[TJ] 2006.09.06 - Just Can't Help It (DVD) [Concert Video]
 

Just Can't Help It


01. 雪国 (Yukiguni)
02. 現実を嗤う (Genjitsu o Warau)
03. 少女ロボット (Shoujo Robot)
04. 歌舞伎 (Kabuki)
05. 秘密 (Himitsu)
06. その淑女ふしだらにつき (Sono Onna Fushidara ni Tsuki)
07. 現実に於て～顔 (Genjitsu ni Oite~Kao)
08. 入水願い (Jusui Negai)
09. ミラーボール (Mirror Ball)
10. 手紙 (Tegami)
11. サービス (Service)
12. C'm'on Let's go!
13. ブラックアウト (Blackout)
14. 本能 (Honnou)*
15. スーパースター (Superstar)
16. ダイナマイト (Dynamite)
17. 修羅場 (Shuraba)
18. 御祭騒ぎ (Omatsurisawagi)
19. 喧嘩上等 (Kenka Joutou)
20. 透明人間 (Toumei Ningen)
21. 丸の内サディスティック (Marunouchi Sadistic)
22. 落日 (Rakujitsu)
Total Playtime: 01:35:59

* Part of きもちよ (Kimochi yo), an APPA song, has been included in Izawa's performance.

Second-Press Availability: Amazon.co.jp, CD Japan, HMV Japan, YesAsia

I really love this concert. I especially enjoy when they go from song to song without stopping playing, such as shojo robot to kabuki and c'm'on lets go to Blackout. Very fun, the new version of dynamite was pretty interesting too although I do not understand what is she trying to say when the music stops in the middle of the song, except for "bonjour." The recorded video that was added in to the concert was very cool too, it makes it very interesting. The only part I did not like was when they sing lady is a tramp and the video goes black and white and lower quality. I didnt mind the black and white but the quality going down for the audio was not a very good idea.

It was " Shibuya, NHK, bonjour." The concert hall JCHI was recorded was NHK hall in Shibuya.

OOOOOHHHHH!! Thanks for clearing that up!! :D

This DVD has also been said to help deter global warming.

I love this concert aside from the final line of Dynamite where she does her

"Because... you are... DYYYNAAMIIIIITE!!!!"

That part is painful.


And agreed, I'm not a fan of the quality decrease in "The Lady is a Tramp" either. But those flaws are made up for by the rest of the music. I love the covers in this concert like a mama loves Hungry Hungry Hippos. I really don't understand people's hate for "Mirrorball," and "C'mon Let's Go" is probably one of my favorite TJ songs.

I know! "C'mon lets go" is so fun to hear. I would not say it is my favorite track, but it is definately up there because it is so entertaining. It's too bad that its so short, but at least it goes right into blackout, a transition which I love to see everytime. Its so cool how Ringo leaves during c'mon lets go and appears right when blackout starts without the music stopping. so fun :D

Have I really not posted in this thread yet? Well 'ere we go, love!

I place much of the blame on why "teh rawkers" will look kinda melancholic back at the Adult era. Dynamite Out came out and pretty such single handedly saved the Kyoiku-era, cuz all we had until that point was decisively the worst Shiina record we heard yet and 2 two-part really neat videos. You might be able to argue that EM saved the KZK era as well (or at least put peoples fears to rest.) So it seems to be the pattern that the live dvd really makes or breaks the era. JCHI I think fumbles the Adult album. The Adult album was fairly straightforward in style (as in "feeling" not musical styles), you sorta knew what "Adult" was all about, and the vids reinforced. Adult was kinda cold, kinda boring and depressing, but it was consistently so. (Hedo, Fluffie, other Adult pushers, save your barks, I'm in no way saying the music was boring and depressing. Im strictly talking "image" and the image personified by the music.)

Then we start to lose our focus with Adult Video and Virgin Line, and then JCHI comes and it left at least me shrugging my shoulders. Now "cat ears" somehow fit the adult mold. What? I've gone over most of this before so I'll spare repetition here.

