A Laruku solo stuff interlude

[freyjam]

I'm still largely buried under various stuffs, but since (obviously) I found the time to listen to BEAST, I jotted down some notes on it at the same time. Just a fair warning: maybe it's because I'm so damn tired, but there's very little positive in there. Also, ignore the random order:

Comments

[karenkk]

For some reason, this album just isn't doing it for me. Most of the album has that Angel Trip feel, which I don't really like... and his Engrish... please stop... I start to wonder why I like PIANO DUET so much, could simply due to the lack of Engrish... T^T

As for TETSUYA... Leader-sama is looking indeed gorgeous on the covers, but the first thing I noticed were the different colour McQueen scarfs, OMG, how many of them does this guy actually own???

As for Ken-chan's mini album, I have absolute most hope for... please don't disappoint me T^T

[freyjam]

Most of the album has that Angel Trip feel
Agreed. I liked that song, but even I don't want four or more of them on the same album orz

I'm not surprised about the scarves at all. First, it's a photoshoot - he does not necessarily have to own them (though he probably does). And second... well, it's TETSUYA *shrug*

[freyjam]

shu_scarlet:
I was quite excited about listening to this album and didn't expect it to be so meh at all. But yes, of course I've listened to the first album. I like HYDE's solo stuff more than either of them, actually, but the first one certainly had more good songs (at least for me).

I absolutely love KEN's solo. And though I can't say, without absolute conviction, that his project is the greatest (because aa's always been very consistently good and TETSUYA is very much quality over quantity) at the moment I can say that HYDE's is the weakest one for me.

[a_deux_vitesses]

Sorry you didn't really like the album much... I have to listen to it more, but I did like it at first listen. My fave right now is EUPHORIA, so I'm glad you liked that one though~

The jackets for Looking For Light are really pretty, I'm looking forward to listening to the song ^^

[freyjam]

At the moment, I like 6 of the songs, am kind of blah about 6 others and haven't really decided about 1 :)

From the name, I kind of expect the song to be something similar to Can't stop believing (which I adore). I really can't wait for it :)

[a_deux_vitesses]

If you don't mind me asking, which songs did you like? ^^

It's gonna be a great song, and TETSUYA has a guitar solo in it too :)

[freyjam]

The ones I like are (in this order actually, though the first three are really close):
Piano Duet, (predictably, but even the lyrics are better than of any others - THIS is why he should write in Japanese. Not even the pronunciation bothers me as much as the pure shallowness of the Engrish ones) Get Up, Euphoria, Revolution, Angel Trip, Devil Side

The one I'm not sure about yet is Rumble.
I still didn't have an opportunity to listen to it more :/

[yuki_kumi]

after listened to the album continuously i forgot to count ^^ i decide that Rumble is at the very end of my list of favorite songs, Euphoria at the top three, The Past is monotone as you said but i like the guitar melody, and i like My First Last :D maybe just a few people like it but the song is weird, in a good way XD Hyde's voice is different..

[freyjam]

The song might be okay on itself, but as I said - Hyde's voice just ruins it for me. I know it has an Arabic motive to it, so the nasal voice kind of fits, but I really really dislike it. Well, to each their own and My First Last is simply not for me :)

[dohai_love]

LOL THIS WAS GREAT! XD Almost exactly how I feel, I do believe not only was Hyde's voice worst on the album (ARGH @ the screeching) but his lyrical skills seemed to have dropped for whatever reason. (Devil Side makes me want to bang my head on the wall. DX) And I don't understand his unclear English on this, because on "VAMPS" and his solo work, 95% of the time, I had no issue understanding the English bits at all! I always admired him by how clear he would sing in English, but then this happened. I couldn't understand more than a few words at a time in some songs, it was so annoying. DX Just because he wants these songs to be made for lives doesn't mean he has an excuse to record them so terribly. :O If he took the time to SOUND beautiful and be clearer, I might have actually enjoyed this album D: I mean, he does it with L'arc, no? And their songs are always great live, so I don't get this "live only" thing he goes on about. >.>

[freyjam]

Ah, I was kind of worried I was the ultimate minority with my opinion :) I understand all of your feelings completely. I'm not as frustrated about it right now as I was at first (and I'm banging away on 13:day:dream lately anyway XD), but I was really disappointed at the time. Most of the lyrics are crap and half of the album sounds like Angel's Trip.

I'm almost thinking that maybe this means that he just takes Laruku more seriously (which is yay), whether he admits it or not, but the other members manage to keep quality up in their solos regardless, so why not him?

Three songs of this album I just really can't listen to. And I'm not including the two not-really-a-song ones.

Sorry. Rant over.

[dohai_love]

Me too! Especially since all my friends liked it except me, so I had no one to rant to! XD Yeah me either, after a month it's grown on me some. But it took a MONTH. When I listened to L'arc and Hyde's solo stuff, I loved it INSTANTLY. Big difference there

[freyjam]

Yeah, I was beginning to feel that maybe I was being unfair about it after all. But it didn't make sense, because I had pretty good expectations of the album before listening to it *shakes head*

I'm starting to grow a talent of ignoring the words completely when listening to them - something I'd have thought sacrilegious for Laruku songs. And I'd love to be his advisor for English as well. Just so I could hit him on the head and say that if he insists writing more of that vampire crap, I'll resign. Even my being a fangirl wouldn't keep me there to proofread stuff about bloodsucking and whatnot. Even lyrics about sex have more meaning than that :/ Barely, but at least they're not stupid and embarrassing.

I liked ANGEL TRIP too... But I don't want five of them :( It gets a bit monotonous for that exact reason for me. But I guess MEMORIES is the most ANGEL TRIP-like song on the album, and I do like it now