[Review] GACKT - GACKTRACKS -ULTRA DJ ReMIX- Album
Hello :)
I'll explain in a different entry what happened to me after all this time without truly ANY updates here. But for now, I wanna post this entry, because I feel like it's quite obscure what to expect from this new GACKT album. I will try to remain as neutral as I can. What I mean by that is that I won't let my fanboy side talk too much, so I can give you an honest review about it. This album has been released in stores today now, but is already available for legal download on Itunes since a few days already. The limited edition version of the album from the GACKT STORE features a special packaging along with a bonus DVD, showing some samples of every songs in the album, along with footages of the PVs, remade as well, and when it's available. I'll use screencaps from this DVD to make the review appear less ... boring maybe ? ^_^
Also, this review will be written live. I've barely listened to the songs, and some of them will be new to me. So not only it took me hours to write this, but it might appears I've less things to say about something simply because I had to think more about some songs previously played in the album. I apologize for that ^^'
This review is my opinion only and might not reflect everyone's opinions about each songs. Please understand it while reading me, thank you. I'm also not a musical expert or even a musician ! ^_^
I'm personally not a big fan of club music, but I don't hate that style either, keep that in mind ! ^_^
-----------------------------
- Overall Review :
First of all, I'm gonna talk about what this album really is. You won't find any new songs in this album, because as the name state it, this is a remix album. To make this possible, GACKT worked with many DJs in Japan. Why not only one DJ for the whole album ? I don't know, but because of that, you will find many various different kind of musics. By that, I mean that they are club musics, but some are more into that than others. For example, キミのためにできること will look more like a cool song compared to another one like White Lovers. Sadly, some tracks are really bad, like Lu:Na, wich doesn't look like that song when you listen to the begining. However, there's some good surprises, like that song I've mentionned earlier, キミのためにできること, along with Claymore or Redemption.
That's sad these DJs couldn't work on the entire album, I'm sure it would have given a better result for the entire thing. But since it's not, you will start liking a song, and then the 2nd one, you'll start crying because of how bad it looks compared to the previous one. I won't say those are bad club songs, they can be really good ... only if you forget the original versions for a while in some cases. The overall result to me then shows that there was some potential in such album, but the final result ended up not being as good as it could have been. Also, I would have appreciated better a remix album with new instruments or something, all made and produced by GACKT. Because you can go to good to great and again to good and also even bad in term of remixes, you really don't feel like you're in front of a true GACKT musical product.
- Tracks Review :
Another World :
The first track of the album is Another World, an old song from GACKT. In this track, you have a lot of weird sounds that last for quite some time after the refrain almost everytime. I guess it is made to move your ass.Some voice modifications have been used during some points of the song, mostly at the end of the lines. This song is definetly not my favourite, but it do respect mostly the original song, except for the rythm and instruments of course.
I could listen to this track times to times, but in loop for more than 15 minutes ? I would get bored of it quite fast.
Jesus :
The song immediatly start with the english lines of the original songs when Gackt talk to the german soldier on the couch. The voice is highly modified, and the rythm of the track doesn't really match with the original song. Same goes for most of the lyric orders. I really love Jesus, but there's some parts of the track that I can't really stand. Maybe because it doesn't sounds like GACKT at all, with a dude saying "come on !" during catchy tunes.
Is that a good remix ? There's much better remixes in this album, but at the same time, I can't say it's bad one.
キミのためにできること :
This song starts with a piano intrumental, a really lovely one. It does have a soft catchy tune, the overall track is faithfull to the original song GACKT released. Sure, his voice is slighty modified to match the DJ remixes, but this is definetly not a song you can put in a club and party hard on. Kinda in the middle, the song fake to end, in order to start again, a really lovely effect. I really like what they did with this track, a nice surprise.
This track is definetly one of my favs, and for me one of the best tracks in this album. Give it a try, you won't regret it !
Redemption :
Does contain some electro tunes, have a really catchy refrain, almost as catchy as the original song. Most of the original song has been kept in this remix, excepted for the whole instruments, obviously. The begining tunes and the big middle one (with heavy guitars in the original one) are quite similar wich is quite sad. There can be some moments with lots of lyrics spoken, some parts with less.