The best part of Dynamite was they shoved aside all the "behind the scenes" stuff onto its own, largely forgettable, disc so we could focus solely on the concert. rawk. JCHI does this too...
...or does it?
Here's where I rip the non-live segments. I was jumping up-and-down when I caught wind of this, and not out of excitement. What it says to me is, the show wasn't that strong so we needed to spice it up. Do I agree? It wasn't the strongest show, but idealistically it says to me "we can't live up to our last dvd, so we're gonna go 180 and go the opposite direction of what it symbolized" So we also get all those Shiina theatrics that...people can be split on. The scene that goes on during Kao/Genjitsu no oite is "rolleye" worthy, if not groan worthy. Those jets of fire were 'really' necessary in Himitsu. The aforementioned Tramp and Dynamite things. Shiina on the cliff during whatever song it was, what was rowdier: the crowd or the ocean in the background ya think? Aso the one song I REALLY wanted to see being performed, Rakujitsu, is almost all bumped for "Shiina on a train". I just think it's hokey to do stuff like that. If the live shows not that exciting, then maybe don't release a dvd and have us get the show through boots or something. You know at the end of Blackout where Shiinas all curled up like she's dead? Yeah.
Speaking of Shiina, I got tired of the outfit changes on Virgin Line, let alone JCHI. It's kinda nit-picky, i'll give. But to me it's another visual thing to distract us from what's actually being played. I don't buy it, idealistically. To me all these things separates us from what we really want. The band, the songs, and the band playing the songs.

So what about the songs? As I said, it's not the strongest concert. Is it the weakest? I dunno, its been a while since I heard GX (of course, I'm not counting the ones that don't count: Haitsuku, BX, Ringohan. ) The set never really got goin it kept getting muddled in "clap sing your fingers-in palm" kinda songs. It started off alright. Genjitsu and Shoujo Robot -- whether you thought the take was good, the fact they played it was at least interesting. and it stays rolling until it comes to a screeching hault with Tramp followed by Kao/Genjitsu which should.have.been.cut! To me its saying "Hey ex-members, check out how boring we just made your songs!" There was no reason to keep this song on the dvd, specially when in the past we've had much more orgasmic songs cut. It doesnt really some back to form til Honnou/Superstar and Shuraba close after. And by that point, its pretty much over. Not even the grossly forced feeling metal interlude (complete with horns) really leave you feeling "wow, that
was a good show." The music was passable.

Rakujitsu was certainly the song of the show. Where Dynamite Out perfected every Kyoiku song, save Kokoro; JCHI perfected Rakujitsu. Honnou proves to be nearly indestructible despite all attempts to sink it (the Izawa interlude really takes you out of the song. It's a feeling I kept feeling throughout the DVD, that every time the band actually came close to getting the pot to boil, Shiina would diffuse bu dropping some ice cubes which was at the interlude did to Honnou.) Shuraba was great. Superstar was not as good as in Dynamite, but i guess it was ok --I barely recall it. Himitsu was great too. Tegami, however, dissapointed. Someone please tell Shiina to stop playing Dynamite and Tramp, they're becoming the new "Koufukuron and Marnouchi." Cept one of em wasn't even good on record (Tramp.)

I don't think JCHI even lived up to the Virgin Line show. Kabuki was way better there. So was Kenka. Plus, Virgin Line had something that SORELY shoulda been saved for JCHI: Souretsu and Gunjo. WRYY did they not save that for the show "that counted??" Souretsu might be THE BEST performance Shiina's done, and whether you liked the rendition of Gunjo or not, at least it was interesting. Those were two performances that stood up on their own without any post-production sweetning.

So, that's my largely sour take on JCHI. I do think it sorta spoiled Adult and is largely responsible for why some of us aren't as keen on the era. Adult was a pretty good album, however all we tend to associate it with is the band playing in a lifeless, unenthusiastic, white box -- and they backed off every time they came close to livening up the place.

Wow, most of the things you did not like are the things I liked :), except I agree that the lady is a tramp effect was not necessary, but I really like dynamite and this new rendition of it. I think it would be hard for you to enjoy the concert if you did not enjoy ADULT either way so you'd see everything in a darker light than someone who liked the album. Also, I like the non-live things and they made me enjoy it better but I'm pretty sure I would have liked the concert even without them, so I think this goes back to whether you liked the album in the first place or not. I think the only thing that the lives are really missing is something from uki (sorry fluffie :D), he doesn't really help in putting a show as much as I think he should.

But the thing that I do not understand is how can the live define the era or how good the album is? The lives are just so you can see them playing the songs they play on the album, not to let you decide whether you like it depending on how well they play the songs live.

Live performances are important because they allow us to hear songs with the studio tricks and magic stripped away. It isn't hard for someone to walk into a studio and churn out a nice-sounding song by enhancing vocals and stuffing it to the gills with found sounds, but performing the song live is a whole nother story.

Yea I know but that does not make the studio recording bad. If you think Ringo sings bad live or the any band member can't play live that's fine, but I do not think you can fake playing a guitar or drums on a recording so the live should not make you dislike the album.

