
- Koi no Indian Ningyou (恋のインディアン人形) – 3:04 (Rinrin & Ranran)
- Suki yo Captain (好きよキャプテン) – 3:04 (The Lilies)
- Sentimetal Boy (センチ・メタル・ボーイ) – 3:42 (Kilala & Ulala)
- Oatsuraemuki no Destiny (お誂え向きのDestiny) – 3:04 (Key West Club)
- Give Me Up – 4:16 (Babe)
- Jounetsu no Hana (PASSION FLOWER) (情熱の花 (PASSION FLOWER)) – 2:29 (The Peanuts)
Personnel
- Nozomi Tsuji - vocals (lead, harmony and background)
- Ai Kago - vocals (lead, harmony and background)
- Tsunku - additional backing vocals (Tracks 3, 14)
- Hideuki "Daichi" Suzuki - guitar, keyboards, drum machine, MIDI programming (Track 1)
- Shunsuke Suzuki - guitar (Track 1)
- Osamu Kawakami - upright bass (Track 1)
- Masayuki Muraishi - drums (Track 1)
- Cher Watanabe - guitar (Track 2), bass (Track 2), keyboards, drum machine, MIDI programming (Tracks 2, 13)
- Koichi Yuasa - keyboards, drum machine, MIDI programming (Track 3)
- Yuichi Takahashi - acoustic guitar (Tracks 6, 11)
- Koji - electric guitar (Track 6)
- Toshiya Simizu - guitar, bass, keyboards, drum machine, MIDI programming (Track 7)
- Yasuo Asai - guitar, keyboards, drum machine, MIDI programming (Tracks 8, 9, 10)
- Shinichiro Mizue - bass (Track 8)
- Ogu - drums (Tracks 8, 10), additional backing vocals (Track 14)
- Yasuaki Maejima - piano (Track 9)
- Tetsutaro Ike - bass (Track 9)
- Hiroki - bass (Track 10)
- Mikio Sakai - keyboards, drum machine, MIDI programming (Track 11)
- Jun Ichikawa - keyboards, drum machine, MIDI programming (Track 12)
- Kaya Uesugi - bass (Tracks 3, 12, 14)
- Atsuko Inaba - additional backing vocals (Tracks 13, 14)
- Laugh & Peace - keyboards, drum machine, MIDI programming (Track 14)
