Dschinghis Khan Full PV

Saturday, 16th February 2008 13:54

I've been dreading this single release for a long time and finally it's here. Why have I been dreading it? Because it's a cover. Well that in itself isn't a bad thing, but it's a cover of a Eurovision entry from Germany! Ok, so I'm not bothered about the German bit, the bit that bothers me is that the song was originally a Eurovision entry.
For those of you lucky enough not to live within Europe and may not know what Eurovision is (I'm really hoping that this show doesn't get broadcast anywhere else, what must people think of us Europeans and our musical tastes if this is something to base it on) let me explain a little, every year a contest is held where each member country enters a song (selected by votes from the public) and these songs are then voted on by the other countries to determine the best one. As I'm typing this I'm reading over it and it's sounding like a great idea, but in practice it's awful, mainly because of the songs entered, the likes of ABBA, Lulu and Celine Dion may have gotten famous after entering the competition, but that in no way makes them good. I'm not denying that it's a fun watch, every year it's been on you'll find me sitting in front of a TV, watching with some drinks and texting my friends on what I thought of the songs, but it's all very tongue in cheek and most of the time the songs don't take themselves too seriously, which is what I was really worrying about with this release. Obviously the entries from other countries appeal to me more than the UK entries as, one the UK entries are always awful, in 2003 we had the pleasures of receiving NIL points and in more recent years we've done almost as bad, and two, the songs are probably just as bad but it's one time only event I don't have to listen to them played over and over again on the radio, unlike the UK releases. So the quirkier the song and the stranger the singer the better, snort your tea through your nose as the weird short fat man with a strange hat sings his song, enjoy it and then never hear it again. So the prospect of listening to a 70's German Eurovision entry was not something I want to hear Berryz do, have they no self respect? This is a song where centre stage there's a man dressed like Ming the Merciless! Although I would have paid good money to see one of Berryz wear a stick on beard and moustache and do that dance. But, anyway, here's the original, enjoy.

So you're probably all as scared me right about not, right? At what point did Tsunku or whoever came up with this crazy idea think that it could possibly good? What did they say to persuade everybody that this should be done?...Well whoever it was and whatever they said was pure genius! Seriously give this guy or girl a promotion, add a little extra to their wages, do something, because this is a work of pure perfection! The PV is without question my favourite by Berryz, it's so bright and lively, and the whole feel of really suits the song. But what I especially like about this PV is how good the girls looks in it, my one reservation about Berryz is how odd the girls can look at times, but in this PV everyone looks amazing and there's more of an equal share of focus on each member than in the last PV. Usually when watching there PVs my mind goes into hypnotic Risako trance, with the occasional "how freaky does Momo look?" thrown in there, but this release I'm really appreciating everyone in the group. Momo looks amazing, as good as she does in the recent Buono! PVs, she's just as lively, her little peace sign wiggle looks amazing. Risako with her big glasses and pink megaphone are just as eye catching as usual. But for a change the two members that really stand out to me in this PV are Saki and Chinami. Both look completely amazing. Saki with her Aviator glasses and electric guitar piano (do these things have a proper name?) and Chinami looking...like a girl, not that she doesn't normally look like a girl, but her image is usually rather tomboyesque, but here that image is gone and I really hope it stays that way, she looks amazing.
For me this PV also has the instant 'love it' factor as it features both Momo and Saki pretend playing guitars (ok, Saki's is a piano guitar but it still counts) and it really seems that Momo has perfected the art of pretend playing the guitar with the help of Buono! I can only hope that one day Koha will join forces with Momo to produce an enitre PV with them just playing guitar with random objects.
The song is amazing and surprisingly really suits Berryz, it's fun and lively and a complete shocker to me, I hate the fact that I now like a Eurovision song release, but what I can do, it's amazing release. Interestingly this isn't the first cover of Dschinghis Khan, as a German Heavy Metal group, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, also done a cover way back in 1998, and I couldn't help having a hunt around and uploading their cover as well, I've included it below along with the Berryz version just so you can compare. As far as I know, never has there been such a great comparison of a song, from the strange Eurovision entry, to the cutesie version of Berryz and then on to the roaring version by Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, this is a song that has had a couple of reincarnations in very different forms. This song has really helped Berryz fight back (at least for me) from the amazement of C-ute's Tokaikko Junjou single.

