CD Review :: Kanjani∞ - 8UPPERS (Pacchi Uppers)
2CDs
CD + DVD
CD + 2DVDs
Disc 1
1) Oriental Surfer
2) Monogram
3) Naka nai de Boku no Myuujiiku (Don't Cry My Music)
4) Baby Baby
5) LIFE ~Menomae no Mukou e~ (~Looking Forward~)
6) BACK OFF
7) Negai (Wish)
8) Horuri (Touched) Melody
9) Wonderful World !!
10 realize
11) BOY
12) Animal Magic
13) Kyu(Fly)☆Jou(High)☆Show !!
Disc 2
1) monologue (Ryo Nishikido's Solo)
2) Kick (Maruyama Ryuhei's Solo)
3) Revolver (Subaru Shibutani's Solo)
4) Doriiku Sutaa (Trick Star) (Yokoyama You's Solo)
5) Dear ... (Murakami Shingo's Solo)
6) TOPOP (Shota Yasuda's Solo)
7) Kitto Shiawase ga Kimi wo Matteru (Happiness Will Definitely Wait For You) (Okura Tadayoshi's Solo)
8) 『Te !!!!!!!』 (What !!!!!!!) (Kanjani∞)8UPPERS (Pacchi Uppers) is Kanjani∞'s 4th album . It was released last month on 20th Oct & the guys's latest album release comes almost a 1 1/2 years since the group's last album PUZZLE .
3 singles are included in 8UPPERS (Pacchi Uppers) . All songs taken from the group's Christmas trilogy single releases GIFT ~Shiro~ , GIFT ~Aka~ & GIFT ~Midori~ are not included .
Same thing as KJ2 Zukkoke Daidassou & PUZZLE , 8UPPERS (Pacchi Uppers) has a 2nd bonus disc containing solo songs & a group track . As such , I will review each disc separately on its own per say .
Disc 1Disc 1 of 8UPPERS (Pacchi Uppers) kicks things off with Oriental Surfer which's actually an instrumental piece that has quite strong vibes which reminds you of being in a beach surrounding .
I was surprised when I 1st heard Oriental Surfer because from what I know , Kanjani∞ has never began their albums with an introduction instrumental piece & let alone including 2 instrumental interludes in their records (which I will review about them later) but there's always a 1st for everything I suppose .
The next 4 songs on the album have taken on the guitar pop/rock route approach .
Monogram is the 1st of 4 songs which follows this concept & frankly I have no issues with the song . I suppose after hearing the next 3 songs which have this same sound , it dawns to me that the guys really do know how to utilise this aspect pretty well .
Naka nai de Boku no Myuujiiku (Don't Cry My Music) was 1 of the standalone songs I reviewed a while back ago & now that I'm able to hear a better quality of the tune , it's still 1 of my fave album tracks which I adore as it's basically a simple feel good catchy no. .
The same thing goes for Baby Baby which's something that I'm still not bored with until now . Lyrically , it's real meaningful & considering that 8UPPERS (Pacchi Uppers) doesn't have that much ballads , I guess you can slot Baby Baby as the 1st album ballad which's nice .
LIFE ~Menomae no Mukou e~ (~Looking Forward~) is Kanjani∞'s 15th single & it was used as the theme song for the drama GM ~Odore Doctor which starred member Okura Tadayoshi .
This song's actually the group's 1st single to be used in a drama .
I remembered when I 1st heard LIFE ~Menomae no Mukou e~ , I was so bored with the song in that nothing stood out to me on 1st listen as I was so very used to the usual crazy pop songs they're known for .
But now it's a song that has grown on me significantly as sometimes doing something different ain't so bad after all .
BACK OFF is the album's 1st instrumental interlude & from this moment onwards , the album's music direction has began to take a different route .
Negai (Wish) is probably the only album ballad found in 8UPPERS (Pacchi Uppers) & needless to say , this's quite a keeper for that matter . The guys keep everything pretty much fuss free & allow their vocals to do most of the work .
Horuri (Touched) Melody has very strong vibes of Ichibyou (One Second) KISS on 1st listen which Ichibyou KISS was found as the very 1st track in the guys's last album PUZZLE .
It's not a bad thing to me seeing that Ichibyou KISS was a great opening album no. for that matter .
Wonderful World !! is the guys's 14th single & it's those feel good crazy songs that's worth to listen to , especially if you want a song that doesn't take itself seriously & I think Wonderful World !! fits the bill really well .
realize is the last instrumental interlude which follows straight into BOY which's more or less almost in the same music vein as Wonderful World !! , except it's somewhat more subtle & less crazy .
Animal Magic serves unofficially or so as 8UPPERS (Pacchi Uppers)'s main promotion track seeing that it gets a music video .
