Electric Mole Forums - View Single Post - [TJ] 2010.08.25

Nimh · 2010.09.05, 08:36 PM

Grab a drink or a sandwich. I'm reviewing every damn number on this DVD. I know I'm a laid-back admin and don't say much in detail about Ringo or Jihen, mainly because I don't want to argue with anyone, but this concert is yanking a response out of me.

I don't know much technical detail about music. I just know what I like when I hear it. And in this case, see it.

First sign that this would be great: the staging. Hata wasn't in the center, but off to the right, which turned out to be the luckiest spot because Ringo spent most of the concert to his right looking in his direction, with her back turned to the rest of the band. Ringo and Hata looked weirdly connected throughout the concert, and it all led to her performance in Kimaru where she moved her body in direct reaction to Hata.

Kameda was center (seniority rules?), and Uki and Izawa were in their usual spots, though they shifted around a few times. The point is, neither Ringo or Hata were centered; I'd argue there was no "center" to the staging at all. It was five people making one unit.

1. Kachiikusa -- We kick off with a demonstration of unity: all band members sing. Uki and Kameda had a damn good guitar riff. Ringo not quite into it yet.

2. FAIR -- If you don't like Uki's bobbing torso (it looks, I don't know, childish to me), you'll hate this performance, though his playing is excellent. Ringo still not quite into it, but the band is working together and keeping a solid pace.

3. Denpa Tsuushin -- Kameda starts it off well, and finally Ringo starts to act. Nice guitar jam, and Hata takes it home. A great mix of elements; no one dominates.

4. Season Sayonara -- Ringo assumes a frequent posture here: bent forward at the waist, staring down, fingers almost touching the stage. Her performance intensifies here, and by this point the whole band seems to be "feeling it." I see this as a transitional song to what can only be an excellent followup.....

5. OSCA -- And so we get it. Like Maou, I never really liked this song. The pace, the lyrics, the megaphone---just never worked for me. Until now. And I'm not just talking about Ringo's hips. The song just WORKED. This is how it should always be sung, and played. Loved Kameda's interlude before the pace change. Ringo had fun with the megaphone, and tossed a few grunts and groans in between the lines. And those hips......................................................................! I can just picture Junji Yayoshi sitting at home watching this thinking "Yeah..........I had that......" and contemplating suicide before thinking "Wait...I had that!!!" and dancing down the street pointing at every man and yelling "I had that!!! Eat it, shitbirds!"

6. FOUL -- Tacked onto OSCA, it works as an extension....good jam session here and Ringo plays a horn through the megaphone. Always like it when she combines two completely pointless instruments. Izawa and Hata show their stuff here.

7. Ariamaru Tomi -- Every concert needs one blemish, and this is it. Maybe I'll grow to like this, and I did at the start. Izawa's keys and Ringo's voice were building the song nicely, then the rest of the band joins in and everything swirls away into pop noise. Ringo also can't reproduce the breath control of the studio version: she has to take a breath halfway through every long chorus line. That's understandable---they're long. But I'm just too attached to the studio version to appreciate this. It seemed so off. She should have done this song a cappella, or with just keys or acoustic guitar, giving the rest of the band a break.

8. Ikiru -- Amazingly, everything that should have been done with the previous song is done here. Ringo handles the opening herself with piano accompaniment, and it builds into the most solo-Ringo-ish number of the concert so far. EVERY BITTER OLD-SCHOOL RINGO FAN SHOULD WATCH THIS IF YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT AN OLD-SCHOOL RINGO CONCERT WOULD LOOK LIKE NOW. The camera hardly ever cuts away to other band members. Ringo does her patented stagger, and hunches over again like in Season Sayonara. She doesn't crawl around the stage and let the mike stand fall on top of her like in Gekojujyo Xstasy's Tsumi to Batsu, but you get the impression she MIGHT do just that.

9. Zettai Zetsumei -- I never liked the studio version of this, so I feel a bit let down after the previous awesomeness, but what's this? Where's Kameda? Oh there he is....he just teleported off and on the stage and gave Uki a look like "sorry man." Was he taking a shit? Guitar screwed up? The mystery is enough to keep me alert during the song, and Uki comes in and GROOVES it. Ringo smiles a lot; okay she's happy, I'm happy. They loop in some vocal echoes (never liked that; I always wonder if that means the whole concert is lip-sung), and then all of a sudden it's....

10. Sounan -- The hell? Just like FOUL was an extension of OSCA, this song extends ZZ. The idea that Sounan would "extend" anything and not be its own little universe is kind of shocking, as is the new arrangement. Izawa's long key chords don't mix well with Ringo's rapid-fire singing, and with no guitar jam at the end, I'm wondering if this isn't some inside joke. Somebody won a "make Sounan as fucked up as possible" contest that night.

