Tetsuya Komuro, known by some as the stage name he adopted at the turn of the century "TK". (drinking game, take a drink of your beverage of choice every time I say "TK".) This man is one of the biggest trail blazers in all of Japanese music, his influence is everywhere in Japan and unescapable. Kanye West wishes he sold as many records as TK. TK has sold a total of 213 million records combining singles he wrote, produced and/or played on, and albums he produced and/or played on. This is all as of 2016, which was the most recent record I could find, for all I know in the six years between me writing this and that information's publishing he may have sold a few million more. It's absurd to talk about a man as just casually moving a million albums, especially in the era of streaming, but you have to remember Japan is one of the biggest markets for physical media, streaming isn't the huge deal over there that it is in America, and TK is an icon. TK was important in helping evolve the then popular Japanese home grown popular music scene of Kayōkyoku and evolving it into what we now know as J-pop. I adore his music and production with all my heart, but I am so sick of this man's BS.
Some background on TK I suppose is needed before I explain my points, the aforementioned BS, albums I love, things I love about his music, and more. TK started out as a keyboard and piano player, with his first documented song ever being an unfinished piece he wrote entirely with keyboards called "You Can Find". He would later join a Japanese power pop band called "Speedway" as a keyboardist. After making a few singles with the band in the span of a few months. he would leave to pursue other work. He created a demo tape of 3 songs and he played it for some friends. They all agreed it was really good and he should find some people to play them as a full band. TK knew of some talented musicians, those being the ones in "Speedway" and so he approached Speedway vocalist Takashi Utsunomiya and Speedway guitarist Naoto Kine about forming a new band together, reasoning that the drums and bass could be recreated digitally or with session musicians. After taking part in the Coca Cola Fresh Sounds competition they would win and their band TM Network would get signed to the Japanese branch of Epic Records. (Epic is one of the world's biggest record labels) They would soon release their first album "Rainbow Rainbow" in 1984. Now where TK and the other members of Speedway differed greatly was musical influences. They were all inspired by western acts like The Cars and TK was inspired heavily by Kayōkyoku and its offshoots that emerged early into the eighties. Speedway is a mix of Naoto Kine's western Power Pop influences (he did write 3 songs, two of which are really good) and TK's interest in Techno Kayō and other electronic music subgenres newly emerging in Japan at the time. Kine and Utsunomiya were close friends since Elementary school, and so they have a close nit musical connection that shines on some of Kine's compositions like Christopher. TK's songs have this slick electronic sound that is just super retro and nostalgic sounding, even on the aforementioned "Christopher" his synths carry this sound. It's a very great album, where just about every song is fun and catchy. A very fun and enjoyable debut, and I love some of these songs dearly. "Christopher", "Caribbeana High", "1974" and "Take it to the Lucky". It's a great mix of power pop and Techno Kayō, giving it a western sound with a distinctly Japanese and cheerful sensibility and attitude that was common in Japan's music during the eighties. Seriously eighties Japanese pop sub genres comprise some of the happiest music to ever exist.
This album would be followed up by the even better "Childhood's End". It starts with the title track, an atmospheric percussion instrumental that fades into the upbeat keyboard driven "Accident". The cheerful and Japanese sensibilities and attitude of the last album with the usual western influences are still present, but it sounds more mature and the use of session musicians gives the music a more organic and full sound that "Rainbow Rainbow" lacked. However these session musicians is where some of my frustrations start. Kine's songs on the album prove to be some of the best, his co-write with Tetsuya Komuro "Eien no Passport" is one of my favorite TM Network songs, but that is the only new song Kine wrote for this album. TK has this idea of perfection he strives for in all of his works. His perfectionist mindset is part of what makes TM Network so great, but it means doing anything to do what he feels best benefit his vision for whatever project he is working on. Because of this Kine's mostly doing backing vocals on the album and acoustic guitar, he does no electric guitar, with session musicians filling that role instead, and some of the acoustic guitar isn't even played by him. Kine has a preference for the acoustic guitar over the electric guitar, but still it's annoying that he is much less involved. You can't totally fault TK though, the album is great. "Accident" is one of the band's most iconic songs and guest writer Goro Matsui killed it on the songwriting front when he wrote this with TK, I love it. Kine's other two songwriting contributions are old Speedway songs completely reworked by TK with new lyrics and arrangements giving them little in common with the originals, the first one: "Sayonara no Junbi" is good, but the second one: "Fantastic Vison" is great and became very well known when it was released as the B-side to "Accident". Nice to know Kine contributed two of the best songs here. "Faire La Vise" is great, especially the piano sections and vocals, surely some of TK's best production on this album. While uncredited, Kine came up with the outro of the song and suggested it to TK. The aforementioned "Eien no Passport" is one of my favorite TM Network songs and serves as a beautiful low energy song with several nice touches like the lovely synth melodies underlying the song and the little percussive fills during the pre chorus. Utsunomiya really shines, "8 Gatsu No Nagai Yoru" is a fun upbeat song with lots of guitar adding a rock edge to an otherwise low energy yet catchy pop song. "Time" is a wonderful ballad that goes super underappreciated now that TK has written dozens of more famous ballads. I quite like it since it feels nice and quaint compared to a lot of his other ballads he would writer later after getting more famous. It and "8 Gatsu no Nagai Yoru" feature contributions from legendary Japanese lyricist Noriko Miura, adding a unique flavor to both songs that I love. "Dragon the Festival" is considered by most to be the best song here, and that's probably correct. It's a beautiful piece of proggressive pop with lots of influences from Italo-disco and the HI-NRG music scene in Europe, with Komuro's influences from Techno Kayō and city pop showing themselves very clearly here. While long, it being endlessly catchy makes up for that as it makes good use of its runtime. Utusunomiya made his songwriting debut contributing lyrics to the group lyric writing effort on "Innocent Boy", which is a very good song. Album closer "Ai wo Sonomama Ni" is a good song that closes eveyrthing out very nicely. With the album like this TK clearly made the great album he set out to do. It was actually doing TM Network where TK was cutting his teeth as a producer before going on to be a big name producer. The album was a decent success, reaching 40 on the Oricon charts and moving the band further towards success
Left to right Naoto Kine, Takashi Utsunomiya and Tetsuya "TK" Komuro
Next was the Twinkle Night EP, two new songs and the songs TK did for the Vampire Hunter D soundtrack. The EP has a much more muffled and loud production compared to the previous two albums. This obvious from the moment it opens with the EP's single: "Your Song", a song written by Kine and TK. "Your Song" is still an outstanding song regardless of the rougher production. The EP version is actually shorter and omits the part where an orchestra and choir would play Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. The song is endlessly catchy and I love the melodies of it. This is perhaps one of the most Japanese sounding early TM Network songs and it is wonderful. Then it has the "Vampire Hunter D suite", which is a suit of TK's Vampire Hunter D soundtrack songs compiled to flow together as one longform composition. "Twinkle Night" is a fun lower energy song with a very cool sound with lovely melodies. Lastly is another Kine and TK cowrite "Electric Prophet" which was a staple of the band's concerts early in their cqreer and has become a fan favorite since with the nickname "Elepro". It is a very pleasant and slow song that is nearly 9 minutes. It doesn't make the best use of its runtime, but builds excellently as it continues, sounding very triumphant by the end. This EP was also the first appearance of regular TM Network session guitarist Kenji Kitajima. Here TK started experimenting more, and would continue this with TM Network's third album "Gorilla".
The album's most famous song (aside from hit single "Come On Let's Dance") "Passenger" is most remembered not only for being an absolute banger, but also because most of the backing vocals utilize rapping, and there is an entire rap verse near the end of the song sung entirely in English and performed by British DJ collective The Wild Bunch. It is a very catchy song, with the female backing vocals in the chorus contrasting the rapping in the backing vocals between verses. It is compositionally simple, but has the many layers found in TK's works that give them the distinct and complex sound that make up these simple compositions. The album further expanded the sound and Kine and Komuro collaborated more and gave us another classic that wasn't a single "Saint Rain". It's repetitive, but the vocals and lyrics really add a depth to it. The way the song's arrangement gets busier and more full with each verse, and that chorus too. This is all without mentioning the saxophone solo. The album opener is a keyboard and vocal based intro track written by Kine and TK that leads into "Nervous". Nervous is a fun and energetic composition to really get the album going. Though the energetic and fun opening and chorus are in contrast to these fun and more low key verses. The chorus, the horns and synths just make this song so fun like I could dance to it effortlessly if prompted to. TK said this song was an attempt to copy Led Zeppelin's style of heavy riffs and sounds and replicate it on keyboard. Utsunomiya said this song was also important in defining his vocal style, incorporating elements of dance music and R&B with a rhythmic approach to singing while carrying on many of his classic Japanese vocal influences. "Confession" is a very Japanese sounding and of its time ballad written by Kine. Still I have a soft spot for it. The vocals and synths are what do it for me, but Kine's acoustic guitar on here is that extra something that completes it. I love "You Can Dance" and wish it was more popular. The wild and loud synths and the very catchy and fast verses with Utsunomiya's vocals all build up to very fun chorus. You thought "Nervous" was danceable, this song gives compulsive feeling to move. "I Want TV" was written to be the lead single off the album, but never ended up being released as such. That is a shame because it is catchy and has a strong hook and wonderful synth melodies. "Come On Let's Dance" was a big hit for the band and was credited with being one of the first songs to bring electronic and dance sounds to the Japanese mainstream. I've been overexposed to it and I'm not the biggest fan of the chorus and melodies, but it's a great song none the less. "Girl" was the other single and I love it. So simple, but with a great chorus. Then it ends with the Kine's ballad "Sad Emotion", where he was instructed to write a song without the distinctly Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetic, so on the last day of recording Kine submitted this very simple ballad. TK and producer Yoji Kosaka snapped their fingers together to make the beat, and Utsunomiya in one shot did his vocals. It's a beautiful yet simple ballad to close out the album. The album was a make or break moment for them, as the lable saught to terminate their contract once the album was completed, but decided not to when it sold 700 thousand copies and reached 15 on the Oricon charts.
