Thoughts on GUILTY

[*Petit*]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

My All - A lot like Replace, but fortunately it at least has some nice electric guitars and a pretty strong verse(so far the strongest melody of any of the new tracks). But then the chorus just seems to fall a bit short. 7.5/10

Your take on this song is almos exactly like mine, which is rather creepy. However, I absolutely love it.
__________

I think the album is very good and flows extremely well compared to her previous two attempts. Because of this I can easier come to appreciate it as an album rather than skipping songs a lot. Her melodies are slightly more interesting than Secret, the arrangements better than (m)u.

THe problem with this album IMO is that it, much like MT STORY doesen't really bring anything new for ayu fans. It's simply a really good and beautiful album,without offering anything new. I feel that a lot of the songs could've been more interesting if the arrangement and structure was a little more challenging and not as straight forward. THe rics and melodies overall has a lot of potential. As an example, even though I like MY ALL a LOT, it's floats entirelyon the melody and lyrics, the structure is very traditional, the arrangements remain the same thourghout and even the same guitar solo (more or less) is repeated like 5 times . In my opinion MY ALL is an example of how these sngs with just few steps could've been just as great as her works on RAINBOW and I am.. if she had gotten more interesting arrangers or pushed them a little more in one direction.

I enjoy this album a lot and it will probably remain my favourite pre RAINBOW album along with MY STORY because I can enjoy it as a full album.

[ayu-marco]

Originally Posted by kyuutii_hanii

Well said.

Why do everyone complain about the rock thingy? Isn't it the song, not the genre which makes a good or a bad song? And I definitely do not think every rock song from Ayu sounds the same. Well maybe there's similiraties with (miss)understood and GUILTY but that's just because they're instrumentally both simple and rather slow. But in (m)u Ayu sounds really tired and pissed of, while in GUILTY, as I said before, her voice is kinda cold and then again she sounds like she's lost and panicky. And t2m or Decision remind me about none of her other songs.

And in the end, there's not so many rock songs. Well mirror, t2m and Decision clearly are, and Marionette too, but all of them have many orchestra instruments in them so they're kinda "classical" too. Guilty is slow pop-rock. Fated and TW have rock elements but I wouldn't count them as rock. Marionette -prelude-, TJD, reBiRTH and glitter ain't rock. MY ALL has guitars too but it's more soft popsong. Untitled ~for her~ isn't rock at all. And (d)lma is more pop than rock too. Maybe people find it more rock because it doesn't have songs such as BOLD AND DELICIOUUUUSSH~ or Born to be Free..

yeah
your thought is same as mine
I don't think any songs of the album GUILTY are similar to one of the old songs. Each song is excellent. ayu in control of the emotion on each song is doing very well. I love all of them.

I really enjoyed the album, I don't think it was quite as good as Secret, but that IMO is one of Ayu's finest.

Together when...., Marionette, and Guilty shone along with all the tracks released on the Talkin' 2 myself single...(don't)Leave me Alone was quite good too.

[henrydawg87]

I feel like GUILTY is similar to RAINBOW.

I mean, you have I am..., which is one of her most electric, energy-charged albums ever.
Pretty much every song on that album rocks and can stand proudly on its own.
You have 8 amazing singles packed into 1 album.

RAINBOW is definitely as the title puts it: relaxing and almost dreamlike.
I felt like that album didn't have any stand-out songs; they just all meshed together.
That's what originally took me so long to truly appreciate it.
Rather than being able to play one song at a time, I had to spend an entire hour to listen to the whole album.

GUILTY definitely has its great singles, but I feel like all the songs mesh together like with RAINBOW.

I've listened to this album through and through; it's been playing nonstop.
However, I haven't really appreciated it until 10, 11, 12 plays all the way.
It took me some time with this one.

It's a great album. As a whole, definitely better than Secret and (miss)understood.

[Bad Wolf]

Originally Posted by xCHELLy

InoriNoUta great review. Makes me want to listen to the album even more. Still waiting for my copy to arrive =\

Thank you--I hope yours comes soon! *knocks on wood*

I'm glad to read your guys' thoughts on the album, too--a lot of what you've been saying, in regards to comparing it to RAINBOW, I am... are things that I actually didn't realize before! I should keep it in mind (RAINBOW is one of my more dear Ayumi albums as I realized just how much I can relate to the tone, theme, songs, and style overall).

GUILTY is one of my favorite releases of the year--there hasn't been much competition, yes, but Ayumi really did a fine job on this album.

[mi|kshake]

After first listen, my fave song is Guilty!! I wish it had a PV! Feel Marionette is a bit overrated and that we could have done with a stronger pop song instead of Glitter and the ballads don't match up to Will/Heaven/Rainy Day/Criminal.

mi|kshake~

[Genki+]

My copy arrived~

The photobook is lovely. I like every track on the album too

[ayumisrael]

GUILTY (the album) just saved the ass of 2007 - suck year for music. I think I didn't enjoy this year from jmusic like I enjoyed after I heard GUILTY, and people can.. =D,
GUILTY SAVED 2007 imo.

hikki's singles were nice
kumi's singles were BLAH
BoA had nice singles... and MIT was awesome but it was good for some listenings (I think I'll keep up later).
YUI had good+ releases
Namie's PLAY was awesome but same as BoA above.

