What a nice preview!

a Bell has to explode at some point. You can't have a piano/ethereal-esque intro track when the next song is WARNING... lol

a Bell reminds me of overture from Love songs.

浜崎あゆみ / a Bell（from 2015.4.8 Release "A ONE"）: https://youtu.be/r6MXtYWDKMs

omg its sooo beautiful :D

I was thinking the same thing :D

avex is strange LOL..uploading Walk too when it was a single track =.=

I can't handle the waaaaaaaaait

a Bell is so... dramatic. But it is very nice. I cannot wait for my copy any longer

Oh wow I didn't expect her to suddenly snatch a CM song for Samantha.

"a Bell" is just SO post-HAL Yuta Nakano - way to tell us right out of the gate "This is going to be an Ayu album! Like how she sounded before!"

Good show, intro. Way to do your job! :D

I saw a pic of A ONE CD on Facebook earlier. Please leak already

i pray for a siren in "a Bell" HAHA and then it kicks into this sick guitar section and leads into WARNING perfectly..like Pieces of SEVEN

sublime. This intro is just wonderful. Can't wait to hear it in full version.

omg a Bell is so wonderful and touching...i love it

i hope she will make a real song out of this instrumental track (just like what happened with mirror)

It sounds wonderful. Really want to hear the full version. It's so dreamy

A Bell is very beautiful

The difference with this and mirror though is mirror had words :P

^oh..right..i forgot about that...

but a Bell has a big potential...

a Bell wonderful.

Gave it a 3 second listen and I like it, don't wanna spoil it. I wonder how long it will be.

Thank God it's only an intro, I can control myself better with that :laugh

It's so calm. Warning right after it will be weird

It's going to pick up/change ;)

a Bell = pure magic

Well, it can or not explode... Kuu's Introduction for Kingdom has NOTHING to do with LAST ANGEL, nor does Introduction ~WALK OF MY LIFE~ and Dance In The Rain

I hope

I love the intro, it reminds me a bit of Sailor Moon tunes, I wonder if there's any twist since we only got few seconds.

I'm so eager I already reviewed the tracks we know, I'm waiting for Anything for You :>

Such a weird tactic to give a preview of a Bell... Before Anything for you! What is so special about this track?

I kind of expected the album to be out already, especially knowing there are physical copies in the open somewhere...

Yeah considering that Party Queen was on iTunes on the 14th before the official release date of the 21st in 2012, and then Colours was like, what, 2 weeks early on iTunes. I don't remember if LOVE again got an early release digitally, but still. Eh well. I can wait another week. (more like a week and a half, knowing the EMS shipping process for me personally)

Prayer circle tbh
There were a lot of songs I was praying for a change in key or whatever. Never happened. Maybe if we don't hope for it it will happen.

can someone rip a Bell from youtube? i tried, but can't

Can't wait for the leak ;D

Ugh a Bell is so pretty sounding. This could have been a wonderful full song. Why does she always do this to me? :'(

"a Bell " reminds me a lot of the music made by Iwai Shunji.

here is : https://www.sendspace.com/file/0977kt

I don't know why, but this title sounds to me like "a world full of belly" XD

:yes as soon as I heard it I told myself "wow that sound so much like HAL in the past" and it's a really good thing because I miss HAL arrangements ... What happend ? Why they don't work together anymore?

A bell sounds like the "new game or continue" title music for a RPG game.

I was keeping any kind of anticipation under wraps until this point. But to suddenly have the release date creep up like this and me realizing it's almost here makes me want to listen to it now. Especially after I just had to do a midterm piano performance exam and chose to do an arrangement of Endless sorrow. I thought it would have been so rad if I got done with class to discover after stressing so much and being nervous that A ONE had leaked and I could indulge after all the work I put into practice.

I will not listen to the intro, I don't see the point. Really, an intro is meant to be experienced the moment you hit play on the entire experience. I wish they had not uploaded it.

It is weird that they did, but really it's just the first little bit. I imagine it will be 1:30 at least, then we'll get the real meat of what the rest of the album will be like. Too bad it didn't leak for you, that would have been special :)! Did you record your exam?

A Bell reminds me of Ghibli studio movies, such as Spirited Away, music by Joe Hisaishi.

magic, calm and beauty

Saaaame. That's exactly what I thought. And that's a good feeling lol

I'm keeping myself from listening to A Bell!! LOL

I love how it slowly starts to build up. If if gets crazy after the preview, I wouldn't mind, but I'd also like it to stay the way they've set it up. It would be a nice contrast to WARNING. And I definitely agree that it sounds like something from Joe Hisaishi.

It COULD have something to do with creative differences after the HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR album. That was a very cool album (though I think halca needed more time to get used to singing in a studio... live she sounded amazing but she lacked power on CD), but I had no idea it was a HΛL production when I first heard it. It doesn't sound HΛL-ish at all.

Toshiharu Umesaki was one of the two founding members of HΛL and he does still work under that name producing & maybe managing indie artists... but he hasn't released any major recordings.

