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Old 2011.07.03, 09:08 PM   #151
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Originally Posted by brad-t View Post
This is, at best, an objectively OK album when removed from context. But the reality is that this is (arguably) the worst album to date from a formerly amazing group who, by their fifth album, should not be producing something like this. Not only that, but all the ground that's covered on this album has been done with a higher level of quality already, so, as I just said -- better to spend your time listening to something better.
I don't disagree, but I can't say it's anything but typical. The large majority of decent bands/artists usually start out great, maybe peak a little afterward and then either plateau or spiral downward for years. Not that it's any consolation, but I suppose we're lucky she's at least plateaued at somewhere above decent as opposed to falling into abject mediocrity.
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Old 2011.07.03, 09:16 PM   #152
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Originally Posted by The Most Curious Thing View Post
That being said, I agree that EMI Japan is very much to blame for many of the album's faults...
Hm. Interesting take there. Why is EMI Japan to blame for the faults of the album?
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Old 2011.07.04, 04:46 AM   #153
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Some of the songs on this album are fast becoming some of my favourites of the band's entire discography. Like Dopamint. But I expect I will be alone on this.
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Old 2011.07.04, 06:39 AM   #154
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After reading through some reviews, I was a little disappointed with which songs received a lot of criticism and I lost most of my desire to listen to the album again. I ended up taking a couple days off from the forum and I soon regained my taste for it. I came back to catch up on the reviews and now I'm not as excited about it anymore. If anyone else is having this problem, I recommend taking a few days off and forming your own opinions of the songs.

(this says nothing against negative reviews... I just think it's easy for people who may naturally enjoy a piece of music to feel discouraged/persuaded when it's spoken of negatively)

Also, I agree that the album is sort of loosely-woven, and I'm still confused by the ending. I'm not sure if I prefer track 13 or 14 as the album closer... I honestly wish they had just left the original Tengoku off to make it easier.
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Old 2011.07.04, 08:03 AM   #155
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Ah shit. EMF is going to be pretty silent until the next album comes out.
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Old 2011.07.04, 09:22 AM   #156
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Originally Posted by chibijelly View Post
13. 女の子は誰でも

What are you even DOING on this album? I enjoy this song as a fun, fluffy b-side. But that's about it. It completely ruins the flow of the album.
Well, it's not a B-side; the single was a double-A-side so it's logical that it made it onto the album, even though it really does have that out-of-place B-side feel.
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Old 2011.07.04, 11:21 AM   #157
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I think the fact that we heard the vast majority of the album before it came out-- as in, both tracks of the singles were in the album-- Tengoku, Dopamint, and so on--so it felt like...I'd heard too much of it to be excited?

It did feel like they wrote some things and then thought about sticking it together as an album, rather than sat down and wrote a whole album in one go, so to speak.

That said, I ended up making a playlist of just Kinjirareta Asobi and Kaze ni Ayakatte Ike because I love them both so much. They're good fun to bake cakes to, jsyk pfffft
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Old 2011.07.04, 11:58 AM   #158
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Originally Posted by spinnigold View Post
I think the fact that we heard the vast majority of the album before it came out-- as in, both tracks of the singles were in the album-- Tengoku, Dopamint, and so on--so it felt like...I'd heard too much of it to be excited?
not counting singles, songs debuted during concerts, cover songs, or songs released prior to the album release as promotional songs.

daihakken has: 8 songs

Sports and Variety had 9
Adult had 7

I left Kyouiku out because it was the band and they started touring as Tokyo Jihen ahead of the album's release so a good half of that album was floating around in live performances/singles.

I don't think people are disappointed because we had two double a-side singles on the album.

On a whole this album sticks out as the least defined theme. The work doesn't necessarily reflect the theme and as a whole the production of the songs doesn't do a lot to separate it from past efforts. With the exception of a couple tracks, most of the album feels like songs could belong to other themes. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I think that since the band has, for better of worse, strived to release albums relating to certain themes, complete with a sound and a look, it makes this album feel like a failure and rushed in that sense.

This album actually feels more like Kyouiku to me than any of the other albums because it has a very loosely defined theme which doesn't necessarily dictate the sound of the album. It feels like a reboot and a fresh start for the band. I hope going forward the band continues to work around loose themes and realize the importance of production and editing over writing songs to fit a certain label.
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Old 2011.07.04, 01:41 PM   #159
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Originally Posted by kuro_neko View Post
This album actually feels more like Kyouiku to me than any of the other albums because it has a very loosely defined theme which doesn't necessarily dictate the sound of the album. It feels like a reboot and a fresh start for the band. I hope going forward the band continues to work around loose themes and realize the importance of production and editing over writing songs to fit a certain label.
I like this way of looking at it.

The more I listen to Daihakken, the more I agree with brad-t, in that everything on it has been done better before. There's the Adult-ish tracks, the Sports carryovers, the Variety rejects, and the pop tunes that aren't significantly better than any previous Kameda track or anything else. The whole thing feels like a mediocre rehashing of all their previous work and really just makes me want to listen to the better examples instead.
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Old 2011.07.04, 06:04 PM   #160
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boah, i always disliked phase2 (maybe, except "adult"), but now i am in love again! this is a well crafted and artful album. i love surprises like this
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