Glad to see so many good reviews. Holding out till I get my copy though. Hurry tenso!! ^^

Does anyone have the credits of the songs? I noe composer: TK, written by ayu...what about the arrangement?

That'll have to wait till proper scans to the photobook are done. I tried looking at the camera photos posted in the other thread but it's indecipherable.

It's readable if you look hard lol
truehappiness posted the credits somewhere...
Got them ^^

I knew that TK wrote most of the damn songs. They are good, don't get me wrong but they are so insanely simple!! X_X (If you cant tell I'm not a TK fan lol)

^so...u dun like the album?

Im just so glad to see Yuta Nakano :)
you know, since MOON, I was really hoping she would use more of Yoshino but....I guess she felt otherwise hahaha...Hope to see more of him really

^No no I do love the album :P I'm completely in love with sending mail and do it again but I just feel that for a music veteran, Komuro relies on incredibly simple and easy compositions. I think what saves most of his works are the arrangements and the artists. Like sending mail is so simple and easy but the arrangement makes it awesome and ayu just takes it to another level :P

haha i see. I think u refer to the repetitive melody of sorts?

===

guys, i find it totally STUPID not to have chosen FedEx.. =.=
There's actually this "Expected Delivery Date (EDD) Calculator" by the EMS company in Singapore..and I input the time of shipment as of the time when CDJapan changed the status to "In Shipping Process" and the estimated delivery date was put as "no later than 22nd" *criessssssssssssssssssssss*
on the other hand, if they changed the status on Friday, the date was put as "no later than 20th"..............and maybe that's why I have gotten my CDs on Monday before.
If this is true..then...Im gonna be sad person for the next 2 days :(

its like..I had high hopes for it to arrive on the 20th but...now....

Wow, this might be the first time one composer has dominated an Ayu album so much.

Not just that. I've always felt that TKs recent works don't really flow well. Its almost like he's got a cut and paste method of composing:
Compose one part
Paste in
Compose something completely different
Paste in
Compose chorus that feels like it should be in another song
Paste in
Copy all
Paste again
Song complete

To me thats what its like.

I agree. The same thing with crossroad. If not for the epic arrangement, the melody alone would have failed the song for me. But since he's the one who arranged it too, at least there's something going for him still.

He was a big thing in the music business a decade ago, and he's kept his spark with the songs I've heard so far (crossroad, VR, LA, LS), so I have trust in him. :)

Even though I love the album I DO MISS CREA A LOT!!

I took about 8 hours to do mine! lol I'm actually kind of embarrased at how long it took. Each song just got a longer and longer reviews :P

Your review was really nice - do you have a review blog or something?

everyone is too excited about the songs.

WHEN ARE WE GONNA GET HDTV SCREENING OF LOVE SONG, LAST ANGEL & DO IT AGAIN PVSSSSSS????!!!!

Dont forget about Dream ON too :)

Love song PV full version will be broadcast on MTV Japan on December 22nd.


Love song, Last angel and do it again PV full version are all listed on M-ON, but no broadcast date yet.


Nothing yet about Dream ON PV full version.

haha Yea, I think mine started stretching out and becoming more detailed towards the end. Kinda helped to be buzzing around from a pot of coffee. :tired

No I don't...although doing this has gotten me interested in the possibility of doing more reviews. It's really interesting to listen so closely. XD

SEVEN DAYS WAR really was a great ending to the album. I'll have to put a copy of it with my album rip when it comes. :luv2

I think it's funny that Thank U has probably the worst vocals on this album yet it's my favorite out of the new tracks. :P The others haven't really grown on me yet, but I bet they will. La la la la~

Oh, and somehow this album managed to make me like Sweet Season. A lot. Though I used to hate it. Weird. o_o

yay thank u Luna~~ so they're all coming soon

this is a first for me. I love every single album only song, and I dislike every single song (except blossom and last angel).

