Uta Doki! - Pop Classics Vol.3

Uta Doki! Pop Classics Vol. 3 is almost as good as Vol. 4, which I've also reviewed here. There's one great song after another, one great performer after another. The best thing here is the presence of Maki Goto doing five songs, all of them winners, including a cover of Momoe Yamaguchi's "Playback, Pt. 2." The next best is Aya Matsuura doing three songs, including rocking out with an Ann Lewis cover. The weekly themes covered in this volume are: Growing Up, Young Blood, Anime, Rock, and Farewell. Highlights include Melon Kinenbi doing the Galaxy Express 999 theme song, Mai Satoda and Atsuko Inaba doing the Sailor Moon song, Mari Yaguchi doing the title song from Nausicaa, Mari and Kei Yasuda having a blast with "Y.M.C.A.," Mai doing a rock song, "Train Train," and Nacchi and Tsunku teaming up for a very nice duet. Tsunku's bandmates, Taisei, Hatake, and Makoto provide live music in several numbers and have a great time. Also featured are Yuko Nakazawa, Kaori Iida, Ayaka Kimura, Yuki Maeda, Miki Hirayama, Akira Inaba and, in a duet with Maki, Gen Takayama. Does it get better than this? Well yeah, but not very often.