Following this they made "Self Control", which TK envisioned as a greatest hits album made up entirely of new songs combining the sounds of "Gorilla" and "Rainbow Rainbow", leading to "Self Control", which has a huge leap for not just the band, but Techno Kayō as a whole. This kind of music was unheard of at the time in Japan yet was still distinctly Japanese in sound and development, so TK coined the term "Fanks" as a way of describing this new musical evolution and it's sound, and kind of hoped it would help TM Network gain a reputation as more than a Kayōkyoku band and into something all their own. The album has so many songs that became classics like "Don't Let Me Cry", a catchy dance music type song with deceptively sad lyrics and further showing the incorporation of more dance music elements in their music. TK wanted to challenge himself and write a song where the bass line was the most prominent sound, and Utsunomiya loved the song so much he advocated for it to be the lead single, and while he failed at that, the song's fame and legacy is proof he was right about the song's greatness. "Self Control" is one of the band's most iconic songs and is endlessly catchy and lovely. Kine's vocals are the real X factor here, as he brings the song to life with his voice and delivery while Kine has a prominent spot singing in the chorus. Strangely the album uses a different vocal take than the single version. You can feel the more dance oriented sound and arrangement from the brief yet awesome intro track that opens the album "Bang the Gong". The recording of the album was actually finished ahead which lead to TK decided to use the extra days in the studio to bang out this track in an improvisation synths and all three members adding random samples. Then it leads into a joint writing effort between Kine and TK, that being "Maria Club", named for a recently opened disco TK played at. TK was asked to write a disco song. Kine wrote the melody and TK wrote the rest of the song, trying again to write his own Led Zeppelin type guitar riffs but for his keyboards, which can be heard in the verses wonderfully. Another one of my favorite TM Network songs. "All Right All Night (No Tears No Blood)" is just wonderful. the synth horns on this song are amazing and the vocals are great. The melody here is just infectious and the synths are outstanding. "Fighting" was originally envisioned as an AOR song until the lyrics came in with a more anti war message and Utsunomiya tried singing differently, which lead to a change in atmosphere when they were very impressed with his performance, leading to the song being slower and lower energy. While people thought it should be a single, it only became a B-side. "Time Passed Me By" is a neat ballad written by Kine. TK told Kine to write a song like "Yesterday" by the Beatles. Kine repeated the melody and thought about the chord progression. Kine suggested making his acoustic be the driving force in the song, then TK came up with the idea to add synths strings similar to how the Beatles used orchestration. Utsunomiya found it simpler than the other songs and had a hard time figuring out how he should sing it compared to the others, but I'm glad he figured it out. The harmonies on this song make it beautiful and simple compared to the others, but just as wonderful. Kine and TK's cowrite "Spanish Blue" is my favorite song here behind "Don't Let Me Cry" and "Maria Club". TK wrote the song during the Gorilla sessions, and Kine wrote the vocal melodies for it. When TK rearranged the song for this album Kine added an outro to it and that's how we got the infectiously catchy chorus. It was considered as a single, but lost out, so it lives here in obscurity "Fool on the Planet" traces it's origins back to "Rainbow Rainbow" when Kine kept trying to write a song in 6/8, but TK kept telling him it was too early. Kine was finally given the go ahead, and he gave us one of his most famous ballads. The neat team signature combined with the slow and lovely instrumentation is nice. The lyrics and vocals are beautiful, and the sax solo is sexy and the icing on the cake. Then it ends with one of TK's funkiest pieces "Here, There & Everywhere". TK wrote it in the early seventies while in middle school and had originally given it to a girl he knew. He kept holding it back from TM Network albums for being too pleasant, sweet and bubblegummy. So Utusnomiya suggested they do it on this album and layer multiple vocal tracks on top of each other to make a more layered and complex sound. This coupled with a sexy sax gave the song a neat vibe while still keeping that pleasant atmosphere that made Utsunomiya swear by the song in the first place. Perfect closer.
TK would later work on the soundtrack to the City Hunter anime, and from there would make the ending theme with TM Network. The song "Get Wild" was written to be a quick paced song capturing the sound and feel of urban Japan. City Hunter was described to the band as an urban drama, and the song must reflect that. So TK and TM Network's lyricist Mitsuko Komuro (no relation to TK) wrote the song together quickly and put it together. The song was seen as something special by everyone involved and it was showered in praise. They quieted down the intro a bit to focus more on the rest of the song, and when it was released it was a huge hit. A big part of it was the explosive popularity of City Hunter, but the song itself ended up becoming one of the biggest hit songs in the history of Japanese music and the song TM Network is most associated with.
With this explosion of popularity even more expectations were put on the band and TK went to America to help record the new album with some great guest musicians. The resulting album Humansystem is my second favorite of their classic era. I normally love Kine's compositions and they are usually favorites of mine, but here TK's songwriting is at it's best with album opener "Children of the New Century". TK said this song was inspired by Michael Jackson's album "Bad", but that he still wanted it to be distinctly TM Network. This like the rest of the album uses actual drummers and bass players over digital stuff like a sequencer and drum machine. Tetsuo Sakurai from Japanese Jazz fusion band Casiopea played bass here and his ass is just so good here. It also features drums from Steve Fellone from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers on drums. Only song here I am not huge on is "Kiss You (More Rock)", which TK envisioned as a Power Station (British pop rock supergroup) type song. It's good, but I have been over exposed to this song and I'm tired of seeing it in the band's live setlists and compilations when I am not huge on it, especially when it's the single version. The album version features more guitar and a more rock oriented arrangement hence the name. While I like it better, I'm still not huge on the song. Totally redeemed because after that is "Be Together", a criminally catchy and fun song that shows all the strengths of this band in spades. The melodies here are great, and the song is just fun. Utsunomiya's vocals complimented beautifully by the synths just make this song what it is. The guitar solo in the middle played by B'z guitarist Tak Matusomoto is short and sweet, but wonderful. It then leads into a cool part where TK plays this wonderful melody on the keyboards that is just great. TK said this song was in response to "B Blue" by BOØWY, who had at the time become the biggest rock band in Japan, he wanted to write a song like that with the energy of The Police and the vibe of Rebecca which was another Japanese band from the same scene as TM Network. The end result was the album's third single and one of my favorite TM Network songs. The band argued about the title track, saying it should be a flashy dance song like Gorilla and Self Control, but TK argued that the band needed to show they had matured and had more depth to them now, leading to the beautiful song we got in it's place. A Beautiful lowkey yet wonderful pop song full of depth and skilled playing and songwriting. This and the next feature Duran Duran and Missing Persons guitarist Warren Cuccurullo. "Telephone Line" was inspired by the Electric Light Orchestra song of the same name. Kine added a Beatles type melody to his demo and included Beatles like backing vocals and harmonies, giving it the lush feel it has. It's a very nice albeit sappy ballad, one that Warren struggled with the bars and chord progression for when trying to figure out what to do for the song and his guitar solo. "Leprechaun Christmas" was inspired by the band recording most of the album in LA. LA being a coastal American city it doesn't snow there, and he longed for the feeling of a Christmas in Japan, hence the weird name. TL asked Kine to write the song, so Kine did so and TK wrote a chorus for it and had their lyricist Mitsuko Komuro write lyrics to fit. The song is very much a Christmas in July type song, but it's great. The chorus is catchy and the song is fun and groovy. This was the last song to feature Warren, but he kills it here. "Fallin' Angel" is very unique for a Kine composition. He had wanted to write a fast paced composition and TK instructed him to just worry about the instrumental. When he finished TK made the backing track and Kine come back to write the vocal melody, leading to a weird vocal melody that Kine wouldn't have come up with otherwise, no longer worrying about writing it and the song at the same time. It's just a fun and energetic track I can't not love. Utsunomiya knocked it out of the park in his delivery as always. "Resistance" is one of the band's biggest songs and like the title track from "Self Control" they are synonymous with this song. TK had written it as a ballad, but felt the album had too many of those, so he added drums to the song and quickened up the tempo of the song while recording it. This lead to the song having a beautifully gentle and optimistic tone with the lyrics and verses, but the song itself being energetic and distinct. The interesting structure of the song too also makes it distinct and interesting. I am plain in love with this song. "Come Back to Asia" was written when Kine longed to return to Japan while recording the album in America over a two month period. He wanted to write a song that sounded distinctly Japanese, but he wanted the song to be from the perspective of being in America, leading to it's weird and unique sound. TK's synthesizer is on fire here in the best way possible. I love this song as a sort of weird ballad about longing for home. "Dawn Valley" is a neat instrumental TK made as a live piano improvisation. He wanted to spread this kind of sound to the youth of Japan since TM Network was popular among teens and young adults and he wanted to share this kind of sound with them. Fames Jazz session musician Jerry Hay played flugelhorn on this song without having played on or heard the rest of the album, choosing to imagine what the album would sound like from the name and the piano piece he heard. He had never worked with a big Japanese artist before but said that he wondered about Japanese music and had high high hopes for the song. It's a beautiful instrumental, I just love it. "This Night" is another Christmas song, this one being more wintery themed. I love this song and think it is great. A wonderful ballad to close out the album after "Dawn Valley" while also giving TK a chance to showcase different synthesizer sounds not used on the album without disrupting the song's gentle flow. Humansystem is an almost perfect album to me, I was looking for something to gripe about with this album while writing this and I couldn't find any, barring what I said about "Kiss You". Where TM Network originally won me over was their next album and the first of theirs I've heard.
