New singles crossroad 9/22 and 「L」 9/29 [XI]

[ll moments ll]

omg Last angel sounds like a globe track. Sweet Season is a very interesting too. it definitely stands out in her discography, lol. it's cute, i like it. and i've grown to love Virgin Road since the leak!

Last angel>crossroad>MOON=Virgin Road>Sweet Season>blossom

i think TK did a great job. (but then again, i love his work, lol)

[bluegie]

Originally Posted by Yukitora

I'm very disappointed in Last angel - the arrangement is missing some punch and gets very quiet during the verses. I wish it had the power of ayu's LOVEppears days.

I think I'm just gonna treat Virgin Road as the A-side, and Season Season/Last angel as b-sides haha. I dont think it's as strong as A/H/&.

All I can say is that I got hyped up for Last angel while reading through several threads. My brother thought it was like "WHATEVER" when she started to sing (which I couldn't feel the same vibe). But anywayz I agree with you that the arrangement is weird. I do wish it's as powerful as WHATEVER.

I think I will rank the multi-A side singles as follow:

& > A = L > H.

H is the weakest. The songs were good but not that strong enough to capture me back then. & was much better.

[adantatu2]

My rank:

& > H > L > A

L is great, but i love more & (almost the perfect single) and H (July 1st, independent and the epic HANABI). And A isn't my favourite, monochrome and end roll for me are boring, and too late is ok, my favourite song form A is Trauma

[nanakopy87]

for me,its
A>&>L>H

i'm waiting for the other tracks to leak(or it will only available on wed?)

[bluegie]

I wasn't in love with A in the beginning. Somehow a few years later (that was.. during MY STORY era?) I looked back to her older songs, A was quite unique. It's like she threw her darkness and frustration x4.

H was... overrated. (I feel myself a bit shame to say that...since it's her only yearly no. 1 single). Back then I was in the "drifting away" mode from ayu since I was fed up with her saturation of singles and stuff (yeah... that were too many singles in 2001). I forced myself to fall in love with H since it got over 500K on the first week (hey, not many singles could do that during 2002). But in the end I figure out that I only love HANABI (not greatly in love tho). I like independent and July 1st but they were not that perfect. It's just like another ayu song in 2001 (yeah...)

& was epic tho. I felt the strangeness when I first heard ourselves because the music was really different from her usual style. I didn't like H~episode II~ in the beginning but ended up falling in love with it (more than HANABI). Greatful days was a normal summer song from ayu but it sounded so relaxing.

I hope I will like Last angel in the end. It'll be sad if I cannot love the whole single....

[njanjayrp]

It's hard for me to rank them, but I think "A" is the best one, then "&" > "H" > "L". I don't really think "L" is the worst one though, it will just take some time for me to get used to the fact it exists. Last angel is damn amazing, glad she decided to re-visit the LOVEppears days at least for once in so many years. I won't say no to more songs like that.

[Ranma Matsuri]

Originally Posted by bluegie

Yeah. I forgot who said it in this thread, but the momentum of the song started around 3 min. So I was listening w/ my bro in the kitchen, and when that momentum came, it was... quite disappointing actually. I dunno why but I just dun love the song as much as I thought. I can force myself to love it, but I dun wanna do that because a forceful love doesn't work in the end..

Agree with this so much. The song takes entirely too long to gain it's momentum and then when it happens it's like 'ehhh? Did you really need a build up to this?' I like the sound of it (once it does pick up it's pace) but the beginning really kinda drags it down. I like it the most out of the three so far but it's still like.... idk.

I agree with you on H as well. XD It's kinda like evolution... one of those things I feel I should love as an Ayu fan but really cannot get into it. I love RAINBOW but all of the songs on that particular single are some of my least favorite tracks off that album. lol July 1st and independent are cute and fun on occassion but they're not anything I purposely listen to regularly. I'm also one of the few that thinks HANABI~episode II~ pwns the original and is one of (if not THE) best song (s) she's ever done. Original is just... idk, doesn't have any punch to me and doesn't grab me at all.

Aside from End Roll, A was pretty darn good. & beats all though since every song was perfect and I love them all.

[love in music]

for me, H > L > & > A

H just has those classic ayu songs i never will get tired of. L is amazing and with & i only love 2 songs (HANABI ~episode II~ and theme of a-nation 03) and with A i only like End roll.

[Mirrorcle Monster]

For me L>A>&>H

[Kanzaki]

Damn, people are ranking 3-A side singles now? I can't do that, I love them all so much in their own way. It'll be like ranking your "favorite" children ;__;

[Yukitora]

I think H and A are on the same level, they gave us ayu stamples and classics.