11. Shuraba -- More looped-in sound, but at least it's the conky sound effects for this song and not Ringo's voice. Uki's guitar playing is GREAT here.

12. Noudouteki Sanpunkan -- Uki takes center stage as Ringo wanders over to the audience-interaction portion of the stage and smiles. Having a digital countdown to the song is so cool I bet it's been done a million times before but I can't think of any of the top of my head so I'll call it original visual brillance. Has anyone tried to make ramen in the time it takes this song to elapse? Do it and put it on YouTube!

13. Gaman -- This is just damn fun. Like Denpa Tsuushin, this is a great mix of sounds and rhythms; this is a BAND song and it works. Ringo does things to her guitar that give me dirty thoughts.

14. Superstar -- Like OSCA, I never liked this song much until now. Unlike OSCA, this is a Phase 1 song and so took a lot longer to finally work! Izawa starts with Ringo but when the rest of the band chimes in the song picks up where Ariamaru Tomi fizzled out. Uki's first, then Hata and Kameda, and a great jam at the end. I now love this song, but this is the only version that won't have me hitting the skip button on the mp3 player.

15. Boutomin -- Uki takes lead vocals and BITTER OLD-SCHOOL RINGO FANS START BREAKING THE FURNITURE. Ringo does a cariation of her OSCA hip-grinding. It's more of a sway. What's funny is she seems to realize that she's been staring at Hata the whole concert and turns to face the rest of the band and sway for about 27 seconds before resuming her usual right-side-forward stance. Somebody remind me why they tack on Kabuki lyrics at the end of this song?

16. Killer Tune -- Always loved this song. Always. I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHAT ANYONE SAYS ABOUT THIS SONG. I love it. Having said that...if I were at a concert, I'm not sure I would do the flag-waving just because Ringo wants me to. I wouldn't be a dick about it, but I just wouldn't do the whole arm-extension wave-thing. Ringo slips a little "oooooh" into the song near the end and I melt. I start feeling bad because Killer Tune closed out Spa and Treatment and I think maybe this is the end of Ultra D. Little did I know.

17. Noriki -- Now we know why Hata was moved to stage right. The band has fun with this song, and the back-screen graphics are cute. Kameda, Uki, and Izawa take front-center stage and do a little three-man jam near the end, and I'll be damned if they didn't TAKE the stage. It's not exactly the second coming, but IT"S NOT LAME either.

18. Uten Kekkou -- What a weird ending song. Cute, well played, and Ringo plays with an umbrella. But this is the climax? IMPORTANT NOTE: This is the first time, as far as I could tell, that Ringo was actually CENTER STAGE during the entire concert. She opens in Kameda's spot in back center, and moves front center. Maybe that's meant to be the climax, Ringo centering herself. OR....since encores are expected, maybe they had something better in mind for the REAL climax. As it turns out, they did....

19. Sweet Spot -- Oh Ringo, all you need is a puffy skirt, a low-cut spaghetti-strap top, high heels, and some awkward English, and men everywhere are getting free passes from their wives and girlfriends. "Honey, I love you, but if I ever meet THIS WOMAN, whatever happens I HAVE PERMISSION." And who would argue with that, seriously?

20. Marunouchi Sadistic -- BITTER OLD SCHOOL RINGO FANS......actually have a point here. The law of diminishing returns continues to plague this song. I know she's wearing spiked heels but NO SLIDE, NO SALE. She shuffles a little bit, but she doesn't slide.

21. Senkou Shoujo -- I always liked this song, but prefer the Spa and Treatment version over all others, including this, even though Izawa whips out a guitar, Kameda comes downstage and switches places with Uki, and he and Izawa do a neat little duet.

22. Kimaru -- Aw hell yeah! Epic performance. It all works. Uki with the double-armed guitar, Ringo's marionette-like interaction with Hata, the blue-lit mist that swallows up Ringo (who tosses the mike with a flourish) and then the whole band after a GREAT jam....This is the greatest encore-ending to any Ringo-related DVD concert since Gekokujyo Xstasy. Nice transition to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" for the credits, and in fact I'd call this performance of Kimaru a rhapsody in blue, only because I'm getting a bit tired.

Summary: this DVD has EVERYTHING. You want a whiff of old solo Ringo, it's here. Phase 1 retouches (and improvements!)? Got it. Phase 2 awesomeness? Visual pleasure? All here. Most important, it leaves you wanting more.

Dynamite Out, as great as it was, left me exhausted. Couldn't take any more. Too many egos, too much energy. No wonder Phase 1 couldn't last. THIS concert gives everyone space, spreading around the attention. This is not five individuals searching for a rhythm (and occasionally reaching heights of greatness when they find a rhythm) but a collective.

I don't like everything about Phase 2, but now, more than ever, I'm looking forward to what they do next.

