progress opinions
 

Surprised there's no thread on this already. What's everyone opinion of the song?

My opinion: its epic. The chorus is amazing, and the composition/arrangement is so dense and interesting. Feels like a rock opera. Get some Mirrorcle World vibes from this song.

I love it!! The piano in the beginning, the strings, the pureness of Ayu's voice, then the way the instruments all suddenly come in!! The epicness of the full chorus... need me say more?

Yeah, it's awesome. :)

I liked very much!, the orchestra part in the beginning es beautiful. The chorus is powerfull, exactly what was missing in most of the Love songs`s tracks. Maybe is not a "revelation" o "greatest hit" in ayu discography but is really good to me, because I always wanted an ayu song with an anime vibe on it

it's typically ayu song...
so ayuish..
the verse reminds me of blossom while the guitar solo reminds me of endless sorrow guitar solo single vers...
the music flows like evolution as it starts with soft ballad then turns out to be rockish...
after all i love this song
i love it as i hear it for the first time n i dont have to get used with it to love this song...

I totally love this song. I can't stop to listened to it!
I love the orchestra intro, the ballad part, the pop part & the rock guitar!!
Seriously progress is amazing. I hope we'll be able to see it in live soon!

I love this song!!!!
It's perfect for a live performance. lots of the instrumental bits and breaks just scream for an audience surprise.. Costume change.. Something..
This and the covers are really reawakening any ayu fans who have been disappointed.. I haven't seen thus much praise since maybe sparkle or microphone.

i don't know how to describe this song...
it's perfect for me.
love the beginning, with the soft piano part n ayu's vocal starts singing..
then the music starts energetically..and come to the solo electric guitar, awesome!
the bridge part is the best part, the climax.
then finally it ends with the soft piano playing again~

sorry i donno how describe it in a good way :P

Just perfect...the bridge part is total highlight for me...
the chorus amazing
the verse is good for me now...
love it!

The song is perfect! It has the adventure-fighting vibe needed for Tales of Xilia
I love the instrumentation, it's very beautiful :luv2

This! :)

I love this song so much! It seems to go by way too fast for me, which is a good thing. It has a very movie-like feel to it, which is awesome.

the song's amazing! after many plays, i'm still not tired of it! :laugh ayu's rock songs really do rock. :cool

I like the Ballad-Part.. I like the Pop-Part... but I hate the guitar-Solo. It destroyes the song for me. So.. it is a good song... but would be much much better, without this messy guitar-solo.
If she would cancel it from the song, it would be a geate song.

I like it. I'm not in love with it and I don't think it's amazing. I also like it less than almost any song on Love songs. But I don't have any complaints about it other than her vocals being really strained, and I hope her voice isn't so loud on the official track.

I'm also not really that fond of the guitar solo and bridge, just because they sound like they were taken straight out of SURREAL to me. >_<

But yeah, I like it. :)

So I was going to name my favorite parts of the song like other people were doing here, but then I just wound up describing the whole song from start to finish :laugh I basically love every single thing about it, only part I didn't like was that the song was in LQ. There is so much going on in it and so many different parts that make it almost impossible to get bored while listening - kind of like Mirrorcle World. I can't wait to hear it in glorious HQ~

^ lol Same here. I was going to name the parts I liked most, but it ended up being practically the whole song so I decided not to. :laugh

two words.

love it!

:D

I don't like it at all :(
I feel like it's all over the place and I honestly just don't like how her voice sounds either.

I didn't like the melody at first, and I think, there are some things she does that, god, her composers need to learn about real flow, instead of the little tricks they pull to try to make the song flow.

But the melody grew on me by the end of the song. It's a very Ayu song, and it sounds like a lot of things she's done before....but that's not so bad, cause, it's actually better than a lot of stuff she's done.

And the last note is perfect. The composers got one thing right! That made me smile.

That's big. I think the song is gonna be epic live, even if her vocals can't pull it off, the music may be strong enough to carry her...and I really can't wait to hear an HQ version that is fully mastered and what parts they choose to have low and high....it's very exciting.

