Yeah, I get what you're saying with Something Like A Romance.

What gets to me is the symbolism of the video.
The sand running out of the hourglass, the crashed Hybrid Rainbow airship at the end, Sawao looking worn out at the end of the video. I might be taking it a bit too seriously but D:

The lead sounds wonderful (to me) at that volume, but the rhythm seems to be turned down a bit too much. During the verses he has a distortion effect working there but it's not as obvious as it should be. I'm a little curious as to why it was turned down that far myself. Maybe he wanted us to hear the bass, lead, and vocals more and overcompensated? I dunno...

I just heard Sawao's part in the guitar solo section. I had to listen for it because I couldn't recall anything OTHER than Manabe's solo the first few times I listened to it. Turn your guitar up, Sawao!

I think it's a gorgeous song, but like sheer said with "vanilla", I can see how the song pretty much presents everything it has to offer then repeats it. They don't always do this in their recent work, Tokyo Bambi for example had the acoustic come in at the second verse and I think even Shin was throwing in extra fills, it all really kept the ball rolling on that one, like you weren't entirely sure what was coming next.

This song is very nice. It makes me very excited for what's next, but I can't help feeling like they could hold onto these songs just a bit longer and really get the little details super tight.

I really like the song, recenty Pillows are in quite good form, first Flag Star and now Ameagari ni mita maboroshi, but apart of that, does anybody else feel that Pillows need more Fender ? I mean, i don't really like Manabe's tone with humbuckers, i think single coils suited him more, and he looked badass with Mustang

I agree, GR. The newer pillows songs that have been coming out have been lacking atmosphere. The only exception, in my opinion, is 1989.

They need to listen to Swanky Street a few more times.

The sound production is absolutely horrible in what we hear from the PV. In the beginning I can't hear the rhythm OR lead guitars clearly... I'm hoping it is as GR says - Like with the Kanojo wa Kyou PV. Also, Youtube usually fucks up the sound from these TV-rip PVs anyways, so it's more than likely Youtube has a good hand in messing up sound. I have a feeling that the studio version will sound much better, but given the sound the pillows have been sporting lately, I'm a bit scared.

This is a really great song... I just hope the pillows aren't going to marginalize the potential by polishing the fuck out of it and limiting the "atmosphere" that a good pillows song needs to have.

Worth noting: Jun is doing something awesome with his bass. I can hear thumping around back there during the chorus. If only the sound quality were higher.

This song has potential to be one of the better pillows song - good message, and great vocal lines. I'm just not sure if the instrumental parts are up to snuff (in composition and recording). Before I say anything more finite though, I'll have to wait until we get higher quality sounds.

OK, something interesting happened.

I downloaded the PV from youtube using the Fire Fox download manager in high quality (mp4) to see if I could get better sound quality. By god, it worked! I'm playing on VLC media player. I can hear both guitar parts extremely clearly (well, compared to on Youtube anyways), and I have to say, it sounds significantly better.

Manabe's riff... I don't like the way he resolves it, but that's because it's not the way he usually does it. It's a very "pillows "-esque riff, but it's not as seamless as they usually are. As usually, Manabe follows up what Sawao is saying with his guitar. It's cool, but nothing new.

The vocals, in this HQ version (and trust me, it sounds MUCH better than on Youtube), don't seem as over-powering as they were on Youtube. I can hear Manabe much more clearly, and even Sawao, for that matter.

The solo sounds much more clear and crisp as well. Now I can actually hear what Manabe was going for. It's... a pretty long solo for sure, but I'm not sure if I like the way it resolves. He does some cool bending in there though. One thing I hate about the ending of the solo is that it just stops and then goes back to the chorus. It's a style for highlighting solo introductions and outtros, but it makes the solo seem much more... "tacked on", as in "Ok, that was Manabe, with his usual mid-song solo... now back to the same prechorus!1111".

The only problem I have in general is that the song seems too polished. It's cool for songs like Purple Apple. I think songs like that sound awesome when they get a nice studio polish... but I was hoping Ameagari would have a more natural mesh to it. The guitar parts are seperate (heck, even from Sawao's voice is 'separate'), and sound extremely clean, so the emotions coming from all the instruments seem to be disconnected somewhat (not harmonically, but rather, acoustically). Listen to Swanky Street (original please) and then listen to the PV.

I think Ameagari is very touching as a song, but I hope that the "beauty of production" shows off when they release the single.

If anyone is interested, I'll try to rip the higher-quality audio into an mp3 so you can compare. And yeah, I didn't mean to nitpick this thing based off of a Youtube download, but I'm just saying what I observed.

I miss videos where someone in the band smiles. It doesn't seem like they're having fun anymore. THE TWINKLES ARE GONE FOREVER. THE END IS NEAR.

^When were the last smiles... Tokyo Bambi? That's not that long ago. 1989 was animated, and New Animal was the last PV the pillows actually showed up in. I don't know, the pillows seem pretty happy to me.

