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Really sad to see so many people not liking Guilty. Sure, it has it's flaws; too many interludes, second half seems a bit out of place compared to the first half, but for me the first six songs + "Marionette ~ Prelude ~" and "Marionette" completely redeem the record. Honestly, for me tracks 1-6 and 8-9 still continue to astound me! I love the darkness, angst, and anger that starts at "Mirror" and runs right through to "Guilty" and "Marionette", and quite frankly "Fated" will always be for me one of Ayumi's greatest tearjerkers.
I've also never been that bothered by Ayumi's more primitive vocals on her earlier albums. I think she sounds cute and young, adorably human and unpolished. I also don't have that much of a problem with Party Queen; it's grown on me over time. The albums I probably have the most trouble with are My Story, as I just find it too bland in places (I can understand A Song For XX also being considered bland, but as it's her earliest effort I can let her off with that one as she hadn't really found herself as an artist), and dare I say it, the forthcoming Love Again. Everything about this album just seems like bad news to me - the unimaginative and uninspired title and covers (too much like Love Songs, we don't need the rehash, once was enough surely), and as for the songs I've heard so far, they all seem like good efforts with honest intentions but they just sound rather bland and/or samey. They try, but they just don't hit the mark with me. I realise we haven't heard the whole album yet, but with its wholly messy start, I can't see it turning in to one of my favourites.
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