& and L are probably on the same level below H and A. They both have great unique songs, which probably won't stand the test of time. ourselves is one of my all time favourite tracks and Virgin Road is absolutely beautiful, but but I'm not sure if they'd work as standalone A-sides.

[freedreamer]

I can't judge the maxi singles because since I have became a fan, this is her first maxi for me haha. I think & has amazing songs. A and H are on the same lvl because I don't listen to the songs frequently.

Really great to see so many people loving the single. Very excited to see more promo for it though n certainly wanna know bat 7 days funnel asap.

[bluegie]

I paused a bit when you said this is your first maxi from ayu... I thought you have been here for so long until I remember that & was released back in 2003 .

I didn't have chance to feel the vibe for A (I didn't become her fan until appears), but H was pretty big in 2002 (the only single selling over a million copies), and & was pretty neat . H and & were so close to each other (only a year apart), so people loved comparing two singles back then. IMO & is more artistic. H is like another rush release just to please fans... (yeah... evolution in jan, NE in march, Es in May, UNITE! in july, Dearest in Sep, ASib in Dec, Daybreak in Mar, F&E in April, H in July, Voyage in Sep). I guess that long releasing schedule makes this year's schedule quite dull .

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by bluegie

I paused a bit when you said this is your first maxi from ayu... I thought you have been here for so long until I remember that & was released back in 2003 .

I didn't have chance to feel the vibe for A (I didn't become her fan until appears), but H was pretty big in 2002 (the only single selling over a million copies), and & was pretty neat . H and & were so close to each other (only a year apart), so people loved comparing two singles back then. IMO & is more artistic. H is like another rush release just to please fans... (yeah... evolution in jan, NE in march, Es in May, UNITE! in july, Dearest in Sep, ASib in Dec, Daybreak in Mar, F&E in April, H in July, Voyage in Sep). I guess that long releasing schedule makes this year's schedule quite dull .

I remember though that ayu said that around Free & Easy she didn't do much as the single had 0 promotion which reminds ayu's today's promotion (well less but yeah lol). XD
Should have been quite around its release right?

I knew ayu a year afterwards around No way to say's release so I don't know =P

[bluegie]

Well, I can't remember exactly how much promotions she has done during that moment (I was swaying away a bit during that era), but she did release uraayu during that time. Remember that she had two major tours back in 2002 (Arena Tour, and Stadium Tour), so it's not surprising that she didn't have time for promotions at all. She was basically a working robot back then. Oh btw, let's suppose she didn't do any promotion herself for the single, but back in the old days she had lots of tv commercials. I remember that F&E has Panasonic tie-in, and Naturally "dolly mix" (in the single) had a VISEE tie in. Oh and the happy happy hi-chew... Basically she kept bombarding the media back then .

[Mirrorcle Monster]

That period of her life was really bussy and stressfull, but she managed to create AMAZING songs, sometimes i wonder where does Ayu find the strength to have such a bussy life and job...

[TITANIC]

Originally Posted by Heavenly Zerase

For me L>A>&>H

I have the same rank like you.

L is just perfect because I love all of 3 tracks.
for A I dislike Trauma,
& I only like Ourselves
H I love july 1st and HANABI. Independent is sooooooooooo annoying.

IMO Last Angel been made like it is a b-side. no PV for that song but other 2 hv. i dont think Japanese ppl will like it. it's good song but it's unmemorable and easy listening like evolution.

[Freex]

IMO these 3 singles are quite good and L is amazing; here my "top":

Virgin Road > Sweet Season > MOON > crossroad > blossom > SEVEN DAYS WAR > Last angel

Well I didn't like the sound of Last angel, it's a little featureless in my personal view of music, but the single overall is reli moving!

[Kacku]

My ranking for this singles project:

Virgin Road > MOON > crossroad > blossom > Last Angel > SEVEN DAYS WAR > Sweet Season

Last Angel might yet grow on me, especially since I'm having a massive globe-fandom period right now and Last Angel really does sound like a globe song. But Sweet Season was just awful in my opinion. The most boring song in years for me. Well, at least Virgin Road was pure amazing.

[asmAyumi1992]

Haha. It looks funny when everyone is ranking their favorite songs.

For me, crossroad >>>> Last Angel > Virgin Road > MOON >> Sweet Season

No blossom. Because it's not my favorite
As you can see, I love crossroad more than every songs she had right now!!! XD