[SR] 2000.03.31 - Shouso Strip (CD) [Album]
勝訴ストリップ (Shouso Strip)
01. 虚言症 (Kyougenshou) 02. 浴室 (Yokushitsu) 03. 弁解ドビュッシー (Benkai Debussy) 04. ギブス (Gips) 05. 闇に降る雨 (Yami ni Furu Ame) 06. アイデンティティ (Identity) 07. 罪と罰 (Tsumi to Batsu) 08. ストイシズム (Stoicism) 09. 月に負け犬 (Tsuki ni Makeinu) 10. サカナ (Sakana) 11. 病床パブリック (Byoushou Public) 12. 本能 (Honnou) 13. 依存症 (Izonshou) Total Playtime: 55:55 Second-Press Availability: Amazon.co.jp, CD Japan, HMV Japan, YesAsia |
The special thanks in the album booklet:
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I have a giant sticker that's just like the limited edition cover (pink with girl), was that given with the first press of the limited edition or separetely?
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Ooh, is there anything on the back when you peel it off? XD
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Hi well, for me the best song of this CD is Identity, for the muscis, the lyric and the PV, I like more thsi song that I'd make a AMV with this song.
(Subs Spanish) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gwPBsLHnYA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsl9yAgG3d4 |
The first Ringo CD I bought, the first-press edition for less than $20 from a Swedish site. It has been the soundtrack of my life since - I know every little quirk by heart.
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If they ever put out a "Shiina: Best of..." I think it would contain HALF of this album.
As I said before, I think this is her "classic." This is her Sgt Pepper, her Joshua Tree, her Zepplin II, whatever else throw me a good artist and I'll throw back their "classic album" back at ya. HOWEVAA I dont think it's her best album. Even with the monster songs it has, it has other songs that really don't hit the mark as well. I can't tell if theyre really just mediocre or if its when put in comparison. I never listen to a song like Benkai Debussy when its not preceding Gips so it's hard to say. Since my post about MM, I feel like I wanna put it above SS in my personal chart. But then I tell myself "Howevva, Honnou, Tsumi to Batsu, and Gips slaughter anything on MM..." so it's a push. |
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This is the first SR cd I bought too. Given that every SR/TJ album (except KZK) contains some less than ideal songs, I would say SS is the best and most accessible album to the casual listener. The tracks are very cohesive and it shows off the classic Ringo rock styles as well as some of her experiments with other genres, like recording tricks in Stoicism and techno in Yokushitsu and strings in Yami no Furu Ame. I really like SS a lot. I would definitely say it's a cut above MM (especially since her studio vocals aren't that good in MM). |
First Band on The Moon
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Agreed, even though I like Life more.
Just to stay on topic, I was just listening through SS during math class yesterday and I no longer think Tsuki ni Makeinu is such a bad song anymore, it's just that intro that I really can't stand. With that in mind, I remember Uki saying that Tsuki is his favourite solo SR song. I question his taste level. |
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This is a bit random, but did Ringo put make-up over her mole in the cover picture? o_O I just got this album today and noticed that her mole looked covered up, but I can't tell if it's just the blurriness. Anyway, I think she looks so different in that picture; her eyes look so big and cartoon-y. @_@ |
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Because I can.
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Ohh, so that's what the first pressing looked like. It must be so nice to have the album in a box... T_T
Where's Yamate-dori? Was it mentioned in "Tsumi to Batsu"? I remember the 'dori' part... |
It's a certain road in tokyo.
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http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B1%...80%9A%E3%82%8A One of main road that connect Shibuya and Shinjuku. Outer than JR Yamanote line and Meiji Dori (loop road 5) Inner than loop road 7 Yamate Dori under Nakameguro Station (Tokyu Toyoko line) http://allabout.co.jp/house/townshut...28A/nakame.jpg |
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Maybe, someday, if I ever go to Japan, I'll understand it. But until then, it'll just be a horribly intimidating enigma. |
Speaking of the CD booklet I've always wondered whether anyone knew the relevance of the garbled English presentation in the Gibusu lyrics? It shows up in the PV too.
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What's this? People don't like Tsuki ni Makeinu? That was always one of my favorite songs because it didn't end too soon. Lots of catchy songs end when you want them to keep going. This song just keeps on truckin', and I love every second of it. Cheers, Uki! |
Thanks, Emilscherbe!! I guess you drive on Yamate-dori often... :D (Lucky!)
