The 63rd thread
 

Last thread:
I love it she looks gorgeous.

I never worry about sales that much but I do want her to sell good.
With the tsunami and everything I expect it to be low but
We can hope right and is all about the music always.

Posting again... ;)

PRECIOUS BEAUTY 2011 Early Summer No. 25

(click on images)

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/a...2025/th_01.jpg http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/a...2025/th_02.jpg http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/a...2025/th_03.jpg http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/a...2025/th_04.jpg

Credit: Namie-Fans

Pics of Checkmate!:

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/1...d0c86a1.th.jpghttp://img29.imageshack.us/img29/275...9213c6e.th.jpghttp://img88.imageshack.us/img88/507...d00906e.th.jpghttp://img816.imageshack.us/img816/7...a71e12e.th.jpg
http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/1...e6113ae.th.jpghttp://img148.imageshack.us/img148/6...0d33fa1.th.jpghttp://img195.imageshack.us/img195/2...e7cd401.th.jpghttp://img35.imageshack.us/img35/739...caefd0e.th.jpg

Credits:
weibo.com/ancn and Ken at JPC

Thank you so much for posting the pics of the album! I can't wait until I get my copy so I can see it in person!

omg that's some neat packaging going on for both editions of Checkmate !

too bad I'm not buying it because I only will listen to the 1st 2 songs in the tracklist :x

Sweet jesus. I need HQ scans.
the packaging looks killer

omg i can't wait for the HQ scans :yatta

So saddened I saw those pics before I held the actual copy in my hands, but so excited because I know I'm gonna like what I see when I get it hahaha I just want those pv's in HQ not to mention I'm over watching Do Whatchu Gotta Do on my zune with logos plastered on it!!

it looks amazing !!!

The package looks really great :) I actually love digi-packs. They look so luxe.

^and protect the jewel case sometimes :innocent

The album is pretty.

I'm hoping to pick up a copy my copy at Kinokuniya in NYC when I go there next week. :)

Yeah I agree. I also love digi packs. They have some sort of "special feeling". I really like my BEST FICTION digi pack :yes

I love my BF digipack too! The one for P<F is really awesome too. :luv2

Arrgh, when are we going to get a real rip? D: I kind of expected one today.

I was expecting one soon too

it's a holiday, be patient. it wont get ripped the second it's released.

I can't wait to get my hands on the rip. :D I can't believe I'm saying this but Namie's the only Japanese female artist whose music releases I actually look forward to nowadays. :yes (mind you I didn't become a fan of hers until late 2009) Other prominent Japanese artists that I normally listen to just fell off the map for me. It's a damn shame. :(

That packaging looks quite nice though. Not a fan of the whole color scheme but at the end of the day it's just packaging. :P

^same boat with you.
She makes good music.

My order for Checkmate shipped today! Besides Wonder Woman, I haven't heard any other songs from the album so I'm really looking forward to listening to it when it arrives! I'm sure it's going to be well worth the wait!

They don't celebrate Easter in Japan, rofl.

how do you know? you dont live there, maybe some do.

I can't wait to hear the actual CD rip of make it happen!

I hear that, I want a 320kbps rip naooo!!!

^:laugh I know right! I also want to have a 320 kbps CD rip of Wonder Woman :yes

Can't wait for my copy to arrive, it's already been in Chicago since 10 this morning.

I have only heard Wonder Woman from the new songs. I bet I'm gonna enjoy this album because that CM sounded so amazing. *_*

Because they don't have many people who follow Western religions. So if they do celebrate it, I imagine it's something like how Christmas is celebrated there. So I'm just saying it's not like someone would put off ripping a CD due to a holiday if they already planned to.

There is no easter here ^^ Christmas exists while Easter is unknown ^^

I must say imo #1 felt like a filler but I like it a lot now, the beat is pretty good, and I love the way Namie sings in this song, so I have a newfound love for it, the pv on the other hand huge grower, my eyes can't take all the contrast.

What ever happened to the Black Out PV?

I've been wondering that also. Is that PV ever coming out. We know it was made so what is the hold up?

Real 320 kbps leaked on JPS & KMC.

And here's album pics!

So.....my order will be arriving shortly, but I downloaded the 320 rip cause i'm tired of listening to that horrid pv rip I have of make it happen, and it has Want Me Want Me with Verbal as track 14 but it sounds different than the very first version of it I've heard...bonus track?? I'll find out when I get my copy :D

edit: Copy just arrived and yep Want Me, Want Me feat Verbal is a bonus track!! AHHHHH!

I hope someone will post it on AHS soon! :yatta
It's good to know it's out there somewhere :yes

ffffffff I am at such a loss as to how to tag these stupid tracks :scry I know quite pathetic

Does the booklet give credits for WMWM feat. VERBAL? I'm curious as to what the proper tag is.

To make things simple for myself and iTunes I just put "feat. ××" for songs that are primarily Namie's and "w/ ××" for songs that aren't. So, like, "make it happen feat. AFTERSCHOOL" because that song is hers and "BLACK DIAMOND w/ DOUBLE" because that one isn't.