Comments

Comment by Strawberrie on Saturday, 16th February 2008 15:12
I didn't pre-order this single because it hasn't grown on me. Maybe by the time the album comes out I will love it like Very Beauty. I also sent you some more Japanese dialogues and the vocabulary for it. I save the word document as a 97-2003 since most people doesn't have office 2007 yet.

Comment by namika on Saturday, 16th February 2008 15:19
well i always liked the song the min i heard they where gonna cover it, its helarious, just be glad they didnt cover our entry from last year or that guy from the ukrain that looked like elton john and sue pollard's love child.

the vid is a bit odd though why on earth are they perfoming this to kindigarden kids? is Ghengis Kahn part of the curriculum o.O though the kids do look like their having fun lol

Comment by Ken on Saturday, 16th February 2008 15:54
I've looking forward to this song since I heard about it on Hello!Online. You just can't beat a good old cheesy Eurovision song. Although this version is a lot better than the original. You can definitely see the similarities between this and Koi No Dance Site.

PS. Happy birthday!

Comment by Tats on Saturday, 16th February 2008 15:59
I love this song!!!! I've been waiting for a ridiculously upbeat song like this for quite a while - one you can just go completely genki with. The corridor bits of the PV are great - and the girls look like they're genuinely enjoying themselves (which is alwas a bonus).
Momo's as bouncy as usual. And like you said, Chinami!!! :O
(on a random note, the kindergarten kids look like they're dancing to something entirely different.... lol)
And how many times did 'Wahahhahahaha!" go through your head today? :p

Comment by Ken on Saturday, 16th February 2008 16:11
By the way, those keyboard guitars are called (funnily enough) 'Keytar's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keytar

Comment by Nozofan on Saturday, 16th February 2008 20:54
I love so much this song! I really dislike the real version but this one just rock! =D it's so good! The girl are so pretty and this song is so energic! It's really better than their last one! (That I really dislike) Chinami look really good in this! Maasa too! Yurina too! Momoko solo line is just so great! The only thing I dislike is that Risako got two solo line. I'm not really a fan of Risako, I don't like her. I think Saki, Chinami, Yurina or Massa should get the last line (Or the first)

Comment by ddrchik on Saturday, 16th February 2008 22:22
Lol..omg..the original one is so amazing..somehow i must make an avatar out of it

Comment by langdon alger on Sunday, 17th February 2008 00:45
keytar's kick major arse!

Comment by Andrei on Sunday, 17th February 2008 00:54
Momoko is the best! She dances so nice... and what an amazing voice she shows in her solo line!!! wow =O

Comment by John on Sunday, 17th February 2008 07:38
What a fantastic upbeat song! It's no wonder it's as energetic as it is because its by DANCE MAN; how come he doesnt work with momusu anymore? I dont think the girls have ever looked better in PV close ups.

Comment by Wahashimoto on Sunday, 17th February 2008 10:13
I've been waiting for you to review this.

Chinami is stunning in this. And people that want her to cut her hair again, shush, because I want Chinami's long hair from their first single! I loved the dances she did during the chorus, especially the gagster one before Miyabi's solo. I was laughing in time with their 'Wahahaha's.

Also, Momo really suprised me in this, where it was the fact that everyone else's voice was hihger, or maybe she's improved, but when she belted out that solo line!

Maasa, Yurina and Saki are now the Aviator squad. Also, you noticed Saki's 'keytar', Momo's acoustic, but didn't Maasa's awesome Electric? IMO she looked like a true rock star (or the closest a H!P girl can get) x]. It's about 1:24.