I DID (and do) like Adult to begin with. I was fairly high on Adult at the the time (not that I ever thought it was better than the first solo records.) I was surprised and did enjoy adult, I didn't think it was a classic, but I it was good.

Im just saying Shiina seemed to keep backtracking on the motifs that culminated with the album, andt hat backtracking culminated with JCHI leading to disappoint-ton.

I'm not saying "its a proven methodology" that the live DVD makes or breaks the era, I'm just saying that there does seem to be a pattern at least with Shiina. I never said it "makes the album bad." What I said was that it makes the whole era kinda tainted (in JCHI's case) and then with that tainted kinda backdrop it does make you look less warmly on the album. If KZK ended in just BX, I guarantee you would see SS leading in the "fav abum" poll.

Because I was at the show live, JCHI was practically like Dynamite Out for me. Seriously, I loved the white box and the lighting effects (esp the very bright rays in Omatsuri Sawagi) and (some of the) the projected visuals. They certainly added extra oomph to the whole show, and I really applaud whoever was in charge of the live show for coordinating everything so well. It was certainly something to behold.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the DVD. It's a pity things turned out that way, because the show was really really good.

One thing to note though, they recorded JCHI at NHK Hall, and that performance was something like the 2nd or 3rd last performance for the whole tour (their longest so far). They probably played those songs at least five hundred times (including rehearsals), so it's really something to be playing those songs again and sound/look like they're still enthusiastic about everything when they really could be bored to death by those songs/arrangements already.

I don't have a huge problem with the song arrangements like Jihad does; I do like the Honnou interlude (though I liked it less after finding out it was a copy), though the Kenka Metal is... could have been more exciting. Like, heavy metal, power chords, where's the over the top guitar shredding? Uki's certainly capable of doing that, he's fast!

Anyway, the show was good, totally worth the bloated prices I paid for my ticket from Yahoo JP, and if there ever is a chance again, I'd definitely go for another TJ live.

(That being said, that "Spa & Treatment" lives are a little... *shrugs*)

Jihad, I don't know if many people feel that way, but I know that if I was a fan back when KZK was released and for whatever reason I did not enjoy BX (which I did enjoy) then that would definately not make me dislike KZK or like it any less than I did before the concert. I guess if you look at it in a historical sense, you could say that JCHI was alot more goofy than the "ADULT era" was supposed to be, but I would not let something like that hurt my musical experience.

Just going off topic a little bit, she didn't use the cat ears in JCHI's Service. They were only in Domestic VL.

Edit: And C'mon Let's Go has some awesome Ukigumo guitar playing. I know a lot of it is Izawa, but if you pay close attention, Uki really roxx0rz at parts.


Edit#2: I love the music in JCHI, but the main thing that turned me off (if you can consider it that -- I do love the concert as a whole) is the camera work. I thought Dynamite Out was more exciting to watch mainly because of all the different views they used. The camera people were constantly walking / moving around, getting different views of the band from the front, sides, behind, above, below, inside the nostril, etc. JCHI didn't have any of that, besides during C'mon Let's Go.. which is another reason why I find that song so appealing.

Yea, I don't know how much is Uki, but izawa was a BAMF during that performance ^_^

Oh yeah, where Izawa and Uki dueled off. Izawa totally smoked him, yet Uki got "the last word" --lame =p

Also the Marunouchi we got in Bokura no Ongaku (or whatever it was called) was vastly superior.

Rewatch the "last word" if you haven't done so recently. Good stuff :p

I thought it wasn't that good of a cover to begin with. Izawa had the guitar and the tone, but Uki did a bit better skill-wise.

The honnou piano interlude is cool.

The piano interlude exemplifies why Phase 1 was a vastly superior band. When Phase 1 adds something to a song or changes a part like the end of Ekimae or the replacement for the bass solo in Marunouchi, it sounds completely natural. When Phase 2 tries, it sounds bland and out of place like the metal part of Kenka or the jazz piano break in Honnou.

"Phase 1" was just straight up a better band. They "fit" they had chemistry.

Reminder: SR said that Phase 1 is her dream band.

And I agree.

agreed with the 3 posts above

Honnou
Izawa's Steinway&Sons substituted by a Yamaha
very clever <_<

Waaaaa

Remember, these are you opinions. I think Phase 2 is a better band, and some other people agree. But some the points you bring up certainly aren't unwarranted.

