CD
1) Mannequin
2) Drama
2 CDs
Disc 1
1) Mannequin
2) Drama
Disc 2
Live at SHIBUYA CLUB QUATTRO 2013.10.07
1) Kamisama
2) Subarashii Sekai
3) Bye Bye
The group's last single release was last Sept's Takaramono . The A-side was written & composed by vocalist yui .
Drama serves as the B-side in the single while the 2 CDs version of Mannequin also include 3 live tracks that were recorded 4 years ago at Tokyo's SHIBUYA CLUB QUATTRO . FLOWER FLOWER returned last year with Takaramono but did not carry out much promotion or activities . This Summer , the yui fronted band is back in force with 1 man lives & music festival appearances .
It's good to have FLOWER FLOWER back & Mannequin presents a more harder edgier sound which's quite different from Takaramono . Despite Mannequin being quite lengthy , I actually do not mind this time round .
Likewise , Drama plays a different contrast against the A-side as the B-side is more laidback & relaxed .
I still wish yui would go back to her old YUI solo days but she seems to be doing just fine in FLOWER FLOWER . Hopefully someday or another that will change in the near future .
3 CDs
3 CDs + Blu-ray
4 CDs
1) READY FOR YOUR LOVE
2) Blanket
3) Dance with you
4) Yatterannai ze
5) Ichiban Hajimete no Koibito
6) Don't Kan ・ Don't Kan
7) Emmm...
8) Gift
9) Negative Boy
10) Uta
Ken Hirai Singles Best Collection Utabaka 2 was released last month on 12th July . The 1st 2 CDs tracklist in the 3 CDs & 3 CDs + Blu-ray versions of the best album include single songs that Ken released from 2006 until present while the 1st 3 CDs in the 4 CDs version contain single songs Ken released from 1995 until present .
In Utabaka Dake ni. , it has 10 new songs which're all contributed by 10 different artistes that Ken personally admires . Ken takes the "baka (foolish)" part of the album’s title & entrust the artists with the creation of the collaborative songs , while he just sings them .
Here's the writing & composing credits for all songs in Utabaka Dake ni. :
1) READY FOR YOUR LOVE ; written , composed & arranged by tofubeats . Used in the ads of TOYO TIRES
2) Blanket ; written & composed by Kusano Masamune , arranged by Kameda Seiji
3) Dance with you ; written & composed by TOKO , arranged by Toomi You
4) Yatterannai ze ; written & composed by CRAZY KEN BAND's Yokoyama Ken , arranged by Yashiki Gota
5) Ichiban Hajimete no Koibito ; written , composed & arranged by Makihara Noriyuki . used in the ads of Choya's Choya Natsuume
6) Don't Kan ・ Don't Kan ; written , composed & arranged by Denki Groove's Ishino Takkyu
7) Emmm... ; written & composed by BONNIE PINK , arranged by Murata Yoichi
8) Gift ; written , composed & arranged by LOVE PSYCHEDELICO
9) Negative Boy ; written , composed & arranged by Nakata Yasutaka
10) Uta ; written , composed & arranged by KAN
Utabaka Dake ni. is quite similar to Acid Black Cherry's Acid BLOOD Cherry as both releases include various musicians contributing their own personal input as Ken + Acid Black Cherry tend to mainly write & compose most of their own material .
But in this case unlike Acid BLOOD Cherry where it's not so musically diverse , it's a different case for Utabaka Dake ni. as Ken tackled an extensive wide range of music styles & he surprisingly managed to relatively handle well with ease .
From upbeat songs to ballads to simplistic tracks , Utabaka Dake ni. is a very entertaining disc from start til finish & it frankly can passed off as a standalone Ken studio album but I guess Ken didn't want to make a typical best album so he decided to incorporate this in Ken Hirai Singles Best Collection Utabaka 2 .
I don't really have any bad thing to say about Utabaka Dake ni. as I really enjoy all the tracks as they sound very different from each other & let alone , some of the music genres Ken has never done before until now . The only song I don't quite like is Don't Kan ・ Don't Kan as it gets repetitive after a while but aside from that , it's a solid release as there's something for everyone to enjoy .
Utabaka Dake ni. itself is worth buying Ken Hirai Singles Best Collection Utabaka 2 & in this case , Ken definitely proves that he's no musical idiot that's for sure .
