I wouldn't say they're running out of steam at all, but it's more like TYMT was the end of an era. Personally, I think everything from PML- TYMT was just awesome, espeically LB-HB. But starting with Penalty Life, there weren't as many songs that kind of left you in awe. There's defintiely songs that I love on the last 3 albums, just not as many as I did in their earlier work. Don't get me wrong though, I share pretty much the same view as Mare, I enjoy every pillows' song, just some more than others, and a good majority of those songs happen to be from PML- TYMT.

[quote="Son Goshin"]TYMT was the end of an era. Personally, I think everything from PML- TYMT was just awesome, espeically LB-HB. But starting with Penalty Life, there weren't as many songs that kind of left you in awe. There's defintiely songs that I like on the last 3 albums, just not as many as I did in their earlier work.[/quote]

It's like...it's like we're brothers.

Believe me, I don't fall into the mindless bashing category of pillows "fan", although I don't mind people who dislike later stuff and act rational. Here's how I'd break it down:

1989-1993: the pillows' early years; tons of great music, with a charm and youthful eagerness not found in other stuff. White Incarnation, a nearly flawless album, is the peak of the early period and my second favorite pillows album, ever.

1993-1996: the pillows struggle stylistically after Kenji's departure and Sawao assuming total control of the band. Sawao isn't totally sure what they want to do, and go all over the place. Fortunately, this is a very, very good thing, because the Special CD, Kool Spice, Living Field, and Tiny Boat are among the most stylistically unique popular music ever recorded. I wish there was more stuff that sounded like this.

1996-1998: Although they released some amazing music in their last period, Sawao and the gang had a lot of trouble finding an audience for it. As we've recently discovered, Sawao was going through some pretty rough times when he wrote most of Please Mr. Lostman, and it's hard to miss the album's pure emotion, somehow perfectly captured in the form of British-inspired alternative rock that picked up where the British inspired early albums left off. Little Busters perfected the hard rock formula and remains my favorite pillows album.

1998-2000: Sawao is way more confident of himself and makes more hard rock. I don't like this style quite as much as the last, but the majority of Runners High and Happy Bivouac is great.

2001: Smile sounds way different to me, for some reason. the pillows went for a rougher, more analog sound on an album that stands on its own and doesn't really sound like preceding and later albums. It's also more than a collection of songs - it's an excellent album, like White Incarnation, Little Busters, and Please Mr. Lostman, the entire thing is consistent but not repetitive.

2002-2007: the pillows evolve again into their latest incarnation. Thank You, My Twilight has two of my favorite pillows songs (Shiroi Natsu, title track) and Penalty Life has minor surf influence. I've always felt that PL got too much bad rap; it has three or four songs I can't stand, several okay ones, and one or two fairly good tracks.

Good Dreams is my least favorite pillows album and probably their low point. None of the songs do anything for me. The best thing about this album is that Manabe plays several great guitar solos in otherwise uninteresting songs. While I don't like this album very much, I don't think it's a horrible disaster aside from Bad Dreams, quite possibly the worst song they've ever made.

My Foot is a step up (heh) from its predecessor; it has a nice title track, but unfortunately wallows in boring or offensive songs, singles excluded, until March Of The God, where the album goes on to a good finish. Sayonara Universe is probably the best song the pillows have done since 2002. Uneven, but not the horrible failure some make it out to be.

The new single is not as good as the last few; although I've grown to like Scarecrow, the other songs don't really do it for me. They aren't horribly offensive or annoying, just not as interesting as other stuff by the same band that I'd rather listen to. Wake Up! Do Do is pretty unremarkable, but there's nothing horrible or offensive about it. If there's one critical complain I'd give the modern pillows sound, it's that it's too safe and doesn't really try anything new/dangerous/whatever. I don't really blame Sawao, though; after years of struggling to find an audience, the pillows are finally becoming slightly successful. It may not be the greatest music of all time, but it's not painfully bad or anything. the pillows' harshest critics really need to chill out.

Overall the pillows have done well over a fifteen-year span. The only other band that can give them competition (that I can immediately remember, anyway) is Sonic Youth, who somehow continue to release good albums over 25 years later. I don't know how you do that. It probably helps that, like the pillows, their style has changed a lot over time while remaining recognizable.

Wow, that was... a little longer than I expected. I always get a little carried away, I guess.

