[quote="Crescent"]Polaris = "Polaris Was Not Picked Up At The Shining Dream"[/quote]

Yeah, that's what Google Translates suggests, but it seems very random. Another title I came across on YouTube was "A Brilliance Of The Polaris, A Trance Which Didn't Pick Up". I'm pretty sure there must be another proper translation, though.

I've given this album a few listens now, and I'm really enjoying it. I liked Moondust quite a bit too, but I think this is both more varied and more consistently solid. Parts of it remind me of TYMT. Whereas Moondust felt at odds with itself by frontloading some corny poprock songs and then spending the rest of the album on slow serious ballads, Trial's sequencing and songwriting typically emphasized greater contrasts throughout, using them to its advantage.

Rescue and Flashback Story are the weakest points for me, and neither of them is a total loss.

Rescue is enjoyable enough while it's on, but it feels overly derivative and reminiscent of other pillows songs, and I wouldn't miss it if it were gone. In particular, there's a part of it that seems to share the same chord progression with the R-E-V-I-V-A-L chant that directly preceded it, so sequencing this immediately after Revival doesn't do it any favors. This is the one place where Trial's sequencing lets it down IMO.

I really like Flashback Story's chorus, but the production badly mucks it up by trying too hard to sound 'retro' in a way that just makes Sawao sound like he's in a toilet. I feel like there's a great PML-esque song screaming to get out in this one, but it's been strangled by intentionally bad production and a "look how retro we are!" jaunty rhythm in the verses. As-is, it's just okay. The obligatory 'throwback' song on every new album nowadays feels like wasted potential to me; they're generally all the same kind of song, and don't really try to replicate the variety or depth of the pillows' older music, so they'd be better off developing those melodic ideas in a different direction without the self-referential nonsense.

I've been pretty critical of a few things, but overall I do really like the album. Revival, Energia, Mochinushi, and Trial are the high points for me so far, but even the maligned Comic Sonic and Ready Steady Go! are really good IMO. The multipart slow-fast-slow structure of Ready Steady Go! really improves the song, and in spite of the terrible English, Sawao's vocal performance in the slow bluesy parts is really emotive. Songs that end with Sawao wailing like a crazy person are usually good. See also: Mochinushi.

As with Moondust, I still dislike the production and feel like it's sapping a lot of the life out of good songs. The songs here manage to shine through in spite of it, but they would've still been far better if the production wasn't fighting them every step of the way.

I always saw Rescue as just a newer version of "back seat dog." I mean, obviously they both feature Yoko, but they just generally have the same feeling to me. I actually did feel like the production quality of the song TRIAL stomped on it a bit. Like the guitars never sounded as sharp as I imagine them, and this is even true of the live performance of it. It just sounds muddled and dulled down. I do love the chorus though, and that ending.

[quote="sl4"]I really like Flashback Story's chorus, but the production badly mucks it up by trying too hard to sound 'retro' in a way that just makes Sawao sound like he's in a toilet.[/quote]
Truth.

Trial > Moondust for sure. Moondust has some really good songs though and I'm not complaining.

After further consideration, I might like Trial even more than Wake Up. It was already sounding great today, but driving home from work to it this evening really sealed the deal. Minority Whisper -> Mochinushi -> Trial was just a perfect fit for the gloomy atmosphere.

I can't put Trial above Wake Up! But I think it's easily the best album since Wake Up!

Trial has some really strong tracks on it, but Wake Up! is, for me, the last album that had "classics" on it.

Boat House, Scarecrow (which I note you do not like, where as it made me cry the first time I heard it... so that makes a big difference), Pleasure Song, Private Kingdom, Century Creepers...

So many great, great songs. With perfect vocal melodies (arrangements weren't necessarily the best on all of these, and the production could've been better). I love, love, LOVE the vocal melodies on Wake Up! The verses, bridges, and choruses all fit so perfectly together (especially in the songs I posted).

