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~Merry Christmas~
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Firstly, Merry Christmas~♥ from Hawaii~~!!!
This time of year brings many joys to our social lives from all of the hectic shopping for gifts for loved ones to all of the fun parties and family/ friends get togethers and Yes feasts….but there’s also the uniqueness of the music which comes into fashion only this time of year (like you wouldn’t be rockin’ Jingle Bells in June unless u’re weird like me), that being of course our beloved Christmas songs and if you’re like me (minus the weirdness) you love having a Christmas sleigh of songs (ipod Christmas playlist) or rather a go to playlist of Christmas melody favorites by many of your beloved artists/groups which chime ~* warm & fuzzy for just these few weeks leading up till the big day that is all the joy of Christmas. (is my text dripping of fuzzy warmth and dorkiness yet?)
So today with just a few days (that is, if you have freakishly large hands with lots of extra fingers on each!….I guess what I’m saying is that you still have ‘lots’ of time to shop but you still better hurry =P) left for Christmas shopping I’m reviving the retro Christmas songs here as to fill thy room with jingly songs speaking of snow flakes, sweet aromas , red noses aglow, a warm fireplace on a chilly evening’s glow, one jolly fat guy who may clog your chimney or not and giving like no other time with love & peace @ heart, well, it only seems natural to love and love alike and share in this season of peace~.
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And so I present to you these 15 songs of Christmas with the overall theme being that of Christmas’ past, as in beloved Christmas songs of nostalgia to kindle your heart with joy ~*.
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~THE INGREDIENTS
for nostalgic
J♥pop
holiday joy~
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Christmas songs can truly be timeless parts of our lives and here I’ve chosen 15 songs that I’ve acquired over the years as J-Pop artists occasionally release them during this time of year and many become quite endeared tracks. So if you’re looking to add some cute to your Christmas this year, all 15 tracks have been uploaded here directly for you to listen to here or download for you own personal Christmas playlist to help give this holiday season a J-Pop flavor to it. Hopefully some of these songs will inspire you to check out some of their other releases as well =D. (note: in order to download from any of the following 4shared links you’ll need to create an account there, accounts are 100% free)
Ah the days when 3″ Cd singles still ruled Japan’s music landscape! It really was a uniquely cool looking format and especially when you properly cased them in those plastic jewel cases they were perfect ~*, so here to begin “Christmas Time” was written by Zard’s Sakai Izumi and she also makes a guest appearance here with a nice touch of background vocals. Easily one of the most catchy J-Pop Christmas songs that I’ve ever encountered and it would be 6 years later nearly to the day from this release that Zard would record their very own version of this inspired tune. Barbier’s version of “Christmas Time” was released on November 22nd, 1995. One of coolest aspects of this song has to be those sweet slide guitar riffs which are most reminiscent of George Harrison I think and such a wonderful touch creating a Christmas atmosphere with it all in a somewhat unexpected way~.
~Barbier “Christmas time” mp3~
Click ~* to download:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/VpZZFqgj/01__.html
And the second added track is Larc~en~ciel’s “Hurry Xmas” which was released on November 14th, 2007…I really ♥ this song as it’s a mixture of jazz and rock and Hyde’s voice is just purely awesome no matter what style of song he sings always just amazing emotion and range! “Hurry Xmas” is a swinging Jazz wonderland with an amazing arrangement! A modern approach blends perfectly with swing time jazz as guitar, bass, and drums are complimented nicely with light orchestration in the form of a big band presentation and the melody is an absolute gem!! I just love walking bass lines! Hyde’s vocals are as beautiful as ever and it truly reels you in upon first listen!
