[zach]

I believe production and mixing are just as much a part of creating music as laying down the instrumental tracks, so trying to differentiate between "production/recordings" and "music" is the thing that's a little naive. The production is a part of the music just as any instrumental track is, because it all contributes to the sound of the song.

Saying you're only interested in the music and not the production is like saying you like pictures but don't care how they are photographed. Any photographer overhearing you would be tempted to kill you. A significant part of the beauty of the pictures is how they are captured on film. The experience of the image comes to you through the filter (often literally) of the photographer.

That said, I absolutely love the songs on both albums. I love both Phases for their unique contributions to the vast world of Shiina Ringo's songs. But Adult gets (a lot) more play from me simply because (speaking metaphorically) the photographer found some great angles, cropped everything well, and used some nice lenses and filters (As opposed to the photographer for Kyoiku, who I believe was using a point-and-shoot cell phone camera). Adult is just a lot more pleasurable to look at.