CD
2 CDs
CD + DVD
Disc 1
1) "2nd" Overture
2) Black & White
3) WANNA BEEEE !!!
4) Unmei (Fate) Girl
5) Strawberry Dance
6) xLunaSx (FUJIGAYA TAISUKE)
7) Forza ! (TAMAMORI YUTA with YOKOO WATARU / MIYATA TOSHIYA / NIKAIDO TAKASHI / SENGA KENTO)
8) Shake It Up
9) Chance Chance Baybee (YOKOO WATARU / MIYATA TOSHIYA / NIKAIDO TAKASHI / SENGA KENTO)
10) Give me ... (KITAYAMA HIROMITSU)
11) Ai no Beat -Album mix-
12) My Resistance -Tashikana Mono-
13) Mother Moon
14) JET ! SET !! GO !!! (CD Only Track)
15) Catch Love (CD Only Track)
Disc 2 (Only included in the 2 CDs edition titled Kis-My-Zero 3)
1) TRY AGAIN
2) SHOOTING STARS
3) Kaizoku (Pirate)
4) Think u x. (FUJIGAYA TAISUKE)
5) Brand New Season
6) ROCK U (KITAYAMA HIROMITSU)
7) My Love
8) Rocking Party (KITAYAMA HIROMITSU / FUJIGAYA TAISUKE / TAMAMORI YUTA)
9) Kis-My-LAND
Released a year after their debut album Kis-My-1st , Good Ikuze ! was released on the same day as their 7th single Ki•Su•U•Ma•I ~KISS YOUR MIND~ / S.O.S (Smile On Smile) [this single is not included in the album] & YOSHIO -NEW MEMBER- DVD (an original short movie about YOSHIO , who joins the group as its 8th member) .
All 3 separate releases topped each of the respective Oricon charts in the 1st week , making Kis-My-Ft2 the 3rd artiste to accomplish such a feat . The 1st 2 artistes that achieved this was ayumi hamasaki in Oct 2000 & their seniors KAT-TUN in April 2006 & now with Kis-My-Ft2 being the 3rd artiste , after 7 years .
3 singles are included in Good Ikuze ! ; 2 double A-side's & 1 single A-side . Just like Kis-My-1st , Good Izuke ! was released in 3 editions with the CD only edition contained 15 tracks in which 2 are bonus songs available only in this edition .
For the 2CDs edition , the 2nd disc is titled Kis-My-Zero 3 which includes 9 tracks that the group have been performing in concerts before their official debut in 2011 . The reason on why this disc is not named Kis-My-Zero 2 is because this was included as a bonus disc in the limited edition 2 DVDs + CD of Kis-My-MiNT Tour at Tokyo Dome 2012.4.8 .
Because of the way Good Ikuze ! is structured , I will be reviewing each disc separately on its own .
Disc 1 (Good Ikuze !)
After the introduction "2nd" Overture , Kis-My-1st dives straight into the 1st album track which's titled Black & White .
Black & White is a mean sounding aggressively driven no. . While not as aggressive if not catchy as what I was hoping for , what I liked about the song was the way it builds up slowly before it explodes/gives off a angsty driven music vibe .
WANNA BEEEE !!! is the 1st A-side of Kis-My-Ft2's 4th single WANNA BEEEE !!! / Shake It Up . This song served as the main theme no. of the TV drama series Beginners ! which 2 of the members , Fujigaya Taisuke & Kitayama Hiromitsu starred in .
Unmei (Fate) Girl is the 2nd A-side in Kis-My-Ft2's 6th single My Resistance -Tashikana Mono- / Unmei Girl . This was used in the ads of retail store Seven & i's "Valentine Fair" Valentine's Day campaign that all the guys appeared in .
Strawberry Dance is the 2nd album track / 2nd group song . Frankly , I find this song really boring on 1st listen . It took me a while to remember if not get used to how it goes . After a while , it wasn't as bad as what I thought but I don't think this will be a fave album track of mine .
The next track xLunaSx is sung by the rapper of the group ie. Fujigaya Taisuke .
Just like his previous solo Love meee in Kis-My-1st , xLunaSx is good stuff that has a heavy dance & synth influence which I'm sure this song will allows Fujigaya to showcase his dancing skills should he performed this onstage during their tour . No further complaints about xLunaSx .
Forza ! is handled by 5 guys , whom are Tamamori Yuta which he has backing vocals coming from Yokoo Wataru , Miyata Toshiya , Nikaido Takashi & Senga Kento .
To me , I think Forza ! is such a fun song & the moment I 1st heard it , I was thinking to myself this would make a perfect great song to be used in football matches as the music influences going on in Forza ! is extremely high/evident . I feel it's 1 of the standout tracks in Good Izuke ! , despite it not being a group effort song .
Shake It Up is the 2nd A-side of Kis-My-Ft2's 4th single WANNA BEEEE !!! / Shake It Up . This served as the intro theme no. of the TV drama series Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou which member Miyata Toshiya made an appearance in .
I think out of the singles included in Good Izuke ! , Shake It Up is 1 of my faves . It's not that I dislike WANNA BEEEE !!! but Shake It Up is 1 of those songs that refuse to get out of my head & it took me quite a while before this ridiculously catchy song managed to leave my mind , without going on loop numerous times . Yes it's that addictive .
The next song Chance Chance Baybee is handled by 4 guys whom are Yokoo Wataru , Miyata Toshiya , Nikaido Takashi & Senga Kento .
Honestly , I think the 4 of them are really under-rated in the group as most of the attention spotlight tend to focus on the other 3 members which I feel it's a bit unfair as I think the 4 of them can sing as evident in Chance Chance Baybee . On the flipside , this's a bit cheesy sounding but it's 1 of those songs that put you in a good mood should you listen to it .
