LOVE again thoughts?

[js_surrealism]

November and Last angel? Like a doll? Though to be fair the great songs on here were Really Great (crossroad for example is better than most of the songs on LOVE again for me).

And I really disagree that LOVE again is flat. Wake me up, Missing, song 4 u, Bye Bye Darling, Sakura all had Great arrangements, I urge you to listen to a better quality version on earphones again. I'd venture as much as to say that this is a lot coming from me because I HATED song 4 u when the preview first came out last year, cos I thought it sounded like a generic anime song, but the arrangement is really gorgeous.

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by js_surrealism

November and Last angel? Like a doll? Though to be fair the great songs on here were Really Great (crossroad for example is better than most of the songs on LOVE again for me).

And I really disagree that LOVE again is flat. Wake me up, Missing, song 4 u, Bye Bye Darling, Sakura all had Great arrangements, I urge you to listen to a better quality version on earphones again. I'd venture as much as to say that this is a lot coming from me because I HATED song 4 u when the preview first came out last year, cos I thought it sounded like a generic anime song, but the arrangement is really gorgeous.

When I speak of the album come release time I am strictly speaking about the new songs. I love Wake me up, and I really enjoy Missing. Bye-bye darling has a great arrangement. Sakura is pretty simple so nothing to brag about there. But petal is just horrible. It sounds like a cut & paste synthesizer.

And November is flawless. There are SO MANY layers to that song, every time I listen to it I focus on something different. If you try to look behind Ayu's voice and the main melody, there is some GORGEOUS string work going on there! It's genius.

[js_surrealism]

The vocal harmonies on Sakura (and snowy kiss as well, for that matter) are gorgeous!

I guess we prioritise different things then, because I can't just "look behind the main melody" - for me that's 50% of the whole song, if the writing is bad, it doesn't matter if you have 3 million instruments in there unless you're Bjork and the whole point of your music is to use different sounds to create a tapestry; Ayu's music clearly operates on a different level, as is most pop music. The hooks matter, and the melody (also, cheap drum machines - which to be fair she uses in most of her songs, but they sound ESPECIALLY emphasised in November) just makes it a bad song for me.

EDIT:

I couldn't find a good way to say this earlier but I think I know what it is that bothers me about Love songs - while there was some attempt to use different sounds, for the most part the arrangements and production didn't fit the songs. To use Last angel as an example - the main chorus hook is great, but the cheap synthy sound does it no favours, and the way the verses are so slow and low just sucks all the energy out of the song. In contrast to snowy kiss, and the way the synths works with the percussion, and the way the strings come in during the bridge, it's just so thrilling to listen to. If Last angel came on during a concert (like for that CDL) I'd be fiddling my thumbs, but if snowy kiss came on, I'd be so pumped.

And - THAT GUITAR SOLO IN GLORIA!!

[Kirshwasser]

There gotta be something wrong with you if you think petal is a horrible song wtf