For realz.

Haven't found a track list yet.

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=NFCD-27908

[quote]First solo album release from Sawao Yamanaka, a lead vocalist of a J-rock band the pillows. Featuring artists Kazuyuki Kumara (The Birthday), Hirotaka Takahashi (Scars Borough), Akiko Fukuoka (chatmonchy) Yoko & Ayumi (noodles) and Jun Suzuki (the pillows support). Limited edition includes a bonus DVD with music videos of "DAWN SPEECH," "Music Creature" and "purple moonlight." Also includes a sticker. *Unless otherwise indicated, DVDs are region-2 encoded (Japan, Europe, and Middle East), and carry no subtitles.[/quote]

I wasn't so far off after all

Hm, should be very interesting. I'd like to buy it if I have money. I wonder what made him put these songs out as a solo artist as opposed to making them into the pillows songs.

Sawao's a fucking robot. How he manages to write so many songs, for 20 years straight, gets beyond my belief. And chances are The Pillows will release another album this year (judging from the release of Rodeo Star Mate).

This ought to be interesting. Sawao's an excellent songwriter (although not for the pillows lately..)

[quote="Revol"]Sawao's a fucking robot. How he manages to write so many songs, for 20 years straight, gets beyond my belief. And chances are The Pillows will release another album this year (judging from the release of Rodeo Star Mate).[/quote]

It's his job. That's like asking how a doctor manages to treat so many patients, for 20 years straight; you can apply this reasoning to any job. In fact, it only stands to reason that he would get better at it as time progresses, but in reality, one may challenge this point...

[quote="Revol"]Sawao's a fucking robot.[/quote]

This pretty much sums up why I don't like a lot of their latest work.

He sure has mastered the vacant gaze.

[quote="sheerheartattack"][quote="Revol"]Sawao's a fucking robot. How he manages to write so many songs, for 20 years straight, gets beyond my belief. And chances are The Pillows will release another album this year (judging from the release of Rodeo Star Mate).[/quote]

It's his job. That's like asking how a doctor manages to treat so many patients, for 20 years straight; you can apply this reasoning to any job. In fact, it only stands to reason that he would get better at it as time progresses, but in reality, one may challenge this point...[/quote]

True, but the pillows seem to be particularly prolific. But it's also quite possible I just don't know enough music and someone can provide lots of examples of bands that release new albums almost every year.

Like I mentioned in the other thread, 16 albums, 3 EPs, other releases in 20 years... pretty unheard of I think. The Beatles did it, The Rolling Stones to an extent. But anyone today? I can't think of any off the top of my head. I'd say Weezer, they have just as many songs as the pillows do in their library, but they formed in 1992 and a LOT of that music is has never seen an official release. It seems to me that the pillows put out a lot more material to the general public, and maybe the reason we don't get more songs out of the pillows' vault like Flag Star, is because there's not much in the vault to begin with. They want to share everything with everyone.

Approximately one album per year or two is pretty standard for most bands that I'm aware of.

I'm really interested in this release. It might be really good

[quote="sheerheartattack"]Approximately one album per year or two is pretty standard for most bands that I'm aware of.[/quote]

Yeah, I think that the reason we think of the pillows as so prolific is that Japanese bands (I guess more accurately the record industry in Japan) actually care about singles, so when you have two or three singles each year PLUS an album, it seems like a lot more than it really is. It's not so much that the pillows put out albums faster than normal, it's that a) we're comparing them mostly to whatever other music we're familiar with, which for most of us means we don't look at the singles (western bands) and b) they've been around for twenty motherfucking years without taking a break of any sort.

Yes. The issue here is longevity - not frequency.

[quote="sheerheartattack"]Approximately one album per year or two is pretty standard for most bands that I'm aware of.[/quote]

Examples?

Taking Son Goshin's examples, Weezer has had gaps from 1-5 years between albums. The Beatles, however, had 12 original albums in 7 years (going by [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles#Original_UK_LPs]this[/url]), which I would say is far more productive. Regardless of longevity, another band could be said to be just as prolific in comparison for the time they are active.