I prefer Phase 1 when it comes to entertainment on stage.
I prefer Phase 2 when it comes to the music.
However I do prefer Just Can't Help It. over Dynamite Out! because it's unique and IMO more interesting and enjoyable.
So for me overall, Phase 2 for teh win.

omg jesse
you're here! O_O

HELLO @___@

W00t a bit behind every one else but just brought this about a week ago, and every time I watched this DVD I wish I could go see them live when they tour on Nov...

JCHI is awsome, If DO was the TJ live band persona, JCHI is the fun and cheeky persona. The performances are great, I thought SR singing actually improved from DO, more stable and steady me thinks. Uki's playing should warm a few critics I hope; and Izawa's guitar playing reminded me of Hirama for some reason :P
Only a few minor issues bug me; 1st half of Tegami was quite dull, but 2nd half heat things up pretty quickly, by the time SR hit the big note before Uki pulling of the guitar solo, I was in heaven. blackout I did not like, again Uki's guitar sounded horrible in the verses whatever's he's doing to it... Kenka metal just don't flow at all, and the whole visual thang with Kao I just don't get; people don't pay money to watch lyrics on projectors...

I sure hope the big visual fest is a one off thing, as much as I love the madness that is service (I was in tears laughing when Uki walk pass the stage with a luggage :D), I do worry if TJ focus their live gigs on big stage production, it will subtract something from the music. But since they announce the new tour will be done in small, intimate venues, my worries should be for nothing.

By the way, the part with Hata kicking an animated ball, is that a clip added into the DVD, with fake audiences cheers or if thats actually done live?

The ball kicking was done live, except I didn't know what exactly was going on then...

Live show was really really good, with just the right amount of visuals and great great lighting effects (esp Gomatsuri Sawagi). Too bad for most of you who can only watch the DVD though.

^wait... So that means Hata's kicking air and the crowd could not see any of the animation.. yet still laughed? what about the sound effects? Or was there a REAL ball involved? Man I'm confused XD

Er. The sound effects were added in too I think. *shrugs* I just remember Hata doing godknowswhat on stage, and later he turned out to be kicking an imaginary ball! Maybe they told the audience that at first? *shrugs*

I don't know if anyone has ever noticed, but the guitar solo in JCHI's Tomei Ningen blows the Dynamite Out's Tomei Ningen solo out of the water. It's just a shame they're both sooo short.

I've also noticed the guitar on Superstar in JCHI pwned DO's lol. I dunno how much time hirama hod to work on the song, but a "powerchords, scrratch, scratch powerchord" type riff should never be used in a TJ/SR song. EVER.

=( been dying to use this gif too.

Hiding behind Stephy to tell me off aye? :P Consider it stolen for future use. And please. do explain. Stephy's toothbrush can only say so much...

Steph just jas a habit of saying what I'm thinking, only much more eloquently :P and i'm not "telling you off" I'm just saying....wrong.=p

And Hirama makes the song. Judging from Superstar from Dynamite, "plucky-plucky" has no place in the song. This songs about EMOTION, raw, powerful emotion. Hirama added some body, some "fuckin Superstar" to Superstar. JCHI's ver sounds more like a snazzed up gospel song for lack of better phrasing. Uki's guitar always fails to deliver emotion (amongst other things.) I've used the analogy before, but in Dynamite it sounds like the guitars wailing. In JCHI, it sounds like someones trying to make their guitar wail. And I don't see what "uki solo" youre talking about. Its nonexistant unless youre talking about him playing the same 4 notes in the middle-break, before failing to copy Hirama's lead back in to the chorus.

In Dynamite they sound like Superstars. In JCHI, they sound like they're just playing a song.

EDIT: and Shiina is playing power chords in Dynamite's rendition :wakka:
and why is it chic to rag on power chords. They're the only chords with the word "power" in their name and can be necessary. |(

Well Jihad, this is one of those rare occasions where I wonder if you listened to the song. :whacko: Now, while that's not a personal attack, I really can't see where that assessment comes from. I hear the emotion in DO Superstar, but I also hear it in JCHI's. You can even see the emotion on Uki's face in this song (along with everyone else), which you don't really get a lot in this concert.


PS - JCHI Superstar has that neat outro guitar part, which is definitely a bonus.

Actually, let me fix that before I do anything else. I didn't quite mean that I don't think you listened to the song, or that you've suddenly allowed your analysis of a song to be influenced by other factors, but I am confused as to how you came about feeling this way about it.

I figure most of the difference in the "feeling" of the two songs is based on the way they're written, because I definitely see the emotion in each..
Dynamite Out's Superstar sounds a lot like a new piece of work that hasn't yet been finely tuned, so much of the emotion is based on the band getting a feel for the song (if that makes sense), while it seems to me that JCHI's version is more developed, so any less emotional sound may be based on the fact that the performers already know the song more personally than before, though you can definitely tell they're really getting into what they're playing.

