Ayu ~Anything Goes~ XVI

[koumori]

Originally Posted by 280301

I hope you guys enjoyed it, this era has so much quality!

I listened to it earlier - really liked it. The first section of the rock/fast-paced songs had a lot of punch, and then the different genres led into each other very nicely. It reminded me of a few songs from the last albums and how good they were as well It's been a while since I listened to them.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Listening to all of the releases together, there is such a strong sense of...

THIS. IS. AYUMI HAMASAKI.
(and if you don't like it, suck it)

I definitely feel these three albums all have a very cohesive message to each other when compared to her other album eras; I tend to count sixxxxxx, A ONE, and now MADE IN JAPAN as part of the same era automatically for that reason. Listening to them together is definitely recommended.

[truehappiness]

Out of control is like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.

[attractive nausea]

HONEY (LOVE CLASSICS ver) is so fun to listen to, i feel like this release went pretty unnoticed, maybe because they ~remixed~ songs that have already been remixed like 100 times

[koumori]

Actually, I'm wondering what cover art people are using for MIJ until the official art is released. I found one of her recent magazine shoots works really nicely as a placeholder but I was curious I always love alternate looks.

[DonkeyKongRemix]

Originally Posted by Koumori

Actually, I'm wondering what cover art people are using for MIJ until the official art is released. I found one of her recent magazine shoots works really nicely as a placeholder but I was curious I always love alternate looks.

I think I love that because it has no text. For some reason no text is more intriguing to me.

I just really like her recent photoshoots because they are so plain and simple. <3

[koumori]

Originally Posted by attractive nausea

Uff, gorgeous! I love this, wow.

Originally Posted by nalini-dahlia

I think I love that because it has no text. For some reason no text is more intriguing to me.

I'm a sucker for textless, unless the text really fits onto a cover. It rarely does.

[luna7996]

Originally Posted by Koumori

Actually, I'm wondering what cover art people are using for MIJ until the official art is released. I found one of her recent magazine shoots works really nicely as a placeholder but I was curious I always love alternate looks.

That looks amazing. I have the pamphlet cover from the tour but I think I will go and change it now.

[pimenta]

Originally Posted by Koumori

Actually, I'm wondering what cover art people are using for MIJ until the official art is released. I found one of her recent magazine shoots works really nicely as a placeholder but I was curious I always love alternate looks.

I just left the one that came with the jpopsuki download



I like the picture

Originally Posted by attractive nausea

Came accross a blog stating that Ayu cheated on Nagase back in 2005, now that's something i had never heard of before today haha
Now that i think of it, i never imagined one day that Ayu could be a cheater, she's so passionate about love i think that would be so hypocritical to be a cheater and at the same time singing about finding your one true love lmao

I'm pretty sure that's something his fans/media/whatever came up with to so it didn't look like she just left him for no reason...

[truehappiness]

Yeah I didn't really see the point since they just did classical versions of most songs that have had like 5 classical versions already...?!?!

God, imagine if she dropped MADE IN JAPAN (2CD) with the same tracks and quality across the last three releases... I think people would flip. But if it also meant no material from Colours to now, I think people would be antsy as well.

Would be like Jesus returning though.

[truehappiness]

I believe a majority are using the tour booklet cover atm since it came with a lot of the m4as.



This but with white cropped out.

These are candidates for placeholders too:

Spoiler:

[attractive nausea]

Saw someone on tumblr using that one, which was made by Party_King here i think since he has it as an avatar+signature



On my phone i have one of the pics truehappiness posted above but with "Made in Japan"typo from tour goods, which is kinda ugly but i'm too tired to change it haha. Wish the true cover was out

[truehappiness]

I'm excited if covers are not out yet since it means... she may not have shot them yet AHHH

[MessiahofSilence]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I'm excited if covers are not out yet since it means... she may not have shot them yet AHHH

Watch it be the A7 Classical outtakes

I hope that she hasn't shot the covers, either. While I ADORE the casual tour goods shoot, I want a concept. It's not too out of the question either since she's had separate shoots for album/tours in the past.

[truehappiness]

I think her last cover that had text that really FIT was ... MY STORY? Or Secret? I was also a fan of FIVE's but only because Ayu helped with the design. Love songs was decent. A ONE was bland but classy. But typically whoever is choosing fonts for Ayu is on crack.

Up until 2004 though almost everything was iconic and then... I think her usual designer stopped.

[DonkeyKongRemix]

I've always liked the text on Colours and I don't mind GUILTY, NEXT LEVEL, or FIVE's.

I find the whole visual concept for Party Queen to be pretty striking though.

[koumori]

I meant in general as well, not just for Ayu. It's a personal preference.
For Ayu specifically though... I think A ONE was quite well done, and RAINBOW. The A BEST series are good too - by now, I would say iconic.

Everything else ranges from neutral to dislike for me. I mostly pick alternate or textless covers for her albums in iTunes Although I recently reinstalled the program, and I have been a bit lazy grabbing back my favourite versions for some...

[truehappiness]

I think Party Queen's original concept [in SUPER AYU] and the actual concept used were a little off the mark. Personally, I think they could have gone in a different direction and gotten a stronger reaction that was a bit less "What the hell is this?" unless... that was the goal all along?

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

I think Party Queen's original concept [in SUPER AYU] and the actual concept used were a little off the mark. Personally, I think they could have gone in a different direction and gotten a stronger reaction that was a bit less "What the hell is this?" unless... that was the goal all along?

Sometimes art needs to shock.

Actually it wasn't the first time she used imagery to shock and it wasn't the last time either... I guess people got annoided because they got unconfortable about the sexual undertone of the main cover.

[truehappiness]

Listening to all of the releases together, there is such a strong sense of...

THIS. IS. AYUMI HAMASAKI.
(and if you don't like it, suck it)

At least that is how the general vibe is, lol.

[truehappiness]

I was okay with it but I figured that people would be like "What the hell is this woman doing?" which they did do.

LOVEppears IMO was a better way of doing it or to a lesser extent, the nude RAINBOW cover.