On Her Majesty's Request in Bloomington, MN

Barely a year after the smooth soul of
Bellissima!
,
Pizzicato Five
mutated into something else entirely, and
On Her Majesty's Request
is the first album to sound like their most familiar incarnation, minus the female vocalist. The songs show
Yasuharu Konishi
and
Keitaro Takanami
picking and mixing genres at will. The bouncy synth pop fills found on
"TVAG,"
the
Jagger
-esque swagger on
"Bellissima 90,"
spy movie soundtracks (with those crashing tympanis later turning up on
"Twiggy Twiggy"
), and
"Mrs. Robinson"
-like pop craft ("Homesick Blues") all give a hint at the
to come. And somewhere in the middle (
"Satellite Hour"
to be exact)
Nomiya Maki
, two years before she would replace
Tajima
as the singer, turns up to share vocals. With a larger budget, the arrangements are fresh and inventive, with brass sections, backing vocalists, and all sorts of exotic instruments. The eclectic nature of the record means that, despite the
Bond
-isms of the title, there is no real cohesive theme, but instead a remarkably rich album, worth delving into now and again in order to discover something new. Under the title
By Her Majesty's Request
, it was remastered and re-released in 1995 with two tracks (
"The African Queen"
"Her Majesty Au Go Go"
) removed for -- assumedly -- copyright reasons, immediately causing the original release to gain rarity status. ~ Ted Mills