Apart from that, I love this song. The genkiness. I was kind of suprised that there wasn't a whole remixed dance section. =P

Comment by ddgfjn on Sunday, 17th February 2008 15:45
It will be fun if they're making more Eurovision cover.. (looking for Lordi's Hard Rock Hallelujah XDD)

Comment by Hamanosilence on Sunday, 17th February 2008 19:14
Nice Review Paul :)
ALthough I disagree -> ABBA was in fact good :)
I should listen to the PV more then once .. since I happen to be one of those strange germans (well we had our disaterous entries the last years too ... one can argue about what is more shamefull 0 points all over or the songs we got quite a ton of points in the last years ...) and I really have this history in mind so it slows me down liking the song :P

And I really hope that many people in Japan just enjoy the song because the do not know where it comes from :P

Comment by broomhead on Sunday, 17th February 2008 22:42
It was an incredibly bad idea to use this song as a single. That said, Louis Hendrik Potgieter is worth the existence of the original. A great example of someone taking a bunch of nothing and creating something out of it.

Comment by Bonk on Monday, 18th February 2008 07:22
God do I loathe this song; however the girls look amazing in the video. (Chinami is a hottie!) There is just something about this that makes me want to rip my ears right off of my head. It could be the fact that Momo's voice seems to resonates like an annoying "screeching" sound throughout. Disco has been dead for 30 years for a reason!!!

Comment by BladeMaster on Monday, 18th February 2008 08:14
Everyone looks really good and cheery in the PV, and song itself ain't bad. That's all it matters.

Risako, god, she's adorable. Did you manage to order her PB, Paul?

Comment by bulmasman on Monday, 18th February 2008 16:01
I was like "o.o;;" when i read this was a cover, but when i heard it, it just seemed right. It's really really catchy and has such a fun feel to it.

Oh, and Paul, i feel your pain on the euorvision subject -_-

Comment by Sakuraice on Tuesday, 19th February 2008 12:03
Yay a Berryz song i like! The last one i liked was munesawagi scarlet... well over a year ago now. Also Risoko is not hogging the screen time and she doesn't annoy me.
Momoko's line is the best and just wait to her hear what she sounds like on Buono's album!!!! I got my copy yesterday! :)

Comment by 253SA on Wednesday, 20th February 2008 02:35
Come on! Give the original a break! It wasn't that bad when it first came out (yes, I lived thru' the great 80's..akina, seiko, checkers, shonen knife etc) and it was a pioneer in the Eurodisco movement. But having said that, all credit to these ladies for paying tribute to that decade which Japanese music exploded around the world.

Comment by jyoru on Friday, 22nd February 2008 02:21
i heard about this song a while ago after reading that "Koi no Dance Site" was a "total ripoff" of this song. well, Dance Site may have taken its cues from this song, but it's certainly not the same. haven't been a Berryz fan, maybe this will change in time, 'cuz this video made my f--'in day! i only wish they'd have sung it in the original German... for such a goofy song, it's complete fun.

Comment by MorningBerryz on Friday, 22nd February 2008 05:12
Hearing it was a cover song made me a bit worried too and thank you for the history behind this release as I've never heard of this show before. Very encouraging words for their new single!!!...and I'm trying hard to hold off on listening to it early until my singles arrive but since I now finally have a broadband connection it's quite tempting!