One thing I get from Sawao's songs is that he keeps saying "catch my songs before we fade away, it's all we have to offer you". That outlook combined with the emptying hourglass at the end of Ameagari make me wonder what the pillows want in the near future.

Hopefully it's just a "20th-year nostalgia" thing. The life of a musician is never over! Keep making songs!

Sawao is the only member who smiles in videos anymore. Shin looks irritated and Manabe looks bored*. I know the pillows have like 3 good albums left in them, but I'm wondering if they're going to last long enough. I know Sawao's going to continue to write and perform until he's strapped to his death bed. I can imagine him strapped to a fucking dialasys machine playing Hybrid Rainbow at HMV in 30 years.



*Jun doesn't count

The song was still good, the imagery was cool, but the spotlight on the pillows themselves either shouldn't have been there or at least should have been from above. There are several points where you can see their shadows on the background, and that was driving me nuts!

I have the complete translation of this PV. I know what the meaning behind it.


I always seem to find the answers when blazed. Anyways, the PV revolves around
the Hybrid Rainbow Blimp toy, we all know that it represents the pillows and their journey through
the desert wasteland (the music industry) because its soo hard to get any water out there, you have to
work to even get noticed. Its a fight for survival, but now that they know who they are they try to play
their songs (now we are the blimp) shining our light on them (spotlight) so that we can really see
what their music is all about. The sand clock represents their time in the world of music, how they know that
they're still in it, but barely making recognition compared to more popular bands like Ellegarden and Glay.
But they continue to create wonderful music that so many of us have already found joy in. Like we really dig their
music more than any other listener, only because we gave them a chance.
What more can you ask other than the spotlight when your out there on the stage ready to finally be able to
really play your song to fans that have really made a connection to. Its what every artist dreams of having, the
ultimate feeling where you know your music has done something for someone.
When Sawao at the end made that creepy stare at us, fucking ROCKMAN here fucking knew what was up,
its his new avatar!
So when the blimp shines on them at the end its us watching them play for us (the true fans) they are
crying out waves of thank you's, like they finally can rest now that they know they are a MUSICAL INFLUENCE, what
they have been following just the same as we are. If you start playing the guitar or drums, you WILL have a favorite band
or artist. When you do pick it, they influence tremendously on your lifestyle, music, everything. It was the same with them,
they knew what it would take to finally get to where they are, they were so unknown, it was like they were a secret deserted tropical paradise and we had no clue where it was. The most amazing music would never be appreciated without
it being heard by others, (we'll your thinking "no fuck") but come on just go along with me.
As they continue to play in the PV, Sawao no joke looks HELLA old. Like he has cancer or something, during the video he
looks really young and alive, jumping all over the place and presenting very impressive vocals, and we find him attractive, interesting to watch. When the blimp is looking at footprints, we (the blimp) are seeing the future, Sawao will not live forever, even though we seriously think he will, like "He can't die!!"
But don't get me wrong, we all feel that way. Sawao's footprints tell us that he was here, the proof of his existence.
Just like One Life, the line (oh god!!! its like my favorite line! )

"Donna kutsu o haite’temo
Arukeba boku no ashiato
Tachi-tomareba sore made
Boku ga owaru shirushi
One Life

No matter what shoes I put on,
If I walk, I’ll leave footprints
And if they stop some place,
They’re the proof that I got that far
One Life"

His footprints leave his story, his life and passion towards music.
As we listen and continue to imagine the world they created for us (our own story)
we soon enough join our superiors, our heroes, our Leaders. The cycle of life.
Thats what I get from this PV, thats how I feel about the song too, they are giving us they're
undying gratitude to the fans for listening to their work. We both get something positive out of it. Joy.
Sorry about the long fucking essay, it had to be done. All of you should go smoke and fucking listen and
watch the pillows musical history.
From Girlfriend PV to a more modern song just made 1989. It still captures what they're all about and it will
never go away, other bands break up or change they're attiitude about music all the time.
The pillows, they don't ever change who they are, they play the music they have been trying to play since the
beginning. So thats what it'll feel like when you do get stoned out of your mind and listen to the pillows.


[size=200]DO IT[/size]

[img]http://www.anythink.org/dailybubbler/images/applause.jpg[/img]



Well said.

[quote="Brye916"]Stoned musings[/quote]

Dude, that was beautiful. And I totally agree with what you said about why they play their music-more than any other band I know of, they are in it for the sake of their music. No matter what direction it takes them, they're doing something they love to do, and that mood, that feeling is reflected in their music. And that benefits both themselves and us, like you said.

I'm so glad I wrote that, otherwise it would have regretted it.
Yeah, they are by far the most brilliant and most true to themselves
kind of artists as well as people.

I love everything they have done, for themselves and for us the fans.

[img]http://media.ebaumsworld.com/picture/NENO713XAVIER/crazy_illusion_if_your_on_acid.jpg[/img]
the pillows are AWESOMEEE