I thought it was pretty disturbing, as well. It just seemed...wrong.

It was tacky and exploitative. Thankfully she seems to have grown out of this kinda crap after getting burnt by MARO.

I agree--I was never on board with the crap she pulled in that PV.

I didn't mind the photo in the PV. He was a character in Virgin Road after all, as in, he was a part of her persona and the canon of her works, not just someone in her personal life.

Actually I thought the photo was the best thing about the Return Road PV because the mixing on the song is atrocious and the video overall was quite boring.

@Zeke. that puts a whole 'nother point of view on it. I guess that's fair when you put it that way.

Return Road doesn't bother me at all. As Zeke. said, Mannie was part of Virgin Road as a character even before becoming Ayu's husband in real life.

On the other hand, putting her then-boyfriend Maro on the cover of one a mini-album was awful and tacky.

appears - '99 Greeting mix is my shyte lately. Not sure why lol

This. This.

Ayu kept saying how Virgin Road and Return Road had no connections at all but............

Random but Urata Naoya is finally putting Dream ON on an album, five years later. He will be releasing a best album on the 9th titled un BEST. Dream ON is included as the second track and the music video will also be included on the CD+DVD version!

I have forgotten how incredible this song is..I can't get over how bold Ayu must have been to release such an abstract and "difficult" (not exactly the kinda song you would hear on radio anywhere) song around the peak of her success.


The song is still more impactful and full of life than the stuff she releases today.

He's releasing a best of but only has one album out? lol

Quoting for truth.

Have always loved this song/video.
Great single cover too. And the magazine tie in.

And ANother song feat. URATA NAOYA is being shoved in there as well...
They basically want ayu to sell his album, like it was with Dream ON.
He's pretty good though but I guess it would be hard for him to have success outside of AAA, and it's not easy for male soloists at all in Japan nowadays.

Nana Tanimura released NANA BEST without a single studio album so I think that's okay for Urata :laugh

And count me in the praising boat of Free & Easy, I still remember listening it for the first time and jumping on my chair when the loud instrumental came in :roflmao And I love the PV, it'll always be one of my favourite videos ever. RAINBOW was such a high point of ayu as an artists, I love that era.

Interesting how in the first part of her carrer, ayu would release her first classical album as an experiment probably but now the classical elements are very often incorporated into her original works.

On Urata..I saw a clip Avex uploaded for his best album and was surprised to hear he can actually kinda sing..I don't know why but he sounds weak as fuck on ANother Song and Dream ON.

Free & Easy is so good. It was probably in the first handful of Ayu's songs I heard so I feel very nostalgic when I listen to it lol.

I hope that Ayu releases a cover album someday. Hopefully soon since they're popular in Japan at the moment it seems. Perhaps not just a cover album, but one that also features re-arrangements of specific songs. If we get A BEST 3, it would be an awesome tie in as a disc two.

^ I'd love to see her releasing a 2 disc cover album, one being songs from other artists and the other a self-cover album :heart I think that releasing it as a bonus for A BEST 3 would be a waste tho, it'd better to make a separate release even if they were both out on the same day.