~L’arc~en~ciel “Hurry Xmas” mp3~
Click ~* to download:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/EGEW-z1G/01_.html
~L’arc~en~ciel “Hurry Xmas” (music video)~
And here’s the pv which came with the LE version, it’s really cute too with all of the Santas running wild!…plus any chance to see more Hyde, what’s not to love ^ ^!! The visuals for “Hurry Xmas” are incredibly amusing as it’s a club full of Santa’s everywhere and as L’arc~en~ciel perform the Santa’s are in full Christmas eve party mode! 🙂 And as the night goes on…more of them keep arriving! :O A cute touch with the jacket photos are each member’s shadow being that of a reindeer! Also watch for some great old fashioned stop motion capture animation reminiscent of those Rudolf and Frosty the Snowman programs.
My favorite female J-Pop artist of all time released an ultra cute melody capturing the holiday spirit and nothing says “J-Pop” more than this tune when defining the genre which has gradually become less and less common in todays Japanese releases. “Christmas Cinderella” appears on Sakai Noriko’s album “My Dear~Noriko Part V~” which was released on December 16th,1989. Nori-P’s voice at her cutest! A full blown Sakai Noriko post is slated to appear here in the future as again she is my #1 favorite female J-pop artist of all time and as of course that alone warrants a far too long delayed appearance here and add to that that over the years I’ve successfully collected her entire music discography as well as her entire visual discography and let’s just say…she has whole lot of releases ~*.
~Sakai Noriko “Christmas Cinderella” mp3~
Click ~* to download:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/POr87ziG/03_.html
One of Johnny’s Entertainment family’s now more senior groups, the Kinki Kids released a very catchy holiday season tune as the b-side to their single “Happy Happy Greeting” which was released on December 9th,1998. Here are one of J-Pop’s most vocally talented male duos, seriously these boys guys can sing!
~Kinki Kids “Happy Happy Greeting” mp3~
Click ~* to download:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/FApnRKmm/01_.html
Another of my favorite J-Pop loves, Moritaka Chisato who’s had a special relationship with Hello! Project in particular over a span of quite a few years as a number of her songs have been re-recorded by members of the Hello! Project family including Minimoni, Gocchin, Nacchi & Ayaya. Along with her substantial hand in the writing process as well as her musicianship which includes the drums, piano and guitar among other instruments, Moritaka Chisato also has one of the most distinctively different voices in J-Pop, simply unmistakable. This beautiful single was released on November 19th, 1997.
~Moritaka Chisato “Snow Again” mp3~
Click ~* to download:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/JMyH5LHF/01_NOW.html
Smap’s 14th album brings us the great Christmas tune “Ai no hi~kimi to merry christmas~” Even J-Pop fans not familiar with Smap will find this tune irresistible!
~SMAP “Ai no hi~kimi to Merry Christmas” mp3~
Click ~* to download:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/goavdJoY/11_.html
Ribbon (see TGIF Idols♥ Unzipped Volume 46), one of J-Pops most vocally talented groups from the 90’s released a mini Christmas album titled “Hoshi no ki no shita de…” back on November 20th, 1992 and here’s my favorite song from this mini holiday collection with this one titled “Merry Kiss, Holy Smile” which adds a nice rock spin to the feeling of Christmas!
~Ribbon “Merry Kiss Holy Smile” mp3~
Click ~* to download:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/WTeOHtJ5/02_.html
Pony Canyon’s sister group to Ribbon also released a mini album back on November 7th, 1990 and here we find the sweet Christmas melody of “The First Snow.” Anyone interested in experiencing the sounds of a J-Pop girl group which helped pave the way for today’s artists including the music franchises Hello! Project as well as AKB48 should give CoCo a listen! Quite simply my first J-Pop idol group love which includes the “original” J-Pop “anime” voice of Miura Rieko (see Featured post: 三浦理恵子..an “anime” J-pop voice for the ages).