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EDIT: It's obvious that I'm leaning towards TJ phase 1, however, I am not one of those "I hate Uki because he looks like shit!" kind of person. My reasons for not liking him are almost purely musical. And I'm sure a lot of people here will agree. But whether I like it or not, Uki is in the band and unless he does a Hirama and decides to release a single and appear in his debut PV as a half-transvestite, he will be here to stay. If there's any indication, the recent Gunjo Biyori performance with not only one, but THREE Vox Phantoms on Uki, Shiina AND Izawa tells me that Uki will haunt TJ songs for life. (I hope this doesn't start a Hirama/Uki flame war.) |
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You need to STRUM!:o In other news: please dont crap up the song by plucking through it, Uki:( |
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One nil. |
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Do you mean: Quote:
Or maybe I totally misinterpreted your question? |
I thought he was wondering why she wrote it that way but now that I re-read what he wrote, your answer makes better sense. (I think... o_o;;)
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Yamate-dori is most important for being a road in Shinjuku, and since her early solo career was all about being "Shinjuku-kei" and some allusions to living in Shinjuku (I don't know if she actually did though) thats why she used its signs all over the booklet.
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I guess in Adult don't have any shinjuku reference, so is Gunjou the last song she did a reference? |
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I have a strong feeling that Uki-chan had an unhappy childhood.
Back to Topic: Izonshou brings me uncountable orgasms |
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20 years later. Shiina: Ok Uki can you strum this progression? Uki: What? strum? NOOOOooooooo *runs from studio* |
Usually it takes me a few listens of an album to form an opinion on it, but I loved this CD from the very start. And it only took a few more listens after the first to convince me to order some of her other stuff. And it's still hands down my favorite of anything she's done. Some tracks here are better than others, but the whole thing's just so fantastic throughout that it's really hard to choose any favorites.
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I don't know if I post ITT before but...
this album is the best among the bests there isn't no other album that fits so well my personallity and my taste like this I say personallity cause the main reason because I like SR is cause each song descript my personallity/soul/emotions, and SS is a complete and exactly description of what I am (but don't think that if you like SS you would like the real me XD) I think is more deep I said so many times that SS/GX/ZCS's SR is the best SR ever I miss you my goddess i_i |
OMG, you're so freaking cute!!!! Hahhaah XD *huggles* I think SS fits you, too... :D
...Poor Uki. XD |
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Shinjuku-kei was actually just Ringo playing off Shibuya-kei. The term "Shinjuku-kei" didn't really exist. She was just kind of like "ha ha, I'm 'Shinjuku-kei'" but it wasn't a real term. It was just her XD
Have you read the unauthorized biography? It was in there. If not, I might have to put it up again, for everyone... |
Chey. So it's just that. Alright.
Please do post the biography. :) I don't remember reading it. Wait hang on, it is the same one from the SR Yahoo groups like a LONG time ago? |
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@kasanagi: XDDDDDDDDDDD
about SR biography: could someone translate the whole biography?? *shining eyes looking at frecklegirl* I mean, at least one in this forum must have the original in japanese... and could...i don't know...scan it or something like it to frecklegirl translate it *slaving frecklegirl* at least 1 page per day!? i_i |
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I will try it when I got old...after SR and all these persons with 15 years more than my age already died
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But I'll consider the mountain thing. |
Hm...
if I meet boys that likes SR and know how to play or are motivated to learn, I will also start covering SS album with nurse outfit and all I think you must come to Brazil XDDDDDDDDDD |
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May be the best damn record ever made.
It's the one record of hers that I can truly listen to everyday for years and still feel these songs. |
I love this album. Songs like Benkai Debussy and Byoushou Public are packed with originality. Identity can still make me dance! Yami ni furu ame is beautifully moving, and Stoicism is great to sing along to.
Gips is my least favourite song on the album, it sounds too 'J-poppy' for me (and I'm not a huge fan of J-pop). Tsumi to batsu also gets a little on my nerves. Still though - she more than redeems herself. I sit in awe of this album 2 years after I discovered it. I don't think any album since has managed to retain this intense level of interest, except for KZK of course. |
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The Gibs chorus reeks of Kameda.
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First Shiina Ringo album I ever owned and I still love it. Though I can't say I like Gibs all that much. Waay too poppy for me. In fact, it's probably one of my least favorites of her songs. It isn't terrible. Just kinda meh.
Tsumi to Batsu is easily my favorite track off of the album and my favorite song in her solo career. It just has so much raw emotion that she can't even capture in the live performances of it. It has everything I like in a Shiina Ringo song. I'm surprised people actually find it annoying. I loved it the first time I heard it. And I can't be the only person here who likes Kyogenshou. It's just such an awesome opener to the album! Of course, when I heard Shuukyou from KSK for the first time, it blew it away, but when I got this album and listened to Kyogenshou I was hooked. The chorus just has so much energy. |
ITP I propose that Stoicism is the perfect song. It showcases everything that Shiina is about. Its fun, it rocks, its experimental, its interesting, its approachable.
