CD Review :: Yamashita Tomohisa - SUPERGOOD , SUPERBAD
2CDs
2CDs + DVD
Disc 1 (SUPERGOOD)
1) Daite Senorita (Hold Me Dear Lady)
2) Hadakanbo (Naked Person) (Album ver.)
3) Tsuki to Taiyou no (Moon And Sun's) Rhapsody
4) Crazy You
5) Santa Maria
6) Dekiai (Doting) ROBOT
7) Tsumi to Batsu (Crime And Punishment)
8) Kuchizuke de Adios (Farewell Kiss)
9) Seishun Amigo (Youth Friend) (Shuuji to Akira)
10) Saigo no (The Last) Love Song
11) Aoi (Blue) (2CDs Track)
Disc 2 (SUPERBAD)
1) Theme of "SUPERBAD"
2) Tokyo Sinfonietta
3) PARTY DON'T STOP Feat DJ DASK
4) One in a million
5) Yours Baby
6) ONE GIRL
7) Loveless
8) Gomen ne (I'm Sorry)
9) Blood Diamond
10) Sleepwalking
11) Touch You (2CDs Track)
12) TOMO (2CDs Track)
13) Friday Night (2CDs Track)
14) MOLA (R-midwest REMIX) (2CDs Track) SUPERGOOD , SUPERBAD is NEWS's leader Yamashita Tomohisa's debut solo album & it was released last week on 26th Jan .
5 singles & a B-side are included in SUPERGOOD , SUPERBAD which's a duel CD compilation rolled into 1 package (be it if you purchase either the 2CDs or the 2CDs + DVD limited edition) .
The 1st disc SUPERGOOD includes songs that contains Japanese pop style while the 2nd disc SUPERBAD takes a stylistic approach closer to Western style music .
Because of the somewhat unique music structure surrounding Yamapi's debut solo album , I will review each disc separately on its own accord .
Disc 1 (SUPERGOOD)
1)
Daite Senorita (Hold Me Dear Lady)2)
Hadakanbo (Naked Person) (Album ver.)3) Tsuki to Taiyou no (Moon And Sun's) Rhapsody
4) Crazy You
5) Santa Maria
6) Dekiai (Doting) ROBOT
7) Tsumi to Batsu (Crime And Punishment)
8) Kuchizuke de Adios (Farewell Kiss)
9)
Seishun Amigo (Youth Friend) (Shuuji to Akira)10) Saigo no (The Last) Love Song
11) Aoi (Blue) (2CDs Track)
Daite Senorita (Hold Me Dear Lady) is Yamapi's debut solo single & it was used as the theme song for the drama Kurosagi , starring Yamapi himself .
I'm not surprised Daite Senorita is slotted as the very 1st track in SUPERGOOD since I mean it's Yamapi's very 1st single that he released as a solo artist & even though it has been close to 5 years since Daite Senorita was released , it's something that I'm not bored of even up to now .
I mean , what's there not to like about Daite Senorita with it being a straight forward no nonsense catchy no. ?
Hadakanbo (Naked Person) is Yamapi's 4th single & this was released a week before SUPERGOOD , SUPERBAD dropped .
In this context , Hadakanbo has been given an album mix which's a bit different from the single version in the sense that the album version of Hadakanbo , it's a lot more slower/mid tempo driven , unlike the single version where it has a lot more attitude & energy .
Still , I like both different takes of Hadakanbo a great deal & the strong Jazz influences being given out from Hadakanbo can be felt a significiant deal .
SUPERGOOD's 1st album track Tsuki to Taiyou no (Moon And Sun's) Rhapsody steps in after the album version of Hadakanbo & Tsuki to Taiyou no Rhapsody is real pretty even though I must admit on 1st listen , it doesn't sound like Yamapi to me in the sense that his vocals sounded unusually lower than the norm .
Crazy You is track #4 & on 1st listen , this song really reminded me of NEWS's EASY COME , EASY GO which's a B-side track taken from the group's 9th single SUMMER TIME .
Not that it's a bad thing but at least it's good to hear something that's on familiar music grounds & I think it's ok seeing that I enjoy listening to EASY COME , EASY GO so I have no issues with Crazy You .
Santa Maria follows after Crazy You & I think out of all the album tracks in SUPERGOOD , Santa Maria is a standout class no. on its own simply because it's downright infectious & very catchy .
I love the fact that the melody which accompanied Santa Maria grabs my attention on 1st listen & no surprises , each time Santa Maria comes on , I always enjoy listening to it as it's a guilt pleasure to do so .