Really. In fact I did re-visit JCHI's performance just before my post. The guitar just sounds "there." It has none of the force and charge of DO's take. Maybe towards the end Uki is hitting more notes than Hirama, but I don't feel its at all nearly as effective. As much as Izawa is banging his head, its not nearly as head-bang worthy as the DO rendition, it had more body more charge -- It was not piano-driven (which Ithink cued me to say it was more "gospel-sounding" above.) Everything about it is not nearly as lively as DO, and the guitar (and lacking 1 we had before) is something to note.

This is one of those arguments no ones really gonna win :P I'm not saying power chord is uncool, just when its the "powerchord, scratch, scratch, powerchord" variety, its a little too...generic for a TJ song don't you think? Compare to other songs played on DO, superstar is just undercooked, and lacking that SR trademark texture and complexity. And lets be fair here, Your dislike of JCHI's superstar is part of your Uki hating bias, while I criticize DO's superstar and still consider DO to be THE DEFINITIVE performance of TJ.

no.

:p

Addressing the last part first, considering Uki is essentially buried through 60% of the song at least, its not all Uki.
I don't see whats with all this "complexity" talk this week. It's music, not a cross-word puzzle. Sometimes its not necessary to be tricky every bar. DO's Superstar was raw and powerful and that leands to the fact that it was played more simply.

See it this way, if you wanna motivate people in a speech, what do you do? Do you eloquently and proliferously explicate en masse quantities of verbiage? Or do you boil your message down into simple phrases and revisit them to hammer the message in?

I dunno how you manage to make the connection between motivational speeches and Superstar :whacko: , but yea, simple phrases like "THIS, IS, SPARTA!!!!" or "You can take our lives, but j00 can't take away, our FREEDOM!!" really hammer the message in :lol:

ANYWAY, I'd say we again establish the fact that we're all agruing based on our opinions, and as long as you elobrate on your opinion, instead of getting Stephy to do YOUR dirty work and tell me I'm wrong without explaining that its from your opinion and not some absolute, gospel truth, I'll settle. Just making sure the minds of any new and navie TJ/SR fans will not make up their minds about JCHI from a simple "WRONG" :P

And tonight, we shall dine in HELLLLLLL!!!!!!

Well, music motivates people just as a speech does. It can motivate people to dance, have a good time, "get biz-zay," anarchy in the UK, whatever.

And I like to think if I post a pic like that, I like to think of it as a book cover. It asks you "do you really want to open this one up and see whats to be said?" ;) =P

I showed this DVD to a friend of mine who didn't know much about Shiina Ringo or Tokyo Jihen before. He told me that it looked like Shiina has much more potential, but that something was holding her back... and that they all looked so bored. I just thought that hit the nail on the head.

Freackled is back! :)

I still think Just Can't Help It was laid-back because of the "adult" theme, whether they completely carried that idea through the whole concert or not (and whether or not the fans appreciated it). That doesn't suggest that Uki would necessarily be more lively in another type of concert, because he seems to be really focused on what he's playing rather than going out of his way to impress people.. however, the two videos from Countdown Japan 06/07 show him displaying a bit more energy.

Anyway, the whole band (save Hata) seems to be displaying the withdrawn type of attitude in JCHI, which I personally enjoy for the type of music they're playing.

Yes, I agree. This is another reason why comparing uki's playing of old TJ songs with similar arrangements to the ones Hirama played in DO is not accurate in saying who is better or anything like that. The reason is because I believe that since they are playing a more laid back style, even the old songs with similar arrangements were played with a more relaxed style in JCHI. For example, I thought that Izawa's playing was not as powerful as HZM's in Jusui Negai but I wouldn't say it's because Izawa can't play the same way as HZM because the song just sounds more laid back in general.

And just going on uki v. hirama, I think it's just some people don't like that TJ is not just a rock band as they were in phase 1. And by JUST I don't mean that they suck or anything but only that they were more rock-oriented.

What is the "Adult" theme again? Acting stoic and bored one moment and then like children (Service) the next? "Laid back" like C'mon Let's Go!, Kenka Joutou, Honnou, and Kabuki were? Sure, certain songs were meant to be laid back and yet others weren't. The whole concert wasn't laid back and to give them that excuse for lacking the Phase 1 energy is just wrong. They simply don't have it in them.

