TM Network
Album Pictures

TK's Music Search page has been taken down. I should've taken more of the Japanese lyrics from Music Search when I had a chance. Ah well. There's also a list of TM Network's discography on TM Next in Hype, listed under Release. But do check out the rest of Hype because it has a lot of good information, all in English! I might put a discography section here later. I didn't want to orignally because I become frustrated when that's the only thing I can find on a webpage about TM Network. We'll see. Their newest songs used to be available for download on Song Express Era, but it seems the time for such a thing has passed. Go buy the albums if you can!

Sony's discography page is the best for them because it also lists their solo work and has lots of pictures, big ones. Check out the Sony Music Entertainment page for TM Network!

And yes, I've now made a very plain, simple page for English-only fans of their lyrics so that we can have a hint at what TM Network sings about. When I read it, I was very moved. They know what they're doing, and age has only made them more sensitive to our plights. They aren't spoiled by wealth and fame. And age has made them capable of singing songs that so deep that I wonder how I could do without their lyrics before. Makes sure to check out Timemachine because that's what TM in TM Network officially stands for. It was the very last song they sang at the close of the TMN project in 1994. At the 4001 Days Groove, for their encore on the last day (5.19), Utsu announced the song, Timemachine. That was the first time anyone had ever heard the song. It hadn't been released as a single or on any albums before that moment.

Here are some pictures of them in their youth:

These some pictures from the CD jacket and TM Network books that corresponds with the album names. They come from this cool TMN site.

TK also made some comments about these albums, and translations of the comments about Childhood's End are here. They're interesting because I didn't realize that they were naming it after Arthur C. Clarke's book. I suppose I should've begun to guess when I heard about the new Rendez-vous in Space 2001 concert that will be held with the new year. Childhood's End huh?

And here are there more recent pictures:

This is but a very small sampling of the works they've done. Their hits and singles have been compiled on many occasions, the most recent being Time Capsule in 1996, Star Box in 1999 (listed under TM Network and TMN, different Star Boxes), and Best Tracks in 2000. Their original albums have also been rereleased for half the original price.

Naturally, they've also done videos. They were among the first of Japan's visual bands. TM Network put weight on their visuals from the time of their debut. They even employed an exclusive stylist and exclusive makeup artist, something that is accepted as the norm today but was a hard concept to grasp in those days. These pictures are from one of their Fanks Live collection. I like the way they share the spotlight.

I've finally seen the DVD releases of the 1994 videos of TMN's Final Live Last Groove (4001 Days Groove, the two day concert on May 18 and 19 of 1994) and Decade (a documentary of the ten glorious years of TM Network/TMN). Decade is wonderful because it is a walk through history as well as TMN. The TM members all look silly in the early clips, but it doesn't take away from the pleasantness of such songs as Friday's Lion and 1974. My favorites are Come on Let's Dance (very cool), Get Wild (Kine circling Utsu to avoid TK's camera), and Come on Everybody (Utsu's dancing in one take). The Last Groove is nice because you don't have to put up with some of their not so great costumes (shoelaces in Self Control). They wore nice silk suits. And the surprise of that concert was seeing Daisuke Asakura play a very prominent part in the three Carol songs. He looked so young and cute! Info is available at Rojam. I've scanned in the pics from the CD jacket of the 4001 Days Groove, so go check it out! Be warned though, the pics are big.

Let's line up their most recent work. Because they've restarted, the only way to make them big again is for us to support them!

This is Get Wild Decade Run. It is a techno version of Get Wild, and there's an excellent video clip of it linked to the picture. The video clip is highly conceptual and very cool. I even had to look up the meaning of "ungulatory" just to be sure it meant what I thought it meant (of or relating to wave).

This is 10 Years After, one of my personal favorites. It is a song that could only have been done by TM Network. They have the years of experience to really bring out the feeling of ten years. Before I said I didn't know what they were singing about but still liked the song. That's changed now. I can see why they said "these four lines sum up their friendship." They were referring to the line about strong support always passes momentarily and passes. I'm going to stare at the lyrics and try to retranslate them at some point. Ten Years After is impressive because Utsu does something to his voice that only he can do well. It's the part where, in the video, they show a close-up of Utsu's face. What a voice! TK had to have written the song with Utsu in mind. How else would he have known that the main vocalist could manipulate his voice like that? And only Utsu, by understanding TK, could have brought this song to its full potential. Again, there's a video clip available. It's hard to get any TM Network stuff here in the USA just because they aren't one of the top ten right now, but I did come across 10 Years After and bought it. I'm pleased. I had the mp3 and knew it was a good song. Actually, all their recent singles have been good, even better than the old stuff perhaps. Anyway, there was an ad for TMN keychains. I'm so jealous!

TM Network hit it big when they sang one of the ending songs for City Hunter, Get Wild. It's an amazing song, and the English lyrics do make it an even cooler song. "It's your pain or my pain or somebody's pain" as well as "It's your dream or my dream or somebody's dream" really stand out, but of course, there's also "Get wild and tough!" The best part about the video clip for this one is that TM members are simply hanging out in Hong Kong. They're just being friends. They aren't begging for fans by doing strange things, but that's probably because they're already famous. Still, I have a hang up about friendship, and they exemplify great friends! This clip is actually drawn from their younger days and the full version is available in TMN Decade.

