Post by molotov889 on Mar 3, 2006 2:29:21 GMT -5
Nobuchika Eri- nobuchikaeri[/u]
This album, in some sense, represents Mondo Grosso (Shinichi Osawa’s) attempt to produce a solo female artist star. All of the music on this album is written, and for the most part played, by Osawa himself. There’s no doubt that if you are already familiar with his works, then you will recognize his touch on this album. However, this album is not supposed to be about Osawa’s work as much as it should be about Eri’s voice. And this, I believe, it accomplished very well. There are definitely tracks on here that get you moving, but they all only do this to get the listener more deeply caught up in Eri’s voice. Overall, the feeling of this album is quite subdued. It has a pop sense about it, but it’s behind a veil of a sense of surrealism. This feeling is created entirely out of the unique synergy between Osawa’s music and Eri’s voice. What is absolutely wonderful about this album, though, is that there is not a single bad track, or a single track that you will not remember or feel was unremarkable. The amount of time and effort that was involved in creating this album is very apparent in this way. As for Eri’s voice, it is, at times, quite smoky, and yet she manages a fairly natural tone throughout the majority of her songs. There is an absolutely intense and quite impressive moment on the track Voice where she reaches and maintains quite a high note in the midst of an accelerating bridge. I don’t think there really is anyone who wouldn’t like something about this album, and I highly recommend it. Favorite tracks were Sing A Song, Inner Glow, Voice, and Yume No Kakera.
TRF- Life E-motions[/u]
After absolutely hating my last TRF purchase, I was a little scared to go ahead and take a chance on this one. But I figured that this album represents an historic moment in J-pop history and that it was worth giving TRF another chance. I am glad I did because they have certainly improved their sound; it’s much cleaner, more mature, and with much better production value, than their previous work I’ve heard. In addition, they seem to have gotten over some of their English troubles they were having before. With Loop #1999, I felt that they were stretching too hard to have a full “world” sound, but this time they just concentrated on what they do best: creating catchy pop tunes with great dance beats. In addition, this album comes with one killer bonus disc. The tribute album that is included is just as good as the original album, and just as good as other compilation albums I’ve purchased before. Having two discs of such great quality in one package really makes this a great value set. On the original album, favorites were Everlastings (a track with just the right touch of trance to give it some depth), Where To Begin, Precious, and Signal Theta, an instrumental track. I was also happy to see One Nation, the song featured on the Song+Nation album, on this album as well, but I was sort of hoping it would be a new version. However, for those who have never heard this song, it will be great to have it on this album. It’s simply an awesome trance track, written by TK and DJ Dragon (basically GABALL), which pretty much guarantees it will be something unlike any other song you’ve heard. On the tribute album, the songs that really shine are Keiko’s trance/house version of EZ Do Dance, Silver and Gold Dance covered by TM Revolution, BoA’s ultra-bouncy version of Survival Dance, and AAA’s version of Crazy Gonna Crazy.
Gaball- Shiawase No Hyogen[/u]
This single was the last release made by Gaball. (I’m not sure they ever officially split up, but they haven’t made music in a while). It’s almost a shame that this song was put on a single, because it would have fit really well on Gaball’s album, Represent_01, especially as a complement to the track Wind Of You. That aside, this song is a very soothing, almost ethereal trance track. This is what makes it much like Wind Of You, and is the reason these two songs have become my favorite tracks by GABALL. Being a single, of course, there are a few extra versions included here. I think the original (feat. Joanne) is the best, but I also liked the version featuring Erika because it took on more of a house beat which was a nice feel for the vocals. The version with Dragon is alright, but it doesn’t stand out very much from the Joanne version, and is actually not as good in my opinion, so I almost rather not have it included on this release.
BoA-Outgrow[/u]
It’s been quite a while since BoA’s made a full album release in Japanese, and I believe the wait has been worth it. Although there aren’t really any songs on this new album that I would say were able to move me the way that some of the ones on Valenti did (Kiseki, for example), I still think that BoA did a very fine job in singing all of the tracks on this album. In contrast to Valenti, this album seems to be a little bit more experimental for BoA, as she sings to a little bit wider variety of musical styles backing her up. Perhaps this is the meaning behind the name of the album. For example, the track Do The Motion is a nice easy listening, slightly jazzy track, while two songs later, the title track Outgrow sounds like something you really wouldn’t be surprised if you heard Britney Spears singing. (Incidentally, this may be my favorite song on the album, something which makes me think I may be losing my mind =P.) Anyway, I like this broadening of her styles that BoA has been attempting lately, as I believe she is strengthening her skill in the process. Of course, she is a bit older now, but she seems to have gained a good deal of maturity in her ability to express herself with her voice by this point. Favorite tracks were Silent Screamerz, Outgrow, Cosmic Eyes, Love Is Just What You Can’t See, and Soundscape.
