First I'd like to mention that the Tokyo Zombie analysis by GR struck me because that part at 1:28 is my favorite part of that entire song. I thought it was unique, different and I would have loved to see the pillows head towards that direction musically. But we can't always have what we want.

[quote="Raid"]Raid's Anti-essay[/quote]
Everything I wanted to say to GR was already done and said better by Raid.
I've noticed that my feelings towards OOPARTS is nearly the same as TMJXK and Raid's.

[quote="GoldenRhino"]I wanted Penalty Life to be better than Thank You, My Twilight. It was worse.[/quote]
After I read this I was like WTF??? Penalty Life in my opinion is better than Thank you my twilight if we're going with your logic here. Thank you my twilight had a few Jems such as Shiroi, Babylon, TYMT, and Robotman. But that was it, the other songs were like fillers and not as up to par as the rest of the album. HOWEVER, PL had Terminal, MM, Freebee, I know you, the sun that would not rise, and the scar whispers not to mention the Bokura wa Kakera rerecord. I would have thought you would agree with what I'm saying but I found that I was wrong. I remember you evaluating albums with other albums with the same formula and found you were correct a few times. But this time I have to disagree with you completely, no matter how much I love TYMT more than PL.
You know what your talking about I'll give you that, but sometimes people don't always agree with you, which is fine I'm sure you expect that to happen, which is why I'm going to tell you that your analysis of Ameagari is fucking trash. That song has got to be one of the best songs they have come out with in years.
And for future reference, evaluating new material from previous material is not the best way to judge say a band. And Raid is very acute with his anti-essay. I'm not trying to tell you your wrong, you have your opinion and I'm for that 100%, just try to be more open to something new and not look back on something. When you grow up you don't want to judge yourself from who you use to be, you want to judge the person you are today. Its the same for an artist, they hate to go back to their old work, no matter how brilliant or perfect it might have been. They want to keep moving forward, and not dwell in the past. Thats all I wanted to say. I respect you, because your ideas and evaluations in everything you've done here are solid. I know exactly what you mean in your long rants which I never skip. I like to read what you have to say, because I really love talking about the pillows in any way shape or form. I really do, so when I make all these ridiculously stupid analogies or theories, etc.. All I'm trying to do is talk to you guys because everyone here on IM is more or less a friend I wish I had near me. We're all fans of the pillows which is as you know not very common. Just take that into consideration before you say something about me, because the things people say here on IM do have some effect on me even if its just a little bit. Maybe I'm just too nice of a person to ever really make fun of someone or ridicule them for a mistake they may have made. Or maybe I'm just more human than others.

DOUBLE EDIT* I went back and read the final page of this thread after posting what I said about GR, and I still stand with what I wrote, its just that he also wrote that he doesn't want to expect these new albums to suck its just something he's been dealt with every new release. I feel bad for you GR, I really do, while your disappointed over these past few albums because you expect so much out of your favorite band. For me I never expect another PML, LB, HB, etc.. And thats why I love almost every song they come out with. I do have my dislikes every once in a while but its very small and it doesn't bother me. I'm loving this album and I wish you could feel the same way, but you won't because your musical taste has molded your judgment into what it is now. Sorry bro, but your just going to have to wait for something to happen later on. I'm sure the pillows will release something you'll completely agree with. Just don't loose hope.

FIRST EDIT* Okay now that I've had a days worth of listen, my first thoughts on the album have changed just a bit.
For every song I found something I really enjoyed. And for every song except for a few, I've found something I
didn't enjoy.

DANCE WITH GOD-I really like Shin's drumming in the song. For some reason when I listen to this song I can't help but pretend like I'm playing Shin's part. The intro is what I really enjoy, but the solo was very weak and could have been so much more epic.

YOUR ORDER- Is in my eyes one of the best songs on this album. I enjoy listening to this song every time I play it, I never skip it, the lead is great the vocals are quirky and fun which I love, and the drums are very simple and have great rhythm.
I really want to say that YOUR ORDER is my favorite song on this album but theres more jewels than just this one.

Melody-I love the chorus, for some reason, it sticks to me and I can never stop singing along with it. Very catchy and a ton of fun. Not to mention a great lead and one of my favorite solo's since Third Eye. Melody was in a battle with YOUR ORDER and Lemon Drops to see which of the three would be my favorite song on the album.