I really should have links related to Happiness x3 Loneliness x3, but for a while, it was the only song I could find, so I slightly resented it and didn't keep track of where I picked things up. Also, Utsu wasn't the only singer, and I felt that it was bogged down by the other singers. Maybe I just love Utsu's voice too much. When it's not him, the happiness and loneliness refrain sounds repetitive. At the same time, this was before I really got into TM Network, so I suppose it was a good enough start to lure me in, just not good enough to convince me that TM Network was the best band out there. But as I said before, I appreciated this song a lot more when I learned that TK wrote it as an anti-drug campaign theme song and wrote it with while keeping in mind the sensitivity of teens to such emotions. He says he feels a great sadness from today's youth. In such circumstances, it's so easy to turn to drugs. Instead, he'd like to substitute music as a kind of comfort for us. I have a quicktime video clip of it, but I don't remember where I found it. The lyrics for Happiness x3 Loneliness x3 can be found on Japan Lyrics.

I did watch for the TM member birthdays (well, missed Kine's since I got into TMN on October 9) and downloaded the full version samples from Rojam's Song Express Era. Song Express is, unfortunately, no longer allowing for the free downloads. But let's face it. Most of you are going to download from napster anyway. I hope by listening to the song you become encouraged to buy the real thing, if you can. (It's hard because of the special release through Rojam and two particular stores.) I know a lot more about the songs than I did before thanks to the info put up in the Major Turn-Round concert page. By the way, there's also video clips of them from the concert up on the page.

This is Message. I don't know how to describe the song, but there are times when it really moves me. There are lines in English as simple as "your smile" that makes me feel a yearning to be hugged. That's quite impressive since I'm not the hugging type. The refrain is great: "Everything you see is a message." It's not as strong as 10 Years After in terms of lyrics, but it's still a great song.

Then there's Ignition, Sequence, Start. It's a peppy song, and I love the tune. It's ranked up there as one of my favorites, though that's harder to say now that I've read the lyrics and fallen for almost all of their new songs. One memorable line is "We are ready to fight because you are." From TM Next: "IGNITION, SEQUENCE, START" has been appointed the ending theme of Yomiuri TV/NTV networks' "Docchi no Ryori Show" which will air nationally from Jan. 4, 2001.

We are Starting Over is a song written by Kine. He was moved to tears when TK asked him to write this song because this was the real restart of TM Network. There had been talk about their restart for years, even as far back as 1996, when they got together to make Detour. After learning this, I came to appreciate the song that much more. It goes best with Timemachine, in the same way that the lyrics of Message were meant to go along with Nights of the Knife. From TM Next: Kine's song "WE ARE STARTING OVER," released Nov. 27, has been appointed the commercial song for Circle K Yohu Bentos. The TV ads ran for six days only, Dec. 26-31.

Major Turn-Round is their newest album. It's a concept album. I didn't like the sample at first, but it's really grown on me now. I think it's because I had a hard time believing that Utsu was the singer and resented the long instrumental parts. The instrumental parts don't detract from the song. It was just the initial reaction from an impatient fan who really wanted to hear what Utsu did with his voice this time. TM Network's first concert tour since restarting is centered around Major Turn-Round, and for this reason, they have a website up in Aux specifically for Major Turn-Round. It includes the TM members talking about the song and the tour to come, but as I don't understand Japanese, I can't give you more info than that. There's ordering info on Spin. I hope it's well-accepted because I hear Globe's concept album resulted in low sales. It's kind of sad, but at the same time, great works don't always mean great sales. In my mind, TK's concept albums prove that he's a real musician, not just a man in show business. By the way, it also includes their single releases of this year: Message, Ignition, Sequence, Start, and We are Starting Over. So it should be worth its price! There's now an in-depth analysis of the album. For a while there were samples from the album too. Check out the tour goods. I've already chosen my preferred t-shirt, but I guess I'll never get a hold of it.

I've gotten all of the songs in mp3 now. I would gladly buy the album if I could, but I can't. I've tried. I've tried so hard. ;_; And now there's a MTR concert book out, and I'm not going to be able to order that either. But for the two songs that were not released as singles, don't underestimate them. When I read about Pale Shelter, I was already drawn in. It's about being lost, essentially, not being able to fit in anywhere. I heard it. It's perfect for the feel they're trying to convey. As for Cube, it's a genius work by Kine that studio engineers still rave about. That meant nothing to me until I heard the song. I don't know how someone like Kine, a successful musician, can know about cubicle life, but when there's lyrics like "I don't care what's going on" and "empty cube," one cannot help but to think about cubicle life. It scares me that even someone as happy as Kine can sense the despair that is running rampant among today's people, not just youth. But it moves me too because. I do feel comforted knowing that TM Network is with me.

This is the newest single that probably doesn't even belong in this section because it's not officially TM Network. It's billed as a Takashi Utsunomiya single. But it's good either way. Running to Horizon is one of TK's singles from a long time ago, and Utsu brings something new to it just with his unique voice. It's coupled with Hundred Nights, Hundred Stories. What a title! I love it. But I heard the sample of the song, and the song itself sounds good too, not just the title. Again, it's special released under Rojam.com, so I don't think it'll show up on the charts, but it's worth supporting.

Utus has come out with another single, Love-Ice. It's coupled with Rhythm of Love, which is composed by DA. He has a concert tour in October and November, and hopefully, in December, TM Network will have a single out too. Kine has also come out with a minialbum. All of these are available from Rojam's Popshop.

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