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Are you trying to seduce me? <3
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Stoicism was the closest I got to converting one of my best friends to Ringo. He loved it for all of the reasons you pointed out but then was disappointed at other SS tracks I played saying it was too "Alanis Morissette does J-pop". He doesn't like Alanis Morissette.
I think my best bet was to get him to like KSK, which is a hard task as it is hardly the most instantly approachable album -- particularly to somebody that doesn't listen to "foreign" music -- but once he sees the genius behind it without instantly classing it as generic (an impossible thing to label KSK), he'll have no problem working backwards and seeing the quality songwriting on SS and MM. I gave up 2 years ago though :P |
I think the best policy for conversion is to have the music playing on low in the background when folk come over! even if they complain you just say "well it's my house" and they'll either shut up about it or leave (which is unlikely) and then after a while a person said "oh I like that song" (poltergeist) then you turn it up a little more and slowly they come to understand that J-music is not all the stereotype "crazy" crap that the mainstream has filtered for it's viewers humour! I have semi-converted recently 2 friends and my sister to Shiina's music to the extent that they own the pysical CD's of a few albums/singles and got them to try out a few other acts (SPITZ, Salyu, Brilliant Green, ect) now that they have the knowledge that decent acts outside of the "crazy" & Idol exist they'll go and seek them out and be more open minded ?
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I'm wondering if the drawings of the desolated car and the city have some connection with Tsumi to batsu; they are in the middle of the booklet and thus in place of the lyrics.... perhaps it's Yamate-dori?
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Well, if I'm not wrong, the car itself is mentioned in 'Izonshou' and, obviously, in 'Tsumi to Batsu' (I think she sings "the German car" or something like this).
Apart from this, 'Shouso Strip', being a symmetrical album, has a central track, which is the #7 Tsumi to Batsu. That song cuts the album in two six-tracked parts. |
Yes, that's what I was referring to. The placement of the central track and the central section of the booklet (also the drawings are symmetrical as well, and then there's the cut black sheet of paper). KSK doesn't have anything like that though... just the symmetrically placed violins (along with the other pictures that correspond to each other). The cars in the lyrics just totally slipped off my mind... It's just so thought out! Oh, and the "Izonshou" reference then means we've got a picture of Hitler, right? :D
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And since the drawings are B&W... with the symmetry, one of them could be yellow - Hitler cut in half! :D well enough of the BS.
I wanted to edit my post but my connection was giving me troubles... what I didn't get is the picture and meaning of the desolate city. I understand the half-car was featured in Tsumi to batsu but what about the city...? Does it have any meaning? |
It's probably Shinjuku somehow. I think when Ringo was living in a tiny apartment there, amid all the businessmen, she really didn't like it all that much. Or rather, she seemed to have mixed feelings, a love/hate relationship. "I love Tokyo but there's nothing there." So she might have been expressing the grayness of Tokyo with the desolate city stuff?
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That's a good point. The thing is it always worked for me as "a Tsumi to batsu image", I just didn't know how. She mentions a "loneliness of a tiny room" there and I understand the song as being about a loneliness and, in a way disconnection, so that makes sense there...
Maybe she found Tokyo rotten? :D |
Well Tokyo is one big city out there which may not really help if you are being down a little or something. Traffic on the other side of the window makeing noise and the wall's of that tiny room coming only closer. Ok however i agree about the mixed thoughts of love&hate relationship with the city :)
Now I just have to fangirl it here, but I just got from the post the Shouso Strip CD and it's the limited edition in the so called 'luxurious' cd case. I love it !! |
Oh. I had a question about the album cover. I was trying to look but I couldnt really find an answer if it was posted. But anyone know the inspiration behind the album cover.?
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ummm gotta question
is sakana supposed to end really randomally and in the middle of the "uh oooohhhs" will background music? Mine is 3:44 long and just randomally ends and goes into the next track... |
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um, so your saying this abrupt cutoff is supposed to happen? my question was related to the fact that I wasn't sure if it was an error on my copy when ripping it from the cd or whether or not it was intended to be this length and abruptly cut off like this.
