『A BALLADS 2』on sale 2021.04.08 [II]
The second installment in the Ballads Best series, 18 years after A BALLADS. The main release consists of two discs with 30 songs total (subject to change), remastered from their original master tapes. Other versions will include blu-ray discs and goods (40 page photobook).
As per the TA store, the album will only include songs released after the first A BALLADS. No rearrangements or re-recordings have been mentioned in the announcement text. === EDITIONS ======== [2CD+2DVD+GOODS+Sumapura Music] ¥11,400 (AVZ1-96674~5) https://i.imgur.com/KRSyvykt.jpg ✦ TeamAyu / mu-mo shop limited edition ✦ Luxury BOX specification ✦ Digipak specification ✦ Goods: Special book (40 pages) ✦ Goods: T-shirt with jacket photo print ✦ Other jacket card included ‣ DISC-1 - CD ‣ DISC-2 - CD ‣ DISC-3 - DVD ‣ DISC-4 - DVD [2CD+2Blu-ray+GOODS+Sumapura Music] ¥12,400 (AVZ1-96676~7) https://i.imgur.com/KRSyvykt.jpg ✦ TeamAyu / mu-mo shop limited edition ✦ Luxury BOX specification ✦ Digipak specification ✦ Goods: Special book (40 pages) ✦ Goods: T-shirt with jacket photo print ✦ Other jacket card included ‣ DISC-1 - CD ‣ DISC-2 - CD ‣ DISC-3 - Blu-ray ‣ DISC-4 - Blu-ray [2CD+DVD+Sumapura Music] ¥4,800 (AVCD-96668~9) https://i.imgur.com/cjmHh6Tt.jpg ✦ sleeve packaging ‣ DISC-1 - CD ‣ DISC-2 - CD ‣ DISC-3 - DVD [2CD+Blu-ray+Sumapura Music] ¥5,200 (AVCD-96670~71) https://i.imgur.com/cjmHh6Tt.jpg ✦ sleeve packaging ‣ DISC-1 - CD ‣ DISC-2 - CD ‣ DISC-3 - Blu-ray [2CD+Sumapura Music] ¥3,200 (AVCD-96672~3) https://i.imgur.com/j8tuUhYt.jpg ‣ DISC-1 - CD ‣ DISC-2 - CD === CD CONTENT ======= Spoiler:
=== DVD/BD CONTENT ==== Spoiler:
=== COVERS =========== Spoiler:
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Tracklist preview
Cover photo by Kazutaka Nakamura https://i.imgur.com/C1L52HY.jpg Video(?) by Kazuyoshi Shimomura https://i.imgur.com/Zt2almH.jpg |
Still not over how gorgeous she looks in that photo!
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I love the cover and I'm so excited for the new MV (?) she always looks amazing wearing kimonos!
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I'm glad color theme is not peach/pink
Is it ayu in kimono? I can't recognize her |
I can't. She looks soooo stunning at the cover. Love it.
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The original A BALLADS was soft and gentle somehow, despite the glamour. Difficult to put into words, bet it felt personal and real. This doesn’t feel honest.
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It’s certainly not inspiring but she and the colors are lovely.
I wonder how many versions we’ll get. Personally I’d love something like MY STORY, which had a great variety (IMO). |
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Well it's the easy way out. You don't need a concept, nor art director, you just do a magazine photoshoot and use it for everything. It's a nice photo, but yeah, we've had a million of those by now as covers for singles and albums.
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Beauty shot, which was expected in my opinion and executed fairly well this time. I wish the title text is not translucent though - solid white would appear much more confident!
In terms of cover arts with concept, in my opinion those really started at Duty and peaked at A BALLADS. Ever since Memorial Address, which was beautiful, the cover arts have become more or less beauty shots most of the time with a big face on it... |
I like it.
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I really like it. It gives me an impression of her being in her thoughts during/before shooting a video or maybe a concert. That's why I see it as something more than a beauty shot :) It will look amazing on the box.
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Cover looks nice and I do like the color tone.
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I’m so curious what the kimono video is about though! Can’t imagine that’s for Pray for you ... but still anything can happen
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She looks stunning at the cover.
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Well, it's pretty
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Okay... So I'll say a terrible thing that I'm used to saying by now as regards with her releases, I wasn't expecting anything and so I'm not disappointed.
From all the information we have by now everything feels lazy. Another easy release with little effort. Unless they change their plan and add something amazing. I don't understand the live compilation. It seems really random and just a second thought to make the release more pricey with not effort. Doesn't fit the A BALLADS brand either to me. I know it can evolve but I don't know... I would be way more happy with just one cd, a few tracks rearranged, a GORGEOUS concept that's following the first one and that's it. This release feels like a mix of random things (tied by the ballad genre) put together hastily just for the sake of releasing something. Using an old brand just to make people excited and create some buzz. Even the cover is totally bland and does not express a thing. Love the lilac tone, that's it. Could either be an ad for sticky lipsticks or creepy lenses. You know what I would be happy with? A BEST 3. I don't expect anything more than an awesome compilation of all the "best" songs since B&D / Pride with a cover in the lines of the original and the second one. Put PVs on the discs if you want (don't care) and call it a day. I would be really happy to buy it and listen to it. Resurrecting A BALLADS for this... There is no point. Put out another Spotify playlist. I'm not mad or extremely disappointed at all because as I said I had no expectation. I'm just bored by so little creativity and commitment. One more thing : why the font has to be translucent and WHY ON EARTH it's not the same as the original one T_T ? |
Is it just me, it goes she look like she's annoyed and has a headache?
She looks beautiful though. |
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