[b]hey, this topic has a ton of pages, so ive been skimming. sure, I agree that this album isn't their best, but lets ask why.[/b]
[color=#FF8000]
Based on the sound coming from the predators, this album is mainly sawaos work, but does that mean Manabe didn't fight to make it better, what about shin or jun?[/color]

[color=#0000FF]Every band comes into conflict, im sure the pillows had some conflict with this album as well, its only natural. the thing is that we have to see that there is a lot of pressure being put on the pillows. mainly from their label, i mean they are touring like madmen, releasing something all the time, they have deadlines, they have people relying on them to turn up something.[/color]

[color=#408040]I think this album was a product of pressure and lack of time. all these songs sound like b-sides, and they probably are.[/color]

[color=#BF00FF]Im sure if you put the pillows in a studio for two years without any pressure, they will truly make something great.[/color]

[color=#FF4080]Also remember that the pillows have been making music for 20 years straight, no break ups, no hiatus's. We have to really admire that under all this pressure, they didn't just call it quits like so many other bands. Musically, this is probably their lowest point, they're going to read the reviews just like any other band. Let's see what they do from here, make the same stuff or evolve once again.[/color]

I'm just looking at this from a humanistic perspective, thats all.

Wow, looking through these last few pages I thought I was on a Weezer message board with all this negativity. But then I saw the pillows logo and remembered where I was. But, I suppose some of that negativity is warranted.

In a nutshell, the album is just all right. I don't know if it's better or worse than Pied Piper yet, and obviously that's not saying much. There's just nothing special that really jumps out and grabs you, sans Ameagari and Primer Beat. Here's my thoughts on the songs themselves:

Dance with God- Good opener, solid tune. The verse kind of bored me, but the chorus comes roaring in. Good solo too.

Your Order- Meh, it's all right. My opinion hasn't changed much since the PV debuted.

Melody- Still love this song. It just has, ironically, such a great melody. The vocal melody I especially enjoy, and this is one of the few songs that a great lead line for guitar. It's pretty easy for me to get it stuck in my head. I'd say I perfer the live version, but it's probably just because I've listened to it longer, but the slower tempo doesn't make it any worse.

Lemon Drops- It's a fun song, one of the better tracks on the album, but nothing too special about it though.

Foxes- I have no idea what Sawao was thinking with this song. I mean, it's starting to grow on me, but these crazy horns coming in out of nowhere just make it seem so disjointed. Same with the panned drums. I don't know waht they're going for, but it's all over the friggin place.

Beyond the Moon- The one song that is too friggin long. It's jsut not interesting. It's not comaparable at all to any of their other longer songs like Fool on the Planet or Shiroi Natsu. The chorus is just kind of... lame. I just feel it drags too much.

Johnny Strobe- This song is just there. Nothing special.

Ameagari ni mita maboroshi- I also don't understand why so many people are putting "no's" or whatever by this song. It is so frigging AMAZING! It's their best single since The Third Eye, and it's still my favorite song on the album. Everything about it is great. The music and melody, passionate vocals, and the lyrics are excellent. I hope to see this song in their setlists for years to come.

Life Size Life- Seriously, what's up with these intros that have nothing to do with the song. OK, it was cool on the song Pied Piper, but now? No. And Sawao needs to stop with the Engrish. We have 3 Engrish songs now on one album? OK, at first we could say it was "cute", but now it's getting borderline annoying. Did his brother not check his lyrics this time arund? I find it hard to believe there's not at least one person on Avex that can't help Sawao out with his English.

Primer Beat- Holy shit this song is amazing! I mean, wow. I was not expecting this. It’s very evocative of something off Kool Spice, but it’s so different. The bass, is obviously amazing. Now this is what Sawao should be focusing on, making different kinds of interesting music like this.

That is what I think our problem is exactly though. Little Bastards brought up some valid points in his last post. The pillows are kind of in a rut, playing it safe. I don’t think any of the music in the past 3 albums is God-awful horrible, but a lot of it is mediocre. Sub-par even. Maybe 20 years is catching up with them. I don’t know. I keep finding myself thinking of other songs by them when I hear newer stuff. Like with Your Order, Go! Go! Jupiter keeps popping into my head. It’s like Sawao can’t come up with anything really driving lately.

