Originally Posted by deadgrandma
BTW, I don't see many of the more 'positive' fans writing any in depth critiques either, just to make the playing field even.
It's just that it comes down to that the album is pretty damn shallow I suppose, there's not all that much to say about it cause half of it is old news. Can't expect too much excitement from a padded out EP. Especially when it's been a five year wait (practically an eternity in J-pop time). Western artists would be crucified for that.
@Shirasagi: Have you ever listened to Jun Togawa's 'Tamahime-sama' btw? That's the best of the best IMO.
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You're right. Maybe I wasn't being clear and I don't mind reading "negative" reviews, like the one on your blog really was good, and I have nothing to push back against with thespidereggs' review and zeroryouko's assessment. My complaint boils down to the fact that I'd just like to chew on something more. But it looks like that's happening already!
I personally am not sure how good of a music review I would write myself; besides I am writing talks and papers all the time now, so I'm constantly in analytical mode and don't even have the energy right now. But I was thinking that maybe I could look at the lyrics closer and see how those hold up to the concept? "Ma Cherie" is very obviously about vanity, for instance, and then "TOKYO" as the axis track is about existential exhaustion for a lack of a better term. In that context, I think it's really funny that the song about vanity was used for a cosmetics commercial, it comes across as a little sarcastic honestly. So maybe that's how I could contribute to the discourse here? Would anyone even find it interesting?
Ringo's always been an amazing lyricist, and regardless of how you find the musical choices, what she sings can't be faulted. Maybe that's a big factor in why I enjoy her recent work...? It's kind of the same thing with Utada's last two albums. Maybe not the most groundbreaking stuff on purely musical terms, but the whole package takes you on an emotional journey. Fantôme is an incredibly cathartic album.
I did hear Togawa's albums a long time ago (my favorite one used to be Togawa Fiction), and thanks for the reminder, I'll dig them up again. I'm one of those people who are unable to listen to her on a regular basis though, it becomes a bit of a sensory overload for me in large doses, but I do admire her greatly as an artist. In fact I see her more as a performance artist than just a musician and there's a lot going on there. She certainly had this subversiveness that's very singular, there is no one else like her, and her music is incredibly smart. I imagine seeing her live must be an experience for a lifetime. So yeah, I'm that basic beyotch that admittedly finds her "difficult", but I do admire her genius and honestly just the BALLS. That's very inspiring.
@thespidereggs, thank you for that interesting read. You know what, I was wondering whether Reimport 2 would be any indication as to the direction of this album. Like Reimport 1 and SUNNY weirdly work in a tandem for me. I'll spin Reimport 2 again today then. I agree it doesn't live up to the "hype" (although to be fair, didn't we just get carried away with speculation? We knew what we're getting after the final tracklist was announced, at the latest), but is a solid work. I'd LOVE to hear an opinion of someone who's never heard the singles previously, but good luck finding that person, right?
To me, the album also feels like a natural progression from Sunny, honestly. I mean, there's no way around it since Ringo started dropping the singles pretty much immediately afterward, but I do see a strong connection particularly in the more pronounced Latin influences - before Sunny, Ringo would do a "Latin song" here and there (Kuroi Orufe, Omatsurisawagi, Keshounaoshi etc), but on Sunny she was more in your face about it. This goes into darker moods and there's more focus on guitars, but otherwise the two correspond very well in my opinion. And re: cohesiveness, I was listening to Sunny after a long time recently and found that the album would work better if it just ended with Arikitarina Onna - what with all the "goodbyes" in the lyrics, and I think the fuzzy amp sound in the end would be a perfect final moment for an album. Ever since then, I can't help but consider everything that follows as not much more than bonus tracks. And personally, I'd feel much better about NIPPON (which is my least favorite Ringo song by a wide margin) and Ariamaru Tomi being included if they were demarcated as such. Also, the album would be much tighter at 9 tracks... but oh well.
@Lena-chan, who is that chick? I was just really confused by that video, haha.