Gyakuyunyuu ~Kouwankyoku~ (Self Covers album) and May/June Tour 2014

[deadgrandma]

Originally Posted by FadedSun

Only one I don't care much for at the moment is 望遠鏡の外の景色. It's mostly an instrumental jazz track with some vocals at the end. A little boring.

The original of this one blew my mind. This version isn't anywhere near as good- mainly because it doesn't have Soil and Pimp Sessions rocking it.

The original is split into 2 tracks too- the first is an electronic introduction with a vocal melody and then it kick-fires into SAPS instrumental on second track... pity they didn't really do much for the vocal melody part here. Oh well.

Still the core musical tune/melody of this one is really catchy and always gets stuck in my head.

However, out of all the Ichigo Ichie songs, why she chose this one is really beyond me.

BTW, I still stand by it. Doku Ichigo is the best Shiina Ringo album that isn't a Shiina Ringo album. It totally crushed any Jihen release from Variety onward. It's a pity its so overlooked/under-appreciated/hard to find to buy.

[Positron]

Originally Posted by Glathannus

Upon receiving my CD Japan shipment, I can confirm they really are distributing posters with the album, even if your invoice says nothing about it.

How'd they choose to package it, rolled or fold?

[Glathannus]

Originally Posted by Positron

How'd [CD Japan] choose to package [the poster], rolled or fold?

In one cardboard tube per poster.

[deadgrandma]

^ that makes you sound like you've ordered multiple copies, and I don't think that's too crazy knowing your track record with Ringo stuff :-)

I've put the poster up next to my SG poster (had to take down the Sports one but whatever)

Also, out of sheer curiosity alone, is there anyone here that bought it in-store somewhere- how do they provide the poster in that scenario? As in, do they roll it up or fold? I remember when HEART STATION came out and I grabbed it (I was in Kanazawa at the time) they had the option of either... why the hell would anyone choose folded?

Also, goddamn Shuen no Onna/Leading Lady is pretty much the perfect big band/showtune and Shouso Strip hybrid. It's on repeat constantly right now for me. I can't believe there's detractors of this particular track (some of the other songs, fair enough), it's what she's been hinting at for years and now she's finally hit the mark with it. Worth the price of the album alone. Oh well, each to their own I guess :-/

[FadedSun]

I reimported (pun intended?) my CD into itunes and encoded it into Apple Lossless. OMG it sounds so much better. I think it originally encoded it at 128kbps and I kept wondering why the CD sounded terrible. Much better experience. I listened to the album twice today and I'm enjoying it more and more. Not a bad track IMO. I'm even becoming fond of 望遠鏡の外の景色; I think of it as an interlude, though I wish it had more of Shiina's vocals.

Standout tracks for me are:
主演の女 - Great start to the album
プライベイト - I really love that marching beat, and it's a fun song in general.I hear a lot of blips and toy sounds that remind me of a Shugo Tokumaru song.
青春の瞬き - Possibly my current favorite on the album. I love a good Shiina ballad.
真夏の脱獄者 - Another favorite. So funky and it sounds like Shiina is having a lot of fun with this one.
カプチーノ - Do people not like this one as much? Just another fun track IMO. From the recent live footage, I think they had fun playing it and Shiina singing it.
雨傘 - A solid rock song! We haven't heard Ringo like this in a while.
幸先坂 - Shiina accompanied by an accordion works so well.

[Positron]

Got around to that WOWOW concert broadcast and almost all of the songs went even or came out ahead in their live performances (where applicable)... except Sounan. Every attempt to deviate from the Phase 1 sound always ends up horrendous in comparison.

Also hearing the back-up vocals in stuff like Traveling and Karasawagi kinda made me miss Phase 2.

[Inseu]

OK, after several listens, I wouldn't say it's similar to any Ringo solo album (all Ringo solo albums are quite different too). The closest thing I can think of is actually Tokyo Jihen's Adult (plus some Sports), as both have similar album structures. They both start with wild jazzy song Leading Lady/Himitsu, then fast-paced rock In A Whirlwind/Kenka Joutou, then oddball idol pop Private/boss nova Keshou Naoshi, then Tomita ballad Seishun no Matataki/Kemeda ballad Superstar, followed by funky Manatsu no Datsugokusha/Shuraba and noisy Keitteiteki Sanpunkan/Kabuki, then fast-paced rock again Hiyori Hime/Black-Out and the generic j-rock Cappuccino/Toumei Ningen, with quiet ending Saisakizaka/Tegami.

1 　主演の女（PUFFY）: 10/10 one of the best Ringo jazz-rock songs, rivals Mayonaka wa Junketsu, Vogue, and Mittei Monogatari
2 　渦中の男（TOKIO）:10/10, if she used the original Tokio arrangement I'd still give it 10/10, chaotic industrial noise/dance yet music retains Ringo's catchy songwriting.
3 　プライベイト（広末涼子）: 9/10, cutest song on the album, kind of a KPP parody, I personally love the idol pop production, including the jingly Christmasish keyboard.
4 　青春の瞬き（栗山千明）: 7/10 sounds like Tomita Lab stuff, not that catchy, tedious ballad, though nicely arranged, basically the less interesting version of やさしい哲学, it grew on me.
5 　真夏の脱獄者（SMAP）: 10/10, reminds me BOA's Quincy and 80's Michael Jackson, I don't like how the song ends so abruptly, great song regardless.
6 　望遠鏡の外の景色（野田秀樹）:7/10, it's not bad, original is smoother. I'm just indifferent to instrumentals
7 　決定的三分間（栗山千明）: 10/10, I love her deep voice on this, music is dirty rock n roll which reminds me of early songs like Byoushou Public.
8 　カプチーノ（ともさかりえ）: 8/10 this song fits on Sports, it's pretty good, I like it more than Nippon, wish it's Shoujo Robot instead, .
9 　雨傘（TOKIO）: 9/10, again this song fits on Sports, it rocks! Vocals could be less monotonous.
10 　日和姫（PUFFY）: 9/10, fits on Sports,I hear Jiyuu e Michizure's guitar...no problem with Ringo rocking out,
11 　幸先坂（真木よう子）: 5/10, It's You 2, too minimalistic and boring for me.

[FadedSun]

That live cover of "Traveling" is fantastic! The crowd loved it, and you can tell Shiina and the band did too. I wouldn't mind if she did more Utada covers.

[deadgrandma]

@FadedSun: I have a sneaking suspicion that the original 320 rip floating around is an iTunes transcode too, listening to the CD it sounds like a blanket has been pulled off the speakers...

Also, bit pissed that I had to resort to downloading the FLAC, I had problems ripping the CD with EAC (though I have no problems playing it). Maybe my drive is on the way out, it's been having similar problems with a lot of CDs lately...

Re: Traveling cover: yeah I love it. However, I find it sad that the only time I noticed the crowd getting really into it was this song... Are all the hardcore Ringo fans in Japan gone? It wasn't really a 'big hits' show I understand (not even a Marunouchi Sadistic- which I'm surprised noones pointed out- when was the last time she had a show without it???), but come on, that show blew me (and a lot of others it seems) away, maybe people were just frozen solid during it...

[TurtleFu]

that was the atmosphere dg. It would have been really inappropriate to get up and cheer like ita a rock concert. Believe me, we were all into it. This was a show you would only go to if you were a hardcore fan.
Tou taika was like that as well.
as for MS, I beoeve it was not in Bon Voyage or Discovery tour either.