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Yes, it's like that. Didn't you say you have 3 copies? :D (you should have that cutoff on each of them)
If you pump up the volume some more, you'll notice abrupt cutoffs on Honnou and Izonshou as well, as in the fade-out at the end is not completely smooth. |
I do...I have a legit first press that I bought used from Book Off, a sealed sample first press that I got on auction (meaning it was never sold but sent out as a sample), and then I have the second press I bought way back when. unfortunately all 3, including everything pre WtH, is in Boston at my parent's house, where I keep most of my music. my apartment in hawai'i is rather apt to collect sand and easily cluttered, so I prefer to not have them with me here.
random, I read somewhere that Izonshou uncensored was included on first pressings of SS but taken off for later versions. I own first pressings but I never thought to check. the copy floating around is rather iffy quality, so I am thinking this is false, otherwise we would have drastically higher quality rips. does anyone know the source for the uncensored rip? I am thinking it was taken off a studio pre-mastered demo or even mastered demo that was sent out to execs to get the final thumbs up to send to print. |
The only have SS first press and Izonshou is censored on there, so it's probably as you say.
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Interesting bit of information that papi found on "Tsumi to Batsu"'s japanese wikipedia article:
「シングル化して欲しい人は東芝EMIまで手紙を送って下さい」 (after Senkou Xtasy) she said if her fans want Tsumi to Batsu and Gibs to be releasd, WRITE LETTERS to EMI. I wonder if the international fans could request EMI for another Utaite Miyori... |
I don't know why I'm posting so much tonight, but anyway ...
Does anyone else here love listening to backing tracks? I just do it the lazy way where you halfway unplug your headphones (as opposed to using audio editing software). I do this all the time with KSK, but only recently tried it with this album. My favorite backing track ended up being "Benkai Debussy", and I don't even like the regular song. |
Post more! I love it when new people post! Everyone else is tired of hearing the same shit from me :D
I regularly add backing vocals to songs that I listen to... In SS I think I do that most often to Gibs, but only for the verse! I add a 3rd to the melody line... it's more fun to sing that the melody itself. |
I love this album, mostly because I find it very...sexy?
I think that it is only way I can put it. I mean, if you think about it, the vocals to most of the songs have such a great vibe to them! Sakana, Honnou, Tsumi to Batsu, Benkai Debussy, Identity, as well as the others, all have this vibe that I can't even describe. It isn't even sexy in a traditional sense, it's almost angry. I dunno, I'm just rambling now. Does anyone else know what I mean? |
Sexy is a good word to describe SS.
A tune like Tsumi to Batsu is just, really, sex. |
I don't think it's quite there yet in Tokyo time, but happy 10th Anniversary, SS!
:wub: |
SS = God Body,
i stopped listening to anything else for a long while when i discovered this album, once she unleashed tsumi no batsu, the world stopped to repent from musical sins the pop world had committe |
has it really been 10 years.
wow. Puts me in the mood to listen to some SS, and maybe watch some GX to celebrate the day! Would probably still sound as fresh as ever. |
Happy anniversary, fantastic album.
Shouso Strip's one of the records I've listened to most in 2010. It still sounds like the future. |
Oh, I remember years ago waiting for some friends to arrive at a convention center, back when I had to take buses everywhere, and I only had a CD player with one CD in it (guess which one?) and my bus got to the waiting spot way too early, and I passed the time listening to the CD over and over.
Thanks Ringo! |
I didn't notice this until the other day, but Ringo is flashing the victory sign on the classic SS disc cover picture. Before I thought it was just a kind of "booyah" to match the album's playfulness and sass, but now I realize it is also an allusion to the concept/name of the album.
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Well, the translation of the album title is like lawsuit winning strip right? I really like this album. My favorites are probably Tsumi to Batsu, Identity, and Yokushitsu. I love the lyricism in both the English and Japanese versions of Yokushitsu. Ringo needs to take a break from music for a while and come back with the same quirky spunk that she had up until Tokyo Jihen.
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Hello everybody. i have a question. since this album speaks about "Crime and Punishment" so in this criteria 'Honnou' could be about being a Stalker? Raped? Pedo?
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Well, my take on Honnou is that she's using sex as a means to fill her loneliness. Of course I'm far from fluent in Japanese so I could be wrong, but the song, coupled with the steamy video, rather than being "sexy" was meant to highlight the loneliness in the song.