Could someone please upload the actual CD rip (320 kbps) here on AHS? :D

I'm not too sure about that, when I looked at the booklet I didn't see any mention of it, but when I popped in my cd it was track 14, I just put it as feat Verbal since he even says in the song "Who else but the V-ER the BAL"

It's so nice to listen to the songs in HQ. They sound even better :heart

Oh, I meant like if it was a remix and if it had a special title or something. I was updating the album description over at JPS and didn't know what to call it so I just put "(Remix)" at the end. :/

^Oh well it's not really a remix same 'ol WMWM just with Verbal's verse in the beginning and Namie's first verse cut out.

yay!!! a real 320 rip !!
a really nice album

Umm I didn't really enjoy Checkmate! as much as I thought I would. AFTER PARTY is so annoying lol. ROCK U and BLACK DIAMOND are still great though. Out of the new tracks, I only liked #1 and that was only because the male vocalist has a sexy voice. make it happen, UNUSUAL, and Wonder Woman didn't really hit me (especially Wonder Woman...everyone was freaking out about this track, but it's really annoying and boring).

I think this release was a bit overhyped by fans lol. But I still enjoyed the album a bit. Just have to let it grow on me. And oh the track with Heartsdales was hot.

And tagging the regular tracks isn't that hard.

In the artist section, it should all be tagged 安室奈美恵. And then these are how the songs are tagged in the "song" section (going off of iTunes layout)

1.) Wonder Woman feat. AI & 土屋アンナ
2.) UNUSUAL feat. 山下智久
3.) make it happen feat. AFTERSCHOOL
4.) ROCK U feat. 安室奈美恵 / ravex
5.) Do What U Gotta Do feat. AI, 安室奈美恵 & Mummy-D / ZEEBRA
6.) Wet'N Wild feat. SUITE CHIC / Heartsdales
7.) Do or Die feat. 安室奈美恵 / JHETT
8.) FAKE feat. 安室奈美恵 / AI
9.) #1 feat. 川畑 要 (CHEMISTRY)
10.) BLACK OUT feat. Lil Wayne & Namie Amuro / VERBAL
11.) BLACK DIAMOND / DOUBLE & 安室奈美恵
12.) Luvotomy / m-flo ♥ 安室奈美恵
13.) AFTER PARTY feat. 安室奈美恵 / ZEEBRA

I don't know how to correctly tag the WANT ME, WANT ME remix though...Since it's a hidden track and all lol.

This is how it looks on my computer.

1.) Wonder Woman
2.) UNUSUAL
3.) make it happen
4.) ROCK U
5.) Do What U Gotta Do
6.) Wet'N Wild
7.) Do or Die
8.) FAKE
9.) #1
10.) BLACK OUT
11.) BLACK DIAMOND
12.) Luvotomy
13.) AFTER PARTY
14.) WANT ME, WANT ME (feat. Verbal) (I only have the "feat verbal" in this song because I already have a "want me want me" on my computer)

When it comes to the artist, I do it in the information.
So track five's song title would be "Do What U Gotta Do", and under properties - details - album artist "安室奈美恵"
and then there's another entry field for song artist, and I would put AI/安室奈美恵/Mummy-D/ZEEBRA

or something like that. Because "Do What U Gotta Do" looks so much better on my ipod as a song title than "Do What U Gotta Do feat. AI, 安室奈美恵 & Mummy-D / ZEEBRA".

WANT ME, WANT ME feat. VERBAL (m-flo)

:)

verbal definitely resung the lyrics. The cd version sounds different than the one we had from forever ago.

I really enjoy Checkmate! It was worth to wait all this time for this album. New songs are totally kick ass songs :luv2

Checkmate ! is at #1 today with 93,168 copies sold on the 1st day

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/

Omg, congrats to Namie <3 She's so gonna take the top spot for the week, I'm so sure of it. :D

I understand wanting to tag all the songs as Namie, but that just doesn't make any sense, and it isn't what the site's tracklist is trying to say. It makes no sense to have a song with Namie as the artist then have it "feat." her.

In FAKE, for example, it lists it on the website as FAKE feat. 安室奈美恵 / AI. The part before the / is the title of the song itself, while what comes after it is the artist (which makes sense since it was AI's single). It shouldn't all just be put in the "song" field with Namie as the sole artist. The rest of the songs should be tagged the same way.

I agree with what you did on tracks 1-3 & 9 though. I know it officially should have the "feat." with Namie under "artist", but there are enough ****ed up tags on this album and I figure I'd do it that way since that's at least how "feat.s" on American albums always work.

woww!!pretty good sales!!!,congrats namie~

Whoa, what a runaway this week! (But we're just getting started...)

I saw it on Oricon this morning as well! I'm so happy to see that the album is doing so well and I hope she can maintain the #1 spot for the rest of the week!

Great beginning! I'm sure this will be #1 for the week. Now to just see what the number will be at that point.

Let me just say that as much as I am grateful that Namie gave us fans a release, my overall thoughts on the album is that it was not worth writing home about. That does not imply that it was a bad release. ;)

Out of all of the new songs, I only favored "#1 feat 川畑要". Sad but true. The others did nothing for me.

