I think the differences are quite obvious when you compare them to her earlier performances.

Compare her performance of M here and her performance of M in Dome Tour 2001. She can't sing and project without shouting these days.

I would like to hear ANGEL'S SONG too.


I agree. She barely shouted in that live. Her vocals are great. There are a lot of decrescendo & crescendo in her singing way. However, when she's singing forte, she isn't yelling.

i thought she would sing Kanariya in this tour?

It probably made it in the top of the votes but didn't make it in the actual setlist? Or got DJ-sessioned or instrumentaled like ever free?


What from the list made it? What didn't?

Dude, the way she sings is just different now. She used to sing out of her nostrils and her eyeballs. Now she sings how she probably should have from the beginning. Even in her best vocal years, she was totally singing out of her nose and should not have been.

I like the squeaky wailing thing she used to do for songs like asfxx(a best ver), M and End Roll. For eg End Roll: soretemo omoTTETA ii yo ne, she does this haunting squeak. She doesn't do it anymore.. Rather miss it.

:clapclap

Really? Singing wrongly? Ok, because she sounds largely awful here (you want more examples? Dat No way to say chorus). So I guess I simply think she sounds better when she was singing "wrongly".

I am also very surprised that anybody thinks she sounds BETTER live now since I Was also under the impression that the consensus here was that her best vocal years were the Duty~I am era, followed by the My Story~Memorial Address period. Maybe I am wrong, in which case, power to you.

But once in awhile she puts out a good vocal performance these days. I quite liked Teddy Bear here.

Just to clarify - I'm not saying it's her fault if she sounds bad. I am aware that singing styles change and all that. And I hope people don't see this as a personal attack on her or whatever (which appears to be the case currently). I just thought she sounded horrible on this album mostly. And the production too - I really wish they did a better job if they were gonna put out a live album. If anything, this should be read as a criticism of the album rather than on Ayu herself.

Not to mention that's how she probably damaged her vocals in the first place. I still can't get over how people think she sung so much better in her earlier years :shakehead

Fact is she only recently began using a proper singing technique. Her earlier works sounded quite beautiful, but if you know about singing you'd know that she was using a pretty damaging technique for many years. I agree she sounded "better" when she was singing incorrectly, but doing that for so long is what led to the way her voice sounds now (which, despite using proper technique, doesn't sound that great, sorry to say [I still love her to death!]). So, in my opinion, complaining about the way her voice has developed while praising the very singing technique that made her voice the way it is is completely ridiculous.

Having said that, I actually enjoy this album. I was trained as a singer, so I've always had a bit of trouble listening to ayu sing some of her old songs because of the way she was damaging her voice. But hearing things like JEWEL and Memorial address sung in her new way is refreshing and very enjoyable, even if her voice is a little worn out. I can still feel her emotions coming from each song and that's why I don't mind that NEXT LEVEL - LOVE again doesn't sound like LOVEppears - MY STORY.

LMAO at this basicness.

^
Because like usual people can't dissociate vocal tone and vocal technique ...People are free to think her voice was better in her earlier years but the fact is that was the wrong way for her !

Personnally I prefered her vocal tone during My story/(miss) U but technically she is better now and that's important for a singer ! Though I can understand people who became fan of her in her debut and regret the voice she had back then but it's life =)

I think she needs some time to adapt her new technique to her past works !

btw sorry if my english is not that good ...

Omg I thought I'm the only one :D Sometimes I hear a bit of progress in it too.

It's always charming when somebody uses a personal attack as a replacement for actual analysis.

To everyone else who actually tried to make a coherent argument and to explain their point of view - I appreciate it; it makes the forum a better place for discussion.

Back on the subject of the way she sounds here - I suppose then it boils down to a matter of taste. I far preferred the tone of her voice back in the I am... era. I am not classically trained, so I don't come from a school of thought that insists that certain techniques are better than others, but I know what sounds good to me and what doesn't. If you like how she sounds this album, wonderful; I'll be listening to her studio albums until the DVD for this comes out.

Sorry, it's a completely different experience if you're actually there. I can finally say that after 15 years. I think her vocals were stellar throughout. She didn't shout or really do any MC, but I'm OK with that. The shouting that she DID do (A Song for, Fly high, You & Me, etc...) was enough to get me screaming, jumping, and crying, so I'm good.

The live experience always changes things. I thought Shiina Ringo and Tokyo Jihen sounded spectacular at Rising Sun Rock when I attended, but when the TV telecast came out her vocals sounded like they were in really bad shape. No regrets attending though - best concert experience ever.

Though I appreciate that Ayu has been trying to change her vocal technique to a deeper richer tone for several years now, as some of you have mentioned she doesn't sound good live. Song 4 u for example on hey hey hey sounded pretty shaky and this is what the general public sees (hears). Anyways it's not doing her any favours.

I also understand the part about listening to her studio albums and wishing she sounded like it live. Partly what drew me to her was being so impressed that her live seemed as good as the album sound (CDL05-06 being the reference).

^ I will say that the one song that has benefitted from that new 'technique' is Bold & Delicious. Her lives of that song just keep getting better and better I wish she'd perform it again some time.

I heard her live only twice, but imo she sounds way more powerful live.

I loved her live voice. It's not as good as her computerized voice, but um, who's is?

I like her singing voice now more then it was in the past. She sounds like she has matured along with her music, and her age, and in her life... wait... OMG... I mean... are people ACTUALLY suppose to MATURE with age?!?!
Novel idea right there.