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Ayumi Hamasaki: The Rate - Part I [Greatful days]


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Posted

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Track #15 on MY STORY

 

HIGH SCORE: 10 x 1 (AvadaKedavra)

LOW SCORE: 3.3 x 1 (Curaga)

HOST SCORE: 6

 

Is it an unpopular opinion to think that MY STORY falls apart towards the end? The album that had otherwise succeeded in being a statement piece and a pivot towards rock sounds ends up losing its nerve and scurrying back towards familiar territory... Now, that alone would not necessarily be a dealbreaker. CAROLS, for instance, is not a sound unique to MY STORY either, but good tracklisting and use of interludes allow that song blend-in more with the rest of the record than... well, this.

 

I don't think Replace is entirely awful or anything - though it is my lowest score on the album. My issue is that it doesn't offer anything unique or interesting, and actually takes away from the otherwise impressive soundscape MY STORY had been building up. A very happy-go-lucky track following right after the also-decent-but-out-of-place HONEY? Who decided that? This is kind of like a pastiche of an Ayu song imo.

 

She should've followed the song's advice I fear. The last handful of tracks leave us with a messy and overly long ending run. One that hurts the overall project rather than adding to it. They all should've got the CHOP!

 

 

Suilen: did this inspire Kana Nishino's career?

Kyle-x: Such a cute, breezy and lovely song.

Curaga: The chorus is giving ye olde school anthem... kinda marchy/cheesy. Why so long!! like omg, turn-it-in.com.

Meloetta Carey: nice but nothing that I would return to.

AMIT: boring and unneeded I'm afraid.

 

 

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14/17

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Posted

God is real, Curaga spilled with the lowest score

 

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  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

noooo I love 'from your letter' so much :chick3::jonnyknife: 

Edited by AMIT
  • Like 1
Posted
10 minutes ago, Suilen said:

GUILTY is her If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power

 

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OH?? okay wait i have to check that out

  • Like 1
Posted
2 minutes ago, Graves said:

Suilen: did this inspire Kana Nishino's career?

If only she'd been inspired by INSPIRE :gaycat6:

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Posted

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Track #16 on I am...

 

HIGH SCORE: 9 x 2 (UrMom, blueberries)

LOW SCORE: 3 x 1 (Fevesy)

HOST SCORE: 6.5

 

When I was first getting into Ayu, this song was huge to me. Listening to those long-ass ballads on I am... would leave me parched and dehydrated, and this song was like an oasis at the end of the desert. A much-needed injection of energy when my vitals were flagging. Of course, time is a cruel thing. Those ballads that were once insurmountable to me are now big favorites. And flower garden is no longer necessary.

 

I don't mean to be a hater, as I do have some affection for the track even now. flower garden is still a buzzing thrill when it works, and when it doesn't... we still appreciate it for trying! It's actually the chorus that grates on me here, because those verses are amazing! And the vocoder'd spoken bits? A great time. A rejigging of the chorus and I might've been singing a different tune.

 

Despite being only a hidden track, Ayu loves to perform this one live. Like, a lot. If you lived in Japan during the '00s then you were hearing flower garden blaring from your local arena more often than you were hearing your own thoughts.

 

 

Suilen: this definitely deserved to be a proper track.

Kyle-x: A cute little hidden gem! Just something for the girls to rock out to. I love how they even managed to get a remix of this out there sksksk and it EATS (the "BACK BEAT MIX" on ayu-mi-x 4).

Curaga: Looove that guitar riff in the instrumental bridge!

Meloetta Carey: this gagged me when I first listened to this album---a "Whoops Now" tea. Like, for so long it was thee Ayu song for me because it's like bucket of cold water after all the ballads.

AMIT: low key good. haven't heard that other remix of it. abrupt ending a bit weird though.

 

 

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13/16

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Posted
1 minute ago, Curaga said:

If only she'd been inspired by INSPIRE :gaycat6:

I'd stan

 

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Posted
6 minutes ago, AMIT said:

noooo I love 'from your letter' so much :chick3::jonnyknife: 

Not you editing this to avoid giving even a HINT of praise to Replace.

 

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Posted
2 minutes ago, Graves said:

Listening to those long-ass ballads on I am... would leave me parched and dehydrated, and this song was like an oasis at the end of the desert.

I'm still in this phase. Maybe there is hope for me

:suburban:

 

Spoiler

probly not nn

:suburban:

 

Posted

the visuals are visualizing :jonnycat:

 

The I am... ones are particularly so beautiful omg :fan2:

  • Like 2
Posted
1 minute ago, Graves said:

Not you editing this to avoid giving even a HINT of praise to Replace.

 

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The juxtaposition between nooo I love this track so much and boring and unneeded sent me

 

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  • Haha 1
Posted
1 minute ago, Curaga said:

I'm still in this phase. Maybe there is hope for me

:suburban:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

probly not nn

:suburban:

 

we deserved the single version of endless smashery on the album I fear

 

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Posted
4 minutes ago, Curaga said:

I'm still in this phase. Maybe there is hope for me

:suburban:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

probly not nn

:suburban:

 

Having seen your full ballot... no, there's no hope for you or your soul. :suburban:

  • Haha 2
Posted

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Track #12 on RAINBOW

 

HIGH SCORE: 10 x 2 (Kyle-x, Curaga)

LOW SCORE: 0 x 1 (SA*KURA)

HOST SCORE: 5

 

You girls will have to forgive me, I've been trying to come up with things to say about interludes all day and I fear the well is starting to run dry.