I'm a huge Gundam fan, having got into it in middle school after catching "0083: Stardust Memory" on Toonami as my introduction to the series, and the movie "Mobile Suit Gundam Char's Counterattack" has a song by TM Network that was written to not only show a more thoughtful and serious side of the band, but also represent the message of Gundam perfectly. That song was "Beyond the Time", which was a song that totally blew me away when I heard it. I went out on Ebay to buy the album it was on: "Carol 1991 - A Day in the Girl's Life" which is the band's peak.
"Beyond the Time" has a longer version on the album which has real drums instead of a machine, and a proper ending instead of a fade out after the chorus. In my mind Carol is a perfect album, having originated by TK wanting to try and evolve TM Network further free of much of any outside influence, and his idea to really showcase the band. He abandoned his dense and layered production style in favor of as he put it; one or two layers that sound very full and complete. The result lead to less manipulation and more natural songs built off of the in studio performance. Kine wrote the "Carol a Day in the Girl's Life Story" as an idea, which TK liked and worked into musical form with him, resulting in the four part Carol suite written by TK, two songs written by Kine and an additional written by TK all telling the story, plus all their soundtrack singles released in the past year as insurance incase this move to a more progressive sound was too much for audiences and none of the songs caught on, and a few other songs written during the same sessions as the Carol songs. However in the end we got a truly perfect album, showcasing the band at their best. The album opens with the first part of the Carol suite: "A Day in the Girl's Life". It opens with a monologue and Belva Haney singing the light motif before getting into the full song. Utsunomiya sings this excellently and the song itself is just amazing, a great opener to set the tone. It transitions to part two of the suite "Carol's Theme part I", which is a beautiful ballad carrying over aspects of the previous piece. The vocals, lyrics, piano and everything is just amazing. The song is much more stripped down than the beginning of the suit to give great emotional emphasis on the lyrics and tone of this piece. Then Kine's song "Chase in Labyrinth" comes in as this super fun and catchy song breaking up the sweet to carry on the story wonderfully. It's fun and has this quick pace and energy to it that brings the listener right back in the mood. After that is another Kine song called "Gia Corm Fillippo Dia (Devil's Carnival)" which aside from carrying on the story is a unique song. Kine tried to combine samba with the band's electronic sound, leading to one of the most interesting TM Network songs ever, I just love it to pieces. Then the story stops. When it does we get "Come On Everybody" which was the album's lead single and it is a fun song carrying TM Network's dancepop roots with a very catchy chorus and strong hook. "Beyond the Time" is a beautiful song carrying the message of Humnity repeating it's mistakes, the hope for life beyond the stars and a reaching a true understanding. All of which are themes very common in Gundam's Universal Century, which makes sense considering this was the theme to "Mobile Suit Gundam Char's Counterattack". This song presents those themes beautifully in the song with wonderful lyrics and being one of the best songs by this band. The build up in this song is incredible and the performance from everyone is on point. It builds to this beautiful chorus almost three minutes in and you think the song will end and it does, only come back to a bridge section leading into another chorus. This bridge section is just gorgeous, while then leading us to a chorus with a fade out. Following this is "Seven Days War" the theme to the movie of the same name. The version here cuts a lot of the big production of the original and some of these backing vocals all in favor of making this album version a more intimate version with a 4 piece band set up of just guitar, drums, bass and keyboards. The song sounds better like this and is nice, much better. "Your the Best" is a fun upbeat song where TK delegated each part of the arrangement to one of the band members, giving an otherwise alright song a very interesting and ecelctic sound, especially with the percussion. "Winter Comes Around" is a beloved ballad, even if it remains a deep cut the band doesn't play live. It's everything good about Kine's ballads and then some, the vocals and instrumentation are just beautiful. The story of Caol starts back up again with the third part of the Carol suite "In the Forest", which is a fun and upbeat track with a quick pace. The song is lush and beautiful, but keeping with the same theme as the rest of the suite. It's adventurous and great. Belva Haney opens up the final part of the suit "Carol's Theme II", where she sings a part in the opening with the same vocal melody as the chorus of "Carol's Theme I". Then Utsunomiya comes in and continues leading into a direction reminiscent of that part, but different. Then the song suddenly goes to a fast and energetic bridge section with a completely different mood, Then it moves to this beautiful and slow part recalling "In the Forest" with the same melody. Once it ends we get to the final part of the suite, the Kine and TK composition "Just One Victory". This song was the other single it was a huge hit for the band The song ends the Carol story nicely and even has part of "Chase in Labyrinth" incorporated into it in the middle of the song. This is a very pleasant song with a nice atmosphere and it's a great track to hear live. The album ends with "Still Love Her", which was the B-side to the last song and the ending theme to "City Hunter 2". I love this song and find it a very sweet closer, with a wonderful atmosphere. I love the melody of this song.
Kine's story captivated audiences and lead to a straight to video anime OVA which proved to be the best selling and most rented anime tape of that year, it's manga sold really well, and Naoto Kine's novelization he wrote himself was a best selling book. Seriously go listen to Carol, language barrier or not it is so good, and Takashi Utsunomiya tried singing all the songs in a way that would allow listeners to feel the emotion and atmosphere with his performance alone incase the story was lost on people, leading to his best performance of his career and one that for me when I first heard it, surpassed the language barrier. Tak Matsumoto from one of the best selling bands of all time: B'z plays most of the electric guitar on the album too, which is awesome. Which version of the album I'd recommend is tough. The original version of the album has a very great track order with my only complaint being that they probably shouldn't have put "Beyond the Time" and "Seven Days War" back to back, the deluxe edition (which is available for streaming alongside the original) has three discs, one being instrumentals, one being the other songs, and the other being all seven songs telling the Carol story in their proper order uninterrupted. I suppose it's all down to if you value listening to the concept part of the album proper and uninterrupted or listening to the entire album proper as TK intended. Seriously though, The Carol Suite is the band's peak at least listen to that. This album was considered a very important step in the development of J-pop, and was when TK dropped the term Fanks as a genre and used it describe the band's fans. This album is just great and is still seen as an important album in Japan's pop culture. The story itself on the album is pretty cool too.
promotional art for the "Carol a Day in the Girl's Life" anime adaptation. left to right: TK, Carol, Takashi Utsunomoiya, Naoto Kine
Things would get weird for the band though when TK went to heavy metal concerts in America and saw the crowd excited in a way he had never seen before. While Japanese audiences are known for being more quiet and respectful than western audiences, he assumed it was because TM Network was a band that did a lot of electronic stuff and were flag bearers in the emerging J-pop genre, he figured that kind of music didn't get huge reactions from audiences, so the key was to make heavy metal. However TK doesn't take an idea and run with it, he has to make it his own, and this was no different. For the resulting album "Rhythm Red" he changed the band's name to TMN to represent a new era of artistry for the band because TM Network peaked with the Carol album and now as TMN they would try new things, but changing the band's name to TMN was weird. but if changing your band name to abbreviated initials worked for Bachmann Turner Overdrive, it could work for TMN. The album's peak is opening track "Time to Countdown", which TK aimed to make a combination of their new developments in J-pop with thrash metal of bands like Metallica, and it is a truly unique and interesting song with double bass drums and crunchy guitar but the same pop melodies we love TMN for. The rest of the album is basically just TM Network as you know, but with cleaner production and heavy metal influence all over the album, and I use the term loosely because TK's idea of metal was what he heard at the few concerts he attended, he didn't actually listen to any metal albums for research, which is for the best, because this album as a mix "metal" in the loosest quotes possible and the band's new developments in J-pop is great. This does sound like metal as described by someone who doesn't like it or even listen to it. Even the songs with very little electric guitar or "metal" influence like "Rhythm Red" are outstanding groovy songs showing his developing interests in new dance music of the time. Naoto Kine proves a great vocalist on his first of very few lead vocals on a TM Network song with the beautiful acoustic ballad "Looking At You". He wrote another amazing balled in "Tender is the Night" However the hard rocking songs with all the guitar and stuff are amazing, I already mentioned "Time to Countdown" which has earned its status as bonified classic revived constantly for live concerts, but the earworm that is "World's End" is great as heavy yet groovy song with amazing vocals, "Burnin' Street" is so cool and made with the concept of uniting the musical aspects of the 70s, 80s and early 90s into one song, "Reasonless" should have been a single with its focus in cool guitar riffs and its very catchy chorus proving to make it one of Kine's best rock oriented compositions, "Secret Rhythm" sounds like it could have been a song in a Genesis Sonic game with it's combination of disroted electric guitar and synth horns, "Good Morning Yesterday" is a wonderful acoustic ballad which turns into X Japan inspired speed metal in the second half and 69/99 is just an awesome rocker. Also ending on one of the band's best songs "The Point of Lover's Night" is great, an absolutely amazing song. The album version features live drums and live vocals giving it a more raw feel in line with the heavier rock oriented songs, but still giving it the anthemic lush sound of a typical TMN pop song. This is precisely how you should follow-up a monumental peak of your career album, you take its blueprint and put everything into making an out of left field follow-up that doesn't betray the spirit or sound of your past work.
