No, A BALLADS suck! :yes

And thank God Utada didnt' sell another 8 million album. I love you Avex! :love

i like A Ballads..-_-"

"A BALLADS" wouldn't suffer the fate of becoming sucking if they didn't let her re-sing those old stuff, namingly "A Song for XX" "YOU" and "Who..." :yes

I agree with BrightLight on that completely. :yes

I love the new version of A Song for XX. I think it fits the lyrics better than the original. The lyrics are angsty, so the song should be. I love A Ballads.

A Best sold well because it's a best album. There are people out there who like Ayu, but don't go out and buy her albums. A best had her best singles on there, so more people would buy it.

BTW: Utada Hikaru's "Distance" ended up selling more than A Best anyway, so I guess AVEX'S plan didn't work.

^ Honestly, does Utada have subliminal messages in her music? It's kind of insane... :laugh

Anyway, yeah, I agree with your point about people buying it because of the singles all being there and substituting it for an "album-album". I've done that a lot too, actually. If I get interested in an artist and they already have a best album, I generally get that one first and if I still like what I hear then maybe I'll buy the regular albums. I can imagine that may have happened with A BEST. :yes

I do that to - getting best of compilations. A Best was the first Ayu album I got, and I got more after listening to it.

EBS 2 is still kinda...meh..

EBS 2? Huh?

I'm guessing Every Best Single 2

IMO, best albums are kind of a double edged sword. (Not acknowledging the fact that they make a lot of money, of course. :laugh) To newer fans they're great because they get a good taste of the artist's music all in one spot. However, to existing fans who already own the songs, it can be a bit of a nuisance at times because you feel like you should get it even though you basically already HAVE it. (Except when they resing songs or throw on extras, but even then. :P)

:fatality

[You know that's a joke right? Just wanted a chance to use some of the more interesting emocons.]

EBS2 was great just looking at the tracklist.

interesting choice of emoticons..O_o..

[ i no :D ]

didnt ayumi didnt want to release A Best or something like that and avex did it anyways and it sold alot, im not sure...

Her producer wanted to end her career with the album, just like with "A".

i guess everyone was just afraid that ayu would die out so they all went out and bought her album?

How did re-singing "You" make A Ballads suck? I thought it made it infinatly better becuase her voice is so much better now then it was when she originally recorded it. I can barely listen to the original "You" without my ears bleeding.

The A Ballads version of 'YOU' pains me. Her voice from the RAINBOW album tracks and soon after was her all time low (vocally).

I don't think advertising was the main reason why it sold so much..best albums sells well because people who weren't normal a fan also got a copy of the album. And with an artist as famous as Ayu..well, I'd imagine anybody who didn't detest pop music would've got it. Of course we can't ignore those hard-core fans who had to get all the covers/variations etc. =p

I guess it's just left up to personal taste. I don't really like her voice from the older stuff, too nasaly.