Boøwy were the top Japanese band of the '80s, and
Beat Emotion is the top
Boøwy album -- and a prime example of that decade's commercial music, delivered with a slight Far Eastern twist that was later mirrored in bands of the "anime revolution" of the 2000s.
Boøwy used to play punk rock, but by 1986 that was all in the past, even though the roots were showing -- the voice of
Kyosuke Himuro had a hoarse ring to it, and
Boøwy were still a guitar band, although the rough textures were clumsily buried in the mix. Still, the rudiments of punk don't count for much, as
Beat Emotion seethes with the spirit of early-'80s pop/rock -- it's on the softer side of
the Police, not far from
Huey Lewis & the News and, in goofier moments, even close to
Cyndi Lauper ("Super Califragilistic Expiari Docious"). This is music that ages fast -- the incessant plastic beat alone is a sure date stamp -- but it's hard to deny that these simplistic melody lines have their charm, even if their energetic naïveté makes them guilty pleasures. There is also an important nuance that differentiates
Beat Emotion from the output of the
Lewises and
Laupers: the songs, while catchy, have no instant hooks. This is not due to a lack of songwriting skills -- it's a trait of the regional scene, where the music is too polite to really impose itself on the listener, but shows obvious signs of talent and is entertaining throughout. It's not really a disadvantage, because the lack of immediate hooks can prolong the impact:
Beat Emotion, which has no hidden depths, lasts for several spins without becoming boring. While most of the album sounds like one big song, there are, in fact, things that do stand out: the streamlined "Runaway Train" (the one song that really could easily top the Billboard charts); the reggae detours in "Super Califragilistic Expiari Docious"; the closer, "Sensitive Love," that trades the straightforward pop/rock for a new wave influence. It's not hard to see how J-rock evolved from
Beat Emotion to
Aikawa Nanase and
Bump of Chicken, but while this record primarily came to be viewed as a historical curiosity, it's definitely an interesting one.