Even the single songs I dislike still fit very well with the album and flow nicely. This is a good album. No intro, no 1 hard rock song on the album just for the sake of having it there, and 16 tracks which we haven't had since miss!

My only complaints I have are that she did the "interlude - 1 song - interlude" thing again for the 4th album in a row! I really feel like there's no point to that. interludes transition between different genres and feelings of the album and to do it twice with only 1 song in the middle seems weird and unnecessary. she could have easily taken out an interlude.

The other only complaint is that sdw is the bonus track. I understand the live version as a bonus track, but the regular sdw? she should have just put it in the album tracklist if she wanted it in there. but instead we get it as a bonus track. unchanged, unaltered, regular, studio, standard, single version. That's not even worth having a bonus track. I think at least a remix, or album version or something would have been a real bonus.

Ayu's album tracks are usually better in general in my opinion. But unlike usual for me, I am hopelessly in love with the crossroad and L singles so I hope the album tracks can measure up! From all the reviews I think they do. :luv2

90% chance they will only be poorly upscaled, anyways.

There was CREA, Tetsuya Yukumi, and GEO before, I think. Only CREA actually came close to this sort of domination though.

This might be late for me to say, but...

I kinda feel weird not having a overly happy summer pop wowwowwow/yeahyeahyeah/lalala track (ala glitter/blue bird/sunrise) to listen to for an ayu album!

Didn't Hoshino do like, almost all of A song for xx?

^ Thank U?

Second day of listening to this album and I already love all songs :D :heart

It's really a strong, cohesive album with interesting tune.

Well, I knew I'm going to say this since... Ayu's music never disappointed me. I'm weird aren't I? :laugh There have been some very weak singles in my opinion but it's a different thing about albums. Her albums are always excellent. And even though I'd say that Secret is my least favorite and I don't like it as others, it's still far from being bad and I wished some of my other favorite artists would make as good album.

I don't know where I'll rank Love songs. It's hard to rank every Ayu album :laugh

^
^oh yeah. there's another reason I'm happy to add to the reasons why I love this album. no winter ballads, no summer tunes.

Yeah I agree with you. I ranked Love Songs as my 3rd favorite album =D. My favorite is (miss)understood and my 2nd favorite is Duty =D

I don't think that's weird. Not sure why it would be... IMO it's weirder to say that Ayu disappoints you more often than not, haha.

^then I'm weird. but only because I'll never give up my dream for more ferry corsten, trance, remix type of music. It's hard for me to accept the fact that she'll never give up ballads, even for one album.

lol it's pretty unrealistic to expect any female J-pop artist to not have at least a few ballads in an original album

Lol, I'm telling you right now, she's not gonna do a trance album. Nobody in Asia likes it.

While I think it's a bit unrealistic to think Ayu will ever do an album with no ballads. I'm just... so OVER them... u____u

that's my dream too....


but alas, the remix golden age is long gone, and it's just, not popular anymore there.

But you know what is popular? Sappy ballads and all these medium tempo love pop songs.

Ayu seems very trendy at times...and then other times...she seems way out of the loop...

if they're like MOON, Virgin Road, November, or crossroad I'm not over them. I'm kinda over No way to say/momentum/Days type ballads though. I like ballads I can listen to at anytime, not just winter.

Since the album was release in december I'm guess the tour will start earlier than normal next year.

People were whining for more ballads just about a year ago... haha.

Yeah and now that she gave them ballads, there's a problem. There's always a problem.

So true, complain is the official sport for ayu fans...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_69z2mbV3dz...58f6c0c872.jpg

so beautiful <3

^OMG, so ****ing gorgeous. :heart

I remember around this time last year being being completely bored of Yw.../B and pretending like S/S didn't even exist. I wanted more NEXT LEVEL like songs or a rock song.... or just something good really. Complete opposite this year, I'm satisfied with all of the singles and I have a *hopefully* amazing album coming my way.

I sense CDJ is about to ship my order... they just counted the item total towards my 700yen coupon... now I have just 5763yen left to spend so I can get the 1,000yen coupon LOL.