~CoCo “The First Snow” mp3~
Click ~* to download:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/n5_7OnyB/02_.html
Next is Kato Noriko’s Winter pop classic “Fuyu ga kita” which was released back on January 15th, 1998. One of Japan’s cutest idols, Kato Noriko ventured into J-Pop and released 3 albums and a modest number of singles along with a few shashinshuu releases while also appearing in t.v. dramas. For Hello! Project fans you may readily recognize her from her MC host duties during H!P concerts of the past as well as a brief acting stint she also had in collaboration with Hello! Project during those long ago days of their “Hello Land” series which was also produced onto DVD. Kato Noriko’s another artist whom I’ve collected the musical works of and actually experienced her releases and acting in real time back then, yet another artist whom I hope to post more thoroughly about in the future here.
~Kato Noriko “Fuyu ga kita” mp3~
~Kato Noriko “Fuyu ga kita” (live on Music Station)
Click ~* to download:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/u5lp1dT-/01_.html
And here’s a wonderful live performance where Noriko~chan appeared on the highly acclaimed and ever popular music program Music Station. This performance may a bit of a rarity as I had it recorded onto an old VHS going back to the days of rushing to town in order to rent music programs from one of our local Japanese video stores here.
A perhaps a bit of a forgotten Mikitty Christmas gem ~* here which she performs along with C-ute’s Chisa & Maimai….definitely one to add to tonight’s Christmas music mix as it’s such an adorable song with Tsunku hooks galore! ^ ^
~Fujimoto Miki, Okai Chisato & Hagiwara Mai “Samui kara fuyudamon!~doumokou mo naissu yo mikitty~” mp3~
Click ~* to download:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/bDGmnySe/04_.html
Amuro Namie’s soothing track “White Light” which was released on November 16th, 2005, I’ve always found this enchanting track to have a dreamy like quality to it as if it could get you into a holiday trance ~* =D…and Amuro-chan’s voice always so powerful.
~Amuro Namie “White Light” mp3~
Click ~* to download:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/zNw6dXhs/01_White_Light.html
You may remember an episode of Hello! Morning where several members had “Fukuyama Mania!!” 😀 One of J-Pop’s most beloved artists/musicians Fukuyama Masaharu delivers a instant classic with his heartfelt song “Heart of Xmas” which was the b-side to his single release “Peach!!” This single was released on November 5th, 1998 but transcends time seamlessly as I think you’ll agree. Fukuyama-san’s voice has such deep qualities with such warmth and Yes his vocals are instantly recognizable as simply no one sings like Fukuyama Masaharu. (also see: Featured post~Fukuyamania~♥ celebrates over 20 years~ (Japanese icon, Fukuyama Masaharu in focus…) ).
~Fukuyama Masaharu “Heart of Xmas” mp3~
Click ~* to download:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/CUv6TZN8/02_.html
Another J-Pop Christmas classic from Sakai Noriko, “Nan ni mo shinai Christmas” brings a vibrant international dance flavor to the season with this infectious melody! As the b-side to her single “Tabun taboo”, this holiday gem was released on November 6th, 1992. Definitely one of the sweetest voices to grace Japan’s airwaves (me biased of course lol =P), Sakai Noriko also went on to become quite the accomplished actress.
~Sakai Noriko “Nan ni mo shinai Christmas” mp3~
Click ~* to download:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/x8DcQW5l/02_.html
As aforementioned, six years nearly to the day after Barbier’s version of “Christmas Time” was released, Zard finally presented us with their touch on this wonderful Christmas song! The song appeared on Zard’s “Zard Blend II~Leaf & Snow~” which was released on November 21st, 2001. Both versions have a very different appeal to them and I’d recommend listening to them back to back.
