ayu-mi-x 7 opinions

[Kacku]

My personal ranking: Eurobeat > Acoutic Orchestra > House > Trance

ayu-ro mix 4 was unbeatable here - and this is from someone who wasn't too fond of her earlier eurobeat albums. But here, every single song is full of energy and emotion, and the whole album doesn't have a single bad song. I even preferred the glitter and Startin' remixes to their original versions. Other espacially noteworthy songs would be STEP you (what a rush of energy!), SURREAL, Depend on you and Free & Easy (the songs that made me see that eurobeat can be emotional).

Acoustic Orchestra was similarly awesome. Like with ayu-ro 4, I can't point out a single flawed song - the only reason it's behind eurobeat is because it doesn't cause quite as huge a rush of emotions. But it's definitely her best acoustic orchestra album - the acoustic and orchestra instruments are nicely balanced and work well together. And the songs were awesome. This album's forgiveness remix is surely at least as good as the original, if not better, the NEVER EVER remix is the first good and fitting remix of this song I have ever heard and kanariya's new version takes one of my most loathed Ayu songs makes it beautiful with the chilling piano melody and the removal of the annoying background vocals. Other songs were also good, but not quite as noteworthy. I have to say, though - I think I might still prefer MY STORY Classical over this CD. That would be because I'm a sucker for orchestra music and ayu-mi-x 7 -version Acoustic Orchestra- doesn't have quite as much orchestra (obviously) as the MY STORY remix album. Still, the AO album is undoubtedly on the second place in my ranking.

Next, we have -version HOUSE-. This CD was a huge surprise for me - I've never really liked a single house song I've heard, but this album had many I fell completely in love with instantly. TO BE, Dearest, For My Dear..., Mirrorcle World, fairyland... loved 'em all. I might even say this album opened my eyes for house. The reason it's only #3 is that this album actually had some songs I didn't like - the ending trio and appears were frankly quite horrendous. Still, with the rest of the disc being quite solid stuff, I'd have to say this album was really good and definitely exceeded my expectations.

And lastly, ayu trance 4. Sigh. I'm quite a trance fan myself and this was the album I was looking forward to the most, only to have it turn out to be the worst of the bunch. Don't get me wrong, this album had its good songs (Far away, poker face and Endless Sorrow mixes being my personal favorites), but with the rest varying from ok to baaaad, the CD doesn't really deserve a better grade. Maybe I just raised the bar too high with my expectations, but the outcome was still a disappointment.

Also: ayu-mi-x 7 > all the other ayu-mi-xes. Even with my slight complaints about the house and trance CDs, this collection definitely turned out to be the best bunch of remixes in Ayu's discography.