2010.09.05, 08:36 PM	#44
Nimh Administrator Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,093	Grab a drink or a sandwich. I'm reviewing every damn number on this DVD. I know I'm a laid-back admin and don't say much in detail about Ringo or Jihen, mainly because I don't want to argue with anyone, but this concert is yanking a response out of me. I don't know much technical detail about music. I just know what I like when I hear it. And in this case, see it. First sign that this would be great: the staging. Hata wasn't in the center, but off to the right, which turned out to be the luckiest spot because Ringo spent most of the concert to his right looking in his direction, with her back turned to the rest of the band. Ringo and Hata looked weirdly connected throughout the concert, and it all led to her performance in Kimaru where she moved her body in direct reaction to Hata. Kameda was center (seniority rules?), and Uki and Izawa were in their usual spots, though they shifted around a few times. The point is, neither Ringo or Hata were centered; I'd argue there was no "center" to the staging at all. It was five people making one unit. 1. Kachiikusa -- We kick off with a demonstration of unity: all band members sing. Uki and Kameda had a damn good guitar riff. Ringo not quite into it yet. 2. FAIR -- If you don't like Uki's bobbing torso (it looks, I don't know, childish to me), you'll hate this performance, though his playing is excellent. Ringo still not quite into it, but the band is working together and keeping a solid pace. 3. Denpa Tsuushin -- Kameda starts it off well, and finally Ringo starts to act. Nice guitar jam, and Hata takes it home. A great mix of elements; no one dominates. 4. Season Sayonara -- Ringo assumes a frequent posture here: bent forward at the waist, staring down, fingers almost touching the stage. Her performance intensifies here, and by this point the whole band seems to be "feeling it." I see this as a transitional song to what can only be an excellent followup..... 5. OSCA -- And so we get it. Like Maou, I never really liked this song. The pace, the lyrics, the megaphone---just never worked for me. Until now. And I'm not just talking about Ringo's hips. The song just WORKED. This is how it should always be sung, and played. Loved Kameda's interlude before the pace change. Ringo had fun with the megaphone, and tossed a few grunts and groans in between the lines. And those hips......................................................................! I can just picture Junji Yayoshi sitting at home watching this thinking "Yeah..........I had that......" and contemplating suicide before thinking "Wait...I had that!!!" and dancing down the street pointing at every man and yelling "I had that!!! Eat it, shitbirds!" 6. FOUL -- Tacked onto OSCA, it works as an extension....good jam session here and Ringo plays a horn through the megaphone. Always like it when she combines two completely pointless instruments. Izawa and Hata show their stuff here. 7. Ariamaru Tomi -- Every concert needs one blemish, and this is it. Maybe I'll grow to like this, and I did at the start. Izawa's keys and Ringo's voice were building the song nicely, then the rest of the band joins in and everything swirls away into pop noise. Ringo also can't reproduce the breath control of the studio version: she has to take a breath halfway through every long chorus line. That's understandable---they're long. But I'm just too attached to the studio version to appreciate this. It seemed so off. She should have done this song a cappella, or with just keys or acoustic guitar, giving the rest of the band a break. 8. Ikiru -- Amazingly, everything that should have been done with the previous song is done here. Ringo handles the opening herself with piano accompaniment, and it builds into the most solo-Ringo-ish number of the concert so far. EVERY BITTER OLD-SCHOOL RINGO FAN SHOULD WATCH THIS IF YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT AN OLD-SCHOOL RINGO CONCERT WOULD LOOK LIKE NOW. The camera hardly ever cuts away to other band members. Ringo does her patented stagger, and hunches over again like in Season Sayonara. She doesn't crawl around the stage and let the mike stand fall on top of her like in Gekojujyo Xstasy's Tsumi to Batsu, but you get the impression she MIGHT do just that. 9. Zettai Zetsumei -- I never liked the studio version of this, so I feel a bit let down after the previous awesomeness, but what's this? Where's Kameda? Oh there he is....he just teleported off and on the stage and gave Uki a look like "sorry man." Was he taking a shit? Guitar screwed up? The mystery is enough to keep me alert during the song, and Uki comes in and GROOVES it. Ringo smiles a lot; okay she's happy, I'm happy. They loop in some vocal echoes (never liked that; I always wonder if that means the whole concert is lip-sung), and then all of a sudden it's.... 10. Sounan -- The hell? Just like FOUL was an extension of OSCA, this song extends ZZ. The idea that Sounan would "extend" anything and not be its own little universe is kind of shocking, as is the new arrangement. Izawa's long key chords don't mix well with Ringo's rapid-fire singing, and with no guitar jam at the end, I'm wondering if this isn't some inside joke. Somebody won a "make Sounan as fucked up as possible" contest that night. 