~Zard “Christmas Time” mp3~
Click ~* to download:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/kuLSgr0s/15____Zard_Version_.html
Ah and no Christmas collection would be complete without a Hello! Project choral tune…
…and happily back on November 27th, 2002 the Hello! Project family gave us just that!! This release seemed to be a bit of an obscure project and I just happened to come across it one day by chance and then promptly ordered it! A brilliant coupling of top Japanese enka singers along with the then youth of Hello! Project, “Ai no Merry Christmas” blends both worlds beautifully into a wonderous winter ensemble! Quite possibly one of the most unique pairings of vastly different worlds this release stands as a truly timeless vision of these eras and what’s possible when one dares to cross their paths together. While the main vocals are performed by Itsuki Hiroshi & Horiuchi Takao, two household names in Japanese folk music, the sweet touch is supplied by the ensemble of members pictured above in the form of a choir. The coupling with song
“Tabidatsu kimi ni” is perhaps an even prettier song as Itsuki Hiroshi is paired with the lovely vocals of Nakazawa Yuko & Fujimoto Miki!!!
~Itsuki Hiroshi, Horiuchi Takao & Hello! Project Choir “Ai no Merry Christmas” mp3~
Click ~* to download:
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/m1_sw29M/01_.html
I hope you enjoy these J-Pop Christmas songs as they’d make a nice holiday collection for years to come or at least I hope so! 🙂
And here’s wishing everyone a safe and joyous holiday season & a most Happy New Year!!
![[Featured post] The Okamo♡ Part II](https://morningberryz48.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/the-godfather2_thumb.jpg?resize=40%2C40){kind=small}
モーニングBerryz48...the morning after..... "Always wear protection before reading…(^q^)." 
so marry xmas again 😛
lot of songs you posted, go put to play on day 24/25 here haha 😛
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Hope you like the songs, any thoughts or favorites?
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i know some of the songs, like masaharu, zard and namie :P, the other i go listem in the day of xmas :P, to take the fell of the thing haha
oh i tell you is my birthday on 25/12? hahaha
i have masaharu collection songs but when my hd giive problems lose everything
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Haha okay, I’m thinking that you won’t have any thoughts on the songs anyway but I hope ~* you enjoy them =).
Born on Christmas day?…that’s so awesome!!
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i need recover all my songs yet so much work to find it
you think ??
haha everyone think is good O.o
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Sure, it’s very special having been born on Christmas Day ~*…it’s the best day of the year! =D
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Pingback: Recommended Jpop♀ Reading: December 13, 2013 | Idolminded
Fantastic post. Thank you. Hope to listen to the unfamiliar songs tomorrow. Sakai Noriko such a wonderful singer: I love her Guanbare album (partly for the cover, which attracted me: it almost makes a matching pair with Iijima Mari’s Midori, except, as that title suggests, the featured jumper is green on that). I love the Kato Noriko song you’ve chosen (and her hairstyle, too). The stage set reminds me of those provided for the 1980s-idols to sing in. The Kinki Kids songs is very catchy.
No AKB48 on your list? I find Noel no yoru is pretty Christmassy, and the pv is delightful too; but Yoyakushita Christmas is utterly gorgeous and would be near the top of my own faves.
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Hi and thank you~♥ Philip! Ahhh so awesome you know Sakai Noriko!! As aforementioned she’s my numero uno fave all time Japanese female artist =D. Coincidentally I first came upon her music right around the time I first came across Zard and both were via their charting on the Oricon back then as our local music store had an overstock section where they would stock the current Oricon albums and while Zard came highly recommended, Sakai Noriko was an impulse buy….(see: Natural Best cover). That is the album which started it all and also she was acting in the deeply depressing and yet likeable (for me anyway =P) drama “Hoshi no kinka” (original series as there were a few to follow) which was airing locally on our Japanese t.v. station here and so it was sort of like having all of the stars line up and it just grew from there as I went through Otokichi in order to track down and complete her music discography including even her very first singles on vinyl…they’re actually 45’s which is amazing that they were available even through a second hand store and one even has a first press sticker inside lol…..imagine that even way back then Japan was so ingenious and far ahead of the game in enticing with first press editions it’s so smart! Well I could talk you ears off about Sakai Noriko and ironically they’re only just a few posts about her here xD as I’ve always been meaning to create one ‘artist’ post about her which is on the to do list before i leave this blog for sure. I’ll spare you of my gushing any further about her and leave that to the future posting =P…..oh and she has a NEW release coming very soon which caught me a bit off guard, I cannot even express how excited I am!!!…wait I’ll try…..think the guy actually likes you and BEST sex ever lol….kidding =P….sort of? Oh and you’re so right about an album’s cover being such a key, I so agree!