Comment by paul.thomas on Sunday, 24th February 2008 17:46
Strawberrie, I'm being really slow at sorting out my scanner, I'll sort it ASAP and I'll look over the stuff you mailed me.
Lol@ namika; "elton john and sue pollard's love child." that was the ukrainian entry wasn't it? I really was hoping that they were going to win, that was classic Eurovisoin and exactly what I was talking about at the start of the post, not taking itself to seriously and is really fun to watch but released outside Eurovison...it would be a scary thought, but that said it is a really catchy song, I've got it playing in the background on YouTube (here's the link in case anyone missed out on it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX_rNEPIgc8 ). Also heard on the radio yesterday that this years Eurovisoin songs for the UK were being chosen soon and from the line up it looks like a bunch of Reality TV and people trying to get their careers back on track are taking part this year...don't people realise what a bad idea entering Eurovison is? Better no career then disappearing off the face of the earth...which reminds me, what ever happened to Gina G? I also heard one of Ireland possible entries (and the bookies favourite) a strange song by rubber turkey?!
Thanks Ken! Although I managed to catch a cold and conjunctivitis in one of my eyes, so towards the end of the day my head was killing me, but that aside it was a good day! I must admit when I first heard the song I was thinking of Koi No Dance Site what with all the "Oh-ha's" going on. Hahaha Keytars, should of guessed that really.
Tats, the corridor bits is easily my favourite parts of the PV and they really do look like they're enjoying themselves don't they, I'm hoping that they'll be a version of the PV that will just focus on this part, I really loved Chinami bit where she pretends to whack a ball and then watch it fly off. And the kids dancing really look they are dancing to a something different, but they really seem to be enjoying themselves, and it really adds to the feel of the PV, like they're at some sort of mini persons Eurovision performance ;p
John, I haven't heard of DANCE MAN before, but from looking at the songs he's worked with within H!P it's clear to see this guy has an amazing talent and it's pretty clear it's helped this release a lot, I also noticed that he also helped arrange Ongaky Gatas last single as well.
Wahashimoto, I agree, keep those scissors as far away from Chinami as possible! If anything I'd say let it grow some more, she looks so good with longer hair. Lol, you spotted I missed out Maasa and her guitar, I was hoping no one would notice I completely forgot to mention it.
ddgfjn, a H!P version of Hard Rock Hallelujah...that would be AMAZING! Even better if they dressed the part as well, evil demon H!P it'd be great! In case you haven't heard of seen this, 2006 winner, Lordi singing Hard Rock Hallelujah http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5ZfQMOHB5k
Hamanosilence, I think we could probably spend hours arguing over what the worst Eurovision entry song was, although I still think the UK has put forward the worst song ever, 2003 and Jemini...soooo bad, ear bleeding bad they so deserved the nil points, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYaeuUUAn4A nothing can be worth than that can it? Lol, I'm sure the Berryz version will grow on you, I really like it, I can't wait for it to be released.
broomhead, Bonk, you really don't like it? It's so catchy, I can't get it out of my head.
BladeMaster, Risako looks as great as usual, no doubt about it, I love her little bit at the end. I haven't orderer her new PB yet, I'm still waiting for Sayu's. I'm thinking I'll order along with Reina's new one, hopefully I'll put an order in for them over the next couple of weeks. I've seen some scans of Risako's and it looks great.
bulmasman, have you heard the UK entries for this year yet, thankfully I don't think anything can beat Jordans attempt last year, that has to be the worst attempt at singing I've ever seen.
Sakuraice, I'm still waiting for my copy of the Cafe Buono! to turn up, thanks to Buono! I've really bugun to like Momo and she's sounding so good lately, I'm really looking forward to hearing the album, have you had a chance to listen to it? What do you think?
253SA, lol, I guess I was a little hard on the original, but it's mainly because it's Eurovision, but I must admit to really liking the Berryz and Die Apokalyptischen Reiter's versions of the song. It's a really interesting move for H!P to cover this song, I'd really like to know the hows and whys of how they decided to do this.
jyoru, yeah I was reading some comments about Koi no Dance Site and this ripping it off, but aside from the Ooh-Ha's it's quite different. The PV is amazing and I'm sure will convert anybody to loving Berryz! Lol, singing in German...that would have been interesting.
MorningBerryz, have a check on YouTube for Eurovision songs, or cilck on some of the links I've put into this post and check out some of the songs entered into this, it'll give you a good idea of what it's like, as I say the music isn't the best but it can be quite a unique and entertaining watch. I'm interested to see if you can hold out from having a look at the PVs now that you've got broadband, the temptation must be great.

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