Yuta Nakano's blog post about Rock'n'Roll Circus
 

He posted this a little less than a month ago, but he barely updates his blog, so here it is.

From the AMAZING Misa-chan:
I got the chance to participate in the production of Hamasaki Ayumi's new album 『Rock'n'Roll Circus』. Now that it's released, I'd really like to write down some of my thoughts about the recordings done at London.

With regards to Hamasaki-san's recordings, I have been invited over to Los Angeles for the past 2 times, when we did 「Talkin' 2 Myself」 and 「NEXT LEVEL」. This time, because we needed a dark perspective, we worked in London instead.

The first impression I had of London was "The sky's really heavy (laugh)".
It's just somehow always so dark. The environment, the feelings, they all seem to close in on themselves.
And we realized that this had a considerable effect on the sound of our works too.

The people of London, including the studio staff, were all really quiet and kind.
Even the pretty girls passing by on the street smiled at me. (laugh)

『Microphone』 was recorded by a local strings group, and they were unexpectedly good. I was conducting them, and just a pointed look or the slightest nuance was enough for them to understand me. (Not to mean that the Japanese groups aren't like this too. This is just to stress my point. (sweatdrop) ^_^)
However, because I'm so short, the members could not really see me at first. To solve that, they had to resort to emergency measures, and for someone my age to mount something like a stand is a little... The members probably were trying so hard not to laugh. (sweatdrop)

When we did the introduction, we were going to use the harpsichord and violin to give a Baroque feel at first, but after ayu-san gave an idea, we changed it to a pipe organ instead. Because of that, I think that the song was given an extra layer of solemnity.

『Sexy little things』 was done because I wanted to seal away the things which I normally do and that I'm accustomed to, and to look for something new. The process of looking for something which I have never touched on before was really tough, but I think the reward I got from it was really big too.

When you listen to this song, you'll realize that there are really lots of back vocal tracks. During recording of the back choruses, after finishing pile upon pile of scattered back voice tracks, ayu-san asked "Are we finally done?", to which I replied "Sorry, there's more". Her whines of "Nobita!" are such a memory for me. (laugh)

『Don't look back』 was arranged by CMJK-san. If I may say so myself, CMJK-san put the song through a whole explosive world of change, to give it a really sharp and therefore miserable perspective. When I first heard the arrangement in the studio, I was so shocked, but I also felt a strange assent for it. I told JK-san "You must feel like a proud parent whose finally marrying off your kid into a rich family" to which he replied "That's so gross~". (laugh)

But JK-san's arrangement of the chords during the bridge was excellent, with major and minor chords both coming and going at the same time, so that synchronized really well with ayu-san's lyrics "Can I go on? Can I not go on?".

Somehow, I feel like I've forgotten to write about so many things. When I remember them, I'll come write again.
If you can, please listen to 「Rock'n'Roll Circus」. ^_^

http://ameblo.jp/nobiblog/entry-10509164469.html

Mr. Hamazaki appears again!! LOL

waiting for better translation
thanks for sharing anyway

thank you so much, interesting review

Seems like a really interesting review from someone on the inside!

Thanks!!

coming~

wow.... I like this...

thanks!

but still waiting for the better translation.. :D

Thanks for sharing :) Waiting for Misa-chan :laugh

misa oh misa where are you... haha~!

Mr. Hamazaki xD
Thanks for this :)

Very cool, thanks for the translation!

Here!~ Lol!!

^ Yay, translation!

:roflmao Poor Nobita XD

...random question. Is his nickname by any chance inspired by Doraemon's Nobita? XD

Thanks a lot^^
It's interesting

Misa-chan is wonderful. That is all.

Edited first post.

brb, lolling.

Thanks so much Misa-chan! I lol'd at these parts:

Amazing!

I actually would have loved for him to give into Ayu's whining for SLT...the backing vocal tracks were distracting for me lol

I think what he said about Microphone is really interesting...she doesn't have any songs that utilize harpsichords, and I really love that sound...however, I think that unless they had a really somber composition, it wouldn't have been as "heavy" as the organ sound...especially since it's kinda fast and not really written in a heavy manner...he's right, the organs give it a much more solemn sound than a harpsichord would have given...

I hope they keep the idea open...for future songs...but somehow I kinda see her moving away from this style...

Dont look back is my <3 I can only imagine his hearing it in the studio for the first time...it's such a special song, very creative, and very different. I agree, I think it's one of the highlights of CMJK's creativity...if not the best example of what he's capable of. The bridge is perfect.


Thank you Misa-chan for the translation :)

I don't think it was Ayu as much as it was Yuta's pushing himself to do something different. He probably felt like his arrangements with Ayu have been rather samey since t2m onward.

Hahaha such an informative article, also really really funny!!

Thanks as always!! :D

I really don't care...I just hope they keep the idea open...as much as I think she may move away from the heavier rock sound...I think she'll always at least have her one rock song that has the melodic instrumental opening and dramatic vocals, etc.

I like harpsichords...so it would be cool if she could incorporate it one day.