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Old 2010.09.11, 07:25 PM   #11
Mr Sands
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Originally Posted by NIMH Rat View Post
I mean, "I'm Gonna Knock On Your Door" really didn't need to rock that hard. It's a cute little song and they jam it like it's "Highway to Hell" or something.


I just have to say that I really like the way you write.
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Old 2010.09.11, 07:27 PM   #12
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HZM was working in Tokyo Jihen on borrowed time from the start since he was in PE'Z(moku). No shock there when he announced he was leaving.

Hirama is a controversial guy. He was a ronin musician and could have been a permanent member.

maybe Ringo put the moves on him and he ran away? or he put the moves on Ringo and failed? thats one rumor

Maybe he got a taste of the big hot spotlight during Dynamite Tour and rode on coattails hoping to leech of the TJ fanbase to grow his own as a solo? Either way, my impression of him now is a shady flake with a nice guitar tone.

the good things I can say about Ukigumo is that he's been dependable and loyal friend to Ringo since the Utaite Myouri days and he is technically more proficient at guitar than Hirama.
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Old 2010.09.11, 07:50 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by ShadyNook View Post
Ukigumo is ...technically more proficient at guitar than Hirama.
This is a myth I'd LOVE to have dispelled. Live, both pulled in the rains on their tougher solos, but one tended to play better in context of their band. Even though I recognize Hirama's sample size isn't as fair now.

I would just like to quickly interject that the band that sounds like five people soloing on top of each other was Phase 2. Case in point, Variety, which is a total mess. What makes Dynamite Out/phase 1 so amazing is that when things do get cacophonous there is a sense the band still knows what it's doing and they fall back into fold effortlessly. They never "managed to harmonize" the band was more in sync with each other than any other band that decade.

I don't hear "Highway to Hell" in Knock on Your Door, I hear a cute song that is delivered like someone whose trying to "knock on your door...tap on your window" get your attention and not understated with a limp-wristed schmuck delivery. Apparently it's cool to "not care" these days, so maybe that's why there's something lost in translation now.

I only saw the two Ultra C videos that were on youtube, but it looked like a completely differnt band than the one on JCHI, S+T. Ukigumo was even strumming and using a big boy guitar (plus Kimaru and Denpaa Tsuchin are pretty rockin) so I can't comment on the bands improvement there. But improved they are on Sports. However, lets not pretend Phase 1 was unstructured, full of needless solos, and a general mess. They could have been the biggest name in music if they stuck together.
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Old 2010.09.11, 08:44 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by Tokyo Jihad View Post
I don't hear "Highway to Hell" in Knock on Your Door, I hear a cute song that is delivered like someone whose trying to "knock on your door...tap on your window" get your attention and not understated with a limp-wristed schmuck delivery. Apparently it's cool to "not care" these days, so maybe that's why there's something lost in translation now.
I have no problems with "Knock," it's great. Taken in chunks, Phase 1 is greatness. But coming where it did in Dynamite Out, and with a jam finish, it's exhausting. I'm talking about the concert as a whole and the energies of Phase 1 TJ at that time. That concert and nearly all Phase 1 TJ is like a greatest-hits package. What's wrong with that? Nothing really. But shouldn't they save the greatest-hits concert for when they're old and desperate?

And what's with that comment that the "it's cool to 'not care' these days"? Is that some social observation, or a Tokyo Jihen observation? We the jaded audience only respond to ironic distance, or TJ has no soul? Or both?
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Old 2010.09.11, 10:56 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by Tokyo Jihad View Post
They could have been the biggest name in music if they stuck together.
yep. thats why my dislike for Hirama for leaving is equal to how much i admired him for his contribution.

"He coulda been a contender!"

now he's back to playing dive bars taking cue from a band with no artistic relevancy...
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Old 2010.09.11, 11:19 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by Tokyo Jihad View Post
Ukigumo was even strumming and using a big boy guitar.
You guys are awesome.
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Old 2010.09.11, 11:42 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by NIMH Rat View Post
But I'm never in "awe" of Ukigumo, or Izawa. Instead, I'm always aware of their contributions and once in a while they take the stage (thanks in part to spotlighting) and remind us what they can do individually. They don't keep asserting their greatness every second. I mean, "I'm Gonna Knock On Your Door" really didn't need to rock that hard. It's a cute little song and they jam it like it's "Highway to Hell" or something.