CD
CD Anime version
CD + DVD
1) move on ! Ibaramichi
2) Koi wa mirage
3) Endless Summer
4) move on! Ibaramichi (OFF VOCAL)
5) Koi wa mirage (OFF VOCAL)
6) Endless Summer (OFF VOCAL)
The duo's latest single was released 5 months + since their previous single Glorious days .
The A-side was chosen to be used as the opening theme for the anime Saiyuki RELOAD BLAST .
I was surprised when I 1st heard and saw the video to move on ! Ibaramichi as I didn't expect GRANRODEO to incorporate a rather strong Oriental influence in the song & there's even some Mandarin speaking words after the 2nd verse and being Chinese , I can understand what was being said & they made sense , unlike it being inaudible .
I'm not sure how the music influence in move on ! Ibaramichi is linked to Saiyuki RELOAD BLAST but it's interesting & very different from Glorious days in a good way .
Koi wa mirage & Endless Summer both serve as the 2 B-sides in the single . When I 1st heard Koi wa mirage , I immediately get vibes of Volcano (track #4 in GRANRODEO's 6th album Karma to Labyrinth) while Endless Summer is an outright very fun upbeat Summer song that has a great catchy Caribbean inspired melody .
GRANRODEO delivered yet another solid single release in the form of their latest offering move on ! Ibaramichi & I'm real glad I've decided to finally try their music a try .
My sister has been their fan for quite sometime so she knows that quality wise , GRANRODEO tends to deliver . What surprised me is even though this's their 2nd single I listened in full , the B-side/s are on par if not better than the A-side/s which's quite rare as normally B-side/s tend to be filler tracks .
It would be nice if GRANRODEO release 1 more single before 2017 ends but as I said , it's better late than never for me to get into their music .
CD
CD + DVD
1) THE RUINER
2) BAD BLOOD
3) BEAST
4) crimson
5) BLACK OUT
6) Sweet dEvil
7) Forbidden Bells
8) RIDE into the FATE
9) KEDAMONO
10) Guilty Cry
This release is a spin off from Acid Black Cherry's Recreation covers albums . The word BLOOD is emphasised in Acid BLOOD Cherry as all the while , yasu is the 1 that composed & writes all the songs but this time round in Acid BLOOD Cherry , he enlisted other musicians to work on the material .
Acid BLOOD Cherry includes 10 songs & the 2nd song BAD BLOOD is the only album track that has a video made .
Here's the writing & composing credits for all songs in Acid BLOOD Cherry :
- THE RUINER ; written , composed & arranged by defspiral's RYO
- BAD BLOOD ; written by JUN , composed & arranged by everset's Nagano Tenji
- BEAST ; written , composed & arranged by defspiral's RYO
- crimson ; cowritten by Kojima Minoru & 3＋3 mimie . Composed & arranged by Kojima Minoru
- BLACK OUT ; written by MASA☆ , composed & arranged by Libraian/La'cryma Christ's HIRO
- Sweet dEvil ; written by KOTO , composed & arranged by La'cryma Christi's SHUSE
- Forbidden Bells ; written , composed & arranged by Far East Dizain's Leda
- RIDE into the FATE ; written by everset's Himura Tsuyoshi , composed & arranged by everset's Nagano Tenji
- KEDAMONO ; written by BREAKERZ's AKIHIDE , composed & arranged by Libraian/La'cryma Christ's HIRO
- Guilty Cry ; written by JUN , composed & arranged by everset's tatsuo
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Acid Black Cherry , a new spin off project was created & Acid BLOOD Cherry injects new blood into the project by welcoming the creations of other musicians .
Musicians who normally celebrates their 10th anniversary tend to release a best album which's quite standard but what Acid Black Cherry did is a bit different from the norm .
Acid BLOOD Cherry is still a Rock driven album (it's quite heavily Visual Kei sounding to a certain extent) but due to various musicians that contributed their time & effort into the release , they're different from each other .
I'm not so surprised BAD BLOOD had a video made because out of the songs , it's 1 of the more memorable sounding ones but given a choice , I would love RIDE into the FATE to have a video made or maybe Forbidden Bells as I like the melody to the song .
Some Acid Black Cherry fans do not like Acid BLOOD Cherry because this's the 1st release that there's no personal input coming from yasu as this time round , his musicians friends are the ones that stepped in regarding the creative process & let alone , lyrically some of the songs are questionable because a few have English/Engrish lyrics which I didn't know until I read them in the CD sleeves .