Things get worse from here on out. Back in 1989 Naoto Kine injured himself at the end of the tour for Carol and the band was unable to work. TK wrote 5 songs and was encouraged by Epic records to make a solo album. TK approached Utsunomiya about it and he encouraged him to do the solo album, and to show his appreciation for the support he allowed Utsunomiya to pick one song from this bunch to be turned into a TM Network song, which ended up being "Dive Into Your Body", which would be the last TM Network song before the name change and leading to it not going on a studio album. TK wrote more songs and in 1989 released his first proper solo album "Digitialian is Eating Breakfast", and it's really good aside from one big issue and that is that TK sings the entire album himself, and his vocals are decent at their best, but at their worst they represent everything I hate about a lot of Japanese vocalists. If he did get a proper vocalist the album would be better than a lot of TM Network albums, but instead it's an album I need to be in the right mood for to listen to, which is a damn shame because his production here is solid, and the songwriting is great. He rewrote the TM Network song "Open Your Heart" from Rainbow Rainbow into a new song called "Opera Night", which is an objective upgrade barring his vocals. "Shout", "Hurray for Working Lovers" and "Gravity of Love" are all outstanding songs, especially the latter of the two. "I Want You Back" and "Christmas Chorus" are also great. "Running to the Horizon" (the other song Utsunomiya considered to turn into a TM Network song when offered before choosing "Dive into Your Body") is also great and I feel would have made for an amazing TM Network song. In fact I kind of wish Utusunomiya picked this one instead, but none the less I do love "Dive Into Your Body". I hope TK releases a deluxe edition of this album with an instrumental version of the album, (wouldn't be the first time he's done that) because I would love to use a Vocaloid or Utauloid to redo the vocals here. It's telling that the album's lone instrumental "Winter Dance" (a showcase for TK's awesome synclavier playing) is the best song here. Still if you like TM Network and you aren't as apprehensive about poor vocals as I am, than you would probably really like this album. Like I said, if he hired a real vocalist this could have been an album better than most TM Network albums
The next TM Network album Expo was made with the idea of being an album focused around the trio and to just have fun rather than make anything great. "Expo" saw Kine playing almost all the guitar, and the band having a super lax and laid back attitude in making an album, leading to a very unique listen among the TM Network discography. The album's renewed focus on the trio just making music together and having fun helps this album stand out, as TK's perfectionist attitude is gone and the band members just focus on making music they want. "We Love the Earth" is a very fun and catchy dance song and a great mood setter and opener. "Love Train" is the album's big single and despite also being a dance song it carries this sense of momentum and epicness in the chorus, and it's downright infections. Who couldn't love "Just Like Paradise" with it's insanely catchy vocal melodies and that beat. "Jean was Lonely" despite also being another solid dance song stands out with some of the effects used and some added drum fills to go with the drum machine beat. The instrumental here stands apart from the others in a great way. "Crazy for You" is a real highlight despite being basically rhythm loops and samples with Takashi Utsunomiya talking to a female fan on the phone dubbed over it, yet it's still great and was a song frequently played live on the tour for this album. They never tried making another sample and loop based song again, but it just makes this song all the better and all the more unique. Takashi Utsunomiya contributes his first sole writing credit with a metal song called "I Hate Folk" which is put in a medley with a folk song written and sung by Naoto Kine called "Tsuki no Kawa" in a weird yet fun experiment. The album picks back up with it's laid back dance music with "Ano Natsu Wo Wasureani" which is a great song. Utsunomiya sings one of Kine's best ballads "Daichi no Monogatari". Kine writes and sings another amazing ballad with "Tsuki wa Piano, ni Sasoswarete" with Utsunomiya doing vocal direction and in charge of vocal melodies and backing vocals. It's followed up with a Rhythm Red outtake (you can tell by the prominent and riff heavy electric guitar) called "Tomorrow Made New", which is also great and fits well with the trio focused sound, so they adapted it for this album well. Then the entire experience is SOURED BY TK. We end on a great and proggressive sounding ballad, which has great build up and is an excellent atmospheric closer. Until around 3:50 when you hear TK singing instead of Utsunomiya and his singing is just passable at best. I want to punch him in the soul for ruining what could have been the perfect way to end one of TM Network's best albums. Like every song on Digitialian is Eating Breakfast it's a good song mired by his voice, but Utsunomiya and Kine's backing vocals do make his voice more tolerable here. The other reason I have this animosity towards the song is because it was the last song on what ended up being for awhile the last TM Network album.
After a chance meeting with the drummer, pianist and bandleader from Japan's then biggest band "X Japan" that being Yoshiki, TK and him talked about collaborating since they were probably the two biggest names in Japanese music at the time. They made a double A side single with Yoshiki and him writing both songs together, Yoshiki handling drums, and TK handling the keyboards with no outside help or musicians, just the two of them. Meaning... TK sings lead vocals.
To be fair when they did their one live concert together he sounded passable, but on the studio version he sounds like he is singing through his nose and it hurts both songs, meaning the live versions are absolute replacements. This project took up so much time that TK hardly had any time for TMN in that time frame, releasing the single "Ichizu Na Koi" after, and the band touring and beginning sessions for a new album after. New songs were supposedly written as well. (It's also rumored the non album single "Wild Heaven" as well as "Ichizu Na Koi" were both planned to be on this album) Then Utsunomiya damaged his voice at the end of the tour while recording new material. So TK abandoned plans to record more songs songs. He just released the only great sounding song (according to him it was the only great sounding one, we haven't heard the rest) from these sessions "Nights of the Knife" as a single before calling it quits. A demo recording was released on a compilation for one song from these sessions actually written by Utsunomiya (marking his only lone songwriting credit outside of "I Hate Folk") a balled called "Another Meeting", which he never recorded a final vocal for because of his damaged voice. TK basically moved on to do production and songwriting exclusively while the other members pursued solo work.
TK worked with "Hitomi" and "TRF" right after the break of TMN and under him they sold a combined 8 million. (that I could confirm, he might have sold more with TRF than I know of) TK was later tasked with producing the second album by rising teen idol "Namie Amuro" who had recently become an adult and split from her band Super Monkey's. The album he wrote and produced with her not only reprsented a step forward in Namie's maturity and sound, but a big rise in success for her and TK, with it becoming one of the fastest selling albums in Japanese music history with sales of over 3 million in one year alone, but TK had an even greater success that year earlier. TK had met French Japanese rapper and fashion model Marc Panther, who was fluent in Japanese, French and English. TK had talked to him about producing some music for him and helping him write for a debut solo album. He later the year TMN broke-up held auditions to find a new vocalist for a potential project. One girl named Keiko Yamada fell over on stage, yet still sang having been encouraged to go to the audition by her friends. TK ended up loving her voice and that she gave the audition her best despite falling over on stage. TK would decide to put the two together to form a new band, the idea being that it would be a group managed by him that he would produce and write for. However as the album came to completion they realized they would be unable to find a keyboard player who could learn the material in time to tour, do music videos and promote the album so he decided he would be that third member himself, basically handling all instrumentation himself, settling on the name globe.
When their debut album came out it was considered a defining album for the still developing J-pop scene, combining the pop sound TK developed with Namie Amuro, Hitomi, TRF and even TM Network, all with Keiko's voice taking lead on the music, with Marc supplying backing vocals, and doing rap verses and handling a lot of the lyrics. globe is most famous not for having a debut album that was a massive landmark moment for J-pop that was for a brief time the best selling studio album in the history of Japan and contained 5 majorly huge J-pop hits that art still blasted on Japanese radio to this day, but for the song "Departures" which is not only a staple of the J-pop genre, but one of the most famous J-pop songs period. globe's debut and "Departures" held more impact in all of Japanese music than anything TM Network ever did maybe with the exception of "Get Wild". Globe's debut is a weird thing for me because I love their albums, yet I don't like a lot of real J-pop, I love Marc's rap verses or any part where he gets to take the lead in a song especially when he uses that softer voice of his, yet I don't like rap, I'm not huge on a lot of music where live instrumentation isn't important or big part of it, yet TK's perfectionist mindset using synths and everything to complete the sound without need for other musicians makes for some interesting music. "Sweet Pain" is one of my favorite songs ever. I adore globe's music and I love how the new type of trio line-up of female vocalist, rapper and instrumentalist became popular after their success.
TK and Marc would work together in collaboration in making Namie Amuro's second album, which didn't sell as much her debut, but it was a bold new step after her debut, and Marc's added influence helped give a feel not unlike globe, but it stood apart well and provided her even more success cementing her as the premier female J-pop artist (until she was surpassed by Ayumi Hasmasaki), and the biggest name in the TK Family stable of artists. The TK Family is what people called the stable of artists TK frequently produced and collaborated with. The second globe album came out in 1997 and provided 5 more smash hits and sold 3 million, with the band having their own record label Avex globe, a sublabel of the biggest label in Japan Avex. TK would at Namie Amuro's request take less charge over producing her stuff in favor of letting TLC producer Dallas Austin produce stuff too, as she was a fan of his production style and hoped he cold get her closer to an urban hip hop sound. TK spent more focus on Globe until Namie broke association with him almost completely in 2001 so she could move on and work with other producers. One of the songs he gave Namie was actually a cover of a globe song called "You Are the One", which is a fun detail. globe's second album Face was a multi million seller, a big deal in Japan. Their third album Love Again and fourth album Relation sold a million and a half copies each and continued their string of hit singles, with "Wanna Be a Dreammaker" winning the Japanese Grand Prix record award, the highest honor any Japanese musician can receive. All of Globe's first four albums come highly recommended Following this they would begin work on their fifth album, however, with globe being an unstoppable hit making machine, just constantly churning out hit songs at unprecedented rate, and no greatest hits album, a decision was made.
