I loved Rainbow.
But because I am... has so many more powerful songs.
I liked them about the same.
And Uhm.
I dislike secret a lot.
It's very monotone sounding.
All the songs sound identical.
I liked GUILTY. I thought it was absolutely amazing.
Don't know what everyone hates about it... >.>'

actually Rainbow is one of my 2 favortie Ayu albums. I can listen to rainbow and memorial address on repeat. the 2 albums rock. I liked some songs on I am, but not all of them.

Rainbow is one of my best... but maybe Japan wasn't used to the album's overall sound. Rainbow has some of my favorite songs in it (Heartplace and Hanabi)

Hm... the I am... thing. I think I'm...'s singles were great standing alone, but the album was weak in the cd songs. RAINBOW had 2 weak singles ( H sold well, but the songs are very similar) and 1 good one, which was Voyage. But as an album it flows pretty well.

btw, Dolls PWNS!!!

For me RAINBOW was Ayu's creative peak. The lyrics had some different theme's to normal, and once again she composed.
'I am...' was her 'avex are evil, I want peace' album. With RAINBOW the whole A BEST era was behind her and so she didn't need the whole freedom thing. It introduced the rock side that she's become dependent on, yet she still screwed around with her early electronic sounds.
It was experimental. An experiment she unfortunately didn't continue to perfection. MA came after with limited composition input (One of which was a part 2 of a RAINBOW track), then came MY STORY with it's rock and a genre she is yet to deviate from.

It's unfortunate. Although it started a sale's decline, RAINBOW is my Ultimate fave Ayu album. I didn't like Secret or GUILTY, but due to this one album I'll forever be a fan.

Yeah, RAINBOW is a plethora of emotions and colors... exactly like a rainbow! I really love the ballads in the album!

It's a different album from Ayu, I always think of water drops, light colors, and a fantasy world when I listen to RAINBOW. I feel it's one of her stronger first 5 albums, I would say that it's her 2nd strongest out of her first 5. Some of the tracks were weak and sounded the same. OVER is very emotional to me, the timing and emotion in her voice, the end of the song always gets to me. Real me is quite unique, unlike any other Ayu song. Heartplace is very catchy. I can't stand Voyage and Close to me though. HANABI is fantastic just like OVER. And Independent and July 1st and fun and upbeat, I always play them at parties and at the beach. I think the album had great songs individually, but each song was so different it was kind of a jumbled album. Like GUILTY has kind of a gothic/sad theme to it, A Song for XX has this innocent feel to it. Memorial address has a lot of positive messages filled with hope. and Secret was sexy.

I agree with this. I love rainbow. It had, much like I am, strong album tracks and strong single tracks. I don't think her sound changed more with RAINBOW than it did with I am, duty, or her previous albums, but the rainbow themes and sound kind of lingered forever, untill maybe her sweetbox stuff on (m) u. Many of my favourite tracks are from RAINBOW.

i really love RAINBOW more than I am...the songs on RAINBOW were so different from each other and really special, well the songs on I am... sound the same to me

for me I'm surprised that quite a no. of you guys doesn't appericate Voyage

I personally think that that's 1 of her best ballads to date . The lyrics , the music , they go hand in hand together

:yes There's a handful of her songs that make me want to cry every time I listen, and Voyage is one. It's hauntingly beautiful and moving. Same goes for Free & Easy (although not so haunting as it is desperate sounding).

:yes

agree , I still think that Voyage's 1 of her best ballads/works to date . The orchestra group going on in the melody's just breathe taking

I find Free & Easy a bit depressing even up to this date

Those songs deserved its hype!:irked (ok, Im not that upset but thats how I feel)

I think I am.. was a great ablum because of its new very different sound. I heard RAINBOW and really wasn't all tha excited about it...
She had great tracks (Heartplace, Over, HANABI, Voyage) but other than her lyrics I hasn't too into it.

I totally agree with what you said. The last of ayu's good pop. Everything else has been generic and overdone. either its too pop or too rock, either way, its been a while since I've heard a geniune Ayumi pop song. :(

RAINBOW was an awesome album, IMO, and its hard to see why people hate it so much. It blows recent albums like Secret and Guilty to shame. kthxbai.

she should just get D.A.I back onboard

I miss the works that she & D.A.I did & also the ones that D.A.I composed for her

did they had a falling out or something because D.A.I only composed BLUE BIRD for her most recently & he went MIA on GUILTY

^she probably just stopped collaborating with him. Like she had HAL for almost everything way back when I think, but HAL is used less and less.

I think it had more to do with her changing styles then a falling out. Honestly. X/

RAINBOW ... WRONG? WHAHAAAA... you are sooo funny!

I meant, ppl complain about I'm...'s great shizz and it's not really that strong as an album

I enjoyed the RAINBOW album, with the exception of HANABI & independent. The H single just didn't work for me at all...Other than that, there wasn't any other track that I didn't enjoy.

^ same here. TBH the H single sounds sort of... I dunno, half-assed.

I mean, July 1st is nice, but independent sounds like a demo and hanabi sounds bland to me.

other than tat, I like the rest. Like Free & Easy is gothic-ish & Voyage has an amazing choir.