1) weeeek 2) STARDUST 3) SUMMER TIME 4) SNOW EXPRESS 5) Forever 6) MOLA (Yamashita Tomohisa's Solo) 7) Kesenai [Can't Erase] (Tegoshi Yuya , Ryo Nishikido & Kato Shigeaki's No.) 8) ordinary (Ryo Nishikido's Solo) 9) Minna ga Iru Sekai wo Hitotsu ni Ai wo Motto (One Of The World People Have More Love) Give & Take Shimashou [Devilishness] (Masuda Takahisa , Yamashita Tomohisa & Koyama Keiichiro's No.) 10) Murarisuto [Uneven List] (Koyama Keiichiro & Kato Shigeaki's No.)11) Taiyou no Namida (Tears Of The Sun) 12) Smile Maker 13) Happy Birthday 14) FLY AGAIN 15) Towairo no Koi [Eternal Love Of Color] (Regular Edition Track)
color is NEWS's 3rd album . Their brand new album's scheduled to be released this coming Wed . However the whole album has already been leaked out on the net since yesterday .
The album will be released in 2 editions , a regular edition containing a 16 page booklet & an extra track titled Towairo no Koi (Eternal Love Of Color) while the limited edition will contain a 32 page booklet without Towairo no Koi in the tracklist .
Just like in the group's previous album pacific , Yamapi & Ryo received solos on color while Tegoshi , Ryo , Shige are being grouped together to sing in 1 song . Similarly in the case of Masuda , Yamapi & Koyama who are grouped together to sing a song & also for Koyama & Shige's case too .
4 singles made the cut in color & among the 11 new songs (ie. if you have the regular edition) , 2 songs SNOW EXPRESS & Towairo no Koi that the guys performed live in their concert dvds Never Ending Wonderful Story & NEWS CONCERT TOUR pacific 2007 2008 -THE FIRST TOKYO DOME CONCERT- were finally given the studio album treatments in color .
I think it's an awesome way to kick off color with their 7th single weeeek which's easily 1 of the guys's best single release to date . Not to mention it's the 1st single/song that I heard of NEWS too .
The chorus & melody are so infectious , insanely addictive & catchy , hats off to GReeeeN who wrote & compose the song . Keeping it in the family is JIN whom arranged the song in which he's HIDE (GReeeeN's lead singer) older brother , this's some excellent stuff & it's a no brainer that weeeek became Japan's 10th most sold single last year .
Track 2 is the 1st new song on color . I only find STARDUST a-ok in that it's typical NEWS stuff . It's frankly nothing outstanding & it almost borderline on the filler factor but thankfully the guys's vocals saved STARDUST from being a major dud . Maybe because I was expecting STARDUST to sound as super as weeeek which probably explains on why I was slightly disappointed in this mid tempo pop/rock no. .
From 1 non single to a single , in comes SUMMER TIME , the band's 9th single . This was 1 song that took me quite a long time to change my perception on it as in the beginning I didn't like the song . It was only after watching the video & the live performances NEWS did for SUMMER TIME that I gradually began to like the song .
After SUMMER TIME , there's a huge gap of 7 new songs before you find the guys's next single which make the cut on color which's Taiyou no Namida .
The 1st concert song to receive the studio treatment is track 4 . Found as track 4 of disc 2's Never Ending Wonderful Story DVD & also as track 23 of disc 1's NEWS CONCERT TOUR pacific 2007 2008 -THE FIRST TOKYO DOME CONCERT- DVD , it's SNOW EXPRESS . I love the song on 1st listen as there's something charming about the melody pertaining to SNOW EXPRESS . Not to mention this's a really catchy & strong no. which easily is 1 of the album's highlights if you ask me .
The next track's a ballad titled Forever . Even before the whole album has leaked out on the net yesterday , I have already heard Forever for streaming on youtube & I must say that I'm not disappointed with this song as I'm basically a sucker for ballads & not to mention I love the way the guys's vocals harmonise in synch with the melody which has some really nice old fashioned guitar strumming going on in the song .
Track 6's called MOLA & this's Yamapi's solo . OK when I 1st heard MOLA , the 1st thing that caught my attention were the lyrics which were sung in FULL English followed by the melody .
Not to mention with regards to the lyrics , I can't help but compared it to another fellow Johnny Entertainment's full eng solo song in the form of KAT-TUN's Akanishi Jin's LOVEJUICE in which of course LOVEJUICE's found in KAT-TUN's 7th single DON'T U EVER STOP (the 2nd limited edition of the single) .
I guess you can say that MOLA's somewhat the more tamer version of LOVEJUICE in terms of lyrics wise since I find LOVEJUICE to be more 'dirty' . Melody wise , it bears resemblance to Chris Brown's Forever where Yamapi's voice sounded distorted in MOLA .
Not sure if it was done intentionally or something but surprisingly I like MOLA & also what surprised me was that Yamapi's English dictation/command is pretty good . At least I can understand what he's singing about , unlike in Akanishi's case where in certain parts of LOVEJUICE , I had to read the lyrics in order to catch what he sings about .