Ah there’s actually a cuter one but I’ve yet to locate just where I had dubbed it onto VHS xD….Kato Noriko is so adorable and love love how much effort they put into their sets and live performances….Music Station is just awesome! Kinki Kids ROCK!!!….they’re such underrated vocalists in my opinion, both such dynamic singers and in particular their early catalog is off the charts amazing and so well written. Oh I was keeping with a nostalgic theme for the songs here with the sleeping with the past idea so I was just thinking that AKB would be perhaps too recent to include maybe…but I sooooo agree with Yoyakushita Christmas!!! Oh dear, I’m going to link you yet again lol =P:
https://morningberryz48.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/akb48s-janken-senbatsu-single-%E3%80%8C%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9%E3%81%AE%E9%A0%86%E7%95%AA%E3%80%8D%E3%80%81-favorite-team-mayuyu-inklings/
p.s.
Love to hear more reactions and in particular Zard’s inclusion here as I just think that “Christmas Time” is golden ~*….joyous and equally catchy I think would be Mariah Carey’s timeless Christmas song “All I Want for Christmas is You”..! Both just have such a grab you and hold you feel to them…
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Oh! also, recognize the girls atop this post? (the sleeping pose and the got Christmas? image) =D
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I love that Mariah Carey song too. My Western faves include Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ and The Waitresses’ fantastic ‘Christmas Wrapping’. As for the Christmas sleepers at the top of this page… They’re so familiar-looking… ‘Got Christmas’ look like three members of Max, but I’m wrong there. Please help!
Are you really thinking of leaving this blog? That would a be very sad day…
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Original line-up of Tanpopo?…Maybe not….
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Okay……..
……the girls atop are from Ijichi Hiromasa’s group “DEEPS” which was him basically spelling his other super group “SPEED” backwards back then =P….I got a kick out that back then. The Deeps had so many catchy songs, I remember us speaking about them before =D. I was so in love with them……and I still wish for them to re-release their video clips VHS onto Bluray one day….
The two images atop are from their Christmas album in the photo linked above….I just a little bit of editing to the second one as it’s quite a large fold up poster which I needed to hide the creases which the scanner picked up plus added the little lettering there.
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I’ve just looked at the two Deeps albums I have. One reason I didn’t recognise the singers in your photos is that in the CD booklet they are having a the bath together, obscured by bubbles! The compilation album has 19 songs on it, not 18 as I said earlier… I may have to track down that Christmas album… Have just been wrapping some presents listening to the excellent second album of Max.
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I just heard that Mariah Carey song this morning on the radio….not as many stations playing all out Christmas music 24 hours a day like they used to I’ve noticed =/. Oh I loooove “Last Christmas” too!!!! Such a sweet melody with those melancholy lyrics. My subscriptions to WP are nearing their expiration and I’m pondering on whether to renew them again…just to give an idea, it costs me about $399 to fully renew them for year and most of that’s memory as this blog has grown over the years into something perhaps quite large, and so I’d really have to feel inspired to blog then.
What did you think of the songs? I especially to say that “Christmas Time” (those slide guitars and it’s just so pefect!) and both Sakai Noriko songs are nearly sure bets to like….? Well I love all of these that I’ve chosen but I know they’re not for everyone =). Or maybe you haven’t had a chance to download them all.
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I just spotted your reply, which I missed this morning…
Deeps! I forgot about Deeps as I was scanning my shelves for possibles. I have a couple of their CDs (one has something like 18 tracks on it). I like them, although SPEED is the real deal. I do like Max a lot, too. They have a similar sound.
