Albums
Hamasaki Ayumi - NEXT LEVEL (CD Only) (First Press) - Included small prize
Kanjani8 - Puzzle (2 CD)
Single:
alan - Kuon no Kawa (CD+DVD)
C-ute - Bye Bye Bye (Limited Edition)
alan’s Kuon no Kawa
alan is yet again back, with a new single. The theme song for “Red Cliff II”. This single turned out to be more successful than what most alan fans could hope for, coming as high as 3rd place on the Oricon. Where anywhere in the top 10 would have been fantastic news. Because sadly, alan’s sales has been highly disappointing with all of her previous releases, despite Avex’s various promotions.
There is no doubt that Red Cliff II helped the sales with this single, but the first Red Cliff, didn’t seem to do much for “Red Cliff ~Shin Sen~’s sales, so was not sure what to expect from this single.
The song, Kuon no Kawa, starts out with an interesting instrumental, and then alan’s peaceful voice appears. They keep building up the song, and the first actual chorus doesn’t appear before 1:50.
This is a typical alan song, with “low” verses and “high” choruses. Songs with a orchestra-like instrumental side, very dramatic songs and “The alan wail” is not left out either.
This is one of alan’s best songs, together with Red Cliff, Ashita no Sanka e and Gunjou no Tani.
The B-side of the single is called Chi Bi ~Da Jiang Dong Qu~ and is the Chinese version of Kuon no Kawa. And has also previously been floating around the internet, because the release of Kuon no Kawa.
The only thing this single is missing is an original B-side.
Rating: 8.9/10
C-ute’s Bye Bye Bye.
Well… not Bye Bye Bye in that way. I think a lot of people are reminded of the older popular song, Bye Bye Bye, by N*Sync.
Bye Bye Bye is a upbeat song and C-ute seems to keep their more mature streak. It also seems like the producers of the A-side, has played around with computers and electronic equipment, even more than usual. Since Bye Bye Bye presents us with, not only the C-ute members’ voices, but a more electronic voice as well. And then there’s also some random electronic noises various places throughout the song. Which I personally find a bit annoying, since those noises sounds like a person was playing Tetris or some other old-fashioned arcade game in the recording studio. They’re too random and they interfere too much with the words in the verses. The chorus, which of course gives us a lot of “Bye Bye bye’s” is a bit too average and predictable. It’s the type of song I get bored with way to easily, not that I even like it much after the first listens. The song also carries a 80’s kind of feel, which isn’t my thing either. But I do give Up-front credit for trying out something new, unfortunately this has become one of my least favourite C-ute songs, together with Namida Iro.
The B-side is named “Go Go Go” (They’ve been very creative I must say). This is a little less upbeat than the A-side. It’s a very typical Hello! Project B-side, very poppy, happy and average. Which overall makes this single too average in my opinion, compared to some of C-ute’s other singles.
Rating: 5/10
Hamasaki Ayumi brings us to the “NEXT LEVEL”
Hamasaki Ayumi’s newest album has arrived! Hamasaki was one the first J-pop artists I really liked, unfortunately my CD collection shows no signs of this. Mostly because that when I first got into J-pop I was not able to buy things on the internet. So when I finally got able to do that in 2007, I’ve gotten so many other favourite artists to support. And then I’ve not been too supportive when it comes to buying her singles.
So this is what I have…
My small Hamasaki Ayumi collection.
When I first saw the covers for NEXT LEVEL, I really disliked them, but now I actually think the CD-only cover is rather pretty. Except for the first press green sleeve. (I really dislike the colour green)
01. Bridge to the sky
- What I’ve always loved about Ayumi’s music, is the way she creates a certain atmosphere with her music. With interesting and unique instrumentals, intros and interludes. This intro is 1:43 minutes long and has a few vocals included.
02. NEXT LEVEL
- A nice song, which keeps the same pace all way through. It’s not a song I remember or which gets stuck in my head though, unfortunately. 7/10
03. Disco-munication
- Ayumi really seems to like word puns and plays. This is a kind of interlude, lasting only 1:32 minutes and giving us only an instrumental. It’s interesting though.
