Hello, Hyde! Welcome back from the land of elevator music!

I think Hyde has been listening to too much Avril Lavigne lately, because the first thing I noticed about this song is that it bears a strong resemblance to Avril's Sk8ter Boy. Hello is definitely very different from anything Hyde has ever done, either solo or with L'Arc~en~Ciel. It's been advertised as him "going back to his rock roots," but really, it resembles little of anything he's put out in the past. What I do hear a lot of is punk-pop, which is/was the genre of artists like hide or Takui (or Avril though she's more pop than punk). The rhythm of this song and a lot of the elements do make me also think of the L'Arc~en~Ciel song The Rain Leaves a Scar.

Nevertheless, let's review. As I said already, the intro is your standard punk/pop intro, with strong chords in the guitar and a solid bass line, all of which come together to form a straightforward and fast-paced melodic line for Hyde to follow when he comes in. I'm not too impressed with Hyde's singing. This song is much higher in range than he's been singing in his slower Roentgen songs, and really, the man needs to stop smoking before he gets throat cancer. His voice here sounds like how he sounded in Real - which is to say, very hoarse and screaming to reach those high notes. I don't even want to think about what this song will sound like live.

Moving on, the melody is quite straightforward here, as you'd expect of a punk/pop song. The rhythm of the melodic line is a lot slower than that of the accompaniment line, which kind of struck me as odd, becuase it seems to me that it doesn't quite fit. Maybe it's just me. It must be. The arrangement is also a little interesting because although the song is in a major key, the chord progression and the notes that Hyde sings almost throw it into a sort of semi-minor key.

The chorus picks up a bit, and with it, throws the song back into a true major key. It's pretty catchy and I'm sure if I listen to this thing a few more times, I'll be singing it in my head for the rest of the day. After the chorus, Hyde sings a second verse and then the chorus again. The second part of the chorus has a time sig shift into 4/4 time (as opposed to the rest of the song, which is in cut time), and vaguely reminds me of the instrumental bridge part in Luna Sea's Tonight. Hello then moves into an instrumental bridge of its own, with a spotting of guitar above a very solid bassline (reminiscent of the guitar /bass duet in The Rain Leaves a Scar just before Ken's solo). There is no guitar solo. Hyde comes in again after that with distorted voice effects (these seem to be very popular lately in everyone's work) and then repeats the chorus again a few times.

As you can probably tell from the review, I'm not too terribly enthralled with this song. It's a nice song, but nothing I'd consider great. Though I guess I should give Hyde a break - he just got done with all the Moon Child hype, so maybe he's still trying to adjust back to "regular" musician life. XD

SINGLE INFORMATION
Hello c/w The Other Side
Release date: 03.06.04
Catalog #: KSCL-545
Price: 971 Yen
Preorder: CD Japan | HMV

People on the west coast, you're in luck! B'z is coming to America for their third US concert. It's going to be on October 21 in Seattle at the Showbox. Check out the link for ticket sales, which begin tomorrow, May 16.

Thanks to Keen for the heads-up.

RE-SET c/w LAMBRETTA
comes out July 16
COCA-15468 ￥1,050 (tax in)

Haven't seen it listed for pre-order yet, but be sure to check HMV or CD Japan in the next few weeks for it.

As I mentioned in my Another Story review, the concept album has been popularized in the visual kei genre to no end. Picking a definitive work out of all of these, however, isn't as hard a task as it may seem. If I had to pick one album that showed what the term "concept album" really meant, Lareine's Fierte no Umi to Tomo ni Kiyu is the one that jumps out at me. Fierte is an ambitious project that ignores all the unwritten rules of album making, and is truly an "album that has it all." Being somewhat of a concept band themselves (with overall themes of romance and reincarnation) probably helped Lareine's creation of the album, but that in no way diminishes the quality of the final product.

Before I begin this review, let me again reiterate that concept albums aren't for everyone. Some people happen to love them because of the overall theme tying together the songs into a story, but others would rather just listen to a regular rock album without the experimentation. I'm not trying to convince you either way. If you like what you read in this review, I suggest you go buy the CD and decide for yourself.

My copy of Fierte comes in a box with a mini-poster, picture booklet, and the CD and lyrics booklet. I believe this is the first press, and I don't know if the picture booklet is included in the regular pressing. All the members of Lareine play parts in this "epic" story of reincarnated lovers trying to find each other. The picture booklet has some really nice pictures of the band, but I was hoping that it would also give the story, and it doesn't except for a little blurb at the beginning, pictures of the main characters, and a rather confusing diagram which I still haven't figured out yet. What I'm inferring from this is that the story is truly told through the songs, and all we need to do is listen to the music...which is what a concept album is supposed to do in the first place, I suppose.

