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Eh, I'm a music critic, I can't help but be long-winded, but I do apologize. XD
starting over: It's darker, more mysterious, more raw, and less slick than anything on LOVEppears, and it does a good job telling you that this album will lean more in that direction than LOVEppears did. That said, it's a bit flat and doesn't have the "BOOM this album's gonna be awesome" impact that it should. (6/10)
Duty: The use of Gregorian chanting is perfectly ominous and serious, the strings are beautifully arranged, and Ayu uses more of her vocal range here than we'd EVER heard up to this point, I remember being blown away by the vocals when the album was new. My only issue with it is the TINY bit of the "starting over" fade-out that's left over at the very start of the track. (10/10)
vogue: It's certainly dated sounding these days as far as its melody, but the arrangement was SO ahead of its time. The contribution of south Asian music to a song with a french title made the whole thing very exotic, and continues some of the lyrical themes of "Duty." The desperation and doubt in her voice is apparent even without reading the lyrics, but I feel the arrangement doesn't QUITE match. (8/10)
End of the World: When I first heard this song in the Tu-Ka color commercial, I was blown away. I NEEDED this song!! I couldn't wait to hear it when it finally came out. The song is SO powerful and SO honest, and was an instant favorite of mine. It's the kind of song that made me certain that Ayu should be doing rock music, not so much slick pop. The high-pitched vocals in the chorus, however, bother me now, when they didn't bug me when I was 16 years old. The live version from PCDL is the version I listen to now, almost exclusively. (8.5/10)
SCAR: I feel like this is such a hidden gem. Something about the production... there's so much depth & color to it even though it's not a thickly layered song instrumentally. The phone messages at the start set a tone of worry and concern that carries over very well throughout the song. Lyrically it's a bit more cliche than her usual fare, but the melody is very good, albeit simple. The song isn't a work of art, but the production really makes it shine. It's quite underrated, IMHO. (7.5/10)
Far away: The "artsy" addition to the trilogy, perhaps the least accessible to the typical pop listener, which is its only failing, if it has one at all. It sounded like the trip-hop I was listening to at the time, only louder & more dramatic. While "TO BE" was the first song I ever heard by Ayu, this was her new single at the time and it's the song that made me a fan. I had never heard ANYTHING like it. The atmospheric synth, the guitars, the echoing drum track... the song sounded like a foggy, dark crystalline cave and I wanted to live in it and breath its cool, humid air forever. I love getting lost in this song even now. It was WAY ahead of its time. (10/10)
SURREAL: Why doesn't Ayu do songs like this anymore!? I don't know anyone who dislikes this song. It's powerful, fast, danceable, rocking, and unique. The piano intro reels you in right off the bat and the song just doesn't let up. I, like many, love that it doesn't have the textbook verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure, it just builds up. It feels like Ayu just talking to you about what she believes about life. Her vocals are more nasal than usual here, which should probably detract from it, but on the contrary it gives the feeling like she's just been crying, but has now made a resolution that she's sharing with you in the lyrics. It feels like a song of self-realization and strength in the face of doubt BECAUSE of the silly nasal vocals. It's amazing how it all comes together, really. (10/10)
AUDIENCE: The song just sounds unfinished, which is probably why we got the Dave Ford Mix at all. The melody is good, the lyrics uplifting, the clapping is so much fun. But it's just so FLAT on the album! I'm so glad it got remixed cuz it's the weakest track on the album & sticks out like a sore thumb because of how dull the mix is. (6/10)
SEASONS: This is exactly the kind of song I don't like... the manufactured ballad. The lyrics in this song are full of cliches, and lines taken out of other pop songs... it doesn't feel at all like Ayu's heart was REALLY in this song. The arrangement is homogenous throughout (something I know many people like, but I'm not a fan of it), and I feel like all the emotions she pretended to try & convey here are MUCH more honestly expressed in "ever free." I understand WHY it's a classic - it's very simple, from the catchy & memorable melody to the vocabulary used, making it EXTREMELY accessible to everyone from 6 year old girls to 90 year old grandfathers, and it does talk about feelings everyone has regarding life & loss - but it's not in any way my taste, nor is it artistically "good." It was designed to be a top-selling pop song, and you can tell, and that does hurt it. It's not even the best example of this type of song in her discography - I find Dearest to be melodically (and in the emotional delivery of the vocals) FAR superior, and slightly better production-wise. The 2003 ReBirth mix fixed many of this song's issues though, giving it more depth and more emphasis on the very good drum track. (6.5/10)
teddy bear: This song makes me absolutely weep. The lyrics are SO sad, and the innocent tinkling piano makes this the most upsetting lullaby ever. I cry every time I hear this song even 12 years later, it's just SO effective! With such an understated arrangement, the feelings come across in her voice, and that's what really carries the song. It's perfectly done. (10/10)
Key~eternal tie ver.~: This is another one I feel is a hidden gem. This brings "rock" ayu back, but in a more Lilith Fair girl-with-guitar sort of way, at least at the beginning. The song gets more pop-slick later which disappoints me, but it's still so good - it had such great dramatic build-up that I had to forgive the more poppy style that came later, and the melody was still so dark that you barely notice the synth having taken over the guitar completely. This is another one where the emotion in her voice is just amazing, and I ADORE the imagery in the lyrics. (9/10)
girlish: This song is fun and nice but it doesn't thrill me at all, and it's not all that creative - it's essentially an extended, girl-centric version of "Aikawarazu na Bokura" by B'z (a fairly little-known album track of theirs) - which was a sing-songy, acoustic-guitar driven, short little fun ditty with all the studio musicians singing together.... and it even had a sneeze in it. The outro for "girlish" goes on way too long in my opinion, too, but it reminds me of "Hey Jude" by the Beatles (the song my daughter is named after) so I simultaneously love it and hate it. (7/10)
There's really nothing skippable on "Duty." At all. It's one of those albums that feels less honest because she's suddenly become conscious of the listener and you can tell, which is its only issue, but at the same time, that only means that she made good manufactured pop AND good art-pop on the same album. The variety here means there's something for everyone, and NONE OF IT SUCKS. Even the songs I don't like, I acknowledge that they have redeeming qualities. Everything here easily EXCELS compared to most pop music (especially most solo female jpop at the time, which was mostly unlistenable), and it's all above average for Ayu's discography. One of her best albums ever, hands down.
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