So in 1999 a sort of compilation album came out called "First Reproducts", which is an album of complete ground up remixes of prior globe hits and one new song called "Miss Your Body". There was no true greatest hits album existed, so the decision was made to combine the work in progress fifth album with a lot of their hits to make a greatest hits album called "Cruise Record". The album has an intro track and then a remix of "Miss Your Body" (which had not been on a studio release yet) followed by three new songs.: "Biting Her Nails" and "Still Growin' Up" (both of which are Keiko compositions, which is rare). Disc 1 also has new song "Time Without Tears". Disc 2 starts with an intro track, and among the new songs we have a beautiful ballad written by Marc and sung by Keiko called "Runaway From the Night", a gorgeous piano instrumental by TK, an instrumental very indicative of the future direction of globe called "Millennium Waves", a Marc oriented rap song called "Shock Inside My Brain", and an instrumental piano outro song. So not counting interludes, intros and outros, we have 9 total new songs and some of their greatest hits. It's in a weird position of some solid new stuff that make it fit the spot of a good 5th globe album, but not enough to avoid being considered a compilation or greatest hits CD. Around the time of the album's release they released "Winter Comes Around Again", a sequel to the TM Network song "Winter Comes Around", and a good song not featured on a studio album. It would be perfect here, but oh well. It's recommended alongside their first 4 albums, but with an asterisk. I love the first four globe albums and even Cruise Record so much, and I wish he continued that type of music, but he didn't. Two things happened that changed things.
In 1996 TK produced a pretty good exploration based game for the PS1 called Gabal Screen, and he wanted to collaborate with a multitude of different pop artists for the soundtrack, and he did, leading to the game having an awesome soundtrack. However one of said artists was former TMN vocalist Takashi Utsunomiya, who was knee deep into his solo career at the time. The two did a session together where TK wrote three songs and Utsunomiya sang all of them, however one song called "Detour" was set aside from being used. Thanks to an offer, it was passed down to Naoto Kine for him to add to it. Kine added acoustic guitar and blues harp to the song. They put it on a TMN compilation and credited it to the three members rather than TMN because they were still broken up, however the three did appear together to shoot a music video for it despite Kine not meeting them at all during the process of adding his parts to the song. In 1997 on the famed radio show All Night Nippon they announced they were getting back together and would work when TK had a break in globe's activities.
Signed once again to Epic/Sony the band released their first new song as TM Network in a decade "10 Years After" on the tenth anniversary of their change in name to TMN. TK was growing tired of J-pop and wrote the song with a hip hop beat and bass and a more laid back tone. This new sound was a bit weird, but it made for a song I like quite a bit. The beat is repetitive like a lot of hip hop beats, but I like it overall. It has this optimistic message of where will be ten years from now? Will the future be kind to us? Will we still be together? It's nice message for their comeback song, both nostalgic and forward looking. Soon after they did a new version of their biggest hit "Get Wild" called "Get Wild Decade Run" now with more acoustic guitar and a dance oriented sound. If you like "Get Wild" and you like dance music it should be an easy sell, though it may come off as strange for others. The B-side "It's Gonna Be Alright" is also really good, carrying the same kind of pop rock with a hip hop beat kind of feel "10 Years After" had. The band did a collaboration with Sheila E. Julio Iglesias Jr and Leehom Wang to make "Happiness x3 Loneliness x3". It's a very unique sounding song, having a verses in Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish and a chorus in English, and an instrumental with Kine on guitar, TK on keys and basically everything else, and Sheila E. on drums. Though the main version found on compilations is a version without Wang or Iglesias jr. and rather just feature TM Network and Sheila E. It was a neat song made at the request of the Prime Minister at the time to give a positive message for Japanese youth who were feeling down, and also to discourage the abuse of drugs. The B-side "80s" was written with an 80s kind of sound, and it is a fun callback to old TM Network, mixed with this newer sound they established.
At the end of 1999 TK terminated their contract with Sony and he signed them to his own newly opened independent label Rojam. Next he got to work with the next TM Network album Major Turn-Round. The album was a complete change in style because TK was still tired of J-pop. (Ironic because he is known as the father of J-pop.) The album was recorded in Hawaii because TK liked it there and it was remote. The album opens with a track this is just TK pulling a wireless microphone out of the water before starting with the seven minute "Ignition, Sequence Start.", a pop rock song with heavy guitar. Famed session drummer Simon Phillips (formally of Toto and The Michael Schenker Group) was flown in to rerecord the drums on the album, as TK wanted the album to have a real live music kind of feel on some of these songs and thought natural drumming in place of a drum machine would make the songs sound better and boy is he right it rocks. It's the start of a concept on the album about going to a store and hearing one song from multiple albums of different genres to see which albums you want to purchase. This song clearly represents hard rock, but the song has a theme of exploration and an adventurous feel, sure a lot of it has to do with space, something explored further in the title track, but it's also meant to signify the start of your musical journey with the album. It is just wonderful, my favorite song here. The 32 minute title track was a prog rock epic he wrote completely through improvisation, putting his bits and pieces together in pro tools in a way he felt best and letting Utsunomiya add on his vocals and Kine add guitar. He let Simon Phillips improvise all the drum parts and do as he felt best without guidance of a drum machine or click track, and Simon nailed it his drumming is on another level here. The guitar playing too, I'm unsure if Kine is doing everything or a session musician is doing a lot of the really intense parts in the middle, but it is still great sounding. The big ambient keyboard and piano section near the 16 minute mark is a sign of things to come years later. The last movement is a cool ending with a satisfying conclusion. Kine was unsure of how to contribute to the concept and sound and wrote "Pale Shelter", which he never completely finished, leading to it sounding kind of weird and just a so/so pop rock song. "We Are Starting Over" is the third single and Kine's attempt at writing a John Lennon song, it's pretty good, not much else. However "Message" is the real important song. It's the lead single and made to be the proper continuation from the direction they were going for on "Nights of the Knife" and "Time Machine", while also carrying elements from "10 Years After" in its tone. It's a great song in the vein of classic TM Network while sounding a bit new and interesting too. The message of the song is great, and it is a clear standout, just great. Then it ends with "Cube", a song Kine wrote and had a performance improvised by Komuro because Kine's poor English skills lead to a miscommunication and the engineers started recording before they were ready. For an improvised song with overdubbed vocals it's pretty cool, I love the little ending synths. Major Turn-Round was a great comeback for the band and showed them in top form and evolving in a great way.
After touring for the album it was time for him to return to his band that had sold more than ten million records: globe. TK was still tired of J-pop and decided to pursue a new sound with globe too, choosing trance music because it had interested him at the time. The idea is that this is globe reaching out to a network of new ideas and sounds all connected through trance. It was experimental with Marc rapping French on some songs and TK using repetitive loops and melodies repeated over to create a new sound unlike the band's previous stuff. Outernet was to capitalize on the experimental nature they were taking on in multiple ways including releasing three singles at once each listed as globe feat (insert band member most prominent on the song here) which was very stupid because it sabotaged the singles. Keiko's "On the Way to You" (great song by the way) was the most traditional song on the album and so obviously it did the best. The song managed to become a hit, and was the album's only major success. I love the contrast of synth strings with the electronic elements such as Marc's low in the mix lo-fi rapping the lyrics alongside Keiko. Marc's industrial rocker "The Main Lord" showcased a new side to his rapping and singing, and Keiko doing backing vocals to him is always a nice change of pace, but being a cool industrial rock experiment it naturally failed, and TK's sample and rhythm loop based instrumental "Throwin' Down in the 00" was naturally an even bigger flop. They released two of the album's best songs "Like a Prayer" and "Don't Look Back" as a double A side single as well as "Garden", and "Anyway Asexually" but they only did modestly. "Garden" is a solid execution of the trance concept, but it does little to justify being almost 9 minutes, and Keiko is carrying the song. "Like a Prayer" has a strange and offputting sound that is somehow strangely captivating. The sitar sample on "Anyway Asexually" is weird but helps add to the strange charm of the song. Keiko even tries a less traditional singing style in some parts and going deeper than normal, it is all weird but great. "Don't Look Back" is another weird but great song. The ambient opening with Keiko and the synths followed by the instruments building up to a big and powerful first verse with Keiko singing over boom bap sounding drums and the build in intensity when Marc comes in. All this contrasted by a calm trance chorus and a weird organ and choir sample and a sample of Marc saying the song name. Then it moves to an acoustic sounding section with the same drums and Marc doing a whispery rap, and Keiko doing a new verse with the same beat as the first now with added synths. It builds beautifully to a new chorus that sounds powerful and earned, and then a beautiful outro. Excuse me!? How do you make one of the biggest most nothing songs of your entire career with "Garden" which is a waste of 9 minutes, and then you simultaneously make one of the boldest and most interesting songs of your career and it makes perfect use of 9 minutes? This shows the album has some great songs that show new sides to the band like "Paradise Lies" the second best song on the album and one of my favorite globe songs. Keiko's voice is beautiful here, and I love the progression and sound of it. Ultimately the change in style, poor marketing decisions and more killed the album and the band's success, with it stalling out and only reaching gold and selling 9 percent as many units as their previous album. Don't worry the "TK ruins things with his obsession with trance music" phase of his career has only begun and thankfully it doesn't get much worse.
So in 2002 Komuro would make the third biggest mistake of his entire career, and that was marrying Keiko.
