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Old 2015.09.15, 07:21 PM   #51
zeroryouko
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To me, the beauty of Shun is in its subtlety. It's not groundbreaking. There's nothing big or showy about it. It's just a simple, beautiful melody, which Ringo executes with a sort of delicate power. It really showcases her range (in terms of performance), especially coming as it does after Tsugou no Ii Karada on the album.

I'm still hoping someone somewhere has a recording of her performance of Shun from Taiwan...the 15 seconds I heard of it sounded excellent.
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Old 2015.09.16, 03:19 AM   #52
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KZK might be hands down the most clusterhecked (at least according to J-pop/mainstream standards), AND yet at the same time the most cohesive J-music album o_o

Yes, this has been stated multiple times throughout years of Shiina fandom - but nothing's wrong with praises, eh?
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Old 2015.09.16, 01:40 PM   #53
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Originally Posted by tsukigimehime View Post
As far as Yayoshi goes, I'm no guitar expert, and I while I pay more attention to individuals' playing styles now than I used to (I'm definitely not as in tune to it as Maou seems to be) he wasn't personally memorable to me. It was more "yes all of the necessary instruments are here." I guess I'm happy to know that the guy isn't universally hated, though
lol, yeah. Been doin' this for over 20 years now. Pretty sure I got my first guitar back in '94. I remember trying to learn Longview and Rocket by playing along to the videos on MTV. lol

This is my brief assessment of the guitarists live performances:

Technical Skill
Ukigumo > Nishikawa > Hirama > Nagoshi >>>>>>> Yayoshi

Guitar Solos
Ukigumo > Hirama > Nagoshi > Nishikawa > Shiina >>>>>> Yayoshi

Tone
Hirama > Nishikawa > Nagoshi > Shiina > Yayoshi Jazzmaster >> Ukigumo > Yayoshi Les Paul

Overall
Nishikawa > Hirama > Nagoshi > Ukigumo > Yayoshi

I think those are the things easiest for everyone to understand. It's not worth the time getting into stuff like phrasing.

Originally Posted by Vorpax View Post
It's not a horrendous album (I exagerated in my last post, it's not crap), but IMHO it's easily her worst.
I'm a fan of this because it's the best way to start conversation on slow forums.

Originally Posted by gekokujyo View Post
Am surprised that such visceral hate for Tsugou no ii karada exists.
Yeah, I'm not feeling the hate on this one. Sure the arrangement is a bit over-the-top, but the song still has good bones. Like you mentioned with Kuki/Stem, a different arrangement would do some wonders for the song.

Originally Posted by gekokujyo View Post
Am in agreement that Shun is a bit overrated on these boards imo.
Now this I feel. It's a bit overrated, but not by a whole lot. That piano solo is beastly. All it really needs is another subtle layer. An acoustic guitar or a very clean electric with some delay playing an arpeggio throughout the verses would do wonders for the song.
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Old 2015.09.18, 12:14 PM   #54
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^ I would honestly like to ask your opinion of Izawa's guitar-playing (really off-topic, but...)
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Old 2016.01.03, 09:29 AM   #55
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Originally Posted by Maou View Post
Osiris, first it's good to see you again, buddy. You're not here enough.

Secondly, I'm mad at you for making me listen to some of GX again.
You know, it's funny you mention I don't come here enough since I never responded to your post. Welp, that's a little embarrassing...

I'll try to rectify that now and I hope you're not mad at me (again) if this makes you have to listen to more GX! I'm gonna give you a fair response because at my time of making that post, I had only listened to Aozora and a handful of GX songs recently to be making those comments.

Originally Posted by Maou View Post
Nagoshi only played Kyogenshou, Tsuki ni Makeinu and Honnou so those are the only fair comparisons. I'll take the album versions of Kyogenshou and Tsuki (even over the Dynamite version) while I'll take the Expo '08 version of Honnou.
Okay. Let's talk Kyogenshou first. I relistened to both versions and I have to say they both commit different crimes. The SS version has a little too much distortion for my taste (which I'm guessing is why it's not one of your faves?), so much so that it's basically just noise. Although the appeal of that song was always the strings and her vocals anyway. The guitar just kind of adds to the "wall of noise". Yayoshi's guitar is.... nonexistent. It's the fucking Hide-and-Go-Seek champion of the year 2000. The cheesy keyboard and drums just completely drown out the sound and you can faintly hear him strumming. It's... not good. I'm gonna give you the win here.

