CD
CD + Blu-ray
1) fabulous (Instrumental)
2) FAB LOVE
3) move on! Ibaramichi
4) Jump And Pump
5) BEASTFUL
6) RakugakiMOON
7) BIG SUN
8) JUNK-YARD DOG
9) Deadly Drive
10) Endless Summer [with FIRE HORNS]
11) Glorious days
12) the one
13) Take it easy
GRANRODEO's new album was released a week after their 30th single Setsuna no Ai & FAB LOVE is GRANRODEO's 1st studio album since 2017's Pierrot Dancin' .
4 singles & 2 B-sides are included in FAB LOVE . Setsuna no Ai & material from GRANRODEO's 1st mini album M・S COWBOY no Gyakushuu EP are not included in the new album .
All songs in FAB LOVE were written by vocalist KISHOW while all songs were composed by guitarist e-ZUKA .
2 videos were made for 2 new album tracks in FAB LOVE ie. FAB LOVE & Take it easy .
After a rather strange out of place yet beautiful orchestra instrumental opening no. fabulous kicks off FAB LOVE , the new album wastes no time diving straight into the 1st new album track which shares the same name as the album title .
FAB LOVE (the song) is 1 of 2 videos that GRANRODEO made . This song wasn't memorable on 1st listen but the more I listen to it , the more it slowly grows on me .
move on! Ibaramichi is GRANRODEO's 27th single & it was used as the opening theme for the anime Saiyuki RELOAD BLAST .
Jump And Pump is the 2nd album track and as the song title suggests , this definitely sounds like something that will get fans excited during a concert .
BEASTFUL is GRANRODEO's 29th single & this was used as the opening theme song for the Baki anime .
The next album track RakugakiMOON has an interesting start as the opening of the song has oddly Hawaiian influences with the ukulele being used .
I thought RakugakiMOON would sound like that for the whole song but unfortunately that only happened briefly in the beginning .
BIG SUN was originally included as the 1st of 2 B-sides in GRANRODEO's 26th single Glorious days .
When I 1st wrote about Glorious days at that time , I liked the other B-side Tsuki ni Daka Rete Nemuritai a lot more than BIG SUN .
Given a choice I rather see Tsuki ni Daka Rete Nemuritai make the cut in FAB LOVE as there's not much ballads in the new album .
JUNK-YARD DOG is the 4th album track & this song alongside with the last track Take it easy were recorded overseas in Los Angeles's prestigious Capitol Studios which's a 1st for GRANRODEO to do so .
GRANRODEO went to Los Angeles last Oct to do their 1st overseas recording & at that time they discussed they wanted to do this during the creation of M・S COWBOY no Gyakushuu EP .
Deadly Drive is GRANRODEO's 28th single & this was used as the opening theme song to promote the Bungo Stray Dogs DEAD APPLE movie which KISHOW had a voice role credit in the animated movie .
Endless Summer was originally included as the 2nd B-side in GRANRODEO's 27th single move on ! Ibaramichi .
In FAB LOVE , Endless Summer has been given a FIRE HORNS remix just like what happened to Punky Funky Love in Pierrot Dnacin' .
I think both Endless Summer & Endless Summer [with FIRE HORNS] are equally fun Summer inspired songs . For the version in FAB LOVE , it's just as upbeat as the original .
Glorious days is GRANRODEO's 26th single & this was used to promote the Kuroko's Basketball LAST GAME movie .
Wrapping things up in FAB LOVE are the album's last 2 new material the one & Take it easy .
Both the one & Take it easy are 2 equally long tracks but surprisingly for GRANRODEO's case , I enjoy their long songs a lot which's unusual .
the one is the closest I can consider it to be a ballad & this reminds me of GRANRODEO's 12th single Koi Oto to some extent .
Take it easy is the 2nd album track GRANRODEO made a video for & it rightfully deserves so as it's a great empowering no. which's a good choice to conclude FAB LOVE on a positive note .
GRANRODEO's latest album release FAB LOVE is a bit of a music departure from their last 2 studio albums where it took me quite relatively fast to get into the material .
This time round , that didn't happen for FAB LOVE but that's not necessary a bad thing as the material in GRANRODEO's new album is quite different from Pierrot Dancin' .
For starters , the new material in FAB LOVE has a more Americanised flair to it which's not a surprise given that it was the 1st time for them to fly to Los Angeles which led to the creation of JUNK-YARD DOG & Take it easy .
Some of the minor grouses I have towards FAB LOVE is that I would have preferred if GRANRODEO put the singles + B-sides in the 1st 1/2 of the album while the 2nd 1/2 of the record to be new material or vice versa as it's quite disruptive to have existing material interwined with new songs .
Maybe it's just me being picky & also it would have better to see GRANRODEO put in more ballads in FAB LOVE as I do feel they're real good in doing ballads , just as well as the upbeat rock songs .
But overall , FAB LOVE is pretty good . It sort of picks up from where Pierrot Dancin' left with some different music twists & I don't find it as dark moody as compared to Karma to Labyrinth .
GRANRODEO LIVE 2018 G13 ROCK☆SHOW "Don't show your back!" Blu-ray will be released next month on 21st Aug .