As for these songs, I love them. I’m listening to the catchy Amuro Namie song as I write this (she was a Super Monkey, wasn’t she, before she left and they became Max?). Sakai Noriko has an amazing voice. Those slide guitars in the Barbier are a lovely touch of colour. There’s a lot going on in it, sound-wise, but amazingly, it still sounds like a Christmassy Song.
I see what you mean about continuing to blog. That’s over a dollar a day. If you were to leave, would that mean all your posts would be lost, or would something remain? Out of interest, how much does a website cost by comparison? If you had one of those, you could run your own Jpop-wikipedia then! Would you be happy with a regular sort of Blogspot blog where you could write down some thoughts? Wherever you go, your devoted fans (of which I am definitely one) will want to follow.
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So happy you’re liking the Barbier/Zard Christmas Time song…it’s so catchy =D! From what I understand the blog should remain here but I just wouldn’t be able to post anything to it other than pure text. I’ve never looked into having a website of my own but I imagine it would be expensive too..maybe even more so I’m not sure but I’m so tech-clueless that I wouldn’t have any idea of how to make it all work xD.
U~n SPEED in so many ways are still the greatest even though AKB has surpassed some of their sale records…just their age and the timing of it all and the writing and production behind them was phenomenal:
https://morningberryz48.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/%E3%80%8Ctgif%E3%80%8Didols-unzipped-on-way-back-fridays-presents-speedonce-japans-most-popular-female-j-pop-group-of-all-time-a-landmark-j-pop-group-in-focus-the-ear/
Amuro Namie is like the J-Goddess and I was lucky to experience her music from pretty early on from her fifth single “Try Me~watashi wo shinjite~” which coincided with the techno pop craze of those days..that single was so electric and really put her on the map so to speak as she appeared on just about every music show imaginable back then. The history of MAX is most cool! Just two singles after “Try Me…” was their last with Amuro Namie and actually Amuro Namie was a Super Monkey too…think of Beyonce leaving Destiny’s Child to go solo although MAX held their own just as much so probably not the best analogy xD. But if you go all the way back to their debut single where all five girls were equal even that lineup of the Super Monkeys didn’t last as only Amuro, Mina and Nana remained as Super Monkeys with the departure of Arakaki Hisako (after just the first single) and Makino Anna whom only remained in the group through their first four singles. Furthermore why their single “Try Me….” is so landmark as the evolution of the Super Monkeys was set for their ‘permanent’ first generation with Mina, Nana, Rina & Reina whom were to go on to form MAX as Amuro became a soloist. Amuro-chan’s potential was so evident by just the second single by the Super Monkeys and if you haven’t heard it yet it’s a must listen!!!…..it’s actually the single’s coupling with song titled “Rainbow Moon”……but wait.
Could we continue this conversation elsewhere? Two posts in mind as I was actually lucky to see Amuro~chan perform live right here in Hawaii some years back and also there’s a MAX one too….
https://morningberryz48.wordpress.com/2008/01/10/amuro-namie/
https://morningberryz48.wordpress.com/2008/02/02/max-one-of-japans-finest-female-quartets/
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Wonderful. I’ve bookmarked your Max post and will continue this over there.
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Pingback: Christmas CDs | thehistoryofphilipleslie
L’arc~en~ciel “Hurry Xmas” was a lot more swinging than I thought it would be.
I could imagine Sammy Davis belting it out.
PS — found this post when googling for AKB Christmas images just now.
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Un! L’arc~en~ciel’s “Hurry Xmas” is an absolute swinging winter wonderland!! And what of all of those Santa’s in the awesome music video, such a fun visual. Love how HYDE fused rock n roll and swing jazz to create such an inspired gem! His still one of my most favorite voices of all time …wonderful how searches can lead one to something else which may also be of interest =).
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