I don't think Phase 1 had a "downfall"---I think it was more like a blowout. Something had to give. And yet they left behind some incredible moments when all 5 of them managed to harmonize.
I agree with you on Uki and Izawa not really having that many "awe" moments. For me the song on the top of my head that really gets me "pumped" and that I fell Izawa and Uki show their stuff is FOUL. There's something about the way that song is performed that I really enjoy. It's like staroids to me..

Maybe "I'm Gonna knock" didn't have to rock that hard, but I still believe they made a pretty damn good job with it. I would say they rocked the hell out of it. As they rocked the hell out of the stage and possibly the audience during as well..

I said "downfall" in quotations because I didn't really have a word that would explain it properly. I think I would better define it as a "BIG BANG"

Originally Posted by NIMH Rat
But shouldn't they save the greatest-hits concert for when they're old and desperate?
But it's because of all that energy that I take DO as something "great." Had it not been as it was, we would have never gotten something like that...instead maybe it would have been "dull." And dull is not something I'd like too much >.>

Originally Posted by Tokyo Jihad
there is a sense the band still knows what it's doing and they fall back into fold effortlessly
Nicely said. XD
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Old 2010.09.12, 06:28 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by NIMH Rat View Post
I mean, "I'm Gonna Knock On Your Door" really didn't need to rock that hard. It's a cute little song and they jam it like it's "Highway to Hell" or something.
I agree, that quote is awesome. That song always seemed a little excessively . . . intense for the teeny-bopper special it was.

I also like what you said about Dynamite Out being like a greatest hits session. HZM and Hirama had planned on leaving before the Dynamite tour started, and you can tell they wanted to go out with a bang. I mean, watch HZM during Himitsu, the song that when I first saw it live on YouTube just totally blew my mind about TJ (having only listened to their album before). That guy was totally just showing off. It's like "We don't know where this band is going from here, and it's been fun, so lets have some fun one last time and rock out this last one like we're Led Zeppelin."
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Old 2010.09.12, 08:15 AM   #19
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I'm puzzled by these comments about how I'm Gonna Knock was performed. How else are you going to perform a a punk rock song? Would it have made more sense to you if they didn't have to cut the God Save the Queen intro due to copyright issues?

Also, Dynamite had plenty of breaks from the action. Kao, Bokoku Josho, Superstar, Kokoro, Onaji Yoru, and the Genjitsu songs served as cool down periods during the show.

Originally Posted by NIMH Rat View Post
And what's with that comment that the "it's cool to 'not care' these days"? Is that some social observation, or a Tokyo Jihen observation? We the jaded audience only respond to ironic distance, or TJ has no soul? Or both?
I'd personally say Shiina doesn't care anymore. That's mainly because I thought she created a poor working environment for HZM and Hirama. From what I've heard, back in those days Shiina had final say in the chord progressions and melody of a song which annoyed HZM particularly. After HZM and Hirama left, she seemed to have mellowed a bit. It was like a real eye opener to her to what being in a band was really about. Now, Ukizawa pretty much have free reign while Shiina doesn't seem to care all that much what Tokyo Jihen puts out.
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Old 2010.09.12, 09:07 AM   #20
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Originally Posted by Maou View Post
I'd personally say Shiina doesn't care anymore. That's mainly because I thought she created a poor working environment for HZM and Hirama. From what I've heard, back in those days Shiina had final say in the chord progressions and melody of a song which annoyed HZM particularly. After HZM and Hirama left, she seemed to have mellowed a bit. It was like a real eye opener to her to what being in a band was really about. Now, Ukizawa pretty much have free reign while Shiina doesn't seem to care all that much what Tokyo Jihen puts out.
Your and demented's comments are really good (though I hate to speculate on what people "care" or "don't care" about....it just boils down to your own opinion of the music; like, if you love their music that means they "care," and vice versa). I'm starting to think that maybe calling DO-era TJ "Phase 1" is a mistake. Maybe it should be considered the final permutation of SR. It's the Electric Mole ensemble repackaged with some new songs that are mostly the product of SR's brain. DO is like the ultimate SR-solo concert with the backup band of our dreams, Electric Mole redux.

"Domestic Virgin Line," in that case, can be considered the real Phase 1 of Tokyo Jihen.
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