Regarding Countdown Japan: it wasn't much better, but Uki was even more sloppy than Hirama when he tried to add energy to the songs.

laid-back is one way to say it...another could be...neutered.

Being that we seem to be moving away from Uki v. Hirama and more to phase 1 v. phase 2, I think its incredibly myopic to say phase 1 is any more a rock act than phase 2. Phase 1 gave us Jyuusui, Sounan, Genjitsu, Kao, Kokoro...the majority of their songs not "clearly" being rock. Phase 2 gave us Superstar, the Barbee Boys cover, Get it up for Love. Now, this isn't meant to say phase 2 is moreso 'rock' than phase 1, but that neither were any more or less than the other. (however, in mine and many people's books, theyre still a "rock" act.

I think where the perception comes about is in the band itself...well 1 was just the better band. It was far more cohesive than the current line-up was -- and sure phase 1 had already 1 tour under their belts, so hey, here's to the new line-up getting their act together. Certainly I think Dynamite Out was a better performance than EM, so maybe the next lie dvd will show some (hopefuly great) improvement. Also, i think the band was better directed in phase 1 than 2. That's a big factor in a band, especially when you've had a shake-up like 2 members defecting happen. Shiina just hasn't seemed "in it to win it" since -- at least thats the case since they started their tour. Compare Shiina in Dynamite Out to either Virgin Line or JCHI. Shiina has the whole crowd in her hand, and is ready to crush them in one performance; in the other, she seems disconnected and not all "there," she wasn't taking command -- and say all you want about "oh their a band, not just Shiina" leadership is a BIG factor for any group of people. Shiina hasn't seemedin charge, she's seemed deferent and no one seems to bein the position to call the shots (Kameda did in the studio at least.)
And I'll tell you what, this "concentrate on my singing and not write a damn song" business isn't looking very promising (and no, this is not about "Osca.")

Haha, this discussion will never go anywhere. :P I obviously think Phase 2 is the better band... I think their sound is a huge improvement over Phase 1, and that everyone sounds better when playing together instead of one or two people trying to dominate. I think Ringo sounds better vocally, and in my opinion her appearance on stage isn't as annoying as it was in Dynamite Out. I think that while intense energy on stage may make a show more enjoyable in some ways, it's not a necessity, and having a more relaxed setting isn't a bad thing. Especially when the concert isn't solely focused on loud rock music.

Now, since we can't sway one another's opinions, it's time for a dance off!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7jwlrdq3tM

I'm not trying to sway anyone's opinion to my side or anything like that but your comparisons between phase 1 and phase 2 are way too glorified. I hate having to defend something I love against something I love but you glorify Ringo's performance in DO a lot more because you like it more. I love it just as much as you but I also don't think that she's not "in it to win it" just because it was more laid back. You can criticize the style all you want but that is what it is; it's not a lack of anything, its just the style. I don't imagine you would not have hanged at Ringo's every word if you were at JCHI. And don't you think it also has to do with the fact that you don't like the music as much? I think that's the crux of this argument. Fluffie and I, who like phase 2 more, do not have a problem with the style of JCHI but you and the rest that like phase 1 more say its boring to you. If you liked the music as much then it would not be boring for you.

Also, I also call the band a rock band but you cannot tell me that Phase 1 was not a lot more rock sounding than phase 2. The main tracks that I attribute to phase 1 are Gunjou Biyori, Sounan, Jusui Negai and Ringo no uta, and what are they, loud rock songs. Phase 2 obviously has its share of rock songs, probably even the same number, but in my opinion, phase 1 was a lot harder, louder, rock music than phase 2.

I would never ever ever ever say her appearance/performance in DO was annoying. EVER.

Sounan and Jyuusui aren't very "rawk" tho? Theyre good, and Jyuusui was great live -- and was more loud. But theyre not quite Gunjo and Ringo no Uta's vein. (And since when are Jyuusui and Ringo no Uta main tracks of phase 1?? =P Yume no Ato and Genjitsu no Warau, I'd think)

Shiina's demeanor has NOTHING to do with it being laid-back. You can definitely be commanding, have bravado if you're playing a folk song in a small smoky club -- let alone playing jazzy numbers. Jazz was made to steal the stage. Shiina didn't have the same swagger that she even had in EM or Haitsuku Status(as awkward as it was.) And please please review JCHI before you refer to it as laid back anymore. Theres nothing laid back about scorching pillars of fire --or Himitsu. Honnou, Superstar, heck Mirrorball, Tramp and Dynamite. If they were supposed to be laid back renditions -- they failed miserably. Now "held back" is a different matter... If they were performing ore in the vein of Rakujitsu then I could see. HOWEVVA, having a choreographed number ("service") is about as far from laid-back as it gets. So please.

yea I think sounan and jusui negai are VERY rock and that's what I love about them. I guess we just have different definitions of rock. They both have their ups and downs which is what is awesome about them. I guess you don't think they are "RAWK" because its not more of a constant thrashing(?) like in Ringo no Uta and Gunjo Biyori? Or slower pace? But I think that Jusui negai and Sounan are definately "RAWK". Those four songs in the opening of the album rock my socks off every time. EVERYevery SINGLEsingle TIMEtime..