"Epic" :P

I find nothing special about it. I'll go the opposite here and say yes, it is a typical Ayu song. I really can't get over how horrible her vocals are either. Not my taste. //blunt

I loved the song. I remember listening to it seconds before my boyfriend came over to see me and I had to refrain myself from talking about the song nonstop to him. I know he doesn't mind, but still. xD
I liked how progress sped up and got more upbeat after the first chorus instead of somewhere earlier in the song; such as evolution. (Reminds me of how much I loved evolution from Asia Tour 2007). I just thought it was interesting how it was slow for a long amount of time and then bam! I was anxious for a surprise like that and that's what I received! I literally spend my alone time jamming out to this song.
Overall, I thought the song was awesome and it makes me so much more excited to purchase FIVE. :]

The more I listening to progress the more I love it :heart.
It's really ayu-ish but in a good way. It seems like they have mixed up evolution and Mirrorcle World and got an amazing song.
I cannot describe it properly sorry. I barely can in my native language so :laugh.

About her voice, I noticed it's getting more high-pitched than her latest albums (except Love songs). Like during 2002-2003 era. It's not her best, but it's not that bad neither in my opinion.

progress now is threatening to replace Microphone in my fave ayu song list.

I agree about the guitar solo, a bit over the top with the effects they've laid onto it.

I really don't see what's the so special about it. It sounds really typical. The melody in the chorus is like a GREEN ripoff to me.

^
i dont see any green melody in it..
umm....

Tony_G - i think in HQ it will be cool...
right now we still MQ...so..still need HQ to really judge that part

i don't hear any GREEN on it as well...

Okay well just because you don't hear it doesn't mean he doesn't.
Everyone perceives things differently, so no need for *****y "ummm..." comments :rolleyes

I've listened to it maybe 3 times, and I'm really starting to get a feel for it. It's really nice. I like the entire song the whole way through.

I really like it~ Other than how strained her voice sounds, I like the music~

^oh wow, I just noticed pompom is a staff member now. How cool. ^^

I love the song, but I have to agree about the melody in the chorus sounding like GREEN. Every time I start singing or humming the song without the music playing, I always end up singing the chorus to GREEN without even realizing it! I definitely hear a similarity. :yes

I don't like the chorus! The guitar solo is awesome and yes, this song will be perfect for peformance, but I don't think I'll enjoy listening it on my iPod, just watching live performances.

And I don't hear her improved vocals... I hope it will grow on me like all the Love songs album did.

Well, I don't like the slow part at the beginning. It sounds like it doesn't blend with the rock part. And I'm a little bit annoyed with her voice in the slow part.
But as a whole song, i love it. :)

lol, I almost never like how her voice sounds. I just love the beat :0).

LURVE IT! End of story.

it sounds like a lot of her rocky songs, but it also doesnt sound like them.. i think it's a very "familiar" ayu track, i like it a lot but it just doesnt sound very special at the moment..

I think it is VERY good, but not quite up there with her most amazing songs. I've listened to it about 5-6 times, which is a lot for me (I don't like putting songs on repeat) and it's kind of epic. One of those songs that gets better and better the more you listen to it I think.

LOVE it!!!, i like how it 'progress' from a slow to a rock type of song. the beginning feels like the start of a disney movie to me!
LOVE!!!

This song is amazing! :heart

The first few seconds so sound video game opening. It's great haha

I really like the ballad section, it's what makes this song so typical epic Ayu though. Her vocals get strained as soon as she hits the chorus. :( This was recorded around Love Songs time right? So before her new training?

I agree that the song is very "familiar". It feels like if Mirrorcle World were on Love Songs. I'm not a fan of Ayu rock, so I don't like the guitars much in this. :(

Overall, it's a good song, but nothing amazing.

really?
can anybody confirm this?
she recorded around Love songs era?

I too am wishing for a HQ version! This thing is epic from start to finish. It progressively gets more enjoyable to listen to, even after replays. I start bobbing my head when the drum kicks in...love it love it love it. It's so over the top at the bridge but I don't mind. ;)

don't get me wrong, i love Progress, i still can't even get over how brilliant it is but i think it's like 2 arrangements (slow part & upbeat part) mixed into one. Both are awesome but i'd rather have it in all upbeat or all slow.