[1] THE WORLD OF ROMANCE
The opening track of the album, as with most concept albums, is instrumental. There are thunder cracks in the distance and then a mournful symphonic dirge from synthesized orchestra. Above this, a male voice speaks in English about the new millenium and the choices of romance and the heart. The music softens then to a single flute-like melody line before expanding back to the orchestral arrangement. The music crescendos and then halts before the last note, as the voice whispers "Romance." All in all, a nice opening track.

[2] KAZE NO YUUWAKU
"Temptation of the Wind." This is the most "rock" track you'll find on this album, but what a rock track it is. When people think of Lareine, they don't usually think of rock in the traditional sense of the word, but Kaze no Yuuwaku proves that this band can rock with the best of them. The track begins with Emiru's bass pulsing on a low Ab, and then Machi and Mayu coming in with a great instrumental introduction, followed by Kamijo, whose voice is the only thing I have a problem with on this track. It's a little too nasal-sounding, in my opinion, for this song. The best part of the song is actually around 2:47, where Kamijo drops out and there's a long instrumental solos. This instrumental break lasts about a minute, and then Kamjio comes back in, but wait, there's more! Between Kamijo's vocals, each member then gets a 5-second solo break. It's an impressive piece of work, and I'd classify this as probably one of the best performances they've ever given on recording. This is one of the songs that shows people that Lareine isn't just a "pretty boy" band...they've got the talent to back it up, and actually (or unfortunately) this is the only Lareine song I've heard that lets Emiru have much of a fun bass part.

[3] EMERAUDE
True to concept album form, this track is completely different than the first two. Mayu gives an amazing performance here on acoustic guitar in this Spanish-flamenco-style song, which is already a pretty darn amazing piece of work in itself. It's probably my favorite song on the album, and Mayu's solo from 2:08 to 2:23 is not to be missed.

[4] SUNA NO SHIRO DE NEMURU KOIBITO
"Sleeping Lover in the Sandcastle." Starts off with an angry guitar solo by Mayu, composed in an all minor key, and rocks with a rocking comparable to that of Kaze no Yuuwaku. This was the first Lareine song I ever heard, and anyone who doubts the authenticity of Lareine as a band should definitely listen to this track. There isn't a lot of fancy guitar/bass/drum work in here, and the vocals aren't anything to brag about, but what really impresses me is how tightly the melody threads are woven together. The entire song is a very solid, very wrapped-up piece of work, driving straight ahead in a predictable but still impressive manner. And as always, Mayu's solo is great.

[5] BILLET ~OSANAKI NATSU NO BINSEN~
"Ticket ~stationary of young summer~" This song begins what I think of as the weakest section of the album. The song (about a love letter) isn't a BAD song, but if you've heard Lareine before this album, most of the songs they'd come out with before this sound rather like this one. Dont' get me wrong...Billet is a poppish track with a lot of bell-like effects in the background, soothing to listen to. However, it sounds too much like Suna no Shiro (like a pop version of the former song), which is definitely the more sophisticated of the two, and if they were going to include it on this album, they probably shouldn't have put them so close together. There's a little French spoken interlude in the middle, which is the most notable part.

[6] RETOUR
"Return." Another all instrumental track with the same "feel" as track 1. Lots of symphonic instrumentation, female French voiceover in the middle which is actually quite clear and which I would be glad to translate if I remembered any French from high school. ^^; This is obviously a bridge track between tracks 5 and 7.

[7] YOUSEI NO KUNI ~RUNRUN MARCH~
"The World of Elves." Why is this concept album so radical? It's because of tracks like this one. The entire song sounds like something from a child's audio storybook - a cute toy piano track with English child voiceover about playing together in the world of elves. It's cute to the point of almost syrupy sweetness, but it's definitely a concept album song.

[8] PINK NO KASA
"Pink Umbrella." Yousei no Kuni leads directly into this track, and as you can probably tell from the title, it's another cute-ish song. I really have no comment on this song other than that it's cute, it's pop, it's linked to track 7, and Kamijo singing about pink umbrellas frightens me.

