If Overdose was Konishi's tribute to New York, or the New York of his mind, Romantique 96 is his version of France, a France of the '60s (of course), of Michel Legrand, Serge Gainsbourg, Jean-Luc Godard, and Last Year in Marienbad.
The music on the album may detour from that path (the rap on "Icecream Meltin' Mellow" or the bizarre Plastics cover "Good,") but a majority of the tracks are some of the lushest orchestrations since Couples.
Singer Maki Nomiya makes good as a chanteuse on "The Awakening," "Triste," and the trés romantique "Tokyo, Mon Amour." There's also a touch of melancholia in the lyrics and the melodies are more pronounced here than on other recent albums.
The album's other notable track is "Flying High," which marks the major label debut of Fantastic Plastic Machine, who, according to Konishi, rented the track space out like one would rent a room in an apartment.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PotpourriKonishi Yasuharu | Pizzicato Five | Play | 01:29 | 3 MB | 7 MB |
| 2 | Romantique 96Konishi Yasuharu | Pizzicato Five | Play | 00:36 | 1 MB | 3 MB |
| 3 | Icecream Meltin' MellowKonishi Yasuharu | Pizzicato Five | Play | 06:38 | 15 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | The Sound of MusicKonishi Yasuharu | Pizzicato Five | Play | 04:09 | 9 MB | 30 MB |
| 5 | ContactSerge Gainsbourg, Konishi Yasuharu | Pizzicato Five | Play | 04:22 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 6 | CatwalkKonishi Yasuharu | Pizzicato Five | Play | 05:02 | 11 MB | 35 MB |
| 7 | Good | Pizzicato Five | Play | 03:59 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 8 | Tokyo, Mon AmourKonishi Yasuharu | Pizzicato Five | Play | 05:51 | 13 MB | 36 MB |
| 9 | CodaKonishi Yasuharu | Pizzicato Five | Play | 00:38 | 1 MB | 0 MB |
| 10 | Mezame | Pizzicato Five | Play | 02:34 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 11 | Sekai de Ichiban Funky na Band | Pizzicato Five | Play | 05:45 | 13 MB | 0 MB |
| 12 | Jet-ki no House | Pizzicato Five | Play | 05:07 | 11 MB | 32 MB |
| 13 | Sangatsu Umare | Pizzicato Five | Play | 02:55 | 6 MB | 18 MB |
| 14 | Himitsu no Hanazono | Pizzicato Five | Play | 06:12 | 14 MB | 41 MB |
| 15 | Hensoukyoku | Pizzicato Five | Play | 00:20 | 0 MB | 1 MB |
| 16 | Kanashii Uta | Pizzicato Five | Play | 04:51 | 11 MB | 34 MB |
| 60 mins | 140 MB | |||||
| 40 mins | 272 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Won Allen | Assistant Engineer |
| 2 | Steven Barkan | Engineer |
| 3 | Yukihiro Fukutomi | Equipment Coordinator |
| 4 | Serge Gainsbourg | Composer |
| 5 | Maki Nomiya | Stylist |
| 6 | Yuko Ohishi | Design |
| 7 | Hirose Osamu | Engineer |
| 8 | Pizzicato Five | Primary Artist |
| 9 | Seiko Sakuragi | Post Producer |
| 10 | Mitsuo Shindo | Art Direction, Photography |
| 11 | Masanobu Sugatsuke | Executive Producer |
| 12 | Akihiko Takenaka | Engineer |
| 13 | Tom Toeda | Management |
| 14 | Junko Tomita | Post Producer |
| 15 | Kikou Uehara | Engineer |
| 16 | Hiroko Umeyama | Stylist |
| 17 | Andy VanDette | Mastering |
| 18 | Howie Weinberg | Mastering |
| 19 | Tatsuyuki Yamanaka | Make-Up |
| 20 | Konishi Yasuharu | Composer, Mastering |
| 21 | Shuji Yoshida | Assistant Engineer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |