『A BALLADS 2』on sale 2021.03.12

[Isicio]

We are in February and no tracklist...

[Gustavopc]

Nowadays most tracklist don't get announced too early from the actual release so I'm not counting on this until late Feb lol

[thinkingoutloud89]

I personally welcome any new recoeding/remixing or whatever. Any form of compilation album is novelty to me and I couldn't care less about the exact same song a fourth time in my catalogue.

As for the 10th anni versions, i loved all of them, but they are different songs. Like a "self cover" more or less and never had the intend to replace the original.

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by thinkingoutloud89

I personally welcome any new recoeding/remixing or whatever. Any form of compilation album is novelty to me and I couldn't care less about the exact same song a fourth time in my catalogue.

As for the 10th anni versions, i loved all of them, but they are different songs. Like a "self cover" more or less and never had the intend to replace the original.

I feel the same about them. Back when they were released I didn’t think much of them, but in the recent years I somewhat started appreciating them, but have indeed felt they were different songs somehow.

[Deep snow]

I'd be a bit disappointed if A BALLADS 2 ended up having songs that are only remastered, instead of re-arranged, but I guess (as a lot of you have pointed out), she never promised it in the announcement.

remastering is a good thing anyway, since some of her awesome songs have truly unfortunate mastering. I hope it would improve the songs like in the 20th Anniversary edition of LOVEppears.

Originally Posted by tokyoxjapanxfan

Edit: A Best being the outlier lol. I believe it was Avex who pushed her to re-record those.

from the 2004 documentary, what I gather is that avex "only" pushed her to release the album. the decision to re-record the old songs, as well as the addition of non-singles A Song for ×× and Who..., was hers, taken in defiance of being forced to release a singles compilation prematurely.

[MemorialAddress]

Originally Posted by kaled kalil

Imo the problem with a re-recording isn't the vocals, but the mixing and production of the songs that sometimes feels less impactful. That was my problem with some songs from Namie's Finally and JoJo's re-recorded albums.

I really like Shimomura's works, and I personally wouldn't mind if the covers don't have the "hugging" concept and it's something fresh and different.

Yeah I definitely understand what you mean. For example, while it was great and really impressive when Namie re-recorded so many songs for Finally, it just didn't feel necessary to re-do songs that weren't even that old to begin with. I typically only appreciate re-recordings of older songs.

[pommy48]

^ She didn’t have a choice cause Avex owned all her previous masters. She re-recorded everything as a final FU to them
God, I miss her.

But for Ayu, I would actually love re-recordings of her earlier ballads. She sounded so good singing older songs from the final Trouble concert!

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by pommy48

^ She didn’t have a choice cause Avex owned all her previous masters. She re-recorded everything as a final FU to them
God, I miss her.

But for Ayu, I would actually love re-recordings of her earlier ballads. She sounded so good singing older songs from the final Trouble concert!

I don't think she's had an issue with avex as all of her stuff is on Spotify even prior to her switching to dimension point and while they are managing her, avex was still releasing as far as I know...

[pommy48]

You can check out this blog. It's all speculative, but it provided background into the timeline of when Namie started her own management company and joint ventures with Avex.

I doubt Ayu would ever need to re-record a compilation album unless she had rights issue. Which she won't.

[ExodusUK]

Originally Posted by pommy48

You can check out this blog. It's all speculative, but it provided background into the timeline of when Namie started her own management company and joint ventures with Avex.

I doubt Ayu would ever need to re-record a compilation album unless she had rights issue. Which she won't.

I wouldn't trust anything randomjpopw writes, he's world renown Ayu hater and slanderist.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

I don't think she's had an issue with avex as all of her stuff is on Spotify even prior to her switching to dimension point and while they are managing her, avex was still releasing as far as I know...

So Dimension Point is Namie's own company. It's very telling that she only re-recorded the songs that were prior to her starting Dimension Point. I'm sure it had to be song royalties related and the reason for doing the re-recording being so that she could receive royalties for all her work prior to Dimension Point. I also have this whole theory though that Namie was originally going to retire on her 20th Anniversary and not the 25th and the only reason that didn't happen is because of the typhoon that canceled her 20th Anniversary concert in Okinawa where she would have made the announcement - she already had a dome tour scheduled after that as well, just like what ended up happening for her 25th anniversary/retirement.

It had long been rumored that she had a 20 year contract with Avex that was signed while she was a minor that had not the best financial conditions and arrangements for her. So I think what happened is after the 20 was up and she wasn't able to retire in the way she wanted to, her and Avex worked out an additional deal for five more years, only this time giving her much more control - and that's when Dimension Point started.

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

I don't think she's had an issue with avex as all of her stuff is on Spotify even prior to her switching to dimension point and while they are managing her, avex was still releasing as far as I know...

Namie's stuff wasn't on Spotify until after she retired. Unless I'm misreading your post. But either way, Avex would only be hurting themselves to not put her stuff on Spotify.

As for re-recording in general, I don't like them usually. For the same reasons others have mentioned. I never listen to Finally other than the last disc; everything sounds cheaper imo than the originals.

[AJFmzk]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

So Dimension Point is Namie's own company. It's very telling that she only re-recorded the songs that were prior to her starting Dimension Point. I'm sure it had to be song royalties related and the reason for doing the re-recording being so that she could receive royalties for all her work prior to Dimension Point.

Dimension Point is an Avex subsidiary label, so she was technically still under Avex, it was just under a subsidiary where she had more personal control of her management and releases. It's possible that she re-recorded due to ownership/royalties/legal disputes, but I don't think anything has been confirmed officially.

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

I also have this whole theory though that Namie was originally going to retire on her 20th Anniversary and not the 25th and the only reason that didn't happen is because of the typhoon that canceled her 20th Anniversary concert in Okinawa where she would have made the announcement - she already had a dome tour scheduled after that as well, just like what ended up happening for her 25th anniversary/retirement.

This has actually been confirmed. I forget which interview but she stated specifically she wanted to retire after her 20th anniversary, but since it got cancelled by the typhoon she still wanted to perform an anniversary tour in Okinawa and decided to change her retirement to 25th in order to meet that part of her retirement dream. I think in the same interview she said that she thought about her retirement since the late 1990's or early 2000's, because she thought her career was like a dream and it could end at any time.

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

It had long been rumored that she had a 20 year contract with Avex that was signed while she was a minor that had not the best financial conditions and arrangements for her. So I think what happened is after the 20 was up and she wasn't able to retire in the way she wanted to, her and Avex worked out an additional deal for five more years, only this time giving her much more control - and that's when Dimension Point started.

This actually seems the most likely scenario to me, but I don't recall it being officially confirmed.

I don't think I'd want Ayu to re-record her old stuff. Even though her tone is very irritating to me in some of her old songs, they do have a charm and nostalgia to them. I would like to see some of them undergo new mixing/mastering because some songs were mixed poorly and I really loved what they did with Seasons on A Ballads

[Toniayu123]

I would care for new vocals if it was for the 1998-2001 period, but I don’t mind about Her not recording new vocals for this, since we’re taking about post 2003 songs in which her voice already sounded awesome, and probably even better than now. I’d welcome them tho. Nevertheless, remastering is not enough for me to purchase. ( I mostly listen to music on the car so the difference would not even be perceptible) Give me new mixes and I’m in.
Btw, now that you guys brought up Namie, she did a great job with Ballada. That’s how you release something.

[mizuki-7]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

So Dimension Point is Namie's own company. It's very telling that she only re-recorded the songs that were prior to her starting Dimension Point. I'm sure it had to be song royalties related and the reason for doing the re-recording being so that she could receive royalties for all her work prior to Dimension Point. I also have this whole theory though that Namie was originally going to retire on her 20th Anniversary and not the 25th and the only reason that didn't happen is because of the typhoon that canceled her 20th Anniversary concert in Okinawa where she would have made the announcement - she already had a dome tour scheduled after that as well, just like what ended up happening for her 25th anniversary/retirement.

It had long been rumored that she had a 20 year contract with Avex that was signed while she was a minor that had not the best financial conditions and arrangements for her. So I think what happened is after the 20 was up and she wasn't able to retire in the way she wanted to, her and Avex worked out an additional deal for five more years, only this time giving her much more control - and that's when Dimension Point started.



Namie's stuff wasn't on Spotify until after she retired. Unless I'm misreading your post. But either way, Avex would only be hurting themselves to not put her stuff on Spotify.

