:+: No Music No Life :+:

Monday, June 01, 2009

CD Review :: Yuna Ito - DREAM

CD Only Cover :

CD + DVD Cover :

Tracklist :

1) love you
2) Ima Demo Aitai yo ... (I Still Miss You ...) Feat Spontania
3) Brand New World
4) Koi wa (Love Is) groovy ×2
5) trust you
6) BAILA BAILA
7) BREEEEEZIN !!!
8) miss you
9) LOVE MACHINE GUN
10) No one else
11) Body
12) groovy x2 (Hidden Track)

DREAM is Yuna Ito's 3rd album . It was released last Wed & this comes a year & 3 months since the release of her last album WISH .

3 singles , 2 B-sides are included in Yuna's brand new album offering .

The energetic sounding love you is the 1st song to kick things off & I did said a while back ago , I still am having miffled reactions towards the opening track of DREAM as sometimes I like it , sometimes I don't .

Not to mention , it does get repetitive as time goes by but right now I'm ok with it even though some people have commented that it unusually sounds the same as Amerie's 1 Thing which I can't help but agree with them to a certain extent .

Ima Demo Aitai yo ... (I Still Miss You ...) featuring the hip-hop/reggae duo Spontania is the only collaboration found in DREAM & this's an answer call song to Spontania's 11th single Ima Demo Zutto (Now And Forever) which was released this year on 28th Jan & this's the only album track on DREAM which received a music video of its own .

Ima Demo Zutto featured Yuna on vocals while in Ima Demo Aitai yo ... , it's the opposite so naturally if you compare both songs together , they tend to be simliar sounding to a certain extent .

While Ima Demo Zutto is a really good depressing ballad , you will not get it in Ima Demo Aitai yo ... where it's a rather upbeat & peppy tune which's such a nice change if you ask me .

Definitely 1 of my fave album tracks in DREAM & let alone duets to have been materialised this year .

Brand New World is found as the B-side in Yuna's 13th single trust you . It was used as a tie-up song for the Commercial of Hawkins Sport .

This's 1 of my fave B-sides of Yuna & naturally I'm real happy that she has decided to include it in DREAM as it's such a nice , easy listening pop tune .

Koi wa (Love Is) groovy x2 is Yuna's 12th single & it was used to promote the clothing line company Gap's 2008 Holiday Collection "Winter Neutrals" campaign .

I'm still baffled as to why Koi wa groovy x2 tanked so badly in Japan when this was released last Nov on the 26th & somemore this's her lowest charting single to date (#44) because this was honestly the song that really changed my whole perception on the fact that she was not able to carry off dance songs as well as her ballads .

But man after I heard Koi wa groovy x2 , I was immediately won over because this's such a highly energetic & Carribean beats driven tune & here I was thinking it might be a ballad since it was released during Winter last year but I was so wrong on that .

trust you's Yuna's 13th single & the last single to be released before DREAM's materialised . It was used as the ending theme song for the second season of the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam 00 & this's Yuna's 1st top 5 single since her 8th single Mahaloha which was released 2 years ago .

This's the 1st ballad you can find in DREAM's tracklist & frankly it's not her best ballad that she has delivered but still it's a really nice sweet no. & chart performance/sales wise , trust you's the most successful out of the 3 singles you can find in DREAM seeing that miss you & Koi wa groovy x2 both unfortunately tanked .

BAILA BAILA is DREAM's 2nd album track & it means Dance Dance in Spanish .

On 1st listen , BAILA BAILA is very Carribean & Hawaiian inspired & I can't help but compared it against her other Carribean/Hawaiian inspired tunes such as Mahaloha & Koi wa groovy x2 to a certain extent .

Other than that , it's a very chilled out laidback tune that you can definitely can see yourself listening to if you're in a beach .

BREEEEEZIN !!! is the last B-side you can find in DREAM & this was originally found as the B-side in her 11th single miss you & just like BAILA BAILA , the mood & vibes given by BREEEEEZIN !!! gives you the feeling that you just want to go to the beach now & kicked back while listening to both BAILA BAILA & BREEEEEZIN !!! .

& speaking of miss you , it's quite a concidence that the B & A-sides are being slotted in between with one another as miss you's track #8 .

I remembered when I 1st heard miss you , it's quite a sad tune as it has quite a bittersweet melody as compared to the otherwise positive & energetic sounding BREEEEEZIN !!! .

Definitely not a song to listen to especially if you're feeling depressed & etc . If not , this's a solid no. that Yuna has delivered .

LOVE MACHINE GUN is track #9 was used as the insert song for the cell phone novel Tenshi no Koi (Angel's Love) .

I remembered when I heard the preview of LOVE MACHINE GUN , I was going DAMN what a hot track & for the full track to have finally seen the day & light in DREAM , I was really happy about it because it's such a great song .

It's something different that Yuna has delivered to the plate as it mixes pop , some rock , great guitar riffs & electro & it gives you 1 of the star tracks in DREAM ala LOVE MACHINE GUN .

I'm still a bit upset that GATE did not make the cut in DREAM because just like LOVE MACHINE GUN , previews of both songs were released last year & from what I heard in the preview of GATE , it sounded like a really epic ballad . Shame it didn't saw the light in DREAM but in anycase , at least LOVE MACHINE GUN is here so it's some sembalance I can find in here .

No one else is the only album track that's a ballad . It was quite un-memorable for me on 1st listen as it sounded like a really boring & typical standard Yuna ballad fare .

But in due time , I realised that No one else is such an enduring no. , that's driven simply by an acoustic guitar & some percussion beats & I suppose it's the sincerity that Yuna delivered in here which won me over slowly in a matter of time .

Body is the final album track in DREAM & this tune was co-written & co-composed by Yuna .

On 1st listen , I had deja vibes because I found the melody for Body oddly similar to A Long Walk whicn you can find as track #9 in her 2nd album WISH . The lyrics for Body are a bit sexually driven which I wasn't used to as this's Yuna Ito we're talking about .

I will not consider Body as my fave album track in DREAM , just that I was a bit shocked with the mood & vibe that was given in Body's context .

Body's actually stands at almost 10 mins+ because it's stringed together with a hidden track (a 1st for Yuna since her last 2 albums didn't have any hidden tracks) which's the English version of Koi wa groovy ×2 which's titled groovy x2 .

You have to wait for about 1 - 1 1/2 mins after Body concluded in the 4th min mark before you can hear groovy x2 .

groovy x2 was released last Dec on the 10th under Yuna's alter ego Christine Ito who's oddly said to be her 'sister' . The song was only available for download until it makes its way here in DREAM .

There's nothing much to comment about groovy x2 since it's essentially the English version of her 12th single Koi wa groovy ×2 & seeing that I like the Japanese take , naturally , I like groovy ×2 & somemore English being Yuna's 1st language , she sang groovy ×2 with much ease & gusto .

I don't know about you but I frankly enjoy DREAM & here I was thinking that I might not but it's definitely a music step or 2 from WISH & let alone her debut album HEART .

It seems to me that Yuna's moving towards a more dance oriented sound especially since in DREAM , you're only able to find about 3-4 ballads & dance/summer inspired tunes more or less dominated DREAM .

Initally I wasn't able to accept the fact that she's able to carry off dance no.s as I feel that ballads is what she does best but after she released Koi wa groovy ×2 , I was really won over .

I'm not sure how will long time fans of Yuna will feel towards this album , I think they might be in for a shock of the good kind since it's very dance driven but in any case , it's nice to see Yuna stepping out of her music comfort zone & tackling different genres & this's evident in her latest album DREAM .