Well I wouldn't consider Animal Magic as a fave album track of mine but I'm sure the guys have their reasons for making a video in conjunction to Animal Magic so I leave things as it's .
Kyu(Fly)☆Jou(High)☆Show !! is Kanjani∞'s 10th single & it's also incidentally the last song in disc 1 of 8UPPERS (Pacchi Uppers) & let alone the oldest single included in the album .
Even though it has been almost a year or so since Kyu☆Jou☆Show !! was released , it's still a song that I'm not bored of & it does get everyone in a really cheery party mood for sure .
Disc 2 consists of solo songs & a group track .
Disc 21) monologue (Ryo Nishikido's Solo)
monologue is written , composed & arranged by Ryo which's admirable but I have to admit I was bored with monologue on 1st listen .
It doesn't have that fire/spark which I like as compared to past solos that Ryo included in their previous albums & it took me quite a while to get the hang of how monologue is like .
monologue will not be considered as a fave Ryo solo of mine but I give him credit & due respect for doing everything hands on for all 3 aspects of this song .
2) Kick (Maruyama Ryuhei's Solo)
It's weird that Maruyama usually gets the weird solo songs in Kanjani∞ & frankly for something like Kick , I can see the whole group singing to this crazy upbeat driven no. .
Then again , Kick is not bad but I would like to see Maruyama tackle a ballad as a solo no. next time .
3) Revolver (Subaru Shibutani's Solo)
Revolver is frankly not Subaru's best solo song . I have a bit of a dislike towards Revolver because I only am able to hear Subaru singing/shouting in the backdrop .
Also , I don't think his vocals work well against something that's hard rock & fast paced too . Subaru is best suited to sing something like Ryuu Ware which's still my fave solo song from him .
4) Doriiku Sutaa (Trick Star) (Yokoyama You's Solo)
Doriiku Sutaa is a fun song which I think suits Yokoyama's loud & outspoken personality .
Yokoyama's past solo songs were better but I'm fine with what he has to offer for Doriiku Sutaa .
5) Dear ... (Murakami Shingo's Solo)
I was really surprised when I listened to Dear ... because it's such a simple heartfelt ballad in which Murakami didn't need to do anything else to complicate things .
Murakami basically let his vocals let do most of the work & the result is this understated no. which I feel it's 1 of the standout solos in the 2nd disc of the album .
6) TOPOP (Shota Yasuda's Solo)
TOPOP is written & composed by Yasuda . It has almost the same music structure as Subaru's Revolver .
Except for Yasuda's case , it takes on a more cheery fun route which's pretty good for this rather catchy no. .
7) Kitto Shiawase ga Kimi wo Matteru (Happiness Will Definitely Wait For You) (Okura Tadayoshi's Solo)
Even before you listen to Kitto Shiawase ga Kimi wo Matteru , it's quite evident that it's going to be a ballad & what a really good job Okura did for this no. .
It's no Mamoritai (Protect) but I think Kitto Shiawase ga Kimi wo Matteru is good enough to rival the former .
Kitto Shiawase ga Kimi wo Matteru is quite emotional driven which Okura's being backed up simply by a piano & electric guitar which gives you this really touching song which I adore .
8) 『Te !!!!!!!』 (What !!!!!!!) (Kanjani∞)
The only song sung by everyone in disc 2 , this song's cowritten by Yasuda & Okura while Yasuda compose the song .
『Te !!!!!!!』 is basically a feel good pop/rock song . If you know how their charged up happy go lucky no.s sound like , then look no further than 『Te !!!!!!!』
ConclusionDisc 1
If you exclude the singles & instrumentals pieces , I like the 1st disc of 8UPPERS (Pacchi Uppers) . Also I noticed that the album flows quite well from the start to the end .
With the inclusion of the 2 instrumental pieces , you're able to sense the music direction the album takes which's pretty good as it seems to me that Kanjani∞ is shifting more towards a pop/rock song when comes to their album tracks which's something I don't mind as I like such songs in this vein .
The only problem I have is that unlike PUZZLE , I don't hear that much experimentation/variety going on 8UPPERS (Pacchi Uppers) as much as I want to .
Disc 2
Aside from Murakami & Okura's solos which I feel are great , the other solo songs of the guys are either forgettable , un-inspiring if not un-memorable which's a big pity because I know everyone in Kanjani∞ is talented & can sing .
So the fact that this time round , most of their solo songs wasn't able to live up to scratch in my opinion , it's a big waste as it's not like they're not able to carry a tune or 2 on their own .
That & also some of the solo songs doesn't suit well with their vocals too which's a bad case of the wrong type of song being allocated to the wrong member to sing .
With that said , if Kanjani∞ plans to include another extra disc filled with solo songs in their next album , I sure hope this aspect will improve as the quality drops from PUZZLE to 8UPPERS (Pacchi Uppers) is quite big in my opinion .