As for re-recording in general, I don't like them usually. For the same reasons others have mentioned. I never listen to Finally other than the last disc; everything sounds cheaper imo than the originals.

All what you said is true but you made a mistake ! Avex was not the problem in this story but her management Rising Production is. Avex was the distributor of her cds. Rising Production are the ones who signed Namie when she was minor. An article stated that it was a slave contract with poor royalties for her. Management is a BIG thing in Japan. in Ayu's case she is managed by Avex so this kind of situation can't happen excepted if she wanted to leave Avex which is very unlikely

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

So Dimension Point is Namie's own company. It's very telling that she only re-recorded the songs that were prior to her starting Dimension Point. I'm sure it had to be song royalties related and the reason for doing the re-recording being so that she could receive royalties for all her work prior to Dimension Point. I also have this whole theory though that Namie was originally going to retire on her 20th Anniversary and not the 25th and the only reason that didn't happen is because of the typhoon that canceled her 20th Anniversary concert in Okinawa where she would have made the announcement - she already had a dome tour scheduled after that as well, just like what ended up happening for her 25th anniversary/retirement.

It had long been rumored that she had a 20 year contract with Avex that was signed while she was a minor that had not the best financial conditions and arrangements for her. So I think what happened is after the 20 was up and she wasn't able to retire in the way she wanted to, her and Avex worked out an additional deal for five more years, only this time giving her much more control - and that's when Dimension Point started.



Namie's stuff wasn't on Spotify until after she retired. Unless I'm misreading your post. But either way, Avex would only be hurting themselves to not put her stuff on Spotify.

As for re-recording in general, I don't like them usually. For the same reasons others have mentioned. I never listen to Finally other than the last disc; everything sounds cheaper imo than the originals.

Indeed, but if you check the credits only the live albums were under stella88 copyright, FINALLY is split between avex and stella88. Point is I don't think she's re-recorded the songs due to issue with royalties, but rather because she wanted to freshen them up as she sounded better in 2019 than back in the 90s

[thinkingoutloud89]

This is not the place for it anyways but most of the stuff was mentioned above:
Namie did practically confirm she was to retire after her 20th Anniversary. That could also mean she could have rerecorded all the song until then, but she kept them hidden for 5 more years. that would explain why it's only up to that point. As for Finally being split, it's cause the old songs were under avex and the new ones under stella88.

I never had the expression that Namie had a problem with avex, but the thing about RisingProduction is true.

The songs on Finally are just re-recordings. Nothing less, nothing more. I think only the first disc improved on the songs tho. In the end, it's just taste.

Ayus 10th Anni songs are a different kind of re-recoding tho. They are new, different versions of the songs.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

Indeed, but if you check the credits only the live albums were under stella88 copyright, FINALLY is split between avex and stella88. Point is I don't think she's re-recorded the songs due to issue with royalties, but rather because she wanted to freshen them up as she sounded better in 2019 than back in the 90s

I honestly don't think that's the case, but I also do not feel that her vocals in 2019 are better than her vocals in the 90s. Her vocals in the 90s had much more "depth" to them for lack of a better word. She even admitted that her vocals were starting to have issues, and she wanted to retire before they got worse. I believe I started hearing it in her lives around 2015-ish.

[thinkingoutloud89]

^I think it boils down what you like. I wouldn't say its "better" or 2Worse". she has much more control and technique in her later days, which technically makes it better. Her tone really changed 2003 onwards. Her early songs are totally different, on many parts very j-poppy and on S19B eve "immature". That said, all of this fits these early songs and they are by no means bad (if you compare it to Ayumi's ASfXX which isn't really good vocal-wise (but also charming)).

When it comes to Finally, I like the sonical update on the first Disc, which makes it outstanding for me (not necessary better or worse), but the same approach fell really flat on the second Disc somehow (imo tho!)). I think the songs from Stlye onwards could have done with just a really good remaster.

[voltron]

Not trying to hijack this conversation from Ayu, but regarding Finally - in the last five or so years of her career, Namie used very heavy backing tracks. I always felt like rerecording the vocals was also because she was going to do so many of them to perform live anyway, so why not reuse the new recordings and kill two birds with one stone - she definitely wasn't going to use the original studio versions as live tracks.

[truehappiness]

She is recording a new song today! Possibly for A BALLADS 2 or something else maybe after...