As far as the style goes, whatever you call it I think that was just a style. I don't think it means that they don't have the "guts" to rock out but not enough songs that rock as hard as before. I guess after the new tour you could say they don't have it in them to "command" the same as before since it will be a consistent thing, but right not I hold firmly that it was the way they chose to perform.

Also, is it Jyusui or Nyusui? I've seen both in different websites.

Whatever.
Hirama is better looking than Ukigumo. :P

I've actually wondered about that a couple times before. Is he really better looking? I heard lots of people say Hirama is unattractive, but I haven't heard much about Uki's appearance.

Because they don't notice that Uki is there in the first place? :P

Seriously, look at Hirama's hair! Long luscious silky shiny (and nicer than mine). (WHYYY did he cut it away :( ) Uki's hair looks like it's got glue in it in most pictures that I've seen of his. Apparently, he (Uki) doesn't wash his hair. :P

Aside from their hair, how do they look? My female friends / gay friend tell me that I should be able to recognize if a guy is good-looking or not, but I really don't have that ability. PS - I do like Hirama's hair, but I think Uki's is neat in JCHI too.

Er, like how Hirama looks serene while Uki looks bored?
My friends tell me Uki looks like a pervert (especially in that musica magazine shoot). And I agree. :lol:

Or you could just say I'm biased and only showed them pictures where Uki looks unflattering. *shrugs*

HAX!

Is he an attractive pervert? What about Kameda, Hata, Izawa, and HZM? I can't imagine people thinking Kameda or Hata are attractive, but I could be wrong. Let's hear it, hokkguz!

In Sounan PV Hata looks like a North Korean soldier.
HZM is like a hyperactive panda cub.
Izawa's good-looking too, as long as he doesn't have the spaced-out expression.
And Kameda just looks like Kameda, the loyal turtle. :P

...From Hata kicking air to Hirama's hair, what the hell are we on about:whacko:? I don't considered JCHI to be laid-back, but to think TJ is holding back in JCHI? Held back would be SR singing gibs in Ringohan with that blind guitar player (sorry can't remeber his name)....

SR do seem more casual and relaxed in JCHI than DO, I don't think I've ever seen her smiles so much in one performance... but to say she's disconnected and not "in" it is just baseless accousations.

Uki just looks...awkward, which I thought is pretty cool. For some reason he just reminds me Tom Green...

I can't recall anyone from the old band trying to dominate a song unless it was their time to shine in a solo. I can recall the glory days when they were praised for how they played together as a band though.

You can barely hear HZM in much of Dynamite Out. Some of the songs really don't need him at all because they're written for a dominating guitar and loud drumming. Sure, he adds a lot to some of the songs, but many times I can sort of understand why he left the band.

On the other hand, the songs in Just Can't Help It use a lot of piano and organ, so it just goes to show how different the concerts themselves should be.

Yet on the album, HZM is the single most audible player on the record?

I've in the past noted that Uki (especially on record) is flung to the background, easily looked over, have to really concentrate to listen for in many songs. (Excluding solos of course, which I'm sure you must have been in your hzm statement.) Upon my initial listen to Adult, many of the songs I said that you wouldn't miss (or maybe even notice if) Uki wasn't there. So what does this mean? I'm not sure. But Fluffie brought it up =P

Also I like how phase 1 is suddenly Black Sabbath or The Who or Zepplin to some people. I never got that memo back in the day. =P

Anyways, HZM is drowned out in Dynamite Out, which is kind of like the music at its purest. Uki is quieter in the studio versions of the songs, which is when the songs are engineered to sound a certain way. This leads me to believe that Uki's quietness in some songs was purposely written that way to make the songs sound how they are. HZM was engineered to fit into the studio album along with his bandmates, but he was then out-performed in concert.

I listened/watched DO! in it's entirety yesterday just to try to see where you're coming from, but I can't. There wasn't a single time I had trouble hearing HZM in the mix. Not even during the loud guitar songs like Tsuki ni or Gunjou. Maybe I'm just using superior equipment [/glath] or you're just trying to hear parts that aren't there?

