HEART STATION vs. Guilty vs. Kingdom!

[sora-kara]

I've just read through this entire thread, and I am the only person to have this ranking order:

1) Heart Station
2) Kingdom
3) Guilty

Heart Station is fantastic. It's lush, richly layered and just soooo beautiful from beginning to end. Lovelovelove. It's really the type of music that I'm completely in tune with right now. It's not her best album, but it's still miles above a lot of other stuff out there right now

Kingdom was pretty solid. I didn't really like any of the singles, but when placed with the album tracks (which are mostly awesome), everything just seemed to fit. I like the singles more now (except for Freaky and Last Angel. Freaky I do not like, and Last Angel I dony really care about) that I've listened to the album a bunch of times. The album tracks are really top notch, and everything shows off Kuus versatility. Some of the tracks are a bit of a rehash (Koi no Mahou), but for the most part, I really enjoy this album.

Now Guilty.....I HATED the singles. All of them. They all just sounded so old, forced and recycled. No thank you. I kinda liked Together when... when it first came out, but then i saw the video, and realized shes released that song and that video about a hundred times already. But i downloaded the album anyway. I think i listened to it three or four times, and i really tried to like it. It just didnt happen. There are a couple of good album tracks, and then a whole lot of crap.
No thanks Ayu. Try again please.

[kirei_ayumi]

I prefer Guilty, but I still like Kingdom and HEART STATION....

[Kobayashiwoof]

KINGDOM!!!

RANKING
1. KINGDOM 8/10
2. Heart Station 5/10
3. GUILTY 2/10


Kingdom, had the most quality tracks even though none of them stood out compared to her other songs. It was a very fun album, and is the easiest to listen over and over. It was a huge crowd pleaser. The only track I skipped was Wonderland. This album had many highlights like Amai Wana and Under.

Heart Station, A HUGE disappointment from Hikaru, she has seen better days. The album was all over the place and had its same, Utada generic boring 90's sound. The 90's sound can be great, but in this album it seemed over exaggerated and the primary base for the album for each song, with extra sounds just to thinly coat the songs, wasnt all that great. It had nice songs, but thats all I can say about this Albums, SINGLE tracks, nice. It's album tracks in majority were a disappointment. She seemed lazy in her image and music this time. I hope she will pick up and become the Utada Hikaru I loved again No real highlights on this album.

GUILTY, First Ayumi album I haven't bought since Secret. Much like Heart Station, it just recycled its sound. I dont think I'll be a fan of Ayumi's current rock sound, and overall, I only gave this album like 2/10. It's only good track was Together When..., which seemed generic Ayumi still, but it was a great song. No real highlights on this album.

[CoriKaru]

Originally Posted by Melon Panda

Yay! More HEART STATION fans! I swear, that album just doesn't get as much love as it should.

Oh believe me HEART STATION has been getting a lot of love. May not seem as evident on this Forum well because.....this is a mostly Ayumi Hamasaki oriented forum. Best to not use this forum as a basis as to how well accepted and received HEART STATION actually was and is still.

[omably]

HEART STATION was awesome! I loved the poster *drools* Guilty was also awesome but I'd have to say HEART STATION was my favourite. I haven't heard all of Kingdom yet though > <!

[Amai Yume]

This is a good question. These three are easily the top 3 albums of the year so far and to say which one is the best, I think it depends on your mood.

Koda Kumi: Kingdom

-> the album captures various moods ranging from the beautiful and sorrowful sounds (Ai no Uta) to the upbeat and sexy (BUT / Under / Black Cherry) to the cute (Koi no Mahou and Wonderland) and so much more. The album's variety is one of its strongest points - there is no one true overarching sound, instead creating a range of emotions
-> Introduction For Kingdom is a beautiful introduction [her best one so far] and starts off the album with a high point and Black Cherry is a strong bonus track to finish the album with just as much power
-> her vocals show good range from the higher and cuter sounds (Koi no Mahou) to deeper tones [Aishou] to excellent vibrato [MORE]
-> the album features many highlights such as Amai Wana, Under, BUT, MORE, anytime, Black Cherry, Koi no Mahou, Himitsu and Introduction For Kingdom
-> the accompanying PVs were enjoyable to watch

Utada Hikaru -> HEART STATION

-> the album has a consistent sound that creates a very cohesive effort; impressively, the atmosphere is retained while venturing into different types of sounds [like a dance feel in Celebrate, a magical feeling in Take 5]
-> ALL the singles from the album were strong and built great anticipation for the album, while clearly showing which direction Hikki would take [and some singles sound even better of the context of the album -> Flavor Of Life - Ballad Version - and Stay Gold]
-> Hikki's voice sounds great as usual but she especially hits certain notes well [HEART STATION, Flavor Of Life]
-> although Boku wa Kuma definitely sounded like a bad idea to put on the album, listening to the album in full, it definitely finds it's home
-> the album is easy to listen to as a whole because of its fluidity

Hamasaki Ayumi - GUILTY

-> although there are some similar sounds to other tracks from previous albums, they are different enough and so enjoyable [i.e. (don't) Leave me alone (1 LOVE) and MY ALL (Replace)
-> although there are quite a few interludes, they are strong. From the introductory Mirror to the beautiful and serene reBiRTH to the eerie Marionette - Prelude, - they provide smooth transitions for the album
-> Ayu's voice is a bit shaky at points but works well on the tracks [deeper on the heavier rock songs such as talkin' 2 myself and decision]
-> the various emotions that came with the making of the album come across fantastically [sorrow in untitled ~for her~ or happiness in MY ALL, etc.]