Give me ... is sung by the leader/main lead singer Kitayama Hiromitsu .
Unlike his previous solo 『Sanagi』 in Kis-My-1st , for this case , Give me ... is a ballad which surprised me but Kitayama handled this song really well . In fact I think this time round , both his & Fujigaya's solos are much more better if not mature sounding .
Ai no Beat is Kis-My-Ft2's 5th single & in Good Izuke ! , an album mix has been given to the song . As such , both Ai no Beat -Dance ver.- & Ai no Beat -Rock ver.- are not included in the album .
Maybe it's just me but I somehow feel that Ai no Beat -Album mix- sounds really off key as overall with it not sounding just as good (if not catchy/memorable) as both the dance & rock versions of Ai no Beat .
Also to make things worst , I think the melody surrounding the album mix of Ai no Beat contains a mixture of music influences from the dance & rock versions of the song which results in this rather off the mark sounding no. . I wouldn't lie that this's actually the 1st song I straight away listen when I downloaded Good Izuke ! but unfortunately , this missed the mark for me .
My Resistance -Tashikana Mono- is the 1st A-side of Kis-My-Ft2's 6th single My Resistance -Tashikana Mono- / Unmei Girl which this was used as the theme no. in the drama Nobunaga no Chef starring member Tamamori Yuta .
The last single included in Good Izuke ! , this's 1 of my fave recent singles to emerge from the guys as it's such an anguish driven ballad & it's still a great track even up to now .
Mother Moon is the only album track that's a ballad . While not as good as Kis-My-1st's Good night , I still think this song's not bad although it's a bit too slow sounding for my liking .
The next 2 songs are only available in the CD only pressing of Good Ikuze ! .
JET ! SET !! GO !!! is a really catchy fun song . On the other hand , Catch Love is interesting as it has such a cool futuristic sounding melody . I definitely prefer Catch Love over JET ! SET !! GO !!! in this case .
Disc 2 (Kis-My-Zero 3)
Only available in the 2CDs edition , Kis-My-Zero 3 includes 9 songs that Kis-My-Ft2 have been performing in concerts before their official debut .
TRY AGAIN is the 1st song in Kis-My-Zero 3 & this's a typical Johnny's sounding upbeat track .
Likewise , the same thing goes for the next track SHOOTING STARS . The shortest track in the 2nd disc , I actually somewhat prefer SHOOTING STARS over TRY AGAIN a little bit .
The next track Kaizoku (Pirate) is 1 of the edgier sounding tracks in Kis-My-Zero 3 & this song reminds me a lot of their seniors KAT-TUN a significant deal with Kaizoku having almost the same type of music influence KAT-TUN does as well .
With that said , Kaizoku is something that I enjoy quite a fair bit & I don't mind to listen to it on a constant basis .
Think u x. is a solo song & this's sung by Fujigaya .
Unlike xLunaSx in Good Izuke ! , Think u x. has a surprisingly seductive dance feeling with auto synth & cool beats thrown in for good measures , making Think u x. 1 of the standout tracks in Kis-My-Zero 3 even though it's not a group effort song .
Brand New Season follows after xLunaSx & this's quite a peppy no. to say the least . It has almost the same kind of happy go lucky vibe that TRY AGAIN gives off , not that it's a bad thing .
ROCK U is the 2nd solo song available in Kis-My-Zero 3 & this track is sung by Kitayama .
It surprised me that ROCK U is under 3 mins long but despite this , it's yet an equally strong solo track , much like Good Izuke !'s Give me ... . Both tracks showcased Kitayama's musical versatility & he definitely can put off both ballads & uptempo tracks very seamlessly .
My Love is the only group ballad in Kis-My-Zero 3 . Unlike Good Izuke !'s Mother Moon , My Love is a lot more simplified & more enduring .
Rocking Party is the 2nd last track & this song's handled by Kitayama , Fujigaya & Tamamori .
With a song title like this , naturally it's expected that Rocking Party is something that's perfect to plug it loud & proud in a club & this's also another fave track of mine found in Kis-My-Zero 3 .
My fave part of Rocking Party is the way the song builds up slowly into an aggresive sounding no. .
Kis-My-LAND is the final song in Kis-My-Zero 3 & I think they picked an interesting song to conclude the 2nd disc in Good Izuke ! .
As for this song , while it sounds quite cheesy in the beginning , it slowly changed into a more circus mood which definitely surprised me & this kept things interesting prior to wrapping things up in Kis-My-Zero 3 .
Kis-My-Ft2 scored a triple #1 crown when their latest album Good Ikuze ! , 7th single Ki•Su•U•Ma•I ~KISS YOUR MIND~ / S.O.S (Smile On Smile) & YOSHIO -NEW MEMBER- DVD topped each of the respective Oricon charts within the 1st week of release .
Honestly speaking , Good Ikuze ! is not an easy album to listen to , be it for the album itself and/or Kis-My-Zero 3 . No doubt that the guys displayed a considerable amount of maturity but this time round , the songs are not as mainstream as what their debut album Kis-My-1st had to offer .
For starters , I had to take quite a lot more time than usual to try my best to remember how the new songs sound like . Perhaps maybe because this time round the singles included in Good Izuke ! are much more stronger/memorable/better , that probably caused the album tracks in Good Izuke ! to suffer quite a fair bit .
With that said , Good Izuke ! is not a bad album , it's actually rather enjoyable . It's just that prior to experience in enjoying it from start to finish in a seamless way , it's best to be prepared in advance to give Good Izuke ! a few more listens than the norm before you can decide if this's a justifiable follow up to Kis-My-1st or not .