DOB "DOB MEETS EUROPE" (1996)

'Dob Meets Europe', 7" single, front cover

'Dob Meets Europe', 7" single, back cover

Dob, originally called Date of Birth, were formed in 1984 by the three brothers Shigeto in Fukuoka, a small town in the south of Japan; most of their musical output was released by Kitty Records.

They were very successful in their native Country: in 1992 their single "You Are My Secret", the theme song from the classic Japanese TV drama "あなただけ見えない" (Only You Can't See It), sold the unbelievable amount of 400.000 copies.

According to the liner notes of "Sushi 3003", Dob "are not just a band, they are a family obsessed with music as much as they are with graphics"... "La Lu La Roo", their album released by Bungalow in 1996, came as a Enhanced CD with an interactive track for Macintosh users.

The visual side of Dob was also widely explored on "Planet Dob", their own game for the Sony Playstation released in late 1999.

'Dob Meets Europe', CD Single, booklet (outer side)

'Dob Meets Europe', CD Single, booklet (inner side)

It seems like Dob ceased to exist sometimes in the early '00s, traces of their beautiful website are still around courtesy of the Internet Wayback Machine... Here's the full list of the band members:

Isao Shigeto: guitars, keyboards, composing, computer programming, engineering, etc.

Susumu Shigeto: drums, composing, lyrics, computer programming, engineering, etc.

Ken-1 (Kenichi Shigeto): computer programming, art, visuals, etc.

Norico: voice, lyrics

A rare picture of Dob, circa mid '90s

"Dob Meets Europe" was released in 1996, the CD Single version contains the following tracks:

01. Au Revoir (5:12)
02. Waxx (4:10)
03. Mold (5:21)

All tracks are available in FLAC lossless format or high-quality 320 Kbps MP3 files; both formats include scans of the complete original artworks.

Please have a look at the comments for the download links.

   

'Dob Meets Europe', 7" single, Side A and Side B

'Dob Meets Europe', CD Single, Disc

The three tracks that appear on "Dob Meets Europe" were meant to be an anticipation of their "La Lo La Roo" album, which was released by Bungalow just a few months later.

The opening "Au revoir" is also the opening track of the album, while "Waxx" is nothing more than a remixed version of "Wax".

Being a completely different version of "Au revoir" - offering English lyrics and a more relaxed mood - "Mold" is by far the most interesting number included on this release and surely my favourite. The song appears only on the CD Single version and is omitted from the 7" vinyl.

The following videos offer a preview of the single, enjoy "Mold" and "Waxx"!

More information about Dob is available here:

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

http://web.archive.org/web/19990221062919/...

http://date-of-birth.blogspot.com

http://www.geocities.jp/soundtracks1111/artists_dateofbirth.html

http://ks23364.kimsufi.com/psxdata/databasepsx/games/J/P/SLPS-02111.html

If you have any other useful information concerning this post, or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!