Redemption is the song that made me love GACKT. But in all honestly, this track is also a really good surprise, it's catchy, it won't make your ears bleed with too much "sounds". However, the end after the final lyrics might be a bit too long.
Cube :
GameCube, is like one big awesome song, I guess we can all agree about that. The track starts with G's voice almost immediatly starting the song. When you think the song's gonna have a dark atmosphere that would fit the original work, instead, you start to realize the whole tunes are some light techno ones. Until the main refrain starts, you might think this is a not super good remix though. But even after that, the more it goes, the mroe you realize that the tune's volume is higher than G's voice.
If only I could cut some parts and glue them together, it would be a much better track for me. And for some weird reasons, the track ends with the first line of the begining of the song. Weird.
WHITE LOVERS -幸せなトキ- :
First of all, white lovers is far from being my favourite song. I don't hate it, but I prefer listening to Hakuro or to P.S. I LOVE U. So what to say about it ? First, his voice is highly modified to my ears, and this track would really fit in a club. It has some tunes you definetly hear only over there. Of course, the core of the song is here, but if I had to choose between the original version of this track, I would definetly still choose the one G released.
What else to say about it ? I don't know, just that I'll definetly skip it everytime I listen to the album. Can't help it.
Lu:Na :
Let's say it clearly. This song was a torture to my ears. It's my opinion of course, but if you remix GACKT songs, make sure it's a biit faithfull to the original work. We have here what I would call a nice techno/electro music, but there's barely any lyrics spoken in that one. You need to wait around 2 minutes to get the second paragraph of the lyrics. There's truly nothing left of this song, even GACKT's voice is so edited that it looks not good as well.
This is my opinion of course, but as a club music, it can please the fans, but as a GACKT remix, it is shit to my ears, totally shit.
Oasis :
I felt like Oasis was like the track above at first, and after I've finished listening to it, I must say it's slighty better. The begining of the track might scare you a bit since this track arrive right after Lu:Na in the album. Let's be honest, it's not super great, but at least, his voice is more listenable. Remember how great the lyrics of this song were ? Forget about them, at least half of them has been removed in this track. And damn, this track is super long too.
Might be good, but in fact, it's not super good either. It's a track you won't always listen if you didn't liked it at the first time you listened to it.
Claymore :
Unless you hate Claymore, you'll love this track. You probably heard it already in the trailer GACKT.com offered to us before the release of the album, and the entire work is definetly something you need to take a look at. First, after the two previous disasters tracks, it's good to finally find a tune that have GACKY singing rather than only having some lines randomly. I must say this track is my favourite, even if there's some techno/dubstep parts for some short seconds.
This track is far from perfect, but it will makes you wanna shake your booty, I'm pretty sure of that. After all, I surprised myself doing it ! lol
小悪魔ヘヴン :
If you're looking for an alternate version of Koakuma Heaven, this track is for you. It does have a fair amount of lyrics from the original track. The original version already had a sort of modified voice of GACKT, so we can say that the tune used here fits. It's sometimes strange, but the whole thing is catchy, and have some weird tunes. But it's Koakuma Heaven, a song originally made to have fun, right ?
This track is globally good. Not super awesome because you need to be a bit accustomed to such kind of musics, but still good. Nothing else though.
Secret Garden :
The song starts with some piano ... GACKT start singing, his voice isn't modified ... it's really beautifull. But then, the DJ behind this remix kill all your hopes of having a piano version of this song and starts with the regular generic tunes. The lyrics are here, but I don't feel like in a secret garden while listening to this track, but more like in a public garden. By that, I means the tune is quite constant for most of the song, but besides that, there's nothing really special sadly.
In some ways, this time, the rythm looks like too much the original track, so it's almost like listening to the song with instrument replacements.