In the video, she's doing all this sexual stuff to a patient whilst dressed as a nurse. Now yeah there's the fetishism toward nurses, but at the same time it's rather clinical isn't it? I mean the body on the bed isn't really doing anything other than just lying there whilst Ringo does all this sexytime stuff to it... Sooooo, I came to the conclusion that both the patient and the nurse represent Ringo in the lyrics. The nurse is the fiery, sexually suggestive lyrics who is saying stuff like "I hate things that never end" and then the patient represents her isolated loneliness who "longs for the morning that never comes". So, to summarise (and get back on point), I feel that the song is pretty much about using lust and sex to try and fill loneliness. (Using the translation here). Throughout the lyrics she's saying stuff like "longing for a window upon which a morning never comes" and "make me climax", which sort of gives me a feeling of "I can't wait for this to be over", of course, without knowledge of the original Japanese I can't be certain. On the surface, Honnou seems like a really playful, seductive song, but even though the video is pretty hawt I've always got a sense of pathos from it. But yeah, that was my... badly drawn conclusion on Honnou. XD I would love for someone to clarify and/or rip into my theory! |
First let me make these statements about the music video itself: Ringo once stated that the video was representative of female empowerment through sex, and that female sensually can exist independent of men (lesbianism). She has also stated, however, that the video didn't turn out exactly how she wanted it to be (she claimed the video took place on a cyberpunk spaceship, a detail most people seemed to miss lol) and had previously considered creating a purely surreal video inspired by Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity".
Also, Ringo has had a long medical history, and was actually in the hospital when "Gips" was supposed to be recorded as the album's lead single. Since she was sick, her company chose "Honnou", which had already been recorded, to be the lead single instead. Her fascination with medicine and sexuality is a theme that has re-appeared many times in her earlier work, from "Honnou", "Byousho Public", "Odaijini", to the set of Gekokujyo Ecstacy, and packaging of ZCS, among others. Lyrically, there are competing interpretations of Honnou in my mind - one which is close to how zyoeru describes it (A), and a slightly different one (B). A. Having philosophically reduced reality to nihilism, the only stimulation left for the character of the song is sex and contemplation (similar to the lives of many poets and philosophers, it seems). The character of the song embraces this, and balances messages of seduction with musings/judgements of reality itself. The merging of explicit sensuality with emotion (the ambiguous "bring me to a climax" line is a great example of this) and philosophy is brilliantly implemented. B. That it's all bullshit. The line "I love your sharp [or 'penetrating'] gaze" implies the character could be doing and saying the things he/she does for the attention of the character he/she is communicating with, which also seems consistent with the histrionic nature of SS and other works of her early career. It's important to note that in the original version of the song, the verses structure was gone, so she wrote those parts in later (I assume). The verses, in my opinion, are the most surreal moments of the song, lyrically, and I think were thrown in later to make the song even more bizarre, extreme, and aesthetic. Either interpretation is an amazing character study and exemplary of her lyrical skill. (P.S. Sorry for not citing many sources, these are just bits and pieces I've gleaned over the years and some of it might be nothing more than hearsay.) |
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Yes, it's true. There are still people in Japan who have an image of Ringo as a "perverted, weird girl" thanks to the Honnou video backlash (I even met one!).
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I like the album but I don't like Gips at all
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I used to skip Gips wherever it was, but my perception about it has slightly changed lately, and now I find it nearly enjoyable. The problem was the chorus - the verse is excellent as it is, but the chorus is a completely different world, the contrast didn't work for me and I used to find that chorus really annoying. It has grown on me in some strange way. Now I can say I don't skip it as often as I did before.
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I just think its too long
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The chorus is the best part of Gibs. Especially the last chorus when the mood of the song switches from hope to desperation.
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Always had an odd relationship with Gibs, stood out as the only track I really didn't like on Shouso Strip on first listen (too mainstream), then it grew on me bigtime as a song that sounded good when drunk (I wanna be with yooooou... *hic*... you get the picture). Now it probably feels skippable again.
I prefer the verse to the chorus, and saw some fan post somewhere that Kameda wrote the choruses to Gibs and 17. That can't be true if it isn't credited but I could quite believe it in the case of Gibs, it's got Kameda's feminine-Oasis anthemic sound like Superstar and Shiseikatsu. Anyway, I favour the demo version and its dreamy ending. |
What if Kameda just arranged it? After all, we know how much his arrangement can gut a song, just like the single version of Koufukuron
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^ Oh I think that's a bit unfair, Kameda's an excellent arranger. I agree in that single ver. Koufukuron is the only solo SR track I never bothered getting hold of, but I always associated it with the record company, not Kameda, thanks to that unauthorised biography.
Listening to SS Gibs now. The first verse is the best bit... That always gave me the shivers on EM. |
I was looking round on ebay etc (not looking for anything in particular) but one thing struck me- there are heaps of copies of the first press all for less than 20 US. Maybe it's one of them albums that everyone has so it's hard to get rid of- you know, like when you see Nevermind in every single op shop in the west.
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It looks like SS' cover picture served as an inspiration for Björk's new single "Crystalline"'s cover, haha:
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