04. EnergizE
- I really like the unique intro to this song, like I said I really like the way instrumental sides are used in Ayumi’s songs. This song has a nice beat and has changing paces. And it also has a catchy-effect to it, with the ”Put your hands up together, Keep your hands up together, let me sing forever…” 7/10
05. Sparkle
- I really like this song. The 2nd A-side on Ayumi’s latest single. At first we have a low toned verse and then comes the powerful 2nd verse, which has an awesome beat to it. Then comes another verse, yet again in a more peaceful tone/rhythm, leading us to the upbeat, catchy and powerful chorus. I’ve heard this song over and over again. I just love it. 10/10
06. rollin'
- Around the first minute of this song is pure instrumental, then Ayumi’s electronic voice appears and then the chorus appears and Ayumi’s normal voice returns. After the chorus the electronic voice is back and it goes back and forth like that. The song is nice, not great though and far from memorable. 6/10
07. GREEN
- Another double song from a double A-side single. I love the traditional Asian feel to the intro. The verses are more slow paced, and then there’s a more upbeat chorus. Once again a very nice song, and Ayumi once again brings a ”power feel” to the chorus. Like it’s building up… 8/10
08. Load of the SHUGYO
- Another 1:32 interlude. Once again reminding us of Ayumi’s musical creativeness.
09. Identity
- Great instrumental intro once again. It gives us an idea of a peaceful song, but then shortly after it changes, giving us a far more rock’ish feel. This another ”power” song and has an element to it, that makes it memorable. 8.5/10
10. Rule
- Her latest single. (double A-side) The theme song for Dragon Ball Evolution. I love the ”power” feeling to this song. (I really need new words) Again Ayumi tries out an electronic voice, only for short periods of time though. This is also a catchy song, I like Sparkle better of the two, though. 8.5/10
11. LOVE'n'HATE
- Powerful intro. This is the kind of intro, that really makes me eager to hear the rest of the song. Once again I must praise Ayumi (and her producers) for their use of the instrumental side. That’s what really makes Ayumi unique and makes her the queen. This instrumental has a mix of traditional instruments (like violins or something like that) and more modern instruments (like electric guitar). The instrumental side itself of this song is awesome. The overall song really good as well, it’s a typical Ayumi song though - nothing new. But since I love Ayumi, this shouldn’t be a negative thing. After listening to this song I’m left with a feeling of: ”That was a good and interesting song”, but I can’t seem to remember it in some way. 9/10
12. Pieces of SEVEN
- Another word pun? This is another interlude. A longer one though (2:31). It’s interesting though, because the genre/mode of the song, changes. It starts out with being peaceful, slow paced, dreamy and a bit electronic and in the end it’s become ”louder”, fast paced, and very rock’ish.
13. Days
- A single song. After the heavy end to Pieces of SEVEN, the intro to Days feels extra relaxing. This a good Ayumi slow song. What I like the most (again) is the instrumental side of the song, which I find peaceful and very enjoyable. Even though it’s a slow song, listening to this song gives me a ”happy” and ”assuring” feeling. A kind of ”everything is going to be alright” feeling. 9/10
14. Curtain call
- Peaceful, piano intro. This song has a short intro, which is more rare for Ayumi’s songs. This song has an acoustic feeling, since the only thing to accompany Ayumi’s voice is the piano. No guitar, no computer generated mixes or things like that. Just Ayumi and the piano. Except for the ending, where a choir is added to ”support” Ayumi.. This song is very beautiful ballad-like song. This is one of the songs I’ve heard the most on this album (together with sparkle). Like Days, this song has an ”assuring” feeling to it. It makes me happy and makes me relaxed. The choir near the end matches the song perfect, making it strong and memorable. And after being backed up by the choir, Ayumi’s voice is once again alone and then she ”closes” off the song and the album. 10/10.
Overall album rating: 8.3/10
Kanjani8 - PUZZLE
I must admit, I haven’t had the time to listen to this album, yet. I’ve only one album song, which is Nishikido’s solo song, ”Half down”. Which is a bit obvious why I heard that song. (Nishikido being my favourite Johnny’s and all). This is my first Kanjani8 album purchase and I wasn’t sure whether to buy it or not. But, I found their sings Wahaha and Musekinin Hero to be very good and thought this album would be worth the try (and then.. There’s Nishikido, I have to support him). I decided to buy the regular version, because I wanted to extra CD with solo songs, more than the DVD with unit music videos (Nishikido solo song wins beats Nishikido’s 3-person unit). And then… the 2 CD edition was cheaper. I’m really into saving money in the moment.
I like the design of the CD. (From what I can see, since I haven’t opened it) It’s a bit thicker than a normal cd case and then there’s a puzzle-like sleeve cover.
Design of the CD gets: 9.5/10 (the cover is a bit boring). The singles of the album gets: 9/10 and Nishikido’s solo song gets: 9/10 (yes, I’m a bit biased.)