Takehito Shimizu, who was the other half of HAL until 2011, was a guitarist before joining HΛL, and he's back to playing guitar again. (He's on NOW & 4EVA, for example.)

Atsushi Sato was part of the original duo and left in late 2002... He was in the group before RAINBOW, and while HΛL was a group with HΛLNA on vocals. He left first to produce on his own as ats- (pronounced like "A.T.S.") instead of his full name (which is the same as EXILE ATSUSHI... AND a comedian, AND a TV producer... so that's hilarious). He's still with avex, still quite active. He's done production work for AAA and Tackey & Tsubasa recently, for example.

Yuta Nakano.... that's an interesting chapter of the story. He was added to the group (along with Shimizu) when ats- left, and that formation of HΛL are who did much of RAINBOW.

Well, Yuta Nakano didn't stay in the group very long, but once he left, his production sound... was suddenly the HΛL sound. Where it had NOT been before (He got his start in early 2000 by remixing Fly high with the vocal track, and his remix was one of the three "fan remixes" that got chosen for inclusion on ayu-mi-x II NSMM... he did remixes of SEASONS and NEVER EVER as well before joining HΛL). It's like he joined the group, stole a bunch of their secrets, and left! lol...

HΛL (as just Takehito Shimizu and Toshiharu Umesaki) kept doing their sound too... But in the meantime, Yuta Nakano kept most of the HΛL tropes - piano with reverb on it, that "Paahhh!" sound effect, some of the electronic twinkle/beep sounds - and brought that sound forward, gradually updating it for the times. HΛL didn't do that to the same degree... the mix got more modernized but the music didn't get heavier. Their stuff got much more generic - that seems mean to say, but it's exactly what happened. HAL's once-singular sound was gone and they sounded much more run-of-the-mill, much more typical. You couldn't identify their production work in a lineup anymore, you know? Basically Yuta Nakano did HΛL better than HΛL did. He seemed to "get" what made their sound special when they lost sight of it.

Eventually HΛL's production just wasn't interesting anymore and their work sorta petered out.

....That post was longer than I intended it to be. But if you read it, thank you! lol

http://i60.tinypic.com/15pjom8.jpg
So no big case again D:

Photo from for "a" ver club

Wait
They did not put the sticker on the cd case. That's the pits
I need the sticker in HQ, gotta read the description of the album.

^^^ That's REALLY interesting, Delirium-Zer0. Thank you SO much for your explanation, I never really understood HAL (I used to think it was a single person), but everything became clear now :)

Wow thank you for such a long post :D
I really like HAL sound especially during Duty to Rainbow ! This kind of digital/ambient sound mixed with other musical instruments etc... but from what I read on the web the persons responsible of this kind of sound were Toshiharu Umesaki & Atsushi Sato ...and now I read your post I understand why this sound progressively disappeared after 2003 if the group broke out !

The interlude "Rebirth" on Guilty is the last song with this kind of atmosphere ! Yuta Nakano sure mimics HΛL from time to time but something is missing in his arrangements... it must be this digital/ambient sound ?

Yuta, along with tasuku and CMJK know Ayu's 'sound' best.

They're all incredibly talented and versatile producers too.

It's hard to believe the same guy arranged all these songs:

Love song
Mirrorcle World
ANother song
Eyes, Smoke, Magic
Virgin Road

I wonder what happened to Naoto Suzuki.

Also just realized CMJK hasn't worked with Ayu since Party Queen. I hope he's still active!

^
Arf I hoped so much that CMJK makes his come back in this album but nothing not even a single song :/ too bad he is really good and since some years now his talent is wasted by making Idol songs with no depth ... it's a shame lol

We'll be getting Movin' on without you on A ONE ^^

I hate this part. When people have the album and show it off but don't share it.

I actually hope it won't leak until the date of its release ^^

Let's talk about numbers, I'm horrified about Kumi's new album sales, it's an amazing album, had good promo sp I was expecting at least 50k for her first week :~ It sold 3k on its second week bringing total sales to 42k, and to be honest I don't see Ayumi selling more than 35k on A ONE's debut week..

Colours had more promotion than WOML so I'm not sure what your talking about...

Anyway Ayu should do 60k first week with all the promotions she did.

Omg YAAS
Wait so either ayuma lied (about the tracklist), she's surprising us, or she's pulling a love again for ayu fans and making that Utada Hikaru cover collection esentially useless. Ambiguous Queen.

Bring back Bounceback x

60k on the first week? have you checked Oricon in the last two years?

You honestly believe a 60k opening week is possible? I don't anticipate A ONE will even hit 60k in total sales, by far, I think even 60k is a big overestimate.

After Koda's first day, I thought, Wow, these are insane sales and I may want to revise my prediction of Ayu's sales because Koda and Ayu are usually very close and have been since Kingdom / GUILTY. But the massive drop to 3k on the second day was what made me stick to my guns.

I think A ONE will probably debut somewhere between 25k-30k, and total sales will be around 40k. If it's any higher than that, I will honestly be astonished. But I highly doubt A ONE will outsell Colours.

