by Ted Mills
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.