I think that maybe the pillows need to take an extended break. I don’t mean from touring, they’ve always been a touring band. But more so a break in the sense of albums. Really look and see what can make a good album over the course of two years. Someone mentioned earlier, you take the best tracks out of the last 3 albums, and you have a kickass album, which I think could be just as cohesive. I’m just hoping that we still see quality stuff from Sawao and the gang, and I’m confident we will. Stuff like Primer Beat shows Sawao still has that awesome spark.

Oh boy, I'm never going to be able to promote this band with all the shit hitting the fan. Come on, this album ain't nearly as thrown together as Pied Piper was.

[quote="Little Bastards"]

I'm just looking at this from a humanistic perspective, thats all.[/quote]

And that's why you decided to post all that in multicolors? Sorry, I don't get it.

It's kinda funny, the english songs from Pied Piper actually sounded fairly intelligible for the most part compared to these songs. There were only two of them, as well. The [b]four![/b] english songs on here are embarrassing; maybe not entirely from a writing perspective but with truly gnarly pronunciation.

Of course I marked out for "she makes me excited many times". You understand what he means and can't help but smile. But the chorus for Foxes, the entire opening for Your Order, every other line in Life Size Life, just [i]FUCKED[/i]. I thought he did pretty good singing in Japanese this time around, I wish he'd realize by now that while the english songs are a nice gesture, it's really unbecoming of him to not show much improvement in linguistics over [i]so many[/i] records.

A little bit about Johnny Strobe from my perspective... skip if you don't care... the verses are so pleasant with the bass and the simple lead and drums, and it's just BANG-BANG, BANG-BANG in the chorus, it's a good clash for me. And in the end, when Manabe is doing those effect bends or whatever they are called, listen to how it sounds like they are being blasted from the drum crashes. PSHHT! -> WOO-WE-OOP, PSHHT! -> WOO-WE-OOO, PSHHT! -> WOO-WE-OOP, PSHHT! -> WOO REAAAHHHH! Forgive me for typing that out, lol, but you know what I mean. Anyways I really dug that, the timing seemed perfect. TOO BAD THAT'S THE FINISH, FEELS LIKE THE MIDDLE TO ME.

[quote="ladybirdgirl"]Oh boy, I'm never going to be able to promote this band with all the shit hitting the fan. Come on, this album ain't nearly as thrown together as Pied Piper was.[/quote]

Like I was figuring from when we only had the preview clips, a lot of it was going to come down to what the "unique" songs were going to bring to the table. Foxes was a terrible letdown, sounding like it was trying too hard to be edgy. Johnny Strobe is too short and ultimately not fulfilling. Life Size Life is 100% trivial fluff. Those three alone seem CLEARLY thrown together, despite my affection for Johnny Strobe. Cases could be made for most other songs on here, but these are the bigger offenders.

Some criticism made about the other songs like the chorus in Dance with God and the middle of Beyond the Moon, that stuff seems like small potatoes for me, but to each his own.

AND FUCKING BOOKLET GRAPHICS. HURR DURR, DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY. Enough with the photoshop, could you please do some more photography or original illustrations? Remember the Terminal Heaven's Rock skunk? The girl on the Rush single and the Happy Bivouac chair guy? Smile cover? Please, Mr. Lostman cover? shit... Dude, all I have to say is GOOD LUCK passing cds around with Impact font, bad coloring and blur and rampant photoshop of three Japanese guys driving a saloon-mobile down a fake highway. Just screams [b]FRESH HIGH QUALITY PRODUCT INSIDE![/b]

...so Pied Piper was more thrown together?

[quote="Jomei"]Island is better than most of the songs on this album.[/quote]

Seriously!? You like Jiro and perfume better. I not saying Jiro is bad, but perfume!? I hope the whole perfume thing is a joke.

[quote="ladybirdgirl"]Oh boy, I'm never going to be able to promote this band with all the shit hitting the fan. Come on, this album ain't nearly as thrown together as Pied Piper was.[/quote]


Thats what the pillows need a crappy generic American band to promote them.

Get off your high horse!

And you told the pillows to see this site, that will be fun if they do come here and see all the bashing of their new album.