Dekiai (Doting) ROBOT is the 4th album track in SUPERGOOD & honestly , I find this to be prety random . For starters , I wasn't able to catch hold of Yamapi singing Dekiai ROBOT in the song & perhaps because of this , it took me a while to catch hold of how Dekiai ROBOT sounds like .
Not really my fave album track in SUPERGOOD but Dekiai ROBOT is a decent standard Japanese pop song .
Tsumi to Batsu (Crime And Punishment) follows after Dekiai ROBOT & this has some attitude & bite . It's fast paced like Dekiai ROBOT but unlike the former , Tsumi to Batsu has a rather strong electric guitar backing which makes the song stands out on its own which's nice .
Kuchizuke de Adios (Farewell Kiss) is found as a B-side track in the CD + DVD edition of Yamapi's 3rd single One in a million & in here , it's found as track #8 in SUPERGOOD .
I was really happy to see Kuchizuke de Adios in the SUPERGOOD's tracklist because I honestly think out of all the B-sides & let alone A-side in One in a million , this's 1 song that I really enjoy since up to now , I still dislike One in a million .
As such , I don't have any complains when comes to Kuchizuke de Adios being included in SUPERGOOD as this's 1 keeper .
Seishun Amigo (Youth Friend) was released some 6 years ago on 2nd Nov 2005 & it was used as the drama theme song for Nobuta wo Produce .
Yamapi sang this song with KAT-TUN's Kamenashi Kazuya & released the single under the billing Shuuji to Akira which were the names of each of their role in the drama .
I did wrote earlier on that I was surprised to find Kuchizuke de Adios on SUPERGOOD's tracklist but after I saw Seishun Amigo being slotted after Kuchizuke de Adios , I was equally if not even more surprised with the inclusion of this song , since after all , it has been close to 6 years since Seishun Amigo was released & let alone , this's not counted as part of Yamapi's solo discography .
Then again , even though it has been close to 6 years since Seishun Amigo was released , this song's still a classic even up to now & it's 1 of those tracks that it will never gets old no matter how many times you listen to it .
Saigo no (The Last) Love Song is the 2nd last album track in SUPERGOOD & even before I listne to the song , I already somehow predicted that it's going to be a ballad which I'm right .
There're not a lot of album tracks in SUPERGOOD or SUPERBAD that falls under the ballad category so Saigo no Love Song is a refreshing change for once & it stoods out due to the simplicity nature & it's just Yamapi's vocals being backed up by a simple & under-stated piano melody .
Found only in the 2CDs edition of SUPERGOOD , SUPERBAD , it's a song that's called Aoi (Blue) & for this , Yamapi wrote & composed the song respectively .
Aoi is a pleasant mid tempo acoustic pop no. & it's 1 of those songs that's perfect to listen to if you're driving down the highway & I think it's a pretty good track to wrap up SUPERGOOD & kudos to Yamapi for having a hand in writing & composing Aoi on his own accord .
Disc 2 (SUPERBAD)
1) Theme of "SUPERBAD"
2) Tokyo Sinfonietta
3) PARTY DON'T STOP Feat DJ DASK
4)
One in a million 5) Yours Baby
6) ONE GIRL
7)
Loveless 8) Gomen ne (I'm Sorry)
9) Blood Diamond
10) Sleepwalking
11) Touch You (2CDs Track)
12) TOMO (2CDs Track)
13) Friday Night (2CDs Track)
14) MOLA (R-midwest REMIX) (2CDs Track)
After a rather dramatic sounding opening Theme of "SUPERBAD" , SUPERBAD dives straight into the 1st album track Tokyo Sinfonietta .
Tokyo Sinfonietta has a very grand orchestra sound while it's being combined with quite a generous dosage of autotune & synth .
It sounds like a music recipe for disaster if you combine all 3 music elements together but somehow or another , Yamapi's able to make things work in his own way & Tokyo Sinfonietta more or less sets the base on how the other album tracks in SUPERBAD sound like .
PARTY DON'T STOP follows after Tokyo Sinfonietta & for this song , the lyrics were written by Yamapi & it features DJ DASK .
Unlike Tokyo Sinfonietta , PARTY DON'T STOP has a much more stronger club sound & the melody is much more autotune/synth driven which I suspect this's to conceal Yamapi's English/Engrish dictation in PARTY DON'T STOP .
Then again , I wouldn't lie this's 1 great song to plug loud & proud if you're partying up a storm in a club .
One in a million is Yamapi's 3rd single & out of all the solo singles that he released in his solo discography , I still feel this's my least fave outta the lot because at the time when One in a million was released , I was unhappy that it's a really generic if not very heavily Americanised no. .
My dislike towards One in a million has somehow decreased a great deal & in this context , I'm not surprised it's slotted in SUPERBAD given that it fits the mood & atmosphere of the 2nd disc of Yamapi's debut solo album .