This was highly publicized and highly criticized. TK claimed he had felt feelings for her ever since that day she auditioned and fell on stage and that these feelings only developed further after 6 years of working together. However let me break down why his point is moot and if it is true the potential negative connotations. The two had no known romantic relationship prior to this, the two had simply seen each-other a lot because Keiko was an active member of a band he spent a lot of focus on throughout the 90s, and she was naturally supportive and caring considering she is a naturally nice person attested to by everyone, and because she was obviously in a band with him and wanted to support her bandmate and friend. If TK did have romantic feelings for her from the start for all we know he could have passed up potentially better vocalists for Keiko because of this attraction instead of any real talent. Sure it makes for a cute how they met story and like a good set up for a rom-com but to me this stinks of publicity stunt, especially after globe was already drastically dropping off from the public conscious with people largely ignoring their new album because of the abrupt change in style, rougher production and the conscious decision to put his pop music past behind him and not try and keep it at all like those first four albums. Marc seemed supportive, but of course he would be. This event would lead to TK's public image starting to falter over time, and it all can be traced back to this one event.
TK was actively asked by fans and record execs alike to please return to the original style, and his response was that it would be an admission of defeat and that the father of J-pop doesn't admit defeat. He was determined to do what he wanted to with his band free of what the public was going to say. He got to work in 2002 making a duology of albums known as Lights. The original plan was to make it a double album before instead deciding to make it two albums. The albums were both evolutions of the trance style and this time much better. Seriously the big repetitive long trance stuff is very neat sounding and progressive here. It all has that dense and layered production he did back in the 80s, but works so well with this busy and active soundscapes. Keiko said they listened to the first album to compare to how they sound now and reassess how they changed and what made that album tick, and you can tell they are focused here. "Genesis of Next" and "Try This Shoot" are perfect example of this album at it's best, with Marc's rapping on the former of the two being outstanding. "Genesis of Next" has so many layers and this busy sound, yet it builds up so well and Keiko's vocals compliment it wonderfully. "Try This Shoot" lets your guard down with this repetitive opening and it seemingly continued during Marc's rap, then Keiko sings her part and suddenly we burst right into a chorus where Keiko's voice is complimented by this interesting synthesizer melody. TK has mastered writing great trance songs. "Many Classic Moments" is a great mix of the new trance globe and a more commercial sensibility as well as it's less busy and energetic backing track. The band even has some slow ballads here which really work like "Merry Go Round" and "Megami", and it has one of the most interesting covers of the classic "Stop! In the Name of Love" I've ever heard. Marc takes the lead with "Come Into Existence" which is another good song. Now here's how TK ruined it.. He released Lights2 two months after the first, and L'arc~en~Ciel did the same thing a couple years prior and had it work very well for them, but they had major hit singles backing them up when they did it, globe didn't. Lights sold almost twice as many units as Outernet, and it's singles "Try This Shoot", "Stop in the Name of Love", "Genesis of Next" and "Many Classic Moments" each did alright too, but Lights2 cannibalized the sales of Lights because that album was still having chart success and support before Lights 2 came out. Despite having some great songs and would be singles Lights2's longevity and chances at chart success were killed by Lights, which is a shame because "Over the Rainbow" is an amazing song. The way it builds is wonderful, and the vocals are amazing. The other single "Inspired by Red and Blue" is an amazing lower energy song where the vocals get to shine, and "Transcontinental Way" is a contender for the band's best instrumental. "Knockin' at the Door of My Heart" would have made a great single. The vocals are amazing and I love the vocal melodies here and the instrumental too. "Starting From Here" is great, giving Keiko plenty of great chances to shine while adding acoustic guitar to a mostly electronic song to give it this distinct sound. "Edge of Darkness" could have also been a great single, with Marc really shining on this song. "Us" is a great ballad and Marc's "Liquid Paranoia" is a great showcase for him. This could have workd, but TK's stupid decision to release both one after the other killed both and he seriously had to reassess the situation.
in 2003 TK made an announcement that globe was adding a second keyboard and synth player, that being Yoshiki from X Japan, this would leave TK open to play guitar now in the band.
Left to right Marc Panther, Keiko Yamada, Yoshiki, Tetsuya "TK" Komuro
After Level 4 had it's promotional run Yoshiki announced he had too many other things going to stay a member of globe and that he was no longer going to be a full time member. The other band members announced a sub unit called "Globe Extreme" which would be the name used when they would do something with Yoshiki. Afterwards TK would go on a tour with TM Network after spending a few years with globe. Now on this tour they would play the hit single from the Carol album: "Just One Victory" in a trance style newly arranged by TK. The audiences seemed intrigued by this. He would then write an all new song in the trance style for TM Network to play on live on called "Green Days", and he would sell its CD single exclusively at concerts on that tour where they would play it live. In reality this wasn't the first time TM Network would do trance, as TK was secretly booking sessions with the band in between activities with globe in hopes of completing a new album. In 2002 They had released a single called "Castle in the Clouds", a pop rock song on the single version, and it was neat. When they were finished touring they got the album done and it's name was "Easy Listening". The concept to combine their classic synth pop type stuff with trance music and easy listening music to make a weird in-between. The album's lead single "Castle in the Clouds" is a great mix of classic TM Network and trance music, it represents what this album is going for beautifully. The vocals are great and the instrumentation is neat. The album version drops all the pop rock stuff in favor of a more trance inspired backing track. the second single "Screen of Life" is the opener, and TK tries to write lyrics addressing the baby boomer generation in a lyrical style he never tried before, which makes it interesting, but ultimately the song is too long and doesn't make good use of the run time, which is a shame because lots of cool ideas are in this song. "Presence" is probably the least trance song here, making frequent use of electric guitar. It's good, but a bit weak compared to some of the other originals here. Kine's song "Windless Crossroads" is an homage to the Carol suite and is the best song on the album by a mile, it's great. It lacks a lot of the trance flare, but keeps the electronic aesthetic the rest of the album has while still being written a similar vein to songs from the Carol era of the band. This is exactly what I was talking about in combining the TM Network of old and the trance style, when done well it really works. Kine writes a more trance style song with "Morning With You", but it's very relaxed and laid back with some great vocal melodies, and a neat vibe. It is the other best song here for sure. "Nuworld" is a neat instrumental, but it's a bit boring and too long, it doesn't make good use of it's runtime. Closing track "Come Closer" is a mostly instrumental track with some very interesting things going for it, and Takashi's Utsunomiya's sparse vocals add to the atmosphere. I like it. Where the album really falls off is the 3 songs I didn't mention, trance versions of classic TM Network songs. The first is "Love Train", which loses all sense of momentum and epicness the original had in favor of being this easy listening trance hybrid style. This version is boring and unnecessary. The new version of the band's debut single "Take It to the Lucky" actually gets better as it goes on and is okay, but all the charm of the original is lost, and no new charm is gained. Lastly is a new version of "Time to Countdown". The song is now almost entirely instrumental with some vocal samples spread here and then, but it's largely boring and uninteresting, which is a shame because it could have made the transition to trance really well. TK had some good ideas here, but the album has a lot going against it, good thing Kine remembered how to write TM Network songs. It's not bad, and is actually pretty good, but another example of TK's trance obsession ruining a good thing.
After touring in support of the album TM Network was broken up again, with TK citing it was because he desired to focus on globe. So the band members all reconvened and got back together, with the goal of looking back on TK's self indulgent music and developing from that a sound to serve as a more proper continuation of their classic era. The band admitted that they wanted to make what would basically serve as a follow-up to their debut album if their debut album was released in the early to mid 2000s. The resulting "Globe 2 Pop/Rock" was a weird album that did nothing to improve their standing with the Japanese public at large. The name "Globe 2" was because the band felt this was the true follow up from the debut and would lead to it's own chain of musical evolution free from the trance albums and their three other classic albums, as globe Extreme could build off those like Level 4 did, while the regular globe would build off the debut and this album. The lead single "Here I Am" certainly makes it look like their mission to make a follow up to their debut album as if it was released in the early 2000s was a success, because it sounds like a modernized version of the sound from their debut, the guitar is also clearly heard in the song, as rock elements were to be a heavy part of the album. The opening song "Love Goes On" is a great guitar driven pop rock song, and represents the new albums style well, it's a very pleasant track too where Keiko sounds nice, Marc's little rap parts are nice too. "Expectation" has some awesome rocking guitar parts and Keiko trying harder edged rock vocals with Marc in the chorus. Marc even gets the second verse to himself to rap, and it's pretty great. The juxtaposition between happy J-pop and hard rock is great. TK handled every aspect of the instrumentation here himself, and unlike the last couple albums wrote everything himself with the exception of Marc's rap parts, which as always were written by Marc. "Back 2 Be" has some dense percussion and synths with them making the guitar here feel weak, it's kind of interesting, it certainly gets better from Marc's rap verse and onward. "Lost" represents the fusion of J-pop and hard rock wonderfully with these pop melodies in the verses alongside Marc's rapping, and then the heavy guitar and percussion giving the song this harder edged feeling to it, all with these pop vocal melodies. Keiko's voice has this feeling of desperation to it too, I love it. "Asian Night" is a cool subtle feeling song where Marc's rapping feels like it's at some of it's best, Keiko even tries something like it, all of this juxtaposed with the guitar in the chorus. "Good Bye Now" has some cool elements that make it sound like it could have been a song on "Level 4" the guitar coming in adds this sense of power to the chorus that I really like. "Feel Like the Wind" has some cool stuff with the guitar and keyboards with some of Keiko's best vocals on the album, truly great. "Judgement" is one of the real fan favorites from this album, and for good reason. The sitar on it is a very cool addition and some of TK's best guitar playing is on this song. The chorus is very nice and Marc has some of his best rap parts of the entire album on this song. The keyboards and melodies in the chorus are just really great. It's an overall incredible song. "Shift" is a groovy song that is short and sweet, being a great three minutes that builds up to it's ending wonderfully, and we close on the brief instrumental "See the Next Page", which is a nice closer.