I think that if you don't enjoy rock then Ayu's latest album might not be for you and if you want a wide variety of sounds then perhaps HEART STATION isn't the first priority. Personally I have to pick Kingdom because it has some amazing songs that capture the spectrum of emotions. I would recommend listening to all 3 though...

[Sweet_Ai]

HEART STATION
GUILTY
Kingdom
I am rating that in terms of how many songs I like on the album. I listen to most of the songs on Heart Station, etc.

[Dusky Dawny]

GUILTY but HEART STATION was a very close second. I didn't like Kingdom

[GRACE]

GUILTY has some of my favorite Ayu songs(like the whole first half of the album is love), but I think I'm leaning towards HEART STATION.

HEART STATION had a complexity, there was a lot there to offer. It had a theme, it sounded consistent, it flowed BEAUTIFULLY, and it posed some thought provoking things in it's construction. While not Hikki's best album yet, it's an album who's deep meaning and obviously thought through construction (it had to be intentional) is amazing. I broke it down in one of the Hikki threads, my "HEART STATION Theory."

Kingdom was amazing when it came out, but I sort of forgot about it fast >.> Musically, I'd totally give this to GUILTY, but with everything HEART STATION is, I have to cast my vote to it.

[Damita]

I want to say Guilty. It was a great concept album IMO. They should've got rid of Glitter though, it had no place on it. 9/10 from me.

Heart Station was great too, so many great tracks, but something is keeping me back from voting for that...I'm not sure what. Maybe the horrible album cover? Also that track about the bear who hates shrimp or whatever should NOT be on it, what was she thinking? I give it a 9/10.

Kingdom has the best theme and art to it, but the songs themselves are only average. 7/10.

[howtousesexy]

Kingdom FTW

[Aderianu]

for me it's Guilty

[Ahi_max91]

Ayu chan....i love u

[ownsarai]

GUILTY for me.

[Ayumi_Hamasaki902]

GUILTY
HEART STATION
Kingdom

[Melrose]

Nice topic! ^-^

For me, it's:

GUILTY - 8/10
I don't like it too much. (don't) Leave me alone, MY ALL and talkin' 2 myself are gorgeous but as an album it doesn't stand to its own, IMO.

HEART STATION - 7.8/10
I'm not a huge Utada fan, because I feel like a lot of her songs sound the same. And she tends to take one short melody and repeat it throughout the chorus (Beautiful World, HEART STATION, BLUE, etc.), which I find annoying sometimes. On the other hand this album has GORGEOUS songs (Stay Gold, Take 5, Beautiful World) so until I get used to Utada this goes on 2nd place.

Kingdom - 7.5/10
I really want to like this album more, because BUT, FREAKY, Aishou, Under and Black Cherry are some of my favorite Koda songs, but the album songs are so BLAND IMO. Amai Wana -- I got tired of that after a few days. anytime, it's OK. Ai no Uta, well ok that one's good. Koi no Mahou wtf? Anata ga ~something~, nah... I don't know, I'm just not feeling the album as a whole. Oh, Himitsu is pretty wack, too.

Edit: It's really close for me.. All three albums are great, IMO.

@austin: Yea wtf is up with Utada singing "HEARTO SUTATION" in HEART STATION lmao. The first times I was WTF is she saying? @_@

[Partino]

considering the PV's, the package it came in, the concert and the cover "KINGDOM" is the winner...

for the songs and the lyrics the prize goes to "GUILTY"

for the most surprising album so far the OSCAR goes to "HEART STATION" ... I thought it would be a "great" album but it turned out to be "AWESOME"

I can't really put it in to ranking ...

but in case somebody is threatening my life with, I dunno, a big bottle of water it would look something like this:

GUILTY 1000/10
HEART STATION 100/10
KINGDOM 10/10

.
.
.

[*-_Ayu-fan_-*]

Kingdom = 9,5/10
Guilty = 7,5/10
Heart Station = 7/10

[aqua_crystal]

I love Guilty!!!! I used to be a big fan of Hikki but for some reason... I no longer am. So I don't like Heart Station that much. As for Kingdom, I do love Kuu, but after hearing such an awesome album like Black Cherry, I have to say Kingdom wasn't that good.

[Bashumaru]

HEART STATION 10/10
GUILTY 9.9/10
Kingdom 4/10