[9] PARIS WA AKI IRO
"Paris is the Color of Autumn." As you've already seen, there's a huge French influence on this album, and this song definitely showcases that. There's French-style street accordian in the accompaniment, as well as an underlying track of street noises, all adding to the atmosphere of "Paris in autumn." This is another pop track, and I really wish they hadn't put this, Pink no Kasa, and Billet all in a row, but oh well. There's a female vocal in this as well who sings along with Kamjio (who can't speak French >.>)

[10] SHIROI ITO
"White Thread." The pop influence of the previous few tracks is toned down a bit here. Begins with staccato chords in the guitar and then Machi comes in with a steady beat that's not quite pop but not nearly rock either. There's also some synthesized orchestra in the background again. I don't find much of anything special on this song, so moving on.

[11] RETROUVAILLES NO BANSAN
"Reunion Dinner." I really like this track. This is another all instrumental track, but as with all instrumental tracks on this album, it's dramatized. It seems to be set at a dinner party, and amid the conversation, someone drops something - a glass? - and then we heard Kamijo say "boku to odotte itadakimasu ka?" ("would you like to dance with me?"). Mayu then gives an admirable performance of a Baroque-style waltz piece on his guitar, accompanied by Machi with some march-like drum riffs and cymbal crashes. When the song ends, there's scattered applause and not much else (poor Mayu and Machi) and then a sad little piano solo starts. Kamjio then has a long monologue above the solo about his feelings and lost love.

[12] FUYU TOKYO
"Winter Tokyo." Probably Lareine's most famous work to the general jrock fandom - this is the "why don't you touch my heart / cause it's so sentimental night" song. Anyone who has heard of Lareine has probably heard this song, and the PV is also widely known. Blaring trumpets and big-band show-style take the song over the top, and if you've seen the PV, you'll know that that's no overstatment. As one of only two songs on the 16-track album that was a single, the band did a good job of fitting it into the overall sound of the concept album, something not too easily done.

[13] JE T'AIME
"I love you." I really don't like this song. It sounds a lot like Shiroi Ito as well as a reworking of some of the themes from Suna no Shiro, and really does seem like just a filler track between Fuyu Tokyo and the last three tracks on the album. There's a lot of heavy guitar and bass here, but nothing else too unique that I can see. In my opinion, Je T'aime is actually the weakest song on the album, and the musical line would have flowed much smoother if they'd gone just from Fuyu Tokyo to Ano Hito. But then again, that's me and not them.

[14] ANO HITO NO AISHITA HITO NARA
"If I Was Her Beloved." The Lareine fandom is pretty cleanly divided over this piano ballad. Some think it's cheesy and can't stand it, and others love it to pieces. I'm one of those in the latter group, though I'm not sure if it's just because I love ballads or if it's actually really a good song. I'm leaning towards the second choice. The song does sound rather like a more mature version of Romancia, Lareine's first piano ballad, but overall, it's definitely its own entity. As with all ballads, it's slow, has orchestration in the background, and turns into this epic thing at the end (the "epic-ness" may be debated by some of those who don't like this song), though the overall punchline of the song is that it remains very simple at its heart when you listen closely. I suppose you'll have to listen to this and make up your own mind on it, but I think it's a beautiful piece of work.

[15] FIANCAILLES
"Engagement." The second single on the album. I'll have to say that Fiancailles is definitely the more "serious" of the two singles, but they have a lot in common soundwise. Fiancailles does endeavor to present itself as an offering of more of the "love song" variety, if that makes any sense. The highlight of the song is definitely the introduction, a crescendoing series of half-step arpeggios that explodes in a shower of choral vocals and synthesized harpsichord over a dance-like beat.

[16] FIERTE NO UMI TO TOMO NI KIYU
"Disappearing with the Ocean of Pride." The title track as well as the conclusion of the album and seven minutes of concept album glory. The dirge-like melody of the first track is the melody line of this song, a haunting wrap up of all the concept album's themes, complete with whistling wind and thunder noises. Kamijo has several monologues here, and there's a female French monologue as well. As with Kaze no Yuuwaku, there's lots of instrumentation in here, a very rich use of instrumentals to balance out the vocals as the song drives towards its final conclusion. I must say that this isn't one of my favorite tracks, but most Lareine fans seem to love it to bits, and it does do a fine job of closing out the album. At the very end, the male voiceover from The World of Romance returns, speaking about departure, illusion, and false love, but that "We hope that in life, you will be enfolded by the colors of romance."

ALBUM INFORMATION
FIERTE NO UMI TO TOMO NI KIYU
Release date: 2000.2.16 (first press) | 2000.2.23 (regular)
Catalog #: SRCL-4751 | SRCL-3782
Price: 3200 円 | 3059円 (tax in)