[quote="Little Bastards"][b]hey, this topic has a ton of pages, so ive been skimming. sure, I agree that this album isn't their best, but lets ask why.[/b]
[color=#FF8000]
Based on the sound coming from the predators, this album is mainly sawaos work, but does that mean Manabe didn't fight to make it better, what about shin or jun?[/color]

[color=#0000FF]Every band comes into conflict, im sure the pillows had some conflict with this album as well, its only natural. the thing is that we have to see that there is a lot of pressure being put on the pillows. mainly from their label, i mean they are touring like madmen, releasing something all the time, they have deadlines, they have people relying on them to turn up something.[/color]

[color=#408040]I think this album was a product of pressure and lack of time. all these songs sound like b-sides, and they probably are.[/color]

[color=#BF00FF]Im sure if you put the pillows in a studio for two years without any pressure, they will truly make something great.[/color]

[color=#FF4080]Also remember that the pillows have been making music for 20 years straight, no break ups, no hiatus's. We have to really admire that under all this pressure, they didn't just call it quits like so many other bands. Musically, this is probably their lowest point, they're going to read the reviews just like any other band. Let's see what they do from here, make the same stuff or evolve once again.[/color]

I'm just looking at this from a humanistic perspective, thats all.[/quote]

I really don't think after 20 years the pillows will give into a record label. And that could very well be the reason the never became massive like Mr. children or B'z. So that would most likely mean they have always put out an album single that they at the time were happy about it. This album seems to me what they want to achieve now.

I agree this is not their best album (Of course it is not we hold the older albums like Gods that we think can't be touched) but it is not shit! Musically it is good and fresh. After 20 years I'm surprised Sawao comes up with all this new material, without everything starting to sound the same. This album has a new flavor, I've listened to this album at least 10 times all the way through, and their is not at all that much fault with it as most of you guys think.

[quote="TJWX5"]
Thats what the pillows need a crappy generic American band to promote them.
[/quote]
CHEAP SHOT

[quote="TJWX5"]Get off your high horse![/quote]
NO U

[quote="TJWX5"][quote="ladybirdgirl"]Oh boy, I'm never going to be able to promote this band with all the shit hitting the fan. Come on, this album ain't nearly as thrown together as Pied Piper was.[/quote]


Thats what the pillows need a crappy generic American band to promote them.

Get off your high horse![/quote]

So I guess you didn't notice that ladybirdgirl's comment was actually [i]condemning[/i] the criticism of OOPARTS in this thread.

[quote="Cloudy_One"][quote="TJWX5"]
Thats what the pillows need a crappy generic American band to promote them.
[/quote]
CHEAP SHOT

[quote="TJWX5"]Get off your high horse![/quote]
NO U[/quote]

No its a slam dunk.

Really?
I never said anything pompous like that.
How I'm I on a high horse?

[quote="Orochi"][quote="TJWX5"][quote="ladybirdgirl"]Oh boy, I'm never going to be able to promote this band with all the shit hitting the fan. Come on, this album ain't nearly as thrown together as Pied Piper was.[/quote]


Thats what the pillows need a crappy generic American band to promote them.

Get off your high horse![/quote]

So I guess you didn't notice that ladybirdgirl's comment was actually [i]condemning[/i] the criticism of OOPARTS in this thread.[/quote]

My comment went towards his promoting the band. Not his comment of condemnation.

I'm just really enjoying this new album, its new and fresh. Has a whole new perspective and the sound they as a band are trying to agree upon. Remember that each band member has to agree with a song so its not just Sawao who decides "Hey I made this, we are going to play this! OH YEAH?!" Its not like that at all, they all have some input on the songs. I'm sure they weren't being rushed by the record label but who knows? Switching over to this new label might be too much. Like the record label expects them to come out with something new and unique from now on. Looking back at their history, the label might in fact be pushing them to make incomplete albums. Just a thought.

[quote="TJWX5"]Thats what the pillows need a crappy generic American band to promote them.[/quote]

Wow hey, you're a real cunt.
Currently least favorite IM-er, right here folks.

Everybody knock it off now. Grey, TJwhatever, EVERYONE.

I was listening to OOParts last night. I think the pillows should go down the route of "Primer Beat".

The distorted walking bass line was simply amazing and heavy. It was like "GRUNGE-ROCK-JAZZ-WALKING BASS" and I was like "YAER!!!". The lead guitar was jazzy, but still a little bit quirky, which worked PERFECTLY for the song. I love the bridges, and the solo is really cool.

[quote="Tidusauron12"]I was listening to OOParts last night. I think the pillows should go down the route of "Primer Beat". [/quote]

HOLY SHIT YOU THINK?!