キミに逢いたくて :
This song holds a special place in my heart for some reasons. And listening to it was a nice surprise. There's a slighty faster tempo, a catchy tune. Sadly, the "sad" and "love" part of the feeling when you listened to the original song for the first song are gone sadly. But we're in a DJ remix album, so such things aren't meant to survive in such places. All the lyrics are here, some piano parts of the original have been kept too in this track.
I'm happy with what they did with it. That's definetly a tune I would put on repeat, I'm not afraid of saying it. High five to the DJ !
暁月夜 -DAY BREAKERS- :
Day Breakers is like one of those hybrid songs in terms of feelings when you'll listen to it. By that, I mean that you can start with "Hey, I like it" to "Hmm, what is that ?". The tune used without any lyrics can look strange to you, but thankfully, it's not for most of the tune. This tune used without any lyrics feels like you're in danger, or that there's some action going on. Not a bad result, but does it fit the original spirit of the song ? It's up to you to answer to the question.
Globally, I liked it. But because of these tunes used in the middle of the song when G's not singing, I can't say I like it very much. It's sad though.
忘れないから :
This track, the last of the album, have some tunes that appears to be from some old famicom games when you think about it. The tune is good, the song was good to begin with. But I feel like the remix could have been improved some more. It lacks of something, maybe a true identity ?
Fortunatly, they didn't destroyed the whole song, and the DJ did his job ... except that you might be really What The Fuck near the end of the song. I won't tell you why though ... ;)
To Buy or not Buy It ?
First, if you ever wanted to buy it after reading this review, you can go and buy it HERE.Why buying it ? because for an album of 14 tracks, this is quite a decent price (2800 Yen, around 20€), there's still some nice surprises and nice stuff to listen to if you like at least a little such kind of music. Also, if you're a club music fan, don't hesitate and buy it now ! ^^
However, I would not recommand this purchase if you seek for a piece of G's musical world. Not only they are all known songs, but also, the main soul of the songs all disapeared through the remixes. It's also not always the same rgood remixes in term of quality. Some are bad, others are good. Some are Meh or others will be awesome, that's sadly the truth.
Thanks for reading me, don't hesitate to leave a comment if you liked it. I might not be able to respond to everyone, but I do read them all, so share your opinion about it as well ! ^_^
I'll explain in a different entry what happened to me after all this time without truly ANY updates here. But for now, I wanna post this entry, because I feel like it's quite obscure what to expect from this new GACKT album. I will try to remain as neutral as I can. What I mean by that is that I won't let my fanboy side talk too much, so I can give you an honest review about it. This album has been released in stores today now, but is already available for legal download on Itunes since a few days already. The limited edition version of the album from the GACKT STORE features a special packaging along with a bonus DVD, showing some samples of every songs in the album, along with footages of the PVs, remade as well, and when it's available. I'll use screencaps from this DVD to make the review appear less ... boring maybe ? ^_^
Also, this review will be written live. I've barely listened to the songs, and some of them will be new to me. So not only it took me hours to write this, but it might appears I've less things to say about something simply because I had to think more about some songs previously played in the album. I apologize for that ^^'
This review is my opinion only and might not reflect everyone's opinions about each songs. Please understand it while reading me, thank you. I'm also not a musical expert or even a musician ! ^_^
I'm personally not a big fan of club music, but I don't hate that style either, keep that in mind ! ^_^
-----------------------------
- Overall Review :
First of all, I'm gonna talk about what this album really is. You won't find any new songs in this album, because as the name state it, this is a remix album. To make this possible, GACKT worked with many DJs in Japan. Why not only one DJ for the whole album ? I don't know, but because of that, you will find many various different kind of musics. By that, I mean that they are club musics, but some are more into that than others. For example, キミのためにできること will look more like a cool song compared to another one like White Lovers. Sadly, some tracks are really bad, like Lu:Na, wich doesn't look like that song when you listen to the begining. However, there's some good surprises, like that song I've mentionned earlier, キミのためにできること, along with Claymore or Redemption.