Trial kinda didn't have that. With a few exceptions (Revival, Minority Whisper, and the song "Trial" itself), the others either seemed to have songwriting flaws structurally, or just fell short overall.

But Trial does have a bit of a wholesome feeling. IMO, it's the only album since Wake Up! to truly play like an "album", in terms of a cohesive, yet varied sound.

I'm not sure how I feel about Pied Piper. Most of the songs are pretty good. Some are quite good. It's just aight I suppose. Have you listened to it yet?

Wake Up was the last record of theirs where I put it on for the first time and thought "Wow, this is pretty damn good!"

I haven't listened to it in ages, but I recall liking almost the whole thing.

Sweet Baggy Days? God-tier.

Century Creepers? HELL yeah.

Private Kingdom? Pretty rad.

Skinny Blues? Listenable, with a great chorus.

Serious Plan? Lol. I mean, it's actually pretty good.

Pleasure Song is good.

Love me some fuckin' Boat House.

Scarecrow is lovely.

Propose? Listenable.

Youngster is fucking infectious. Catchy as hell. Love it.

Wake Up! Dodo is a high quality jam, very catchy as well.

Did I miss any?

Yeah, Wake Up!x3 is a super solid album. I liked it quite a lot better than My Foot, as a matter of fact. The three that come after it are, uh... let's be charitable and call them "underwhelming" or "mixed bags" by comparison. Trial is pretty nifty and Moon Dust has some great moments.

For me, it would look like: WU!x3> Trial > Moon Dust.

If not for the 3 EXCELLENT singles on it, I'd hate Pied Piper more than any other album. I think that honor may be reserved for Ooparts, which only has Foxes and Primer Beat going for it.

Actually, you know what? Horn Again kind of sucks. Big time. I haven't listened to it in forever, and the only song I can remember liking off of it was Nobody Knows What Blooms. Oh, and Movement.

I like Wake Up a lot too, but I think Trial is just as solid. It just has a different feel to it.

I enjoy about half of Pied Piper (I actually like Horn Again more; it's more consistent, I don't dislike any of its songs, and side B rules). On Pied Piper, I adore Tokyo Bambi and Ladybird Girl, but the rest is very hit or miss. In general I like side B more than side A; some of the slam-on-the-snare-drum-constantly pop-punk earlier in the album really grates on me. I have a love-hate relationship with Purple Apple; it probably would've been better with a running time of under 2 minutes, and the same can probably be said of a number of their other late-era songs.

I'd like to see the pillows explore more unconventional album sequencing, allowing more songs to be shorter and break away from the "10 songs of roughly 4 minutes each" albums and lengthy "verse/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/solo/chorus"-type song structures they've been doing for their entire career. While the pillows were picking up ideas and influence from The Breeders, they could've benefited from picking up some sequencing/song-structure concepts from The Breeders' Dayton peers, Guided By Voices.

The closest pillows comparison I can think of for GBV-style sequencing is Xavier -> Walkin' On The Spiral. Xavier is only as long as it needs to be, is short/catchy enough to encourage repeat listens, and it quickly gets out of the way to make room for Walkin' On The Spiral, so the two of them sequenced together provide a great one-two opening punch together. That sort of sequencing can help oddball songs to work better in an album context, sandwiched in between more immediate hits and longer songs, rather than dragging on for 3+ minutes that really suck if you're not in love with the song.

I will never understand why busters don't like Horn Again. Limp Tomorrow is such a goddamn good song. Engrish aside, Sad Fad Love is great. Nobody Knows What Blooms... Emerald City is really good IMHO, though the Engrish is pretty severe on it. Brilliant Crown and Doggie Howl are great.

And oh my god, I totally forgot about Horn Again B-sides. Split Emotion is fucking amazing.

There are some pretty solid tracks but really, none land a hard punch. Save for Movement, Horn Again is sure a snoozefest in my book. I've never readily said "I want to listen to X" for any track from Horn Again or Ooparts.

