Solo SR single "Carnation" 11/2

[Lustau]

Originally Posted by TurtleFu

She is. I love HF Poltergiest for that reason

The piano and chimes fit, but not the guitar and bass. I imagine all 4 are only there because it would be odd to have only Izawa and Hata.

Shiinaffirmative action at its worst.

[deadgrandma]

Originally Posted by Lustau

PS -

A couple months ago I said to myself "you know, this Shiina Ringo thing is the most expensive idiocy you have ever fallen into. Why the hell do you feel like you automatically have to buy everything this woman writes? Was it absolutely necessary for you to have Chiaki Kuriyama leering creepily down at you from your bookshelf forevermore?" So I replied "ok fine. Next time I will listen to it on YouTube first and only buy it if I actually like it."

I will be buying the single.

I laughed cause it's true, well, I actually like it all though :-p

But yes, she's goddamn fucking expensive, perhaps the second most expensive artist to get into (if you plan to get collecting- as it sounds here)

Jun Togawa is the only one that will top expensiveness and time consumption when it comes to collecting.

[kuro_neko]

Originally Posted by deadgrandma

I laughed cause it's true, well, I actually like it all though :-p

But yes, she's goddamn fucking expensive, perhaps the second most expensive artist to get into (if you plan to get collecting- as it sounds here)

Jun Togawa is the only one that will top expensiveness and time consumption when it comes to collecting.

if you think Ringo is bad for collection you have NO IDEA what some other artists are like out there.

tori amos released multiple versions of her singles for most of her career, so you had to import from UK or Ireland or US and buy the single, sometimes up to 4 times, to get all the assorted b-sides, and we are talking like 4-5 tracks for every single released. her extensive b-side catalogue is ridiculous and owning everything she has ever released is pretty much impossible.

as for japanese artists go, most of the pop stars do limited edition singles with different cover art or sometimes even differing b-sides. Ringo might release a steady stream of work but she makes her work pretty much linear, meaning if you tend to buy it as it comes out its not hard to be a collector.

the only release I didn't jump the gun on and one that I've regretted is MoRA. I never purchased it and probably never will seeing as I own her entire discography otherwise.

I haven't been purchasing tour dvds/pv collections lately though, just don't feel like the money is worth something I'll watch once for 70 bucks.

[W3iHong]

Originally Posted by Entry№1

So gorgeous. Does the breaking link between planets represent the mother being separated from her child?

If you wanted perfectly clear vocals, why don't you just listen to Enka or Opera? This is Ringo we're talking about... The first verse is my favorite part of the song.

Around 0:35 is the worst. The other parts were acceptable. I can accept just soft blows. But around 0:35 is a full blow into the microphone, that really makes me think why does she do that. Its just isn't typical of a singer to blow like that into the microphone. But it is just what Ringo does. If she is trying to create a feeling out of it or reasons to leave it in, I want to know about it. Not just accept it for what it is because she is famous and she will be always right... That kind of stuff.

[Glathannus]

Some other artists/performers are much busier than Shiina Ringo, in terms of how much new music gets pumped out in their name. Because she doesn't perform at bigger venues like Tokyo Dome, she has to hit up a higher quantity of medium venues to connect with her considerably large fanbase - which means she spends more days out of her year in touring than some other profilic artists/performers (plus there's all those magazine appearances), which leaves her (and the band) with less days in a year to be developing or fronting new music. The end result is that there aren't as many new releases in a year as there could've been. And I'm okay with that.

I don't think there's anything abnormal or outrageous about the pace in which new Shiina Ringo or Tokyo Jihen releases have been coming out. And aside from the 2007-2008, there haven't really been a lot of re-releases or alternate releases. They seem to be done with vinyl now, so that's one less expense to keep up with. And they aren't trying to get us to additionally buy any of the new DVDs which coincide with Blu-Ray releases - you pretty much buy one or the other without feeling like you're being cheated out of anything. The closest thing to Jacket A/B milking they've ever released in their own name was with Adult. They also don't release a lot of bonus DVDs.

So in the end, it's not really too much commitment to get your hands on all the material. I still have money leftover to keep up with other artists, and I've never had the gross income it would take to support a family in a G7 nation.

[deadgrandma]

I shoulda made this clear... I didn't mean collecting newer stuff- which is really easy for any artist- I meant backtracking. Not everyone has been into Shiina Ringo since 1999-2002 or whenever... so when I first got into her (about 2007) I didn't realise how much it would cost- being the first Japanese musician I really got into.

Not only that- but when it came round to locating the OOP stuff, particularly the vinyls, it was a real bitch because of the language barrier/postage and exchange rate.

With Tori Amos, it is true her catalog is massive- the singles are extremely ridiculous, but you can probably buy 10 of them for the price of 1 Ringo vinyl. And if your first language is English, then it's even easier to track them down.

I used to collect Tori like mad, until around the time the Beekeeper came out, and I think the hardest item I found was From the Choirgirl Hotel LP but that still only cost me 75 US- as opposed to 10,000 yen for a sealed Ringo LP. (Both of these including postage). The Piano boxset kinda put me off of collecting everything Tori related, plus the less than fantastic quality of the official dvds were a bummer. After TBK I just decided to buy regular editions, all of which are pretty much coasters now.

Jun Togawa on the other hand is a real bitch to get everything outside of reissues. Sure the re-releases have made it a bit easier, and Teichiku Works was awesome- but try getting that for under 400 bucks nowadays. And I highly doubt I'm gonna come across an artist that costs 70 US for a second hand 7" single in a hurry. Well, that I like anyway. I'm sure if you were a hardcore Beatles collector or something you'd scoff at that.

So yeah- my main point that I didn't make clear was trying to pick up 10 to 20 years in their career and fill in the blanks with OOP stuff. But yeah, talking out my ass probably.

But yeah. I didn't intend this to be a dick measuring contest, I'm just talking from my personal experiences.

[W3iHong]

I declare this thread a mustache measuring contest.

[deadgrandma]

Originally Posted by W3iHong

Its just isn't typical of a singer to blow like that into the microphone.

Your mom blows into the microphone :-p hurr durr

[W3iHong]

The microphone blows into your mom.

[Glathannus]

I've noticed that those of us who are serious about Shiina Ringo collecting, tend to have a small handful of other favorite musicians we treat the same way. Chances are, at least one of those other musicians will have a bigger discography.

If Shiina Ringo were some fan's #1 most expensive discography they ever put money into, then they need to get out more. It's not that she doesn't deserve every penny it would take - it's that some other decent artists have a higher quantity of output without necessarily compromising the quality of their work.