Love it. Absolutely love it. Ayu does not disappoint me. :love

Yeah an all slow version would be great. I hope that there will be an acoustic orchestra version or piano version on her next single! :yes

agree with you...
i love this song so much... but i just feel this song came up with 2 arrangement
and feels disconnect from the beginning and the middle part...
for me, i think that's the minus on this song... :(
but the chorus melody... OH GOSH!!! so CATCHY!!!
really really love the tunes...

I love progress !

Complaints of vocal and guitar solo "messiness" are actually from the low quality.

My friend has a pair of extremely expensive headphones that I borrowed to listen to progress. First I listened with iPod earbuds, now with these headphones... geeze progress is AMAZING.

The expensive headphones have great layer separation.. basically I think you'll all be able to tell when it comes out in HQ :) The guitar solo has 2 clear string layers and the guitar on top of it.. I think live and in HQ it'll sound better and not so messy! Same with her vocals, somehow they seem less strained in the "woah woah woah... woah woah YEHHH!!"

Now I have to return the headphones.. darn...!!! haha :-)

Actually, thinking about the title of the song, the change from slow tempo to fast tempo may be meaningful.

I mean, it's a 'progression', right?

Read my theory here

i love Progress!! I thought it will be another ballad. but it's full of the oomph factor! definitely an A grade song imo!!

i has repeated this track all day all night, EPIC

yes, it's just typical ayu's gerne. but typical ayu's gerne is just AMAZING and UNIQUE

anyways, i do hate solo guitar part also teeeheeeeee

Absolutely beautiful. The intro with the piano just takes my breath away

amazing! especially the first piano part! it's stunning!

I love it, every second of it. When the preview in the game trailer came out it was the very first time I loved a preview for one of ayus songs.
And when I heard it in concert it just took my breath away and made me want to shout the lyrics at the same time. So for me it's a perfect piece of music!:)

ah~
thanks for telling me this..
now i got it.

wow she prepared this song from quite long time ago haha~

hopefully, she'll sing this song live, it's gonna be epic..
but then, usually music shows will cut down the song into 2 minutes ++

The only problem I have with this song is - her voice. It sounds forced and strained. And that's a problem when she starts to annoy with her voice. I enjoy the musical arrangement though...

I like the song a lot. Gives me high hopes for FIVE. But like others have said her voice sounds a bit strained and I hope it doesn't sound like that on the CD. Anyone who has seen Power of Music notice if she had any trouble singing progress live?

song is fantastic!!! but her voice sounds so strained and my ears just can't take it. Feels like my ears are bleeding...*sigh* it makes me so sad that my favorite artist's vocals detract from the song :(

does anyone else feel this way or is it just me?

^ It's not just you.

I love this song, really. I have no problem with her voice, I think it fits perfectly with the music. About the guitar part, I need this song in HQ before I judge it.

The only thing that I don't like is, the recent CD Rip version which likely will become the original mix of progress, has a different arrangement with the one in Tales of Xillia trailer, though it's a really really small part. Not sure if anyone realized about this.

i was still wondering whether this is the original version of progress because it sounded so much like a acoustic orchestra version at the begining of the song... i really like the middle part of the song where it got rockish. This songs really wows me, the feeling and emotions of this song is just SO INTENSE and it really wins me over. Right now i have been repeating this song over and over again since afternoon...

I love this song!! and I am really looking forward to the rest of the songs!!!

you're right i totally thought of GREEN when i heard the chorus

the song didn't really impress me, but i think that's a good thing because a song like this usually end up being my favourite :D

sounds usual, so I'll be forgetting this one a way too soon :)

I love it.

I love the way it starts out as an acoustic orchestra and just kicks into more rock-based territory.

The way the epic chorus just kicks in from the easy going verses just leaves me with that amazing feeling that kinda takes my breath away. And the lyrics (now that I've read the translation in the thread in the music news section) are fantastic, as usual. And Ayu performs it perfectly, in my opinion. :)

It sounds for me like a rockish GREEN. The song adds nothing really special to her career but I like the refrain. However I would like to hear to song in less dramatic instrumentals.
In short; a good song. But that's it: it is just a good song which won't be memoriable for me.