 

What is there to talk about with neverending dream...? I mean, it's got some aquatic lullaby vibes which I don't mind. Zora's Domain energy. I think it's just fine as a piece of music, but it isn't one of my favorite Ayu interludes. Some of you girls mentioned enjoying it as an intro for Voyage... I'm sure that's nice for people who listen to Voyage.

 

 

Kyle-x: The perfect transition into Voyage.

Invisibility: A fittingly majestic introduction for Voyage.

Curaga: now why is this interlude the most interesting thing on RAINBOW :skull:

Meloetta Carey: kinda sounds like the music for a production logo before a movie.

 

 

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14/16

 

 

 

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Track #1 on RAINBOW

 

HIGH SCORE: 10 x 2 (Kyle-x, Curaga)

LOW SCORE: 0 x 1 (SA*KURA)

HOST SCORE: 4

 

Judging by the comments, some of you girls go hard for this track. Love that for you, truly. Unfortunately, I'm more likely to be found hitting the skip button so I can proceed to pop my puss to WE WISH. :jamming:

 

I think this works just fine as an interlude. Not her worst nor her best, but I am happy that we've got through most of them and I can really start writing about the songs with some meat on their bones. At least the dream sisters got to depart the rate hand-in-hand, how cute. :heart: Even if you guys did eliminate the RAINBOW interludes in the exact opposite order that they should've gone.

 

 

Kyle-x: Definitely in her top 3 interludes/intros. The remix is good too!

Invisibility: It's like falling asleep and immersing yourself into the REM phase. One of her best.

 

...it's definitely like one of those things, yeah.

 

Curaga: Love this intro. Reminds me of the instrumental on Madonna's Little Star.

Meloetta Carey: very pretty, ehh transition.

Bad Decisions: the dewdrops remix elevates this interlude so much!

 

 

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13/16

  • Haha 1
Posted

yes some of you are crazy because perfectaskinillusion is definitely the best out of the 3 interludes from RAINBOW :jonnykin:

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Posted (edited)

Well, the best one from this part is still in, I suppose. I'm not sure about keeping them for the later parts now, but they did outlast some proper songs, so...

 

:suburban:

Edited by Suilen
Posted

 

1 minute ago, Suilen said:

Well, the best one from this part is still in, I suppose. I'm not sure about keeping them for the later parts now, but they did outlast some proper songs, so...

 

:suburban:

We're in this for the long haul now and I need to give Are You Wake Up? and Bridge to the sky their flowers :suburban:

Posted

I was wondering if SA*KURA gave 0s to all the interludes or just the boring ones... Guess I got my answer 

:khalyan2:

  • Haha 2
Posted

107. + - 5.079

106. Interlude - 5.294

105. For My Dear... - 5.529

104. taskinlude - 5.588

103. A Song is born - 5.629

102. WONDERLAND - 5.853

101. FRIEND - 5.859

100. Wishing - 5.888

99. Prologue - 5.912

98. Humming 7/4 - 6.134

97. Present - 6.197

96. FRIEND II - 6.332

95. starting over - 6.405

94. opening Run - 6.406

93. girlish - 6.435

92. taskinillusion - 6.441

91. Kaleidoscope - 6.547

90. from your letter - 6.582

89. Replace - 6.624

88. flower garden - 6.7

87. neverending dream - 6.718

86. everlasting dream - 6.741

 

After today...

 

Only two interludes remain - LOVEppears' Introduction, and MY STORY's Catcher In The Light.

 

The debut album has been cut down to only 10 of its 17 tracks.

 

Memorial address remains untouched, and LOVEppears is also only missing one singular interlude.

 

 

More reveals coming tomorrow or Wednesday :heart:

 

 

  • Thanks 4
Posted
3 minutes ago, Curaga said:

I was wondering if SA*KURA gave 0s to all the interludes or just the boring ones... Guess I got my answer 

:khalyan2:

We forgive them after that one Ai Otsuka drag.

 

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Posted

Ya'll will have to let me know what the best times are for doing future updates and I'll do my best to accommodate.

 

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Posted

3 of my opps are down, so I'm good. The other two are probably top 20 or something. The visuals and commentary are serving. The audience needs to be less lethargic, this is a historic moment.

 

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Posted (edited)

Im lovin this rate :gaycat4: i thought it would be more about revealing the scores and thats it. But lovin the commentary
I Regret not giving commentary for any of the songs. Will give it for the next records (Those are my faves from her discography)
Poor wonderland  :gaycat2: i just live for circus music tbh. Leave her alone :gaycat5:
Agree about from your letter. That one is a masterpiece. Love all of it :gaycat4:

Edited by AvadaKedavra
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Posted

FRIEND II sounds like a perfect anime credits song to me, very "girl who is going to be ok smirks and winks into the camera" vibes. That one really grew on me :skeleton:

 

The visuals are amazing, especially for RAINBOW :jonny4: and the write-ups are on FIRE so far, omg; I don't remember laughing this much in a rate before :rofl:

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Posted

I'm so sorry @Graves I couldn't get my rates in. :weeps:

 

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Will comment and be ready for part 2!

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