Omg YES!! It's getting closer! They definitely shipped it already. It happened for RnRC when I got my album even when the status was still reflected as "in shipping process". I also remember people using these points as a gauge to cdjapan's movement haha...I can't wait omg...more and more good comments coming already

*checks* My points show changes on 12/20, so it has been shipped. :D

^^Same here! I wonder if I'll get mine tomorrow. Which would still be a day before release in Japan...haha wow

yay~ got an email mine was shipped. I'll be tracking it like crazy now. Estimated delivery the 21st! I love seeing how fast it travels with fedex express.

I've never used EMS before, so this will be interesting...I've always chosen Air Mail in the past. lol

^^FedEx is soooo much faster!
Haha I'll definitely get mine tomorrow or Tuesday

Mine's shipped too!

This is the first time I used Airmail so fingers crossed I get it soon *____*

I did choose FedEx at first...but then I saw something about possibly paying customs with FedEx so I panicked and switched to EMS. x_x I don't know if it even applied within the US. :irked

^^I've never paid customs using any type of shipping, including FedEx, haha :)
I'm in the US too :)

As long as it gets here in one piece SOON! LOL

Shipped!!!!!!! So happy...lemme get it soon omg
Mwehhhwhe I'm so envious of fedex people..I must be blind to have chosen ems..but I hope they don't disappoint me because I have always went with them

Yay they shipped mine too! :luv2 but..

Estimate Delivery Dec 27. AAAAAAARGH *HEAD EXPLODE*

Haha, I never noticed the points thing until tonight, I will be paying more attention to them from now on.

They've updated my status to shipped as well. So I'll definitely get it Tuesday, same day as when Japan will be listening to it. Love that feeling. :D I just hope the holiday rush doesn't slow down my package like it did a couple of weeks ago... the wait would KILL me! D:

@lumieregirl: lol, don't worry as far as I know, there's no such thing as custom taxes here. No matter where I've ordered from in the world with whatever method, I've never had to pay customs.

I can't wait to take a pic with my copies and tweet it to ayu :heart

I can't wait to get my copy :D

Did u go with fedex? I remember for RnRC you got it slightly after me Haha...
Gosh i can't wait. I can't even track my order wth

November
do it again
Thank U
sending mail
Like a doll
Love song

Omg, I can't even rank them...they are all so amazing!

MINE SHIPPED TOO!!! I got the same estimated delivery date but I'm still hoping for tomorrow! I live on the east coast so probably not. :no

identity is the most likely of any of us right now to possibly get it tomorrow since she's closer to the land of the rising sun. (east coast still rules tho) :P

I'm so excited right now. How the hell am I ever going to get any sleep tonight or Monday night?!!!?!

yume dake ja, yume dake ga... ♫
the end of do it again is pretty intense

Mmm, fast deliveries. I remember once I got something from Amazon.jp and it came a day after I got the shipping notification.

I wonder how long Airmail will take.

mine shipped too!!! I'm so excited :D

Thank U has me tearing up :heart

it did it to me too when I listened to it and read the lyrics at the same time.. just thinking how she wrote it for her fans.. she's so lovely. I think the song already gets too much hate, even if you dislike her voice, the music in that song is GORGEOUS.

I don't think I can wait until Tuesday to be honest... I hope it comes tomorrow!

I always wonder what people are talking about when they're like "Are you kidding me?" if I say that Ayu has some of the most lush arrangements ever. I mean COME ON. Who else in J-Pop has such amazing arrangers?!

Aren't you like

. . .

used to it by now?
Just sayin.

I'm getting envious of those who's copies shipped today. Nothing happening with mine..

Aw crap, mine has an estimated ship date of the 21st before 10:30am... but I have work at 7. :weep Maybe one of my neighbors will be able to sign for it.

Did you check the CDJapan webpage? If you didn't get an e-mail, it should still say "Shipped" at your account. Sometimes they're a little slow with updating.