But end of the day , Acid BLOOD Cherry is an interesting release but I suppose some would feel what yasu does for his solo career , is still tops but as I said earlier on , the fact that this's not a typical release in celebrating a musician's 10th anniversary , it's something unique .
That said , I hope yasu will make a full recovery as he was supposed to go on tour this month to promote Acid BLOOD Cherry but due to health problems , he's unable to which's not a great way to commemorate this milestone of this . The fans have his back & I'm sure he appreciates all the well wishes & may he be in the pink of health soon .
2 CDs
2 CDs + DVD
3 CDs
The release of Hey ! Say ! JUMP 2007-2017 I/O was to celebrate the group's 10th anniversary in the business . I/O stands for Input/Ouput .
In addition to including songs taken from singles , fan votes covering the past 10 years , 2 new songs were specially created that're included as bonus tracks in the 2 CDs version of Hey ! Say ! JUMP 2007-2017 I/O .
The result of the fan votes yielded several fan favourites that was released on CD for the 1st time that were selected from 112 songs that Hey ! Say ! JUMP recorded over the last decade .
The 2 new songs that were specially created & included as bonus tracks in the 2 CDs version of Hey ! Say ! JUMP 2007-2017 I/O are :
- I/O ; pronounces as Input/Output , track #12
- H.our Time ; pronounces as Our Time . Lyrics written by the whole group , track #13
While these new songs are found in the 3rd CD in the 3 CDs version of Hey ! Say ! JUMP 2007-2017 I/O :
- TO THE TOP , track #1
- Tobira no Mukou , track #2
- Shin・Gi・Tai , track #4
- Viva ! 9's SOUL (2017 Ver.) ; original version found in as a bonus track in the CD only version of 4th album JUMPing CAR , track #7
- Taiyou ni LOVE MOTION ! , track #9
I will not review/write that much on the new material in the 3rd CD from the 3 CDs version of Hey ! Say ! JUMP 2007-2017 I/O as I'm generally not a fan of them but I like the 2 new songs that were specially created / included as bonus tracks in the 2 CDs version of the best album .
I/O & H.our Time are polar opposites of each other as I/O is an upbeat rather aggressive song while H.our Time is a special ballad as it includes personal input from the entire group as they wrote the lyrics to the song .
That said , Hey ! Say ! JUMP 2007-2017 I/O is a release that shows how far Hey ! Say ! JUMP has come & I myself can't believe it as I started supporting them from 2008 (when their 3rd single Your Seed / Bouken Rider was released) and it's a surreal feeling over the years they have matured considerably from boys to adults .
Hey ! Say ! JUMP 2007-2017 I/O is a great release that looks back at the group's past , present & future and here's to another 10 more years of Hey ! Say ! JUMP !
CD
CD + DVD
CD + DVD Anime version
1) Rasen no Yume
2) Rasen no Yume -Instrumental-
3) Rasen no Yume -TV Size-
SID's latest single was released 3 months + since their previous single Butterfly Effect .
Promo wise , Rasen no Yume was chosen to be used as the opening theme song for the Shoukoku no Altair anime . The song was written by vocalist Mao & composed by bassist Aki .
Same with Butterfly Effect , no B-side/s are available in Rasen no Yume .
Rasen no Yume is SID's 3rd single release of 2017 & even if I might not know whether is it used to promote an anime , it's quite evident their latest single song has a distinct anime sound .
Mood wise , Rasen no Yume is a lot more upbeat unlike Glass no Hitomi & Butterfly Effect .
SID's 5th album NOMAD will be released next month on 6th Sept & Rasen no Yume will be included in the new album as track #9 .
CD + DVD
1) LIT
2) LIT -Instrumental-
This will be the 1st of 3 limited release singles just like last April's single Shhh! . Koda's next 2 singles will be released in Oct & Dec .
LIT is described as 60s theme , a dance song inspired by 60's surf music with a guitar sound . The song was used to promote the 3D RPG smartphone game Serencia Saga : Dragon Nest .
I honestly didn't expect Koda to release new material after she released her joint albums W FACE ~inside~ & W FACE ~outside~ in March as she's currently on a long tour to promote both albums .
That said , LIT is a really fun upbeat song & definitely fits the Summer vibe . I always liked Koda's Summer songs & for me , it should be upbeat no.s & LIT is evident of that .
Seeing that Koda will release 2 more new singles in the subsequent months before 2017 ends , I really am looking forward to hearing them .
