Been listening to Ayumi Hamasaki’s [æµ?å´?ãÂ?ã??ã¿] mini album, Memorial Address, recently. It contains a bonus track – Memorial Address. Also ships with a bonus DVD with music videos of all the tracks excluding Memorial Address.
It’s really amazing to see that 6 out of 8 songs from Memorial Address has been used as soundtracks in advertisements and television dramas.
Track information [scores are upon 5]
# ANGEL’S SONG [5]: It’s a brilliant track to win over the heart of millions who abandoned Ayufor other Jpop artists. Somewhat “rockish” track. It’s a track I listen and liked it immediately. An excellent choice as the first track.
# Grateful days [4.5]: Theme song of “ayu ready?”. It’s a feel-good track. The chorus is still ringing in my mind when I’m typing this post. I find Ayu’s “lalala”s quite irritating after a while.
# Because of You [5]: This is for the absolute rock fan. The music video’s very strange though, it’s about a guy who left the girl and came back to her, then the girl rejected him. I never understood what is it about.
# ourselves [5]: I first heard this track in her single “Ampersand” and I love it. It’s one of the best, if not, the best track in Memorial Address. An energetic song, with an oh-so-infectious chorus that loops and loops in my mind.
# HANABI ~episode II~ [4]: I wonder what’s Ayu thinking, is she recording a trilogy? HANABI is a well-loved track by fans and episode II is not any better than its than, well, its preceder. The music doesn’t sound similar too, maybe it’s the lyrics.
# No way to say [4]: When I first heard this track from her single with a similar title, I find it boring. This is when I start to sense the album going down. The first 20 seconds of the song seems to be preparing me for something good, but it didn’t turn out to be the case.
# forgiveness [3.5]: This is a ballad that’s for fans who loved A BALLADS. But the track doesn’t appeal much to me. Packed with lots of reverbs, ohhhhs and ahhhhs, it gives a mysterious feeling. The album is heading downwards.
# Memorial Address [5]: Just when the album is heading no where, Ayu continues to sing with her high pitch voice softly. After a minute and a half, the title track explodes with angry beats fused with just the right amounts of electrical guitar flavor. It is this track that pulls the album back to er.. track.
Despite track 6 and 7’s failure to impress me, this is still a very good mini album as a whole. My favorite track is “ourselves”, followed by “Because of You”, “ANGEL’S SONG” and “Memorial Address”. I enjoy the faster and rock tracks more if you have noticed.
It’s an album build upon a winning Ayumi Hamasaki formula, even the producer’s still the same. If you’re a huge Ayu fan, there’s version that comes with a poster too, just have to pay more, lol. The above is just my opinion of course. I only publish reviews of albums I like, so all the ratings should be quite high. I just thought it’s fun posting a review.
A new year is here again, if you don’t enjoy the previous year, be sure to enjoy this one. Well, if you enjoyed the previous year.. I wish that you enjoy another. Happy new year anyway. 
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Tags: ayumi hamasaki, japan, music