ANYWAY , enough of comparison between KAT-TUN & NEWS , in comes track 7 called Kesenai (Can't Erase) which's sung by Tegoshi on main vocals in which he's backed up by Ryo & Shige .
Although Kesenai can't match up to the greatness that's of the trio's previous music effort in pacific which's Ai Nante , I still like this song especially as this song gives Tegoshi plenty of opportunity to showcase his vocals & not to mention Ryo & Shige are ain't 1/2 bad in backing Tegoshi up in this not too shabby mid tempo song .
From a trio's music effort to a solo effort , in comes ordinary which's Ryo's solo . I feel this's another highlight in color simply because I like the somewhat simplicity of ordinary & not to mention Ryo didn't scream a lot on ordinary unlike in his previous solo effort code on pacific .
ordinary's a mid tempo rock driven no. & this's 1 really good & catchy song coming from Ryo . This I like & not to mention the music direction of the song's simple & not complicated .
Up next it's the trio of Masuda , Yamapi & Koyama . This time round , they come together to sing in Minna ga Iru Sekai wo Hitotsu ni Ai wo Motto (One Of The World People Have More Love) Give & Take Shimashou [Devilishness] which's easily the longest & most complicated sounding song title on color .
But thankfully the song's not otherwise as this's 1 peppy & cheery no. & Masuda's being backed up by Yamapi & Koyama as I tend to hear Masuda's voice more often than the other 2 , the same case for in Kesenai too although I can't help but to draw comparison of Minna ga Iru Sekai wo Hitotsu ni Ai wo Motto Give & Take Shimashou with the band's 4th single TEPPEN as the opening sounded too similar to TEPPEN but still it's not so bad as I really like TEPPEN so it's all good for me .
Track 10 is called Murarisuto (Uneven List) & it's the duo of KoyaShige (Koyama & Shige) who're in charge of this no. & goodness on 1st impression of Murarisuto , it reminded me of something on what Kanjani∞ might do as it's quite crazy & it gets a bit silly at times but luckily I have heard the preview of this prior to the full song so I more or less know what to expect coming from Murarisuto .
The duo sounded like they have a bit too much fun going on Murarisuto but this's 1 song that you should listen with a pinch of salt as it gets over the top in some parts .
After 7 new songs on color , track 11 is the band's 8th single Taiyou no Namida which was used as the theme song for the movie Kurosagi in which Yamapi plays the lead role .
I know there were criticisms surrounding Taiyou no Namida when it was released as it sounded very different from what NEWS normally does but regardless of which , this's 1 of my fave singles as it's the group's most serious sounding single to date + the melody's just gorgeous to boot .
From 1 single to a non single comes Smile Maker . This's 1 neat catchy & upbeat no. . I like the fact that the chorus sounds really grabbing & strong . The ending parts of Smile Maker sounded distorted which somehow added a nice touch to it .
Track 13's the last single which made the cut on color which's also incidentally the group's latest/10th single Happy Birthday . Even up to now , I still love this song as I feel rapper SEAMO did such a great job writing & composing this great catchy no. .
This's also NEWS's 10th straight no.1 single in which they're the 2nd Johnny's Entertainment group to have all their singles since their debut single to debut at the top spot , the 1st being their Senpai KinKi Kids with 27 straight no.1 singles & the next's KAT-TUN with 7 straight no.1 singles (& probably another along the way since they will be releasing White X'mas next month on the 3rd) .
The last 2 non singles to close off color , 1st in line's FLY AGAIN . This was the very 1st non single that I heard from color & needless to say , this stands as 1 of my fave non singles on the album & it's great to finally hear the full version this time round .
Only available in the regular edition of color it's Towairo no Koi (Eternal Love Of Color) & this's also the 2nd concert track to receive an album version treatment . You can find Towairo no Koi being listed on NEWS CONCERT TOUR pacific 2007 2008 -THE FIRST TOKYO DOME CONCERT- as track 21 on the 1st disc & I think it's such a great way to close off color as this's a really nice heartwarming ballad & come to think about it , it does sound Christmas-y of sorts with due respect to the music arrangement of the song .
color more or less presents a more mature side of NEWS & I can definitely tell the guys have shown maturity & growth especially in the non singles in their latest 3rd album .
My initial concern was that it might be a challenge for the guys to make the non singles sound better if not on/above par than the singles as the singles themselves already are class on its own but I'm happy to say that NEWS didn't fall into the trap of letting the singles overpar the non singles .
Instead , the non singles on color managed to carve a niche of their own right & as a result , you get a really solid album effort coming from NEWS & I really cannot wait to get my hands of color when it hit stores officially next week in time to come .
Blog Personnel
Karen Pang
# 10th Jan
# #1 BREAKERZ fan in Singapore since 2008 debut single ♥
# My music blog consists of JPop/Rock singles & albums reviews that I put my heart , efforts & soul into writing them as I'm disgusted with the way that JPop/Rock music is being treated/written/reviewed in Singapore so to the local media (yes you TEENS , Teenage Magazine & The Strait Times) , screw you all . I basically can write better JPop/Rock reviews , period