Tsuki ni Makeinu sucks. Both versions. But GX does suck a little bit harder. Yayoshi's tone is slightly more horrible than Nagoshi's.

Honnou hardly has any guitar on the album anyway. (Seriously, I can barely hear it. Through headphones maybe?) To me it's basically been all bass, drums, and keys. Yayoshi's presence here doesn't bother me.

Originally Posted by Maou View Post
I'm not sure where you can say Yayoshi brings energy. During Zazen Ecstasy? Maybe. GX? I'm not hearing it. He's just a pale imitation of Nishikawa. The mixing is even actively trying to hide him behind Muraishi and Kameda. He doesn't even get a volume boost during his solos! If he can't even get the spotlight during a solo, how can he possibly be bringing anything to the table? Shiina, Muraishi and Kameda are clearly carrying the show with Yayoshi and the keyboardist just being along for the ride. Ringo herself outplays him on guitar.
As far as energy goes? I feel it in Aozora, Identity, and Marunouchi Sadistic (probably because of the aforementioned Jazzmaster). Aozora is what I was talking about as far as "channeling Johnny Ramone". But the rest of the concert? Damn... this ain't what I remembered. Asai Kenichi's solo during Tsumi to Batsu is like sex for your ears. Yayoshi's is like premature ejaculation. Nobody can listen to that and not go "That was it?" If he was even half that bad in bed no wonder Ringo kicking his ass to the curb. Pretty sad when your wife who's known for her singing and songwriting and not her guitar playing outplays you when you're the guitarist of the band.

Originally Posted by Maou View Post
Even if we ignore the simplified arrangements... It's not even just the lack of technical skill during GX; Yayoshi's Les Paul tone is dreadful. It's a weak distortion with no dynamics behind it and he uses it for all but two songs. I've never heard a good guitar sound so... flat. For real, listen to opening riff of Keikoku on GX as one of the most glaring examples. Nishikawa crunches that shit on the album while Yayoshi sounds like he's playing through babby's first distortion pedal.
at babby's first distortion pedal. That gave me a laugh. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. His distortion is pretty terrible throughout the concert. Relistening to the whole thing gave me a lot more appreciation for the album versions.

Although to be fair to other posters here, the rest of the band is in top form. Ringo is killing it, Kameda is owning the stage, and the drummer's doing a damn fine job too. Ringo shows how good of an artist she is by rising above her husband's bad guitar tone and lack of oomph from his distortion. From a guitar player's perspective it's a disappointing endeavor but from a Ringo fan's perspective who is watching the artist perform, she's probably never been better. And I mean that. It's the perfect fusion of onstage antics with great singing and energy. And I will fight you hard on that one.

Originally Posted by Maou View Post
I had already listened to Electric Mole several times before listening to GX. Perhaps disappointment was inevitable after so many GDLK performances on EM? Regardless, this was before the days of Jpopsuki or torrents so I was downloading songs from Napster or eMule or something like that one at a time. My first GX song was Izonshou. I'll never forget the disappointment I felt after the song finished? "That's it? Fuck was that?"
Ugh. You're not kidding. Every time I watch/listen to GX Izonshou I have to listen to the album version to clean out my ears.

On a larger note, I think Maou was getting a little bit of undeserved hate in this thread for focusing on guitar instead of Ringo but I find that approach refreshing. I'm not as qualified to talk about guitar as you are because I honestly haven't played in years and even when I did it was mostly just jamming in high school with friends.

I find his knowledge of the guitar players associated with Ringo just as interesting as frecklegirl's posts about what people who actually live in Japan think about Ringo or Entry No. 1's knowledge of music theory in general as applied to Shiina Ringo. Lots of insightful posts here so don't bash people who look at it from a different critical angle.
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