Okay, just finished listening to A Song For XX...
I'm very glad that I was introduced to Ayumi later in her career (just prior to Guilty's release actually)!
Not saying it's a bad album...Listening through, my ranking goes:
Loved
Prologue (wish it was longer!)
A Song for xx
Hana
Friend II
Poker Face
You
Trust
Depend On You
Eh
Friend
Wishing
Powder Snow
From Your Letter
For My Dear...
Present
As if...
Signal
I would have LOVED Signal, but this was one song ruined by her vocals, imo. She tried to sing too high and sounded too strained--a bit painful to listen to.
Ayu sounds so young on this album, and, honestly, I find her hard to listen to in large amounts.
Most of the time it's not a big deal, but yea, there are moments. I'm glad her voice has matured.
I really enjoy her redone versions of ASFXX tracks from later years for this reason (as well as musical changes).
Ayu's voice is really a very MINOR complaint, so don't jump all over me. XD
The other thing I noticed was a lot of the songs sound similar, in that vague "I heard this bit in this other song from two tracks back!" feeling. It's like the album is one long track of similar sounding music...
Musical style, it reminds me of early 90's American. I obviously prefer the upbeat tracks (that's always a given with me
).
I have to admit I'm not a big fan of this album. While I love A Song for xx, Depend On You, Poker Face, and so on, it's not the versions on this particular release. I prefer DOY orchestra and 10th Anniversary versions, Poker Face remixes, etc. It is a good album for a debut, but if this was all Ayu had out, I probably would've ignored her.
Haven't watched the PVs yet, but there's my thoughts. *hides from tomatoes*