[quote="MyFoot"]There are some pretty solid tracks but really, none land a hard punch. Save for Movement, Horn Again is sure a snoozefest in my book. I've never readily said "I want to listen to X" for any track from Horn Again or Ooparts.[/quote]
The whole run from Biography -> Sad Fad Love -> Nobody Knows What Blooms -> Emerald City is killer; they've all been in my head all day, and the rest of the album is no slouch IMO. Maybe it'll grow on you eventually; that's happened to me more times than I can count, with albums I had initially written off completely.

I think it's plateued actually, I already went through a phase where I actually did like some of the songs...I don't like Biography or Emerald City, but SFL and NKWB are actually pretty good. Not solid enough for me to actively seek them out to listen to though, like I said. I don't know, both that and Ooparts just fully underwhelmed me. It was definitely a slouch time for me with regards to the pillows. But Trial was actually the one to fully rerevamp my feelings. I love that album.

Trial heh? Let's see. I will give my [i]bad[/i] opinions on this one.

It's been about two years ago since this album has come out...and actually my feelings to this album are surprisingly much the same as the feelings I had when I first listened to this album (see page 6 of this thread).
[b]Trial [/b] is just a really solid track from start to finish. The parts of the songs fit well together, it has a nice flow. Also nice warm song for in the winter. 9/10

[b]Energya [/b]and [b]Minority Whisper[/b] are quite good. I like the message that Minority Whisper conveys as well as the pre-chorus - chorus thing. Energya is nice to listen to now and then. Energya 7/10, Minority Whisper 8/10.

I am surprised but [b]Ready Steady Go![/b] actually is quite a fun song. Musically, the structure and Manabe's lead are quite nice. This is a nice song to sing along with. 7,5/10.

For the rest of the album I don't have strong feelings to it.
[b]Revival[/b], is a bit too monotonous. That guitar part just keeps on going and going lol. And later again. The song just loses my attention. Sawao's formulaic strong structure doesn't work here for me. 6/10
[b]Rescue[/b], it's been ages since I've listened to the song. Just listened to it again. It's nice, but nothing special imo. 6/10.
[b]Comic Sonic[/b]...aargh, the 'baby, baby', just can't stand it. 4/10.
[b]Flashback Story[/b], hmm, starts of goofy. Don't like the sound quality on this one. Supposed to be a fun song, I think, but I take Ready Steady Go over this one. 5/10.
[b]Polaris[/b] I liked this song at first. But now, it's kinda meh. A bit boring. 5.5/10.

[b]Mochinushi no nai Guitar[/b] saw a video of the live version, that one was kinda good. The studio version though... see my earlier post and that of MyFoot. I don't know, it is a nice song still. That solo is great, the ending is great. Actually the parts of the song are quite nice, it just doesn't flow that well. But it has grown on me. The unique song structure is still a big plus. Okay, I'll give it a 7/10.

I will take Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! over Trial. I really like that album. I think for me it would be:
Bootleg and Wake up. 9/10
My Foot. 8/10
Ooparts. 7/10
Pied Piper and Trial. 6/10
Horn Again and Moondust. 5/10 (I will try to listen to Moondust again)

It's interesting seeing people's different tastes through which songs are the hits and misses for them, noticed a couple times where there's a song that most people love but some people just don't get much from and vice versa, haha.

I MEAN, BANNED.

I also think the title track is the best one on the album, just an incredible song throughout with really great melodies and energy.

Since we're all going back and tossing out our opinions on older albums...

The only misses for me on TRIAL were:
-Flashback Story. It was okay the first time or two, but...eh. I get what he was going for, but it didn't land for me.
-Polaris and Mochinushi. They just...don't do anything for me. I usually look forward to ballads, too.

Comic Sonic is kind of on the border. The "baby, baby" is kinda cringe-worth, but otherwise not bad.

Everything else is pretty much solid. I love the wintery feel of the song Trial, the yelling in Revival, the gentle chants in Rescue, the somber tone of Energia and even Minority Whisper's Engrish.