I was so happy about my order shipping, I forgot about the lucky draw... I wanna forget again though because I don't want feel disappointed when I find out I didn't win one. :laugh I hope someone here wins something.

Still says "In Shipping Process" :(

Again, I live in Canada so I dun really know if the US Fedex does the same thing. But I was one of the victims. I got a headphone (hikki's HS pv one) delivered by Fedex. A month after I received a letter saying that I owed them $20 (according to my memory) because they paid for my custom while shipping. Later on I learned (from another AHS member) that a custom handling fee was included in the payment. So probly if I used normal mail (e.g., EMS), I would probly only need to pay for $10 for the custom, but now I had to pay extra because Fedex "helped" me to pay the custom in the beginning.

And I was cleaning my room last nite, and found out that the actual payment was $30. I dun believe that a $80 headphone would cost me that much for tax and duty.

totally lol

@melina: I've had that happen a couple of times with them when my order wasn't shipped until around 5am EST and I got my package a day later than expected. It'll probably be already shipped when you wake up tomorrow so I wouldn't worry until then. Hopefully they ship it before it can make a real difference in the time it can reach you. :-(

@bluegie: Ow, that bites. I just googled custom fees in US and came across this:

Hm, so that must be why I've never encountered custom charges. :roflmao

I have a question about those who ordered in YesAsia.

I have been checking there non stop what is happening with my order, today I look in, well still as preorder marked, but now I got this

http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/4379/unbenanntnv.png

does it mean, I get a Lucky draw gift???

I can't see it meaning anything else...

Congrats. :D

^ Yeah you did! You're lucky xD

Yep! Yesasia is the only retailer that updates your order when they add it.

Congratulations! I wonder which one you got. Hopefully the Christmas tree or something. [I really want the plate or fork/spoon set, haha.]

for me now it doesn't matter what I get, just seeing this now I am happy, for once after a long time I have been lucky again ^^

I still can't track it. Is it still flying or???

Did you use EMS or FedEx? Sometimes it can take a day or so before you can start to track your package.

Maybe they just haven't updated your order yet?

And yeah, the tree is probably going to be like 4 shipment units, haha.

Shipment unit 1 doesn´t really sound like the christmas tree xD
I got nithing with my 2 YA orders >< It´s the fisrt time I didn´t win anything with them since they have the Lucky draw ._. Maybe I´ll win something with CDJ :/

well I don't think the Xmas tree will be that heavy, since it is 30cm big and not sure what decoration it will have

^ could be! woah YA is so nice, they already stated that u got a gift..

Congrats, Azmaria! Hope you got something good. :)

so if YA doesn't say you have a gift now you most likely aren't getting one?
darn :(

Actually, consider that Love songs on its own is two shipment units. The tree is about as large as the 30cm x 30cm [?] USB edition which is EIGHT shipment units. It really is kind of odd the way they decide, but I think the tree is the largest gift of them all so it would likely take up at the very least, three or four.

my copy has been shipped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that makes sense, well I will not break my head and let suprise myself ^^

Most likley *shakes hands*
I am still hoping for my CDJ order though xD
Hope it will come here till christmas, but I doubt it, because of the holidays and the snow.

my copy from CD Japan also has been shipped today..
I hope i'm gonna get it before xmas! coz if not, i'm gonna wait longer til next monday T__T
I hope i win something!

In my case, I'm just hoping it'll be here before New Year.

Yes!! I just checked my shipment on YA and it says ....
"ayumi hamasaki Lucky Draw gift" :D:D:D
I'm so excited to see what I got!! It may just be the sticker though. But that's OK. If it is the gold sticker I will be happy. ^^

LOL My parcel is still in Japan. CDJapan usually ships them on Saturdays so I thought I'll get it today or tomorrow.
This sucks.

I am praying all u guys receive ur copies soon

I'm using EMS but I never really had the need to check until this time. Is there a chance I will get it before that 1 day is up?