I agree. I mean, it sounds almost just like a current live version. Sawao's vocals were [b]SO[/b] good on the studio track. But that was 1999. Sawao's voice has changed drastically. Not saying his vocals are God awful bad now, but we all knows there's been a decrease in quality. I still don't, and probably never will understand , why they decided to do self covers from the "Golden Era" off 1997-1999.

There's plenty of a back catalogue from years prior that might have benefited from some touching up. Didn't Sawao say he always thought his voice sounded like he had dumplings in his mouth back in the early days? If you're going to do self covers, do one for something like Razorlike Blue or Ame ni Uteba or Sayonara Third Planet. Not masterpieces that can't be perfected anymore than they already are like Strange Chameleon and Funny Bunny.

[quote="Son Goshin"]

There's plenty of a back catalogue from years prior that might have benefited from some touching up. Didn't Sawao say he always thought his voice sounded like he had dumplings in his mouth back in the early days? If you're going to do self covers, do one for something like Razorlike Blue or Ame ni Uteba or Sayonara Third Planet. Not masterpieces that can't be perfected anymore than they already are like Strange Chameleon and Funny Bunny.[/quote]


That last collection of words did not just come out of your mouth. (technically, it didn't because he typed it, but you know what I mean)

The early 90's albums were infinitely superior to later work like little busters.

At Goshin: you're wrong.

At Norbert: you're infinitely wrong.

If I have to explain myself on either of those points, it means we simply come down to a difference in musical taste.

Since disagreeing with Goshin may be more confusing, I'll explain my opinion on the matter (I should never have to explain why I disagree with Norbert). It sounds like the current live version...if the live version were to be cleaned up/redone in the studio via many repeated takes until the vocals hit every note perfectly. Also, I'm sure that the drumming and guitar will have a bit of a different vibe to it, just as the Turn Back songs did. In fact, many people prefer the new versions of Turn Back songs to the original release versions. Sawao may be getting older and therefore his voice may be dealing with a little wear, but his technical singing abilities have definitely increased over the years. If anything, the preview of the Rock Stock version shows him singing with far more confidence than he used to have, but hardly any decrease in vocal abilities (especially since it's a studio track).

Basically, quit your bitching until we have an actual release on our hands. If you want to keep hating then, your fucking loss. For now, STFU.

It's true about the studio versions from the late 90s sounding pretty damn good, but have you seen the lives of some of those songs around THE TIME OF THEIR RELEASE?

Singing live, I think Sawao's voice has gotten WAY better than in the 90s.

For example, compare this performance of Swanky Street:

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcjVAfrR_SQ[/url]

To the ones on 916 and Wake Up, Stand Up, and Go!

The more recent performances are infinitely better. Including Manabe's guitar solo. His voice back then was definitely great studio wise, but live he was very inconsistent and often times it seemed his singing lacked some confidence. I think his singing began to get better live 1999 and later.

As for Welcome to Bubbletown's Happy Zoo, well, that was a either dubbed or a magical performance!

As for what Marekenshin said, I agree.

[quote="Marekenshin"]At Goshin: you're wrong.

At Norbert: you're infinitely wrong.

If I have to explain myself on either of those points, it means we simply come down to a difference in musical taste.

Since disagreeing with Goshin may be more confusing, I'll explain my opinion on the matter (I should never have to explain why I disagree with Norbert). It sounds like the current live version...if the live version were to be cleaned up/redone in the studio via many repeated takes until the vocals hit every note perfectly. Also, I'm sure that the drumming and guitar will have a bit of a different vibe to it, just as the Turn Back songs did. In fact, many people prefer the new versions of Turn Back songs to the original release versions. Sawao may be getting older and therefore his voice may be dealing with a little wear, but his technical singing abilities have definitely increased over the years. If anything, the preview of the Rock Stock version shows him singing with far more confidence than he used to have, but hardly any decrease in vocal abilities (especially since it's a studio track).

Basically, quit your bitching until we have an actual release on our hands. If you want to keep hating then, your fucking loss. For now, STFU.[/quote]

LOL! So I'm a hater now? OK. The same should go for the oposite. Don't be ready to hand out praise if we've only heard a small clip. You can have your opinion (and I won't call it wrong), but mine is still of that Sawao's voice sounded better in the mid-late 90's and that it's most likely pointless to record new versions of those songs.

Yea Sawao's been singing for 20 years now so his technical abilities may have gotten better, but there's instances like the end of One Life or Kono yo no Hate Made where I wonder what the hell he's doing. Like Tidus said his voice was indeed inconsistent in the 90's, but it's always been that way and it still is. He has good days, and he has bad days. I'll probably end up enjoying these Rock Stock Versions for what they are, because it's the pillows. I've loved everything they've done, but these are some of my favorite all-time songs getting covered. Nothing barring a divine performance can be better than those masterful recordings. So please excuse the "bitching".

[quote="little_norbert"]The early 90's albums were infinitely superior to later work like little busters.[/quote]

KUTABARE NINGEN DOMO!

When Sawao plays acoustically, his voice sounds very good (for example, the new performance of plastic flower.) I think, when he plays louder songs, he has to push his voice harder, whereas when they record the louder songs he doesn't have to keep up. He never really was a pretty-boy vocalist with an amazing voice anyway. Sawao isn't Hyde.

I'm liking the new version of Funny Bunny a whole lot, though. I always like to hear new versions of pillows songs (rookie jet jazz version ) and I think the new feel is a welcome change. Now I need them to release a studio version of CHELSEA HOTEL.