[quote="Thinliine"]snip[/quote]

wow nice general overall synopsis. you really encompassed everything there. yea its definitely true they they are starting to sink into a rather general category of music with rather unspectacular or amazingly original music, but like you said, they found their audience niche and i commend them for finding what really suits them and the fans.

besides i still enjoy their modern music very much. its not like their past music is lost in the winds.....the winds are just changing i guess. lol that was lame.

Sorry for the delay in the rest, I've been busy this week, and probably most of next too. I'll try to get some of it done over the weekend...

[quote="Thinliine"]Believe me, I don't fall into the mindless bashing category of pillows "fan", although I don't mind people who dislike later stuff and act rational.

:great post:[/quote]

I'm well aware you're not one of those types. That post was really great, and I see where you're coming from. It seems more like you don't so much think they're "running out of steam" as "getting too comfortable with where they're at," maybe. I don't understand saying they've "run out of steam" because it implies that they can't write good music any more, whereas saying that they don't seem to be trying as hard as before to make innovative songs seems probably a bit more accurate.

While I agree with much of what you've said, I found that the most recent pillows incarnations to be more of the pattern they've been following from the beginning than any real degeneration. Each of the albums still has a different sound from any of the others, and each one still has a mix of songs and many good lyrics and plenty of nice guitar work. It just seems that some people are lamenting that the style they're trying right now isn't as innovative or interesting as the things they've done in the past. It's not, but that doesn't mean it's not good or that they've run out of steam. If anything, they're probably working harder than ever to write good songs that people will like. And it seems that they're not JUST writing songs to sell, since there are still a few songs on each album that speak to me emotionally and have rather inspired lyrics.

Sorry for the rant.

Goddamn, get out of my head, Thiinline. Fantastic fucking post.

Thank you

When I think about it, I think that Sawao is trying to make the pillows more mainstream to gain more popularity, but he doesn't want to make really generic music, so he's trying to find the middle ground between the stuff from PML, TYMT, PL, and what's popular.



Shrug.

Well I dont blame Sawao for trying to get his stuff more mainstream. After spending so many years unknown, it's understandable that he wants to make music that people will listen and enjoy. It's not to say that the earlier stuff wasn't any of that, just majority rules and the majority of people wanna hear pop or something along those lines. Maybe if they don't get as popular as he wants the pillows to be, he'll go back to taking channces and exploring their sound.

Though, on the topic of exploring sound, I believe he's still doing that. Wake up! Do do seems so sound much different then stuff in My Foot (lyrics and a little bit of playing style). But you can't out right say that they are playing things that sound the same and that the pillows aren't evolving as they used to. They are, but maybe at a slower pase.

Still looking forward to their new stuff though. Every album has at least one song that's increadible.

Sawao said that they wanted to make music that is easy to play and sounds good. Im looking forward to this album whether its really good or ok or even bad.
They have real come a long way and there sound has differed a lot here and there. Theres the old rockin stuff, jazzy stuff, slower powerful songs, upbeat pop-like songs, really rockin songs, old school songs, and it goes on and on. 5 years from now they most likely wont sound like they do now, just like they dont sound like they used to. You can decide what is the best sound for you but I think (at least in my mind) that they could have a large range of fans since their sound has shifted little by little over time, yet they still have that core 'pillows' sound of course.
As Sato said, they probably havent even reached their peak yet.
Although I dont think they have or had a peak you can clearly notice since its up to what you like best from them.

These translations of the Walkin DVD really made me feel great about being a pillows fan. Thank you very much!

The main reason why I like the pillows so much it's because they sound different on each song. Maybe they have a similar sound on some songs, but, come on!!! they have more than a 100 songs, so you can't blame them.

BTW, where is the rest of the translation (and thank you )

[quote="Blank"]When I think about it, I think that Sawao is trying to make the pillows more mainstream to gain more popularity, but he doesn't want to make really generic music, so he's trying to find the middle ground between the stuff from PML, TYMT, PL, and what's popular.



Shrug.[/quote]

Cool.. Isn't that just a watered down version of what everyone says on everyone of these topics?


Cool. :/

[img]http://www.chez-williams.com/Hot%20Sauce/not_cool.jpg[/img]

I really wish Moon_Margaret is still alive.
His job with the translation was awesome. Does anybody have info about him?

Indeed an excellent job