GUILTY is a winner ^-^.

[Sweet_Ai]

^I love the song Guilty too.

I also like the song MY ALL. I listened to those 2 non-stop.

I don't like Marionette.

All of the other songs are ok. I like them

[/Rief]

I like all of them!!!
This album is so much better than Secret

[HilaryDuffFanboy]

Hm I finally caved into my curiosity and figured I may as well after hearing bits and pieces of every track.

After one listening I dislike　the album as a whole, for me it's a weak album, Secret was much stronger and (miss)understood even more so. This album just seems to lack something and also lacks flow.

Mirror - good for the first 20 seconds and then is wrecked.
(don't) Leave me alone - don't like it. sounds all over the place, its like a downgraded until that Day...
talkin' 2 myself - good single, like this one
decision - this is really popular among fans but i never liked it
GUILTY - its really bad, from the instrumentation to the vocal,　i just dont like it
fated - this song is OK at best
Together When... - best single of 2007 and one of the two tracks that saves this album
Marionette -prelude- - boring prelude
Marionette - i can see why people would like this song but i just dont. maybe it will grow on me
The Judgement Day - its ok....... shes had better interludes
glitter - ew ew ew. worst single of 2007 by far.
MY ALL - good ending song but otherwise forgettable for　me
reBiRTH - not another interlude -,-
untitled ～for her～ - fantastic. the other track that sort of saves this album from being total utter trash. i always get shivers when i listen to this. today i stood inside tower records and HMV just listening to it because its so good,

[truehappiness]

Originally Posted by HilaryDuffFanboy

Hm I finally caved into my curiosity and figured I may as well after hearing bits and pieces of every track.

After one listening I dislike　the album as a whole, for me it's a weak album, Secret was much stronger and (miss)understood even more so. This album just seems to lack something and also lacks flow.

You need to listen to it more.

[Alison]

It can't top M(U) for me, but I like it better than Secret.

[Mr Ayu-Mania]

Hello everybody, long time lurker - first time poster here..

(I am sure there must be a thread for the new members to introduce themselves, but I couldn't find it)

I love this forum and this is my favourite source of Ayu-related information. Sometimes I get frustrated by the amount of negative comments some people post. Some users here seem to be quite picky when it comes to Ayu... Let's remind ourselves that she is only human, and a very hard-working one as well.

Now, what do I think of Guilty? It is a tough question... What I am sure about, is that it is NOT a weak album. I personally think that Secret was a little bit better. But I like Guilty overall. I have to say that Ayu has kept her high quality over the years surprisingly well. Only a few artists have achieved that. Perhaps the reason for all the mixed opinions we get with every new album, is that it is difficult to pinpoint Ayu's music. It is not entirely pop and it is not entirely rock. Depending on the analogy of styles in each album, we get different opinions depending on what some people prefer..

Anyway, I hope she gets another #1!

[cttncandy]

Did anybody see in the "Making Off" of fated, how when they were kissing and then they said "cut", Shawn hugged her against him, they were hugging for like the longest time. He was hugging her against him protecting her from the rain until the people with the umbrellas arrived. I thought that was the most adorable thing.

[Not~Yet]

Have you yet realized or am I the last one to notice how similiar the lyrics of TW... and Close To You are?

Even if I'm reborn some day
I will surely find you

[XFER]

I really hope the album grows on me. So far, aside from a few standout songs, most of the material sounds recycled and generic to me. My favorite is "Together When...", that song rocks, but only after I saw the wonderful video... it was what triggered me to like the song.

"Secret" and "(miss)understood" and even "Duty" remain as Ayumi's best works

[Vinylfantasy]

I like it more than I expected I would because I was not impressed with the singles when they came out. Maybe hearing the album in its entirety helped out, it's a lot more cohesive.

[Rebirthia]

Originally Posted by amorphose

Exactly what I was trying to say. At first its hard to see, and it leaves you wanting more. But once you see the light, your like "wow..."

I hope I can see the light. I have bought two copies of the album (one japanse w/DVD and another with hong kongese w/out DVD + posters)

I have not heard anything from the new songs.

[Raleigh]

Originally Posted by ayumisrael

GUILTY (the album) just saved the ass of 2007 - suck year for music. I think I didn't enjoy this year from jmusic like I enjoyed after I heard GUILTY, and people can.. =D,
GUILTY SAVED 2007 imo.

Yeah 2007 was a bid mediocre. A lot of artists just recycled their music and didn't bring anything new which was a bit disappointing. GUILTY did bring something interesting though I think it didn't stand out so much either. Right now that's what I feel.