The album placed number 5, but was just shy of reaching 50,000. This was a decent blow to the band, they were unable to even reach the level of success of Level 4, which itself showed a decline in sales, However the band was determined to carry on. They got to work making their next album Maniac, which was a more pop centric modern sounding sequel to "Gobe 2 Pop/Rock", toning down the harder rock elements. This gave us the album: Maniac. Opening song "Soldier" is a great song and one of the band's best modern songs. "Please Don't Give Up" is great lower energy Marc focused song, with Keiko just there to deliver a slow and dreary chorus with some cool atmosphere. Keiko makes her globe songwriting debut having written everything except Marc's rap verses in "Why Tell Me Why", which is a very nice pop rock song with some nice vocal melodies from Keiko. "From the Beginning" is a nice song with the piano at the forefront and some amazing vocal from Keiko, her delivery of these and how she sells the lyrics here is just great. "Appreciate" is a weird electronic focused song that is mostly instrumental with rhythmic spoken word from Keiko, and it's a nice change of pace. "Orbit" is a great instrumental. "Tokyo Toiu Riyu" is a great song as well the use of strings here (even if they are fake strings) really makes this stand out and with keiko's performance here combined with the strings and acoustic guitar, it all leads to one of the best songs on the album. "Shine On You" is a great pop rock song, my only real issue with the last few songs is not enough Marc. That's taken care of on a song he wrote himself "Simplove" which naturally features Marc on lead and surprisingly no Keiko. Marc tries a more melodic and traditional singing style with rapping being something he does at different parts of the song and it really works. He can handle traditional vocals surprisingly well and we already established his rapping is fire. We end on the ballad "About Me", which I just love and is a beautiful closing track. So you think after all this it would be a banger album that would surely do more for the band than "Globe 2 Pop/Rock" right? Or you are smarter than I thought and are asking how TK messed up this could be comeback album. For starters "Soldier" was planned to be a single and they filmed a music video, but for no apparent reason they decided not to make it a single and used its footage for commercials advertising the album, Surely then it would still be available for their fans to buy if they wanted right? Well what about paying twice as much for a globe album? TK made it a double album with the second disk being two new versions of songs from the previous album now with session musicians filling out the line-up making it a full band sound with real bass and drums, two exclusive new instrumentals he wrote, two songs from Marc's rap project: 245, two songs from Keiko's solo EP remixed by him, a single she did for Avex's trance project and a new remix of a song Keiko did for a movie. The rougher styled production and hard rock energy of the original versions of the two songs from "Globe 2 Pop/Rock" is totally gone because some of the synths are gone, especially from "Lost". However the drumming and bass playing is actually really good and adds a new dimension to them, making them the definitive versions, especially "Lost", the band version has made it one of the best late career globe songs. Both TK instrumentals are good, but unnecessary. Both the 245 songs are great, "Cosmic Dream" especially shows Marc at his best. As for the Keiko songs, Humanrace was already on her EP and didn't need to be here It's nice to have "Reason" on an album but it's a weak song, her collaboration with Avex's trance band Cyber X is great and nice to have, and it's great having a finished version of "Umi to no yujo". Disc 2 has some great stuff on it, but it's just kind of pointless especially when I get to my next release I will discus. TK making this a double album was just plain stupid and was a contributing factor in this album selling just shy of 30000 units.
The band would go on to book some time in LA to record some new songs for an EP called "New Deal", which makes me even more upset because TK could have put the band versions of the songs from "Globe 2 Pop/Rock" on this EP. Same with his instrumentals, and then we could have a nine track album on our hands. The title track has some Latin influence, but it's a bit weird, and not one of Keiko's stronger performances. The song has some cool guitar and stuff though. Keiko writes her second and as of now final globe song "Please Please" and it's great, a total earworm, I love it. Then we have some pop rock songs with TK on guitar and keyboards, bassist Chris Chaney from Jane's Addiction and drummer Matt Sorum from Guns n Roses to make up the rest of the album. The first of these "Hey Say Hey Yeah" is a very fun pop rock song with some cool synths near the end, "All Hope" is the best song here, being a fun pop rock song with nice prominent synths and Keiko giving an incredible vocal performance, so I would very much recommend this song. Lastly a full band version of "Soldier", which is great and a total replacement of the original even if it is a bit slower than the original. TK would then put globe on a break for a little while, being burnt out from all the work he was putting into globe.
While this was going on Takashi Utsunomiya and Naoto Kine were touring together, figuring that since they were great friends since childhood why not continue working together even outside of TM Network. During their tour they played not only TM Network songs, but Speedway songs too, and this inspired TK. He would assemble Kine and Utsunomiya to his home studio to work. TK said he was burnt out from globe and didn't feel like putting forth a great effort for another project, but he had the idea for an album paying tribute to the pasts of all the members, particularly their days in Speedway. So the goal was to create a very nostalgic album paying tribute to their roots, all the while maintaining a futuristic aesthetic and sound. The result was my favorite TM Network album: "Speedway"
while promoting Speedway in 2008 TK was working with globe on two TM Network covers "Get Wild" and "Self Control". which he planned to release later 2008. During this time he once again broke up TM Network with no reason given, but it was assumed to be due to a renewed focus on globe, but this "renewed focus" was cut short when allegations against TK came out about fraud. TK was finally arrested in November of 2008 over the second biggest mistake he made in his entire career. The case was that he had sold the copyright to his songs to Avex holdings, Avex is the biggest Japanese record label and a label TK had at the time a 13 year association with having worked as producer and songwriter for artists under the label including His Excellency Demon from Seikima-II and Ami Suzuki. This is all fine and dandy, but he promised an investor the copyright to his songs for the price of 500 million yen. which would have been close to 5 million US. (I know, the exchange rate is not as high as you'd think.) TK pleaded guilty no argument during his trial and admitted to his crime. The president of Avex paid back the victim his money and an extra hundred mill in compensation and an estimated 50 million in delay damages. (HOW COULD THE GUY WHO WROTE "Caribbeana High" DO SUCH A THING? that's probably what you're thinking...) The judge gave Komuro a 3 year suspended prison sentence with him on probation, saying that TK's acceptance of the situation and responsibility, as well as the plaintiff being paid in full plus compensation and damage influenced the light punishment and said that the world would be done no good from TK being jailed. (He's completely right, but Komuro still got off mostly scot free) The president of Avex said that in return TK for the time being would work directly under his control in Avex exclusively for the time being. TK shuddered a lot of the blame onto his desire to give his wife a life of luxury and give her the best, which already seems suspicious, but knowing what we know now is total BS. It would however serve as the inspiration for a pretty rad Saber Tiger song called "The Forever Throne". TK announced his return to music 2009 at an event held by Avex and he did a show with globe for the audiences. That's when Tragedy would strike though. TK's blacklisting from the entertainment industry was undone, but in 2011 while beginning sessions for a new album Keiko suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage and was unable to sing, leading to a pause in globe's activities indefinitely while she recovered. Songs from these sessions "They Fight Now" and "Single Walking" have since been released by Avex on streaming platforms as a 3 song EP with the previously recorded cover of "Self Control". globe never officially broke up, but the band would just be TK and Marc and working together on remix albums and compilations.
TK's fraud situation didn't seem to damage his standing with his bandmates in globe or TM Network, with Kine and Utsunomiya saying that nothing about their friendship or musicianship with TK has changed. TK's first big project after his returning to music from the fraud allegations was writing almost every track on Ayumi Hamaki's album Love Songs. Ayumi Hamasaki was the last huge selling Japanese pop solo artist he was yet to work with. Ayumi Hamasaki has sold over 60 million albums (20 million more than queen of J-pop Namie Amuro) and was the best selling solo artist in Japanese history. It was an interesting collaboration, and one that yielded results. The album was a big seller and Komuro's songs on the album all became hits, proving he was still a talented writer. With Keiko in recovery in 2011, TK reactivated TM Network starting with a charity concert in 2012 to support earth quake relief. He was met with criticism for focusing on another band instead of caring for Keiko during her recovery, but TM Network's revival was met with positive fanfare.