Lemon Drops- By many listens ( I listened to each song at least 25 times) I have decided to be my favorite song and the best song on the album if Ameagari wasn't a part of the album. I'm not going to include Ameagari because I think its the best song on the album, but because it was released as a single I don't want to include it in my evaluation. So by default Lemon Drops wins it, and I have no problem with that, its a great song. Catchy, fast paced, great chorus and lead as well as a great ending.

FOXES-Is the only song I hesitate to skip, but I go through it with little interest, I don't hate it, its just not very interesting as it gets played more and more. By far the worst song on the album doesn't mean its a terrible song. Just not as good as the other songs with it.

Beyond The Moon- Has a special place in my heart because its like Shiroi natsu and Thank you my twilight's daughter.
The intro is beautiful and it reminds me of a lucid car drive along the coast, but the middle of the song feels like it doesn't fit well with the rest of the song. The outro is just amazing, I love it when Sawao goes all out and starts to shout at the top of his lungs. It would have been in battle for the best song on the album but it didn't strike me as fast as the others and I enjoy YOUR ORDER and Lemon Drops more. But I adore this song.

Johnny Strobe- I think we all wish it were longer, and I think it was unnecessary. It is the filler of the album for me.

Life Size Life-I generally agree with GR on this one, it had a very useless opening. It was nice, but it didn't have to do with the rest of the song, it was like Pied Pipers intro, unnecessary.

Primer Beat-Has become a favorite for all of us, theres nothing more I can say about this song that hasn't already been said. So this concludes my final evaluation of OOPARTS. Also I wanted to edit my old post for the final grade to make it a solid B+

You're all saying there's a horn in FOXES, but all I'm hearing is a loud guitar that comes in a couple times. I'm pretty sure that's what it is, because I swear I can hear some of the notes ringing. It sounds nothing like a horn, so if it actually is, then it must be a pretty bad one.

Dear GOD this thread is so tl;dr.

[quote="Brye916"] TMJXK[/quote]

I hope thats not supposed to be me

[quote="ShwahnStuff"]You're all saying there's a horn in FOXES, but all I'm hearing is a loud guitar that comes in a couple times. I'm pretty sure that's what it is, because I swear I can hear some of the notes ringing. It sounds nothing like a horn, so if it actually is, then it must be a pretty bad one. [/quote]

You can't hear that @ 1:22

My bad TJWX5

Mare's post confused me, I was like wtf is tl;dr???
Then I looked up the urban dictionary def and got this,

"tl;dr - 15 definitions - Literally, "Too long; didn't read" is written whenever a nerd makes a post that is too long to bother reading." Then I was like Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh.... I get it now. I don't know it made me laugh

[quote="IM"]a bunch of shit[/quote]
the album wasn't that good. is this [i]really[/i] up for discussion?

Wow, there's way too much back and forth debating in this thread... anyway.

Dance with God is actually a pretty good opener, and one of the better songs on here. The only other songs worth mentioning (meaning the other ones are too generic to remember): Lemon Drops, FOXES, Beyond the Moon (maybe) and Primer Beat.

Lemon Drops is just OK, it's very non-adventurous and the only reason I mention it is because I have "OHHHH LEMON DROPS, OHHH LEMON DROPS!" stuck in my head right now. That and the chorus' melody are the only fresh-ish things.

FOXES has a good feel to it, like it's a good base song despite the Predators-esque bassy undertones. At first the stereo panning of the drums during the second half really threw me off and made me think they were pretending to be the Beatles or something. But now I guess they're one of the things making the song interesting; of course that fake ass horn section fill at the end is horrible and will never be justified.

Beyond the Moon is solid, for a laid back rock/ballad song.

Primer Beat really just sounds like they were trying to write a new song for Moon Gold or something, but because it's fifteen years later, it comes off pretty campy sounding. It reminded me of hearing GO!GO! 7188's "Otona No Himitsu" for the first time and thinking to myself, "Why did they write a circus song?" However now I'm very comfortable listening to that song, so maybe the same thing will happen with Primer Beat... I have a feeling it won't though.