Weird! I was watching Honnou again, and I noticed something I had never heard before. At the end of the song, after Ringo has sung her last words of Japanese and Uki has begun jamming on the guitar, she turns towards Hata or Uki and she sings "I just wanna be with you, I really really do," and then turns back towards the audience. I always thought she was just singing some random words, but it's definitely in English. I think it's peculiar.

Actually, hearing her sing that and then seeing Uki go all out makes the song seem a lot more emotional.

BLERG
XP~~~~

double or triple? i mean is there something more between Uki, Hata and ringo,
whats going on? when will Kameda step in with his obsession of Hirai Ken :hmph:

Lolz, just kidding, but i haven't noticed that yet,
maybe i haven't paid so much attention to that,
gotta pop that DVD on to rotation maybe tomorrow. haven't watched it for a long time

kuro_neko definitely thinks Hata is hot. XD He might be the only one though. I think Izawa's pretty cute myself. HZM too (I mostly like the hats!).

The kanji can be read both ways, but in this case, it's Jusui. Thanks to a Japanese Q&A website that answered a lot of tricky questions like that. But since the kanji can be read both ways, misconceptions like "Nyuusui" have become widespread.

I still stand by Hata. And Izawa.

;;sings stand by your maaaaan;;

Hata looks handsome in his new haircut lol

I think tokyo jihen should release a covers album like Ringo did. I love shojo robot and c'mon lets go, and all the other covers they did on DO as well, (minus the one about sucking penis @_@). It would be awesome!

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I think the song is called Koi no Urikomi, performed in DO, Ringo says " I'm gonna knock on your door, ring on your bell, suck on your weiner too".

Wow... when you actually listen for those lyrics, it does sound a lot like it. :|

but to me koi no urikomi is the best TJ cover ó.ò

DUDE that's exactly what she says. It doesn't "sound a lot like it" :D

EDIT: I just checked frecklegirl's translations and it says that Ringo says: "Tap on your window too". I have a dirty mind and apparently so do a couple of my friends that heard it as well @_@.

She changed the lyrics, and that's why I listen to that cover on full-blast in front of friends :)

Ohhh!!!:D. So yea, I like the song anyway, but I thought the lyrics where questionable so I would not sing along which is why I would not like the song to be in a cover album ^_^. It's like Franz Ferdinand's song Michael, I like the music but not the lyrics @_@.

Hedo. Really. Really.


love this pic, Orenji! =P

What?

...That explains the wolf howling by all the guys in the band...

That's so true! Me and Pou thought it said that for the longest time. It was hella creepy at first, but we gradually learned to accept it.

I know others think it says that as well.
:lol:

LOL :lol:.

Wait so which does she really say? Does anyone even pay attention to the lyrics? :whacko:

But, yea, when I first heard it I had my WTF face on for a bit, and I had to rererewind it to see if she really said it, and I confirmed that she did. But now I don't know what to think @_@. :D

It sounds a lot like "tap on your window too" as well, so I'm assuming/hoping that's what it is.

She pronounces "tap" as "tahp," which is the same kind of thing she does in Kenka Joutou -- when she's saying "why can't you see it my way just this time," she pronounces the "a" in "can't" as "ah." (can't --> cahn't)

So anyway, my point is that her "tahp" makes it sound a bit more like she's singing the perverted edition... But I truly think she's actually talking about tapping on a window. Especially because that fits muuuuch better with the song.

Probably cause she learned a lot of her English studying abroad in England, haha.

She speaks English like Captain Picard. :)

+3 to Intelligence

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

I say cahn't. I don't say tahp. If only I knew who and where she was when she studied over here. I'll not likely get another chance to stalk her again.

I still wonder if the host family she lived with knows of her now-fame in Japan and what she's up to nowadays. Like, do you think she still writes them letters? "Hey guys, how are you? I'm on the road now with my band, yep, we're playing sold-out shows all across Japan, and I've gotten pretty famous myself. Still raining over there?"

LOL, yea that must be awkward.

Hey, I'll have you know it's been very sunny over here recently. Aside from the flash floods... :unsure:

For me it sounds like " suck on your windows too" -_-

I'm sure she'll be very polite and subtle about it, like 2 pages about her son, the weather,what she ate, then one small line like "Work is ok. just went through a business resturcture and working on something new..."

Yeah, haha, "P.S. Here's my latest CD."

Tokyo Jihen - Just Can't Help It! 11/11

There is something about this concert that soothes my spirit. O__O