Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - [Article] Time Out Tokyo's James Hadfield reviews Party Queen

Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai (http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/index.php)

- Ayu Music News (http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=2)

- - [Article] Time Out Tokyo's James Hadfield reviews Party Queen (http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113192)

Time Out Tokyo's James Hadfield reviews Party Queen

And as what I expected, this one's negative:

Quote:

Ayumi Hamasaki: Party Queen
The J-pop queen’s party is over almost as soon as it’s started
By James Hadfield
http://www.timeout.jp/en/tokyo/featu...ki-Party-Queen

For a glorious few minutes on her latest album, it sounds like Ayumi Hamasaki is out to save J-pop itself. After 18 months of sustained onslaught by the slicker, savvier hit makers over in South Korea, Japan's pop scene has rarely looked more doddery and conservative – more in need of a good kick in the nuts, basically. And on the opening tracks for Party Queen, that's exactly what Hamasaki delivers. Though she's still working with her regular stable of writers and arrangers (expat Timothy Wellard is the one notable addition), the singer appears to have caught up with her competition; as her bikini-clad cover poses seem determined to remind us, she's still just as nubile too. Opener 'Party Queen' is a confident disco stomp that's already found its rightful place in a Peach John advert, but that's nothing compared to the pair of songs that follow. Anyone who's enjoyed K-pop's magpie approach to genres should appreciate 'NaNaNa', a collision of heavy metal guitar riffs, electro beats and shimmering trance synthesizers so barmily brilliant that even the presence of a rapper who sounds like Falco can't ruin it. 'Shake It' sustains the momentum, while also finding space for '80s orchestral stabs and a dubstep breakdown – but after this invigorating gambit, Party Queen gets fatally sidetracked. 'Call' adopts Michelle Branch's pop-rock template wholesale without making any notable improvements, and the trio of power ballads that follow are notable only for their escalating absurdity, culminating in a barrage of choirs, church organ, string orchestras and discordant piano on 'Return Road'. More questionable still are 'The Next Love' and 'Eyes, Smoke, Magic', a pair of cod-Broadway musical numbers that suggest Hamasaki has her eye on a role in an upcoming production of Chicago, though both are preferable to the closing ballad, 'How Beautiful You Are'. As Hamasaki emotes her way through this wretched, generic bit of fluff, it's like the hangover kicking in at the end of an all-night karaoke session: it was fun once, but this party ended a long time ago.

Time Out Tokyo rating: 2 out of 5 stars

I kind of agree on this. What do you think?

Wow, that is pretty harsh. But I have to say I agree sadly :(

Review was purely on personal taste - James like dem Asian Skanks.

Makes you realise the album sort of caters for all ayu's fans (those who like her pop, those who like her rock, those who want something different and those who like her ballads). Whilst this is not unique of ayu's album, I guess the different sections on this album is more obvious/abrupt (it's like there are 4 different singers on this album!) and thus feel most disjointed.

Haha kinda agree with that article, but for me it still one of my favorite Ayu's album. K-pop (with their boyband and girlband not to mention their drama tv too) is getting world wide so I guess no wonder this album or even J-pop is decreasing in sales.

Yeah, I have to pretty much agree with him.

I don't agree at all since I loved this album so much, so, yeah, his opinion is completely different from mine.

Humm.. interesting but I don't agree with his points.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yukitora (Post 2839783)

I agree, this album is more towards her fan than for general public

lol wat is that first sentence, safe TVXQ,SNSD and KARA
the rest of those Hallyu acts are giant flops

anyway I don't agree but I kinda do
I wish the album was more aggressive so less ballads, needed more SHAKE IT!

and IA on hbya

This guy's opinions are rather...weird, anyone should notice by the moment he seems to insult Falco. Like...WTF? Falco was a musical genius and revolutionized a whole genre.

I don't know if it's because I'm not a native English speaker, but I barely understand his point of view... He doesn't use direct phrases to express his ideas, and at the end, we don't know was all about. :confused
I'm just ... confused, don't know if I agree or not.

Someone with sense it seems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heavenly (Post 2839819)

It seems like a rather typical music review to me, they always use elaborate language, usually to hide that most reviewers don't know all that much about music in the end. A friend of mine once said: "almost all music reviewers are just bitter amateur musicians that never got succesful or are angry they didn't get into a music university" xD

I suppose it's understandable for a non-fan to appreciate the alleged depth Party Queen delivers; I get why he's disappointed that the 'partay' songs end after track 3 and I guess any layman would, too, after given an album with such a title and cover and all the hoopla. I guess this album's execution just reeks of faux-pas.

It's really sad to see her getting bashed, nevertheless.

I think if the concept would have been more obvious, people (non-fans) would have understand it better.
The whole production of this release is the cause of this flop, that's all.
You can't elaborate a concept and say "Only my true fans will understand".

I don't think that's the problem really.

ayu's problem each year is that less of the casual music buyers interested in her and with this, she didn't bring multiple hits that casual buyers would buy. She needs the right songs at time right time with the right promotion in order to maintain (or bring to miracle of increasing) sales.
That always have been the reason and in here there is no exception. The numbers aren't that horrid to think that a lot of fan/TA stopped being fans or buy an album for example.

The concept is rather obvious from the lyrics though(at least it is from the translations), that's why many of us western fans are missing it. And reviewing an album for a professional publication(or at least I think it's a professional publication?) without taking lyrics into context is a joke. I'll just guess the reviewer probably is fluent in Japanese so he should understand them(even if he wasn't, NaNaNa is pretty clear about it...)

Quote:

Originally Posted by pheonixflame15 (Post 2839782)

Wow, that is pretty harsh. But I have to say I agree sadly :(

Same here!

James Hadfield seems to be a thoughtful, intelligent man =D

I couldn't have expressed it better than he did!

Thoughtful and intelligent maybe, but anyone insulting Falco in a music review should not review music. What's next? Insulting Queen, Michael Jackson and The Beatles? xD

I am not sure if he really intended to criticize Falco as a singer. Maybe he just tried to express some awkward feeling as if Timmy's voice just doesn't fit into Ayumi's songs because if compared with Falco you can tell that he's located in a completely different genre of music :)