No, it's not likely that's the cover. If YesAsia had an idea that it might be the cover, then they wouldn't have written "Temporary Image" on it. So it's unlikely that it's the cover.

no cause tis image is from kose...

I haven't seen it either. It looks kinda old, though.

after seeing all this discussion, i feel that i would be buying it. cos it would definitely be better after being remixed!!! i like a best a lot too!

That is an old Kose poster, definitely not the new cover.

doesnt suit for the cover of the Ayu-ro-mix 3

um, this thread is about "A Ballads", not Ayu-ro mix 3.

Now that I see the song titles I understand. Some are autobiographical, while are not. But they still BARELY fall under the "Ballads" Genre.

[Added by Kawai]
Ayu and Ayu kissing!

Even the reports from Japan used such headline. Hamasaki Ayumi decide to launch her new selection "A Ballads" on March 12th. The cover image that was just released was very shocking---The lip-trumbling Ayu is kissing!

The theme of the cover is "The me now healed the me in the past". Ayu posed as her old self on the left and now on the right, making a kissing pose. The production of this took 2 times longer than the usual time, with high-quality photo stitching that makes it hard to differentiate them and leaving fans, male and female, stunned. The album will have 4 different cover, like what she had done with "A Best", and fans would only know their selection after opening the cover.

The talk is not only on the cover photo, but also on the songs that is featuring. The selection features 13 of Ayu's numbers from the beginning of her singing career. The focal point is on "Rainbow", a song composed with the input of fans after listening to audio clip of it's melody in the initial press of the latest album on sale last december. 100,000 responses had been received for this and all of them have been read by her. Thus this is especially meaningful.

The launch date of March 12th had unexpectedly coincidence with the date of annoucement of Japan Gold Disk award. This year sees a one-on-one duel between Ayu and Utada Hikaru and if Ayu manage to hold the rein, she will be the first to be awarded "Artist of the Year" for 3 years running.

A Best saw a incredible sales of 4.65 million copies, so how would "A Ballad" fare? We'll see.

News from Ayucn, Newsgroup
Translation by Kawai.

Thank you very much for the translation kawai. :thumbsup

Cool! Thanks kawai!:thumbsup

thanks for the info

Thnx for the info

seems really really cool... but is it a surprise when you open and see what colour you got????

Thanks very much for that article Kawai!!!! That was very informative!!!!! So it seems like there will be 4 different booklets, but the cover is the same for all of them, they are just different on the inside.

I'm making a prediction that this won't sell as well as A Best. I dunno why, but I have a feeling it won't. :shrug

I agree, Grant. I don't see big sells either. I still think this is just a way to get out of having a Rainbow single. And what happened to a Real Me single? I want some remixes!

Thank you for the info kawai! That helped a lot.
I agree with you, Grant and biscuitgirl.
Most of Ayu fans already have these songs in other albums or A best. Even if they are re-recordered, I dont think its a good time to make a new " best songs" album.

Avex marketing people must EAT money!!! What do they do with so many dolars (or Iens, wathever)???

Well, I'd buy this one.
Its like A BEST and A BALLADS would be nice too! And I like the idea of re-recorded. So hopefully, it should sound refreshed.

emm.. u guys have a great ava and huge banners.. i guess i'll put a wallpaper as my banner...;P