Yours Baby follows after One in a million & like most album tracks in SUPERBAD , it has the very strong club vibes attached to it alongside with English/Engrish lyrics .
Unlike the other SUPERBAD album tracks , the difference for Yours Baby is that I didn't detect any prominent autotune/synth which I suppose it's a good thing as sometimes , too much of a good thing can led to something bad .
ONE GIRL is track #6 & this's actually 1 of my fave album tracks in SUPERBAD as it's very catchy on 1st listen & even though there's still the issue of English/Engrish lyrics , it's actually a very enjoyable dancey song .
Loveless is Yamapi's 2nd single & this's the last single found in SUPERGOOD , SUPERBAD .
Even though it has been close to 2 years since Loveless was released , I still think this's a great ballad & I think Jin Nakamura did such a great job composing Loveless .
Gomen ne (I'm Sorry) follows after Loveless & just like Loveless , Gomen ne is a ballad but in this case , Gomen ne has a much more simplistic melody which's pretty much acoustic guitar driven .
I think it's a bit odd to slot Gomen ne in SUPERBAD instead of SUPERGOOD because most of the album tracks in SUPERBAD are very heavy club tunes & Gomen ne somehow or another sticks out like a sore thumb .
Then again , Gomen ne managed to stood out in a good way & I appericate just how simple & pleasant sounding it sounds .
Blood Diamond is track #9 & it's another club influenced no. . I realised that I enjoyed Blood Diamond quite a great deal .
Maybe because of the scratching disc beats which gives Blood Diamond an unique edge as compared to the other album tracks counterparts & let alone some unusual inclusion of a police car siren being thrown in for a good measure or 2 .
Sleepwalking is track #10 & I don't know if it's because of song title association but I actually find the song somewhat quite dreamy sounding for my liking .
Not that it's a bad thing but I don't really have any issues with Sleepwalking at the end of the day .
The next 4 tracks in SUPERBAD are only available in the 2CDs edition of SUPERGOOD , SUPERBAD .
Just like Sleepwalking , Touch You follows almost the same music pattern as the former except for Touch You , it's a straight out autotune/synth tune from the start all the way to end .
TOMO follows after Touch You & for this , the lyrics for TOMO was cowritten by Yamapi .
This's 1 unusual sounding track & probably 1 of the most unique no.s I heard in SUPERBAD . Already when the beginning of TOMO comes on , I know that somehow or another , I was going to hear something different from what the other album tracks in SUPERBAD offer & true enough , I wasn't disappointed .
Friday Night is the 2nd last album track in SUPERBAD & for this , the lyrics were written by Yamapi .
Just like TOMO , Friday Night is another track that has a distinct unique flair of its own , with the melody of the song that's distinct & exclusively available in Friday Night alone as I wasn't able to find other album tracks that shares this common music direction as what Friday Night has to offer .
The R-midwest REMIX of MOLA is the final track found in SUPERBAD & the original take of MOLA was found in NEWS's 3rd album colour .
In here , MOLA has been updated with a R-midwest REMIX which's the same remix that's found in the limited edition of NEWS's NEWS LIVE DIAMOND DVD .
Surprisingly , I'm quite alright with the R-midwest REMIX of MOLA . Besides fitting in with the whole vibe of SUPERBAD , it has a more updated if not futuristic take which's pretty cool & this's keeping in line with the other album tracks in SUPERBAD that more or less have the same style .
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Truth be told , I was plesantly surprised how Yamapi was able to carry off not 1 but 2 discs on his own & the fact that both discs in his debut solo album have different styles , it can get tricky if it's not excuted well .
I was a bit skeptical to listen to SUPERGOOD , SUPERBAD especially SUPERBAD because I thought whether will it be painful for me to listen , given that I wasn't & still am not a fan of One in a million as I don't take it too kindly when JPop artistes suddenly begin to decide to fit into the whole Americanised westernised music route .
But after I heard the tracks in SUPERBAD , I was pretty blown away on the quality of the album tracks even though most of the songs I can barely hear Yamapi's English/Engrish dictation with the tunes being coated with a lot of club beats , autotune & synth .
I suppose if you don't pay that much attention to the lyrical aspect , then SUPERBAD is the perfect disc to spin in a club while the more conservative fans will stick to SUPERGOOD as for that aspect is what Yamapi does best when he's in solo mode .
The SUPERBAD side is more or less a music gamble for Yamapi which he took but it paid off I should say .
At the end of the day , there's something for everyone to enjoy in both discs in SUPERGOOD , SUPERBAD & I feel Yamapi should give himself a pat on the back for covering most music genres in most aspects on his own accord .
