:+: No Music No Life :+:

Sunday, March 23, 2008

CD Review :: Utada Hikaru - HEART STATION

Tracklist :

1) Fight The Blues
2) HEART STATION
3) Beautiful World
4) Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-
5) Stay Gold
6) Kiss & Cry
7) Gentle Beast Interlude
8) Celebrate
9) Prisoner Of Love
10) Take 5
11) Boku wa Kuma (I'm a Bear)
12) Niji-iro Bus (Rainbow Colored Bus)
13) Flavor Of Life (Bonus Track)

HEART STATION is Utada Hikaru's 5th Japanese album & her 7th overall album . The album was released in Japan last Wed on the 19th & is Utada's 1st Japanese album since 2006's ULTRA BLUE .

Prior to the release of HEART STATION , 4 singles were released from the album in which 2 singles are double A sides & the titles are highlighted in bold .

The album start things off with a new song titled Fight The Blues which's quite a decent opening track . I noticed it's not as strong as ULTRA BLUE's This Is Love but Fight The Blues's good for my liking .

The next 5 tracks on the album are songs that Utada has released prior to the announcement of HEART STATION . Track 2 has the same title as the album & it's 1/2 of Utada's 20th double A side single .

I did not like HEART STATION when I 1st heard it because I heard the other A side Stay Gold long before both songs were announced to be released as singles from the album . Maybe because of this , in the beginning , I liked Stay Gold more than HEART STATION & perceived the former as a weaker A side but now HEART STATION has begin to grow on me .

Next in line's 1/2 of Utada's 19th double A side single , Beautiful World . Beautiful World is a very nice piece of work & I like the fact that Utada's voice flows in synch/well with the melody . In fact I took an instant liking to Beautiful World when it was 1st released alongside with Kiss & Cry .

Track 4's no doubt 1 of Utada's most successful single in recent years in the form of her 18th single Flavor Of Life . The original Flavor Of Life was not released as a single . Instead the ballad version was released & the reason/s as to why Flavor Of Life accomplished a lot of success for Utada is because the ballad version was featured as the insert song for the popular dodrama Hana Yori Dango 2 .

If that tiny piece of news doesn't convince you on how Flavor Of Life's that good , consider the statistics of the song , be it physical singles sales & download units wise .

Flavor Of Life is ranked as the best-selling ringtone of all time in Japan , eventually recording 5.580 million downloads in sales by the end of March 2007 & in 2008 , reports placed Flavor of Life as the #2 downloaded song of 2007 in the world .

Physical singles sales wise , it sold a reported total of 644,259 copies, making it the #2 single of 2007 . If that doesn't convince you how good the song's , then I don't know what else I can say to win you over .

Personally to me when I 1st heard the ballad version of Flavor Of Life , I only find it a-ok only as there're other ballads from Utada that're much much better but now I can see why the single's so successful .

Track 5's the other 1/2 of Utada's 20th double A side single , Stay Gold . Stay Gold was used last year in the ASIENCE shampoo/conditioner ad . That was my 1st contact with the song .

There was only a 30 secs snippet when the song was 1st used in the ad & naturally I wanted to hear more of it & when I finally got the chance , I wasn't disappointed with it .

The melody is just gorgeous & 1 of the most beautiful melodies I've heard in recent times . It's unfortunate there wasn't a PV that accompanied the song . I think the video will look great .

Next in line's the other 1/2 of Utada's 19th double A side single , Kiss & Cry . Kiss & Cry was used in the Nissin Cup Noodle FREEDOM CM & the song features a sample of Hotel Lobby , a song that can be found on Utada's english album EXODUS .

Kiss & Cry did not sit well with me initally when I 1st heard it as it sounded a bit weird & outta place but now it's a grower on me .

Track 7's the only interlude on the album titled Gentle Beast Interlude . The interlude sounds like a mix mash of the 1st 1/2 of the album to me . Not sure if it's good or bad thing but it's good to see an interlude in the middle of the album . At least it's not placed before the album's about to end & etc .

The next 3 tracks are new songs that were not released as singles . Celebrate's 1st in line & it's a pretty catchy song . It displayed a new music direction from Utada which's good .

Prisoner Of Love served as the theme song for Fuji TV's drama Last Friends & I really like this mid tempo ballad from Utada . I like the way she delivered the song without going over the top . I think out of the new batch of songs found on the album , this's my fave outta the lot .

Track 9's titled Take 5 which's an eletronic ethereal song. When I 1st heard the song , I got a shock at the end simply because it was cut adruptly . I wondered whether the song was corrupted but it turns out that the main theme of Take 5's death .

The next 2 tracks on HEART STATION displayed a rather refreshing cute personna from Utada . 1st up's her 17th single Boku wa Kuma (I'm a Bear) . This song's unlike any Utada's material that was released simply because it's just too cute for words .

The song was written & composed by Utada & Boku wa Kuma is about the gigantic teddy bear that Utada owns , called Kuma Chang . It's kinda like a kiddie song but it's a cute no. from Utada & the video's just too adorable & extremely entertaining .

Track 11's Niji-iro Bus (Rainbow Colored Bus) . Now when I 1st saw the title Niji-iro Bus on the tracklisting , I was worried as to how it will sound like . My fears were unfounded when I got to hear the song . It wasn't as tacky as I thought it would be & Niji-iro Bus followed almost as the same vein as Boku wa Kuma .

In fact aside from Prisoner Of Love , this's my 2nd fave track on the album , for a non released single ie. .

The album closed things off with a bonus track in the form of the original version of Flavor Of Life . I don't know why Utada decided to include it in the mix as I rather she would include a brand new song instead of the original Flavor Of Life . I have a feeling that's done as probably not many people are familiar with the original that's why this move was executed .

Long time fans of Utada might not appericate the fact that almost 1/2 the album was released prior to the announcement of HEART STATION but personally to me I don't have a problem with that as I don't buy singles to begin with .

My only grouse about HEART STATION is that I wished Utada would have spread out the songs that she has released before more evenly as you can definitely see from the tracklisting that the 1st 1/2 of the album centres on the singles while the other 1/2of the album basically comprises of new material . I would rather she alternate between a single & a new song .

But other than that , it's another solid offering from Utada . The sound consistency is there from the start to the end & it's a pretty darn good album from her .