THe PiNK SpIdER
PSYCHEDELIC VIOLENCE OF WORDS :
Picture courtesy of Aciel
GLAY - the name most rock bands look up to in Japan today. No doubt that this talented quartet has come a long way from the days of dark, dinghy underground circuit gigs to the phenomenal success that they are enjoying today. However, the questions of late in most fans' minds are :
HAS GLAY DETERIORATED IN THE STANDARD OF MUSIC-MAKING?
ARE THEIR HEYDAYS OVER?
Being an amateur fan of Glay and a novice at guitars, I would venture to explore this issue. Hisashi, the lead guitarist of Glay, is well-known in the Jrock circuit for his excellent guitar solos, which are written into almost every Glay song. I would say that Glay is famous for its excellent guitar play; however, in the recent albums, there has been more experimentation (or willingness to experiment) with digitized sounds.
The first sign of this experimentation came in the album pure soul, where a more futuristic feel was aimed at by the band with the approach of the new millennium. With Heavy Gauge, the proportion of sound effects to actual guitar play was startling. Of course, as fans, one should always applaud the new direction that the band takes; otherwise, the band would stagnate, producing songs to a tried-and-tested formula BUT is this direction which Glay is taking a BREAKTHROUGH both where songwriting and guitar solos are concerned?
The guitar solos pale in comparison to their earlier songs like "Kanojo No 'Modern...'", "BURST" and "HIT THE WORLD CHART!". The reason for it : the digitized sounds which Hisashi is experimenting with. Admittedly, the digitized sounds do produce a slick feel to the songs BUT fans want more than that. Hisashi-maniacs love to hear Hisashi exhibit what he is capable of, but the sound effects do not allow him to do that. In order to give way to the digitized sounds, Hisashi has drastically reduced the level of difficulty which the solos present. Technically, Hisashi has not deteriorated in his skills because if he could execute "Kanojo No 'Modern...'" then, he can sure do it again any time he wants.
Thus, in response to Aciel's question in last month's issue, I would answer both in the affirmative - Hisashi's experimentation with new sounds does bring the band towards a new direction but whether it is a successful breakthrough remains to be seen.
Personally, I would like Hisashi to just concentrate on getting those mind-blowing solos going again for Glay but who knows? The digitized sounds may turn out to be a good thing for the band afterall. Music is a strange creature.
Takuro is the creative juice of Glay for he writes almost all of Glay's songs. With the recent release of HEAVY GAUGE last October, it had many diehard fans questioning :
IS THIS FIT TO BE LABELLED A GLAY ALBUM AT ALL?
At first instance, HEAVY GAUGE sounded like a really good album (again, this is attributed to the slickness with the reliance on the digitized sounds amd the tinkering with the cello and the sitar), but repeated listenings revealed a different story. The melodies of most songs, while making for pleasant listening, do not jump out one.
It is conceded that HEAVY GAUGE came out soon after the ground-breaking EXPO '99 SURVIVAL; thus, Takuro may not have the time to write really good songs for the fans, being both physically and emotionally exhausted... BUT what about pure soul? Except for 4-5 really good songs, the rest were nondescript. By "nondescript", I mean that it is not of the usual Glay standard. One just has to look back to the past Glay classics to understand what I mean. The present songs are genki enough, but they still lack the 'oomph' to them which the past Glay songs possessed. However, having said that, Takuro did come up with some really fantastic songs recently - an example of which is the hauntingly beautiful "Winter, again".
Glay is slowly moving away from the heavy Beatles' influence that used to dominate their songs. With Hisashi experimenting with new sounds, Glay seems to be moving towards an eccletic mix of electro-rock genre. Is this a new breakthrough in terms of songwriting in the new millennium for Glay? I would say NOT. The recent influx of trance and techno music (led by the British underground DJs) has left the market saturated and tired, and Glay only appears to be jumping on the bandwagon by moving in this direction.
True, they have never tried this direction before, but they haven't exactly created any inroads where music is concerned. Personally, I feel that Takuro should just stick to writing Beatles-que genki songs rather than trying to make music like Prodigy's. Leave it to the British punk-rock masters for that. His talent is clearly in writing uplifting touching songs. I would venture to say that he is so talented in this aspect that he is perhaps matched and surpassed only by Hayashi Yoshiki of X Japan.
As for Teru, any breakthrough he has achieved technically in terms of vocal strength was achieved during the period of BELOVED through Pure Soul. The interesting thing about Teru's vocals is that you know that he is capable of coming with more surprises for the fans in terms of vocal range. His potential as the vocals of Glay is tremendous, but the problem with Teru now is that he has not even maintained the standard set in BELOVED, add to the fact that he smokes, and you get the general idea the harm he is doing to his vocal cords. In the recent release of Glay's 19th single Happiness, Teru sounded strained. Even if Takuro jas any great song in his goodie bag, Teru cannot hope to bring the song to life with such mediocre renditions. Teru has a soulful husky voice which he can explore further to expand his range as a wonderful lead singer. I would be eagerly waiting for the next Glay album to hear him regain that confidence and strength in bringing the songs alive.
Finally, on to Jiro, the grooving bass master. Hear him in HEAVY GAUGE and you would realise that his bass skills are as slick as ever. I really enjoy hearing Jiro play the bass. Maybe his breakthrough can come with a decision to play a 5-string bass guitar instead of the current 4 string bass guitar.
Glay's sound of the future hinges very much on the guitars and the melodies. Thus, I would say that Hisashi and Takuro play very important roles in bringing about a successful revolution to Glay's songs. Any direction they are experimenting with now is hopefully a transition to greater music.
I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT GLAY'S HEYDAYS ARE OVER. I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT FOR THIS TALENTED QUARTET, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!