To everyone in this thread, allow me to quote myself:
[quote="GoldenRhino, in the past"]CLASSIC PILLOWS:
-More conservative use of distortion
-More open chords
-Less palm-muting
-Heavier distortion is rougher, less polished.
-Vocals sound more distant, less polished, and youthful (well, of course).
-Tracks with generally longer running times.
-Wider musical/sonic variety (Blues Drive Monster, Black Sheep, and Patricia were all on the same album)
[b]-Vocals (and vocal melodies) along with lead guitar sound arguably more "tender" and nuanced.
[/b]
"CURRENT" PILLOWS (from My Foot to Pied Piper):
-Sharp sounding distortion
-Palm-muting, more partial powerchords from Sawao
[b]-Vocals are much cleaner, more "present"
[/b]-Less musical/sonic variety
-This is a much more subjective bullet, but it sounds to me like they're willing to take less risks. Songs, even the better ones that I love (No Surrender, YOUNGSTER, Ladybird Girl...) sound more "cranked out", less "carefully crafted while raw." Seriously, I mean listen to all the different stuff going on in BDM. Sawao almost has an echo, Manabe's riff has the perfect presence in the background, keeping a driving attitude without being overbearing. The guitar effect that comes in at 1:32. The increasing noise and wah that brings the song to a powerful, crumbling ending.[/quote]

By "cleaner," I meant more produced and studio-polished.
I will say that in this discussion you guys have been having, no one is right - it just depends on what your standard for vocal greatness is. For some of us (me included), it's the more Classic style. 1999's Funny Bunny needs no improvement. Manabe's light overdrive and chorus meshes perfectly with Sawao's voice that soars to hit the high notes - no shouting required.

Mare takes the more modern side. For him and others, Sawao is a "better" vocalist nowadays - and that straining you hear? No no, that's passion and energy. Rock Stock's Funny Bunny is fucking awesome because by Jove, the Ellegarden cover of Funny Bunny was fucking awesome, and everyone knows that the pillows have more than a little Ellegarden in them now.

Based on your ideal of classic, your appreciation of Rock Stock will vary.
I'll be satisfied with it. It's essentially like the pillows putting out a new album (well, half an album) in their current style...with songs that are totally solid structurally/melodically, no matter what you do with them. Even if you've heard em a billion times.

And I'd also like to end with this: vocal talent is some parts objective, some parts subjective.

[img]http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p153/AuronExcalibur/orson-clapping.gif[/img]

Well said, GR.

I'm not as much concerned with the vocals as I am with the music itself. All of the vocals and notes from the guitar can be written down on staff paper and observed. I just want to see good music that'll be timeless even after the pillows are long gone.

Of course Sawao's voice is important; this is a rock band, and we love the way his voice sounds... but there has to be more, and the pillows' music in general has that. Music that transcends being that of just a "Japanese rock band". I like the stuff that is good just by itself. That I can play on my piano/guitar/etc... and be like, "Damn... that was a good idea".

You might want to note that I didn't say Sawao's "straining" is "passion," but I did say that he sings with far more confidence now than he used to.

Besides, look at Hybrid Rainbow played live. Would we have it any other way?

I agree with GR completely. Sawao is getting older but with age comes wisdom and confidence.
The rock stock versions will be appreciated no matter how much of a "mistake" you think it might
be. For whatever its worth, I think that no matter how good or bad it could be, we have no control over
the decisions the pillows make (well duh). I still believe that his voice was great in the 1999 era but it is, like
what Mare said, more in quality through his confidence and passion. The strain is always there, you can't
beat time. Either way, his songs will always be open to criticism by opinion.

I do believe that everyone is partially right, except littlenorbert. I have no idea what he's talking about.
The "golden era" that IM is talking about is the 1997-1999
That includes Little Busters

Personally, I don't like to call 1997-1999 the "golden era", because White Incarnation, Kool Spice, and Living Field seem just as sound in terms of musical composition when compared to PML, LB, RH, HB.

I often find myself going between the jazzy stuff and then the rock oriented stuff as a pillows lover; to this day I haven't decided which is superior. Sure, the later stuff sounds better in terms of recording quality - and arguably, Sawao's voice - but albums like Kool Spice and Living field are very... well, you don't hear music like that a lot. And let's not forget Tiny Boat, which was considered for the Living Field album.

What IM considers "Golden Era" is simply because it was their breakthrough years. I'm pretty sure most of us got into the pillows because of PML/Runner's High/Happy Bivouac/Little Busters.

You could argue the pillows are having their "Second Breakthrough" right now, and even though they are still the pillows, they're not exactly the same band we knew back in their "Golden Era"

I don't know about you guys, but I'm enjoying the pillows the same way if not more than how I enjoyed them back when I was hooked with their "Golden Era"

We need more smooth jazz Pillows.

[quote="Raid"]What IM considers "Golden Era" is simply because it was their breakthrough years. I'm pretty sure most of us got into the pillows because of PML/Runner's High/Happy Bivouac/Little Busters.[/quote]

Oh? Is that so? I always thought it was people saying "the best of the pillows".

Because while those albums are definately some of the pillows' best, it's subjective at best, and I can't really hail 1997-1999 as any particular "golden era", especially when I look at the run between 1992-1995.

But, if it refers to the popularity of the pillows, then hell yeah, they gained a lot of attention in the late 90s, due to their transition to a more viable style.

[quote="Raid"]You could argue the pillows are having their "Second Breakthrough" right now, and even though they are still the pillows, they're not exactly the same band we knew back in their "Golden Era"

I don't know about you guys, but I'm enjoying the pillows the same way if not more than how I enjoyed them back when I was hooked with their "Golden Era"[/quote]

In terms of popularity increase, the pillows are enjoying that more than ever right now. As for the music, yeah, it's all good.