11. Shuraba -- More looped-in sound, but at least it's the conky sound effects for this song and not Ringo's voice. Uki's guitar playing is GREAT here. 12. Noudouteki Sanpunkan -- Uki takes center stage as Ringo wanders over to the audience-interaction portion of the stage and smiles. Having a digital countdown to the song is so cool I bet it's been done a million times before but I can't think of any of the top of my head so I'll call it original visual brillance. Has anyone tried to make ramen in the time it takes this song to elapse? Do it and put it on YouTube! 13. Gaman -- This is just damn fun. Like Denpa Tsuushin, this is a great mix of sounds and rhythms; this is a BAND song and it works. Ringo does things to her guitar that give me dirty thoughts. 14. Superstar -- Like OSCA, I never liked this song much until now. Unlike OSCA, this is a Phase 1 song and so took a lot longer to finally work! Izawa starts with Ringo but when the rest of the band chimes in the song picks up where Ariamaru Tomi fizzled out. Uki's first, then Hata and Kameda, and a great jam at the end. I now love this song, but this is the only version that won't have me hitting the skip button on the mp3 player. 15. Boutomin -- Uki takes lead vocals and BITTER OLD-SCHOOL RINGO FANS START BREAKING THE FURNITURE. Ringo does a cariation of her OSCA hip-grinding. It's more of a sway. What's funny is she seems to realize that she's been staring at Hata the whole concert and turns to face the rest of the band and sway for about 27 seconds before resuming her usual right-side-forward stance. Somebody remind me why they tack on Kabuki lyrics at the end of this song? 16. Killer Tune -- Always loved this song. Always. I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHAT ANYONE SAYS ABOUT THIS SONG. I love it. Having said that...if I were at a concert, I'm not sure I would do the flag-waving just because Ringo wants me to. I wouldn't be a dick about it, but I just wouldn't do the whole arm-extension wave-thing. Ringo slips a little "oooooh" into the song near the end and I melt. I start feeling bad because Killer Tune closed out Spa and Treatment and I think maybe this is the end of Ultra D. Little did I know. 17. Noriki -- Now we know why Hata was moved to stage right. The band has fun with this song, and the back-screen graphics are cute. Kameda, Uki, and Izawa take front-center stage and do a little three-man jam near the end, and I'll be damned if they didn't TAKE the stage. It's not exactly the second coming, but IT"S NOT LAME either. 18. Uten Kekkou -- What a weird ending song. Cute, well played, and Ringo plays with an umbrella. But this is the climax? IMPORTANT NOTE: This is the first time, as far as I could tell, that Ringo was actually CENTER STAGE during the entire concert. She opens in Kameda's spot in back center, and moves front center. Maybe that's meant to be the climax, Ringo centering herself. OR....since encores are expected, maybe they had something better in mind for the REAL climax. As it turns out, they did.... 19. Sweet Spot -- Oh Ringo, all you need is a puffy skirt, a low-cut spaghetti-strap top, high heels, and some awkward English, and men everywhere are getting free passes from their wives and girlfriends. "Honey, I love you, but if I ever meet THIS WOMAN, whatever happens I HAVE PERMISSION." And who would argue with that, seriously? 20. Marunouchi Sadistic -- BITTER OLD SCHOOL RINGO FANS......actually have a point here. The law of diminishing returns continues to plague this song. I know she's wearing spiked heels but NO SLIDE, NO SALE. She shuffles a little bit, but she doesn't slide. 21. Senkou Shoujo -- I always liked this song, but prefer the Spa and Treatment version over all others, including this, even though Izawa whips out a guitar, Kameda comes downstage and switches places with Uki, and he and Izawa do a neat little duet. 22. Kimaru -- Aw hell yeah! Epic performance. It all works. Uki with the double-armed guitar, Ringo's marionette-like interaction with Hata, the blue-lit mist that swallows up Ringo (who tosses the mike with a flourish) and then the whole band after a GREAT jam....This is the greatest encore-ending to any Ringo-related DVD concert since Gekokujyo Xstasy. Nice transition to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" for the credits, and in fact I'd call this performance of Kimaru a rhapsody in blue, only because I'm getting a bit tired. Summary: this DVD has EVERYTHING. You want a whiff of old solo Ringo, it's here. Phase 1 retouches (and improvements!)? Got it. Phase 2 awesomeness? Visual pleasure? All here. Most important, it leaves you wanting more. Dynamite Out, as great as it was, left me exhausted. Couldn't take any more. Too many egos, too much energy. No wonder Phase 1 couldn't last. THIS concert gives everyone space, spreading around the attention. This is not five individuals searching for a rhythm (and occasionally reaching heights of greatness when they find a rhythm) but a collective. I don't like everything about Phase 2, but now, more than ever, I'm looking forward to what they do next.