They released the single "I Am" that year, with Kine playing acoustic guitar and backing vocals while electric guitar was handled by former limp Bizkit guitar player Mike Smith. They did a reunion seeing the commercial potential in it, with TM Network's last two albums both placing as high on the charts as Maniac did, showing that while globe was more popular and did better, TM Network held more staying power. Under TK's deal with the president of Avex TM Network would sign to Avex when releasing "I Am". The band toured and made a trance inspired remix album and then reconvened in 2013 to work on a new album. The idea behind this album was to make something to reach young J-pop listeners who knew of TM Network's hits in the late eighties and early nineties that still got radio play such as "Get Wild", but appeal to the more modern sensibilities of J-pop at the time. All this while also appealing to the Fanks whom had followed this band all these years and were obsessed with them and embracing all eras of the band in a way that they would appreciate, while still maintaining a modern sound. If that sounds ambitious for a J-pop album, that's because it is. They released new single "Loud" ahead of the album and a few months later in October 2014 released "Quit30" to celebrate their 30th anniversary. The album opens with Alive, which is a really solid opening track, but not one of the album's strongest songs. It's a bit too long and repetitive, but it's pretty catchy and works well at setting the tone of the album. "I Am" is a very great pop rock song with a laid back comfortable pop rock sound, yet an anthemic chorus that could easily get crowds chanting at a concert. The song has this cool message about embracing what makes you Human, and it makes for a nice song. This version has more emphasis on the instrumentation, Utsunomiya is much louder than the backing vocals in the chorus too, which is in contrast to the single version. Then we get Quit30, a 22 minute prog epic in a similar vein to "Major Turn-Round", even being made through pieced together improvisations like that song was. Unlike that song it is segmented into 8 individual tracks and like the Carol suit is split across the beginning of the album and the end. The song has notable Japanese session musicians playing drums and bass, but former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman (a major celebrity in Japan) plays electric guitar on it and famed African Japanese session vocalist Olivia Burrell on backing vocals. First part "Birth" builds up nicely and sets up the theme of the piece well. Part 2 "Beginning of the End" continues with even more build up nicely and has some cool stuff with the synths. Part 3 "Mist" is short and features vocals that sound like they are from a poor radio at first before becoming normal. This mostly sets up the rest of the piece. However instead of part 4 we get "Story", one of my favorite TM Network ballads. The atmosphere of this song is great and I love it, but couples with an incredible vocal performance from Utsunomiya, he really sells this song with his delivery in the chorus."Aruhi Arutoki Itsuka Dokokade" is a fine song and was the B-side to "Loud". It's good, but is one of the weaker tracks here, it's a solid lower energy synthpop song, but not much more. Kine's playing with the acoustic is very nice though. "Loud" is the second single and I love it. It has solid verses that transition seamlessly to an infectiously catchy chorus that has seldom left my head since I first heard it. "Kimigaite Yokatta" is the B-side to "I Am", only now with added electric guitar for the album version. It's a fun catchy synthpop song, not much else to it. Quit30 part 4 "Glow" has this cool synth sound going in the beginning, but the song itself is just building up to the next part. Part 5 "Loop of the Life" sounds straight out of Easy Listening, short but very cool. Part 6 "Entrance of the Earth" is a synth focused instrumental that is very good. Part 7 "The Beginning of the End 2" doesn't have much in common musically with part 1, but they both tackle similar stuff lyrically. Part 8 "Beginning of the End 3" is where it really starts reaching it's climax, it feels epic while still winding things down from part 7. Olivia Burrell gets to do some stuff here as Utsunomiya remains silent. A solid and satisfying end to the piece, though I don't know if splitting it up was the best idea. "Mission to Go" is an amazing synth pop song and deserved to be released as a single, the fact that it wasn't baffles me. It's a very nice song with a solid hook and a very catchy chorus. "If You Can" ends disc 1 alright, it's a decent pop rock song. Disc 2 starts with "Always Be There" with backing vocals from eurovision contestant Imani. This is TM Network covering a song TK wrote at the request of the United Nations. (yes the UN knowingly commissioned a piece of music from a convicted fraudster) The song is a pretty solid pop rock song, but kind of forgettable. Then of all things we have "Carol 2014" a modern adaption of the Carol suite (just the suite none of the other songs telling the Carol story) performed by the same set of people who performed with the band on the title track, meaning Olivia Burrell is now the voice of Carol here. Her voice is a bit too deep and doesn't quite work too well in "Carol's Theme II". Though it's just a faithful rendition of the suite performed with modern production and sound. Not much you could ask for, it's really good and Maty Friedman's guitar playing here is superb, and it's higher in the mix than Tak Matsumoto's electric guitar was in the original version. Hearing the two back to back just now it's incredible to me how good Takashi Utsunomiya's voice sounded 25 years after recording the original, he's lost very little of his voice over the years. So this was a banger album with only one song I haven't talked about yet. You know full well by now this means TK ruined it, and yes he did. We end on "Alive (TK mix)", a remix of Alive that drags the song on even further and adds nothing of value. It's just there to make disc 2 longer and justify making this a double album when they could have just ended disc 1 with part 8 of "Quit30" and put "Mission to Go" and "If You Can" on Disc 2. Still the album is really good and if it is their last than they went out on a strong note.
So the band toured in support of the album with the Quit30 Huge Data tour and then made an EP of remixes of their big hit "Get Wild". Afterwards they broke up while TK continued working on globe related projects with Marc including a tribute album, an acid jazz remix album, two different EDM remix albums and more, but most notably were a set of two albums known as "Remode" and "Remode2" both albums saw TK go back and give 30 globe songs completely new simpler electronic backing tracks, in some cases using alternate vocal takes than what was used in the original and in more cases having Marc record new rap parts and and replace his old ones on a few songs. The Outernet songs on these two albums are basically given new life and made better, the alternate vocal takes used make the tracks that have them feel familiar yet new in a nice way, the new rap parts are great, but don't change much of anything about the song aside from the lyrics of his rap parts, the tracks from Lights and Lights2 sound good, but are kind of neutered with the simpler sound with the exception of "Try This Shoot", some of these new versions of songs like "Perfume of Love" and "Illusion" sound incredible, though I also have to ask why a new version of "Anytime Smokin' Cigarette" on Remode, and then on Remode 2 another new version different from that one and using an alternate vocal take? Why not just use the alternate vocal take on the original new version and give the other new version's spot to a different song not featured like "Seize the Light" or "Get it on Now"? The main reason I brought up globe again was to talk about what happened next.
In 2017 TK and Marc appeared as globe on a TV show and performed some of their songs, and TK later posted a video to his Instagram of Keiko singing a song he wrote for her to sing to try and practice while she recovered. The band was in serious talks of a reunion until Keiko's family came out and said TK wasn't really there for her like he should have been and has been very neglectful during her recovery process. However in January 2018 it came out that he had cheated on his wife by sleeping with the nurse who came to their home to care for her. Keiko said there was no chance of her and TK reconciling their relationship and TK after this came out he held a conference announcing his retirement. This whole thing was clearly just him trying to lay low and stay out of the public conscious during this drama either on his own terms or at the behest of the president of Avex. Marc said the situation was ugly but they were both his friends and the revelation and their separation changes nothing. His TM Network bandmates vouched for him, and Yoshiki even said that not only did the cheating allegations not change his opinion of Komuro as an artist, but that he also wished to collaborate with Komuro again. However he returned in 2020 writing more songs for Ayumi Hamasaki and other artists signed to Avex. Despite everyone believing his return to be financially motivated, people were just happy to him writing and producing music again.
In 2021 after TK's divorce was finalized, TM Network announced they were reforming. They opened a Youtube channel and broadcast a series of three live no audience concerts performed at a filming set.
The concerts known as "How Do You Crash It?" marked a well received return for the band and the live debut of their new song "How Crash?". The deluxe boxsets for the live show came with a studio version of the new song on CD single, but it was a weirdly unfinished version that despite sounding good had no verses. So let me get this straight, He locks the studio version of the band's brand new huge song behind the pay wall of a limited deluxe boxset, and he edits out Takashi Utsunomiya's vocals during the verses? Why? for what reason? It just makes the studio version sound unfinished despite being a well produced and good song. You can even hear traces of where Utsunomiya's vocals were in the verses because they tried to weirdly edit it out rather than properly make a version without the vocal track. I love "How Crash?", but the studio version having the vocals edited out for no reason makes me upset because Takashi Utsunomiya is one of my favorite vocalists and "How Crash?" is a could be modern classic intentionally handicapped for no clear reason at all, but it gets worse. TK loves making songs about saving the environment and earth, I.E. "We Love the Earth". He aimed to do it again with his next song "Please Heal the World", which he wrote to be the opening song for the band's 2022 Fanks Intelligence Days tour. However he released it as an NFT with each variation having a different monologue by a different band member at the end. Why an NFT? For what reason? I keep seeing Fanks asking if it will get an alternate release or if they can hear it without buying an NFT. These NFTs are 3000 yen each, with a large portion of the money going to charities that help the environment, which is nice, but what is basically 23 dollars US for one song is way too much. To make it worse you are getting ripped off. "How Crash?" at the very least was a full 5 minute studio recording in it's CD single even with the things I complained about. Please Heal the World is a miserable 2:14 that like the studio version of "How Crash?", has the vocals in the verses edited out, the song sounds like it may have been cut or edited down to be shorter, which if so makes it even more scummy. What makes it even worse? "Please Heal the World" is okay at best and not as good as "How Crash?" or anything from the two most recent TM Network albums. Maybe if they gave us a fully finished studio recording that was full length, had Takashi Utsunomiya's full vocals in the verses and everything, as well as being released in a not scummy money grubby format I would get to properly judge the song and maybe change my opinion on it, but oh wait, we don't have one so I can't say. It pisses me off that I went through so much trouble to steal a song/NFT only to find out it was this and people were paying so much for just this one song that was like this, it's not even produced that well and just sounds like a demo. I pray TK actually fixes this, but who knows from this man.
At the end of 2022 TK released a box set exactly 10,000 days after globe debuted and put all of their studio albums there as well as some compilations and other stuff. I don't know if there is any previously unreleased songs on it, but it sparked debate over a globe reunion, Marc said he wants it to happen, Keiko never ruled it out but she is still on hiatus from music, while TK has expressed interest. It's not impossible, but don't hold your breath.
If TK was American he would have a hard time finding work after the fraud thing and then get cancelled and never find good work again when news of the cheating would come out. However cancel culture isn't a thing over there, and TK is still writing hit songs. People love him that much that as long as he keeps giving people what they want they look past his misdeeds, because in all honesty people like TK are easy to separate art from artist. His music is never deeply personal, but usually messages and concepts he finds interesting or wants to use because it fits the mood of whatever song. It can be emotional and powerful, but never anything deeply personal with the exception of some stuff like "You Can Find" and a big part of it is that he is a man who's quality of music also depends on who he is working with. He works with talented people who make his compositions even better, that's just it. His new songs he wrote for Ayumi Hamasaki are bangers, so he still knows how to write good songs, but we can only hope that whatever he does with TM Network he doesn't do anything worse than the "Please Heal the World" NFT situation.
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