Sunday, 13 July 2003 ♥♥ 11:35 a.m.

Once again, I can't believe the last time I blogged was three days ago. Then I disappeared from my blog and website. Well, blame it on Arashi. They got me hooked up on their CD and DVD. (Not that I'm complaining, by the way... Hehehe.)

I want to talk about Arashi's new album, "How's It Going?" first!

It's a great album! I love it! Musically and vocally Arashi has improved a lot since their previous album, "Here We Go".
First of all, in this album all the members get a chance to sing solo parts in their songs, with Sho specializing on the rap. And, WOW, SHO WROTE ALL THE RAP LYRICS BY HIMSELF. So I guess he really takes rapping seriously! Well, of course he's not of Dragon Ash or Kick the Can Crew's caliber, but I had to admit, he can rap! I didn't hear much of Aiba's voice (but he can be heard somewhere!)... however, Nino and Jun got quite a lot of solo parts besides Ohno! Excellent. I always knew Nino could sing, but listening to Jun's voice, I have to applaud. He sings very nicely. Ohno's voice is still the same as usual... and that is GOOD. ^-^
I'm just happy that now Arashi sings a song separately. They still don't use second and third voices, for higher notes or lower notes like, say, Tackey ^ Tsubasa or more particularly KAT-TUN (who does it ALL the time), but at least now they don't do a chorus for the entire song. Yes, this is indeed their biggest improvement according to my opinion!

As for the songs, I CAN'T CHOOSE WHICH ONE IS MY FAVORITE!!!
Everything sounds good and catchy. I like all of them. That was why I was so hyper when I tagged all the Arashi Blog Crew members for the first time after listening to the album completely. Of course some songs stuck in my head more significantly than others but on the whole the songs are all good!
Their sound is very much like SMAP. Arashi once said that they likened their group more to Tokio than SMAP, but seriously, sound-wise they are very much SMAP-ish (and I'm not just talking about the way they used to sing in chorus for the entire song! - pun intended! ^^). This time Arashi's album falls right under the pop category. I wouldn't say it's a pop/hip-hop, or pop/rock, or a pop/R&B, or a pop/jazz-y album. It's pop. But it's good pop. Fun, catchy, and dynamic. They have a touch of everything in their songs, which is why pop songs are fun! Many other musical influences can be put into it. ^-^ (And I really don't care what those "aspiring music critics" out there say about pop music. I think it's fun and in my blog, what I say matters most than what anyone else says.)
This is definitely a summer album -- MORE UP-TEMPO SONGS THAN BALLADS! Excellent, isn't it! ^-^

I am amused, however, by one thing. LOL! I kept pondering on this one... ever since their second album, I have always wondered if Arashi would be doing another American-style, N'Sync-ish kinda of song. See, in "Here We Go", the song "Kimi wa sukoshi mo warukunai (3rd song) is exactly that kind of song I meant. So, when this new album came out, I was wondering if they were going to do that kind of song again. And... YES THEY DID!!!
The song is "15th Moon" (12th song in the album). When I first saw the title in the track listing posted almost everywhere, I thought it was going to be one of the ballads. When I listened to the album for the first time and got to the 11th track, I was close to concluding that, "No, Arashi's not going to do a song like that again." But then track 12 started and the music was like *that* and I laughed. I literally laughed. I couldn't believe it! "15th Moon" sounds way more N'Sync-ish than "Kimi wa Sukoshi mo Warukunai"! LOL!!! I felt like hearing N'Sync in an Arashi album. Hilarious.
But the song is not bad at all. It's definitely catchy. It's one of those songs that could get you stuck there for ages. Orecchiabile as they say in Italian.
The thing that kept me pondering is that: IS THIS WHY ARASHI HAS SO MANY FANS IN THE AMERICAN CONTINENT, PARTICULARLY THE US? I haven't failed to notice that Arashi has many fans there; probably due to the fact that they did debut in Hawai. Or is it the other way around? IS IT BECAUSE THEY HAVE SO MANY FANS IN THE AMERICAN CONTINENT THAT THEY MAKE SONGS LIKE THIS? I dunno. But this just makes me wonder!

Like I said, I couldn't choose which songs are my favorites, so I don't know if I can make a proper recommendation... but I think "Blue" and "Donna Kotoba De" are definitely worth listening because these are the two songs where Arashi members have solo parts. ^-^ The first is a ballad, and the latter is an up-tempo, acoustic-filled song (very catchy this one!).
If you want to hear another song where Arashi sounds not so J-pop, I'd suggest track 11 "Te Agero" (written all in katakana). Some people in the JE Forum thought this was a Latin song because of the TITLE. The term "te agero" does exist in Japanese for "give your hands", or more appropriately translated as "put up your hands". It just so happens that the title resembles something in Spanish. But the song itself *IS* Latin-influenced. Similar to Kinki Kids' "Gira Gira" but more upbeat... or but maybe it's closer to SMAP's samba-songs in their 2002 Drink! SMAP Concert. =P In any case: think Latin.
The album version of "Tomadoinagara" has an extra musical intro and it's acoustic + percussion-filled. Very smooth. I like this one better than the original, actually. I don't know. It gives a deeper impression than the original. I wasn't that much impressed with the album version of "Pikanchi"... because it doesn't sound too different from the original (in fact, ignorant me thinks it sounds the same. ^^;;)
All the other songs impress me equally... at the moment, I can't stop listening to "Crazy Ground no Ousama" and "Dekiru Dake" (this is Pino Eskimo's CM theme song, I think).

In this case, the best way to listen to this album is just SHUFFLE IT in your CD player. =P This way, you'll land on any song. ANY GOOD SONG. ^-^ That works for me. I listen to it like that. Hohoho. ^o^

As for the CD cover... Fi said the album cover is not attractive enough and that it's "too '80s". I'm satisfied with the cover. I dunno, maybe because it gives the feeling of "SUMMER" with the cover like that. All the pics are really good too. Kakkoii 5nin no membaa-tachi. Seriously, they look really handsome in the jacket pics. *drool* (especially my Ohchan! ^-^ Hohoho! ^o^ --> this is bias of course =P) The color theme of the jacket is blue. I get the "blue" idea very clearly. They have a song entitled that. LOL. I'm beginning to even *like* the color. Hahaha.
If I have any complaints, it would be of the disc itself. It's a bit disappointing. It's not funky enough! Too plain. >.< With Arashi, you'd think they'd come up with something more fancy. But maybe this is just me. =P

Well, that was Arashi's "How's it going?", their third album. Luv it. Charmed. GO BUY IT PEOPLE! Haha.