One thing I do want to say though is that I was listening to the album from iTunes last night, so when Ooparts was finished, it directly went into Penalty Life. I IMMEDIATELY felt a sense of comfort come over me and realized how much better of an album that is, and that it probably was their last good album. The only other songs that I've cared about since then have been Sono Mirai wa Ima, The Third Eye and Ladybird Girl.

[quote="Aplaca"][quote="IM"]a bunch of shit[/quote]
the album wasn't that good. is this [i]really[/i] up for discussion?[/quote]

If you mean the album as a whole, then yes. If we all don't want to discuss the pillows anymore, why are we here to begin with?

BRB jumping on the bandwagon

DANCE WITH GOD - I fell in love with this song immediately, the chorus is fucking awesome and it has that FRONTIERS vibe. This is a great song to play on Audiosurf.

YOUR ORDER - I hated it at first, but it's so cool. The Pillows are having a thing for PP-like intros, I don't know what to think of it, but the drums are great and I had several Manabe-gasms; especially at 1:28. The solo's not bad either.

Melody - The live version was better and that's not something to be proud of. It kinda drags on.

LEMON DROPS - It wasn't as awesome as I imagined, but it was still great; the chorus is what saves this.

FOXES - I hate this song with a passion cause it's just The Predator's ISLAND with horns and shittier lyrics. This is the pitiful filler.... But then I read the lyrics; it's about making a black joke at a funeral.. And that's when the pillows became my favorite band all over again.

BEYOND THE MOON - I like the intro, hate the middle part, LOVE the ending. MAH BEHHUUUTIUFULLL SANNFALOWAAAH

Johnny Strobe - I don't like this, kinda repetitive. I like the chorus though, this should have been in WUx3.

Ameagari ni mita maboroshi - I seriously don't get how you guys dislike it, I see it as a modern-day Hybrid Rainbow with distortion (inb4 shitstorm)

LIFE SIZE LIFE - Come on, the intro was cute The song was upbeat and it was better than I expected. Nothing special though.

Primer Beat - MANABE FOR PRESIDENT. JUN AS SECRETARY OF STATE. Living Proof that the pillows' still got it.

[quote="Raid"]
FOXES - I hate this song with a passion cause it's just The Predator's ISLAND with horns and shittier lyrics.

Ameagari ni mita maboroshi - I seriously don't get how you guys dislike it, I see it as a modern-day Hybrid Rainbow with distortion (inb4 shitstorm)

LIFE SIZE LIFE - Come on, the intro was cute The song was upbeat and it was better than I expected. Nothing special though.

Primer Beat - MANABE FOR PRESIDENT. JUN AS SECRETARY OF STATE. Living Proof that the pillows' still got it.[/quote]

I agree with mostly everything you said Raid, especially those four points. (And I love the Aw yeah's in Life size life, it's what makes the song for me.)
And what you said for Primer Beat is exactly what I thought.
After all this time, I thought Manabe couldn't play like this anymore, proved me wrong.

Island is better than most of the songs on this album.

If my sources are correct, most songs on Show your fangs! are composed by JIRO

[quote="Raid"]YOUR ORDER - *snip* but the drums are great[/quote]

Ehhh. I know everyone's entitled to their own opinions and whatnot, but the drums are rather…bland, in my opinion. It's kind of like saying Shin's drumming is great on LEMON DROPS, Ladybird Girl, Wake up! dodo, and pretty much 95% of all their stuff since, like, Little Busters or something. I'm not saying it's bad or anything—Shin is an incredibly solid drummer. It's just really simple and basic. Even the rhythm he plays building up to the chorus is very straightforward. I mean, sure, it fits the song well and is by no means out of place, but I feel like the drumming on YOUR ORDER is akin to Manabe strumming power chords for the entire duration of a song. It's just so…run of the mill.

Posted some lyrics on lyrics section

Drums are something I find difficult to pay attention to until I've heard a song a lot. This is especially true with Shin's drumming. The only songs I can think of off the top of my head where the drums really grabbed my attention are Beautiful Picture and Noboranai Taiyou. Maybe even My Beautiful Sun (nothing special, but they do catch my ear). Mostly it'll be like Sick Vibration: tiny drum beat to start, then they just vanish. I'll have to listen for them on this album now that I'm reminded.