This album, in some sense, represents Mondo Grosso (Shinichi Osawa’s) attempt to produce a solo female artist star. All of the music on this album is written, and for the most part played, by Osawa himself. There’s no doubt that if you are already familiar with his works, then you will recognize his touch on this album. However, this album is not supposed to be about Osawa’s work as much as it should be about Eri’s voice. And this, I believe, it accomplished very well. There are definitely tracks on here that get you moving, but they all only do this to get the listener more deeply caught up in Eri’s voice. Overall, the feeling of this album is quite subdued. It has a pop sense about it, but it’s behind a veil of a sense of surrealism. This feeling is created entirely out of the unique synergy between Osawa’s music and Eri’s voice. What is absolutely wonderful about this album, though, is that there is not a single bad track, or a single track that you will not remember or feel was unremarkable. The amount of time and effort that was involved in creating this album is very apparent in this way. As for Eri’s voice, it is, at times, quite smoky, and yet she manages a fairly natural tone throughout the majority of her songs. There is an absolutely intense and quite impressive moment on the track Voice where she reaches and maintains quite a high note in the midst of an accelerating bridge. I don’t think there really is anyone who wouldn’t like something about this album, and I highly recommend it. Favorite tracks were Sing A Song, Inner Glow, Voice, and Yume No Kakera.
TRF- Life E-motions[/u]
After absolutely hating my last TRF purchase, I was a little scared to go ahead and take a chance on this one. But I figured that this album represents an historic moment in J-pop history and that it was worth giving TRF another chance. I am glad I did because they have certainly improved their sound; it’s much cleaner, more mature, and with much better production value, than their previous work I’ve heard. In addition, they seem to have gotten over some of their English troubles they were having before. With Loop #1999, I felt that they were stretching too hard to have a full “world” sound, but this time they just concentrated on what they do best: creating catchy pop tunes with great dance beats. In addition, this album comes with one killer bonus disc. The tribute album that is included is just as good as the original album, and just as good as other compilation albums I’ve purchased before. Having two discs of such great quality in one package really makes this a great value set. On the original album, favorites were Everlastings (a track with just the right touch of trance to give it some depth), Where To Begin, Precious, and Signal Theta, an instrumental track. I was also happy to see One Nation, the song featured on the Song+Nation album, on this album as well, but I was sort of hoping it would be a new version. However, for those who have never heard this song, it will be great to have it on this album. It’s simply an awesome trance track, written by TK and DJ Dragon (basically GABALL), which pretty much guarantees it will be something unlike any other song you’ve heard. On the tribute album, the songs that really shine are Keiko’s trance/house version of EZ Do Dance, Silver and Gold Dance covered by TM Revolution, BoA’s ultra-bouncy version of Survival Dance, and AAA’s version of Crazy Gonna Crazy.
Gaball- Shiawase No Hyogen[/u]
This single was the last release made by Gaball. (I’m not sure they ever officially split up, but they haven’t made music in a while). It’s almost a shame that this song was put on a single, because it would have fit really well on Gaball’s album, Represent_01, especially as a complement to the track Wind Of You. That aside, this song is a very soothing, almost ethereal trance track. This is what makes it much like Wind Of You, and is the reason these two songs have become my favorite tracks by GABALL. Being a single, of course, there are a few extra versions included here. I think the original (feat. Joanne) is the best, but I also liked the version featuring Erika because it took on more of a house beat which was a nice feel for the vocals. The version with Dragon is alright, but it doesn’t stand out very much from the Joanne version, and is actually not as good in my opinion, so I almost rather not have it included on this release.
BoA-Outgrow[/u]
It’s been quite a while since BoA’s made a full album release in Japanese, and I believe the wait has been worth it. Although there aren’t really any songs on this new album that I would say were able to move me the way that some of the ones on Valenti did (Kiseki, for example), I still think that BoA did a very fine job in singing all of the tracks on this album. In contrast to Valenti, this album seems to be a little bit more experimental for BoA, as she sings to a little bit wider variety of musical styles backing her up. Perhaps this is the meaning behind the name of the album. For example, the track Do The Motion is a nice easy listening, slightly jazzy track, while two songs later, the title track Outgrow sounds like something you really wouldn’t be surprised if you heard Britney Spears singing. (Incidentally, this may be my favorite song on the album, something which makes me think I may be losing my mind =P.) Anyway, I like this broadening of her styles that BoA has been attempting lately, as I believe she is strengthening her skill in the process. Of course, she is a bit older now, but she seems to have gained a good deal of maturity in her ability to express herself with her voice by this point. Favorite tracks were Silent Screamerz, Outgrow, Cosmic Eyes, Love Is Just What You Can’t See, and Soundscape.