That's sad these DJs couldn't work on the entire album, I'm sure it would have given a better result for the entire thing. But since it's not, you will start liking a song, and then the 2nd one, you'll start crying because of how bad it looks compared to the previous one. I won't say those are bad club songs, they can be really good ... only if you forget the original versions for a while in some cases. The overall result to me then shows that there was some potential in such album, but the final result ended up not being as good as it could have been. Also, I would have appreciated better a remix album with new instruments or something, all made and produced by GACKT. Because you can go to good to great and again to good and also even bad in term of remixes, you really don't feel like you're in front of a true GACKT musical product.
- Tracks Review :
Another World :
The first track of the album is Another World, an old song from GACKT. In this track, you have a lot of weird sounds that last for quite some time after the refrain almost everytime. I guess it is made to move your ass.Some voice modifications have been used during some points of the song, mostly at the end of the lines. This song is definetly not my favourite, but it do respect mostly the original song, except for the rythm and instruments of course.
I could listen to this track times to times, but in loop for more than 15 minutes ? I would get bored of it quite fast.
Jesus :
The song immediatly start with the english lines of the original songs when Gackt talk to the german soldier on the couch. The voice is highly modified, and the rythm of the track doesn't really match with the original song. Same goes for most of the lyric orders. I really love Jesus, but there's some parts of the track that I can't really stand. Maybe because it doesn't sounds like GACKT at all, with a dude saying "come on !" during catchy tunes.
Is that a good remix ? There's much better remixes in this album, but at the same time, I can't say it's bad one.
キミのためにできること :
This song starts with a piano intrumental, a really lovely one. It does have a soft catchy tune, the overall track is faithfull to the original song GACKT released. Sure, his voice is slighty modified to match the DJ remixes, but this is definetly not a song you can put in a club and party hard on. Kinda in the middle, the song fake to end, in order to start again, a really lovely effect. I really like what they did with this track, a nice surprise.
This track is definetly one of my favs, and for me one of the best tracks in this album. Give it a try, you won't regret it !
Redemption :
Does contain some electro tunes, have a really catchy refrain, almost as catchy as the original song. Most of the original song has been kept in this remix, excepted for the whole instruments, obviously. The begining tunes and the big middle one (with heavy guitars in the original one) are quite similar wich is quite sad. There can be some moments with lots of lyrics spoken, some parts with less.
Redemption is the song that made me love GACKT. But in all honestly, this track is also a really good surprise, it's catchy, it won't make your ears bleed with too much "sounds". However, the end after the final lyrics might be a bit too long.
Cube :
GameCube, is like one big awesome song, I guess we can all agree about that. The track starts with G's voice almost immediatly starting the song. When you think the song's gonna have a dark atmosphere that would fit the original work, instead, you start to realize the whole tunes are some light techno ones. Until the main refrain starts, you might think this is a not super good remix though. But even after that, the more it goes, the mroe you realize that the tune's volume is higher than G's voice.
If only I could cut some parts and glue them together, it would be a much better track for me. And for some weird reasons, the track ends with the first line of the begining of the song. Weird.
WHITE LOVERS -幸せなトキ- :
First of all, white lovers is far from being my favourite song. I don't hate it, but I prefer listening to Hakuro or to P.S. I LOVE U. So what to say about it ? First, his voice is highly modified to my ears, and this track would really fit in a club. It has some tunes you definetly hear only over there. Of course, the core of the song is here, but if I had to choose between the original version of this track, I would definetly still choose the one G released.
What else to say about it ? I don't know, just that I'll definetly skip it everytime I listen to the album. Can't help it.
Lu:Na :
Let's say it clearly. This song was a torture to my ears. It's my opinion of course, but if you remix GACKT songs, make sure it's a biit faithfull to the original work. We have here what I would call a nice techno/electro music, but there's barely any lyrics spoken in that one. You need to wait around 2 minutes to get the second paragraph of the lyrics. There's truly nothing left of this song, even GACKT's voice is so edited that it looks not good as well.
This is my opinion of course, but as a club music, it can please the fans, but as a GACKT remix, it is shit to my ears, totally shit.
Oasis :
I felt like Oasis was like the track above at first, and after I've finished listening to it, I must say it's slighty better. The begining of the track might scare you a bit since this track arrive right after Lu:Na in the album. Let's be honest, it's not super great, but at least, his voice is more listenable. Remember how great the lyrics of this song were ? Forget about them, at least half of them has been removed in this track. And damn, this track is super long too.