It could since they're actually trying to actively promote A ONE online at least compared to Colours...

There's so much coverage online of anything new that is released about A ONE but do you remember them doing that at all for Colours?

It's the same as expecting Kuu to sell 50k in her first week. Since Ayu's promotion is bigger than Kuu's (so far) using your estimation method she should do more.

at least she's doing OK with YouTube views this era.

also, why does the You & Me PV have over 3.7 million views? what is wrong with Japan tbh.

No matter how good the songs could be I dont see a new studio album surpass the previous...

thats a shame actually for the japanese market

I think it was because it was scandalous among other things? But You & Me was a bit of a summer hit when it came out as well so people probably watched it to loop the song, lol.

I dunno, I think A ONE could do it.

^^^ isn't because Maro threw her out of the car in the video? that's so domestic violence :no

Nah, just because it came out shortly before they announced their relationship.

But that song was a 'summer hit' but of course not on the same level as BLUE BIRD.

That song is like no 4 on the japanese itunes (you & me). I mean I like it for all the wrong reasons but why is it so popular?

We Found Love but in Japanese?

That's sad but true. Not even Namie and Nishino Kana have been able to surpass their album sales (when it comes to original albums, Ballada was an exception).

I don't think A ONE will sell more than Colours but I'm pretty sure it's going to sell (almost) the same amount, which is good. They're giving her better promotion than they did for Colours, and it also seems that Japanese people liked Zutto..., Last minute (the single did really well digitally), Movin' on without you, and also The GIFT is getting popular on YouTube. I think it's a good moment for Ayu! :heart

Colours didn't exactly set the bar high in terms of sales...her team's promo strategy this time around is quite different (read: there is one) so it would be great to see A ONE sell more than Colours did.

Well, it is pretty insane to think that she hasn't had one sell more than the previous since what, Duty/A BEST?

Movin' on without you might help the album.

I'm sorry, I understand your point but that's not what I said... :no I'm not sure if I made myself understandable in my previous post.

Loving the sound of "a Bell". :heart It's so lovely & sweet to listen, to!

Well, I was saying that it's insane for any artist really to outsell themselves once they've hit their peak and that is especially the case for Ayu since she was so high up there. She was always consistent and then (m)u happened.

I was making a general point and just so happened to quote you since you had the last piece of discussion on sales.

I'm sorry, I was the one who didn't understand then! It took me a few minutes to comprehend your comment, I apologize but I'm not a fluent speaker yet. But yes, I totally agree with you! :)

What is pissing me off is that we won't have any tv performance :/ I really miss them

Girl is busy working on the tour.

Hope a clip of Anything for You shows up on the YouTube channel tomorrow, at least.

I don't think I can remember an instance where a song was so guarded THIS close to the release date. We usually have previews of every song well before the release date.

Maybe she hadn't finished the song till recently?

^ Yeah, I also don't really think it's that strange. How shocking can it be? :P

Maybe that everything was so last minute is why movin on without you may be included.

^ Like the last minute "Last Minute" PV? xD

Or we could just wait for the full song in a few days lol

They may not want to risk getting in trouble and that's a big fine when it comes to leaks and if the person responsible is found. Though everywhere does it. If you work at eb games and a new console comes out, they can take it home as soon as it comes into store even if its like 2 weeks before release. Some people are lucky to know the right people or own a music shop :)

Dood, the guy who has it is an avex employee, lol.

Mess
Why can't we just be patient and kill some time by blasting asfxx the album in the meantime?

I remember back when My Story was released, Ayu stated that she wanted to end the album on an uptemp song, so she (at last minute) recorded/added in Humming 7/4.

I wonder if it's similar?

I honestly don't care if it's added in though. It's a good recording, and almost at 1 million views on YouTube. (Combined it might already be there) so it's good business sense too.

Combined it's more like 1.92 million, lol.

loooove a bell. But I thought it would be a preface to Walk. um, it's going to have to change dramaatically if it's the album start. wowa

Even better ;)

Soooo should we expect another preview tomorrow? There are enough songs left for a new preview every weekday until release. I hope it is Anything for You!!

Movin' on without you: I didn't expect that
 

Man, I'm surprised. They put "Movin' on without you" at the last minute! I did not even expect that to happen! Did Ayu or Avex hid that under their sleeves until yesterday? How did that happen?

If "Movin' on Without you" on track 12, does that mean TA version got total of 13 songs (inclusive of Tell All 2015 Mixed)?

Waiting is killing @@

Yeah.

a Bell is better than all the songs LOL and is Movin' on without you gonna be on the regular editions as well?

I still find the name of the song funny. Is ayu gonna put A next to everything. I mean my name starts with A so I'm biased but come one ayu use other letters. Why can't you call it 'Z bell'? Nobody ever uses Z. Or X. Or pretty much anything after U.

I mean maybe I'm thinking too much into it and she's actually talking about an actual bell. I don't know I didn't even listen to the preview.

Love this era OMFG. And the Smantha Thavasa tie in!! these surprizes ❤️❤️❤️

a cowbell.

a (cow)Bell