Out of the older songs I enjoyed, "ROCK U", "Luvotomy", "Wet'N Wild", "FAKE", and "BLACK DIAMOND".

Oh well, I hope her next studio album fills the void.

Good, I have a feeling she may even surpass her ninki, but who knows we'll see :D Loving my purchase though, packaging beautiful and even though there are only like 3 pics like always, they're still nice and you can see Namie's new tattoo really good in one.

The songs with slashes in them mean that whatever comes after the slash should be the artist tagged with the song, but whatever floats your boat xD

Great sales for the album :)

lmao tags fight
waaaaah awesome!

amazing first day sales! :D i'm very happy for namie.

great, another No.1 for her

the NINKI index for Checkmate ! was 150.70 & already on the 1st day on Oricon , the no. was 93168

It definitely will suppress the NINKI index no. by today if not tomorrow :D

I like having my library clean kthxbai

As with any tag war, tag it however you want. You are the one that cares more about how it looks, might as well make it to your taste.

I'm liking those sales numbers :) But where are the live performances :(

So I listened to all the new tracks in HQ and my opinion hasn't really changed for any of them. "make it happen" would be my favourite while the other tracks make me think of cheaply produced C-Pop songs. "#1" is cool because it has a SUITE CHIC vibe to it but that Chemistry guy's voice does not suit the song well at all.

Incredible project overall though. I've always admired Namie for her collaborative efforts. She supports other talents, vice versa and it makes things interesting for everyone.

Only stating the official way since you said it "should" be tagged the way you said :rolleyes

1 48,489 Ｃｈｅｃｋｍａｔｅ！ AVT 11/4/27
安室奈美恵

93,168 + 48,489 = 141,657

^ HOLY CRAP! Those sales are incredible, especially considering it's only a collaboration best. It's so pleasing as a Namie fan to know that Japan still loves her so much after almost 20 years (if you count the SUPER MONKEY'S) in the music industry.

So, so true. Although now I sound like a hypocrite because I started this thing rofl.

Wow at her sales. Pretty amazing <3

Those sales are awesome! Way to go Namie! :yatta

Namie is smoking the charts and leaving the others behind in her dust. There's no way she's not going to be #1 this week. She's doing awesome, especially for a collaboration album.

I haven't been keeping up with other jpop lately so I'm guessing from what guys are saying that collaboration albums usually don't do this well. I'm glad that this album is selling so well.

I'm loving this album. It's so great to have a collection of her collabs <3.

100%

Deserving those sales so ****ing much.

I've been listening to her discography lately and rediscovered the love for oldschool stuff. Concentration 20 is one of the best albums ever made. :heart

Thank you for stating that, I believe Concentration 20 was one of the best albums ever made too, imo it was much better than Sweet 19 Blues, but hey, the best albums are always the ones with the least recognition.

I prefer SWEET 19 BLUES waaaay over Concentration 20, even if I still do like all of the songs from it. But that's just having different taste.

I'm glad about the sales of Checkmate! even if I honestly didn't like it that much.

I think SWEET 19 BLUES was an AWFUL album, especially for a debut. It's just kind of a mess with pretty much only the singles as standouts. Concentration 20 was an awesome album that took a lot of unconventional risks, and they paid off.

I like Sweet 19 Blues about the same amount as Concentration 20. They are both pretty different, and very good. I love the fact that Sweet 19 blues has a lot of instrumental tracks, but has plenty of regular tracks as well. It had a bit of a messy composition, but that makes it more adoring for me. I love the industrial and experimental feel of Concentration 20, and I like the fact that it has some sweet, easy tracks as well as hardcore ones (lol)

I downloaded all of her albums but I haven't listened to them yet

i'm glad, really good sales

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it *haha*

I'm getting Checkmate with Driving Hit's 3 next week.
Finally I will listen to both albums tracks*-*

Namie is nominated at MTV VIDEO MUSIC AID JAPAN... Break It nominated for Best Video of the Year & FAKE nominated for Best Collaboration Video... :)

Source: http://www.mtvjapan.com/vmaj/nominee/

Awesome sales for Checkmate! She's so gonna be #1 <3

She's so gonna win those awards <3

Thanks for posting.
I really like the song :yes

^
So do I! :love

i transferred the cd-ripped checkmate! to my iphone 4 and the default volume of the album is so soft?!?!? i dun understand?!?!

Third day sales: 31,280 #1 ^.^

^Holy mother it's gonna sell closer to 200,000 copies first week. o.o

It's my first time listening to this song and I quite like it! Refreshing track from Namie's latest releases.

Yeah, same here... I replaced the ROCK U I used to have from the ravex album with this one, and I had to put the volume all the way up to decently hear the checkmate! version.

I'm glad that Namie is nominated for awards, but shouldn't the best collaboration for FAKE go to AI? Isn't FAKE AI's song?

Checkmate! 93,168 + 48,489 + 31,280 = 172,937:love

Yup, and it features Namie... :yes

I had that problem too :( its really annoying cos i have to remember to turn it down just as the song ends so I dont end up bursting my eardrums as the next song comes on :thud

Jesus!!!!!!!!!!

Awesome sales!