Might be good, but in fact, it's not super good either. It's a track you won't always listen if you didn't liked it at the first time you listened to it.
Claymore :
Unless you hate Claymore, you'll love this track. You probably heard it already in the trailer GACKT.com offered to us before the release of the album, and the entire work is definetly something you need to take a look at. First, after the two previous disasters tracks, it's good to finally find a tune that have GACKY singing rather than only having some lines randomly. I must say this track is my favourite, even if there's some techno/dubstep parts for some short seconds.
This track is far from perfect, but it will makes you wanna shake your booty, I'm pretty sure of that. After all, I surprised myself doing it ! lol
小悪魔ヘヴン :
If you're looking for an alternate version of Koakuma Heaven, this track is for you. It does have a fair amount of lyrics from the original track. The original version already had a sort of modified voice of GACKT, so we can say that the tune used here fits. It's sometimes strange, but the whole thing is catchy, and have some weird tunes. But it's Koakuma Heaven, a song originally made to have fun, right ?
This track is globally good. Not super awesome because you need to be a bit accustomed to such kind of musics, but still good. Nothing else though.
Secret Garden :
The song starts with some piano ... GACKT start singing, his voice isn't modified ... it's really beautifull. But then, the DJ behind this remix kill all your hopes of having a piano version of this song and starts with the regular generic tunes. The lyrics are here, but I don't feel like in a secret garden while listening to this track, but more like in a public garden. By that, I means the tune is quite constant for most of the song, but besides that, there's nothing really special sadly.
In some ways, this time, the rythm looks like too much the original track, so it's almost like listening to the song with instrument replacements.
キミに逢いたくて :
This song holds a special place in my heart for some reasons. And listening to it was a nice surprise. There's a slighty faster tempo, a catchy tune. Sadly, the "sad" and "love" part of the feeling when you listened to the original song for the first song are gone sadly. But we're in a DJ remix album, so such things aren't meant to survive in such places. All the lyrics are here, some piano parts of the original have been kept too in this track.
I'm happy with what they did with it. That's definetly a tune I would put on repeat, I'm not afraid of saying it. High five to the DJ !
暁月夜 -DAY BREAKERS- :
Day Breakers is like one of those hybrid songs in terms of feelings when you'll listen to it. By that, I mean that you can start with "Hey, I like it" to "Hmm, what is that ?". The tune used without any lyrics can look strange to you, but thankfully, it's not for most of the tune. This tune used without any lyrics feels like you're in danger, or that there's some action going on. Not a bad result, but does it fit the original spirit of the song ? It's up to you to answer to the question.
Globally, I liked it. But because of these tunes used in the middle of the song when G's not singing, I can't say I like it very much. It's sad though.
忘れないから :
This track, the last of the album, have some tunes that appears to be from some old famicom games when you think about it. The tune is good, the song was good to begin with. But I feel like the remix could have been improved some more. It lacks of something, maybe a true identity ?
Fortunatly, they didn't destroyed the whole song, and the DJ did his job ... except that you might be really What The Fuck near the end of the song. I won't tell you why though ... ;)
To Buy or not Buy It ?
First, if you ever wanted to buy it after reading this review, you can go and buy it HERE.Why buying it ? because for an album of 14 tracks, this is quite a decent price (2800 Yen, around 20€), there's still some nice surprises and nice stuff to listen to if you like at least a little such kind of music. Also, if you're a club music fan, don't hesitate and buy it now ! ^^
However, I would not recommand this purchase if you seek for a piece of G's musical world. Not only they are all known songs, but also, the main soul of the songs all disapeared through the remixes. It's also not always the same rgood remixes in term of quality. Some are bad, others are good. Some are Meh or others will be awesome, that's sadly the truth.
Thanks for reading me, don't hesitate to leave a comment if you liked it. I might not be able to respond to everyone, but I do read them all, so share your opinion about it as well ! ^_^