[quote="GoldenRhino"]Pretty sure he wrote Gazelle City. And I'd venture a guess that he's written at least 90% of the pillows lead lines, too. Sawao sure as hell didn't write the Hybrid Rainbow lead, judging by his attempt at it in the demo vids.[/quote]

How are you pretty sure he wrote "Gazelle City," though?

It would be my best guess that Manabe wrote most of the pillows lead lines (I would even assume that he's written songs as well), but unless it's been said in an interview or other documentation, we can't really be certain. Additionally, Sawao doesn't need to be able to play parts that he has or has not written.

I want to live like that has 'Manabe' written all over it.

[quote="aukm0el"]I want to live like that has 'Manabe' written all over it.[/quote]

Seriously that is one perfect example. Sawao takes too much credit and/or Manabe doesn't have enough credit. There is no doubt that Manabe plays a much greater role in the creations of the songs. Someone also pointed out Sawao's attempt at the Hybrid Rainbow lead. Thats another hint. What if the whole "music and lyrics by sawao yamanaka" thing is all out of respect for the leader of the band? I don't want to get into too much detail, but the pillows without Manabe would ALSO be very different.

Another thing to prove it. Listen to The Predators... Listen to the pillows. They may sound similar, but something is missing no? Maybe that something that Manabe puts into the songs.

Uh...then again, if I wrote songs for a four-piece band, and then wrote songs for a three-piece band, they would be notably different.

I'm convinced that Manabe's role is marginalized, but still, we have little official proof.

IF the protest about Manabe's importance in the band is simply as a lead guitarist than yes, his role is very important, BUT he can easily be replaced. Any lead guitarist should be able to play Manabe's parts in the songs as well, if not with more energy than he does.

Manabe did not write Gazelle City. If he did, it would have been mentioned in the insert like the songs that were co-written by other musicians, but he's not mentioned on the single or My Foot as having anything more to do with it than arrangement.

Sawao could probably play Manabe's lead parts if he wanted to.

Yeah, I think, other than the Heart Is There cover, the only song Manabe's ever written for the pillows has been Swinger's Night Club.

ITT, supertramp thinks if you're not Sawao, you are an unimportant POS.

That not exactly what I"m saying. If any of the current members were replaced the pillows wouldn't be the same because of the love we have for each member. BUT in the grander scheme, everyone but Sawao [i]could[/i] be replaced, and the band [i]could[/i] carry on. They wouldn't out of respect, but they [i]could[/i].


Really, there's no reason whatsoever to get pissey over my opinion GR.

For the record, it's quite easy to write material that you cannot perform yourself. In fact, many times lead guitarists or session guitarists are solely hired to fill gaps in technical talent, and often their creative talent is ignored or otherwise not utilized (or it's terrible or unexplored).

Also, you think Mozart could play all the parts that he wrote, for every instrument? Do you think he asked his first-seat contrabassist what he thought about the bass line? Of course not. Of course, this could be (and I believe is) totally irrelevant to the pillows, but "Sawao can't/doesn't play the parts" is simply a poor argument.

For the record, I highly doubt Sawao can play the Skinny Blues solo, or most of the lead in Good Morning, Good News. The fact that tracks like Sonna fuu ni sugoshitai exist is evidence that Sawao, while he has a ton of control over the pillows' sound, is open to the influence of other members. Not to discount Jun, but the core three of them, have been together since 1989. They're good friends, not just band mates. You don't play for over 19 years together if everyone' just taking orders from the frontman every step of the way. I don't think Manabe and Shin would really be up for 19 years of "Ok, now we're gonna do this - Shin, keep the beat more like this, yeah, more hi-hat, and Manabe, the solo should be mostly at the high end of the neck, and would you stomp on the reverb already?"

[quote="GoldenRhino"]For the record, I highly doubt Sawao can play the Skinny Blues solo, or most of the lead in Good Morning, Good News.[/quote]

Not that that is relevant...like I said...

[quote="Kaze no Mirai"][quote="aukm0el"]I want to live like that has 'Manabe' written all over it.[/quote]

Seriously that is one perfect example. Sawao takes too much credit and/or Manabe doesn't have enough credit. There is no doubt that Manabe plays a much greater role in the creations of the songs. Someone also pointed out Sawao's attempt at the Hybrid Rainbow lead. Thats another hint. What if the whole "music and lyrics by sawao yamanaka" thing is all out of respect for the leader of the band? I don't want to get into too much detail, but the pillows without Manabe would ALSO be very different.

Another thing to prove it. Listen to The Predators... Listen to the pillows. They may sound similar, but something is missing no? Maybe that something that Manabe puts into the songs.[/quote]

To be honest I treat them as two totally different bands. I feel the material is just a different mind-set overall, I mean if he really wanted the material to be done under the pillows it would've happened (though POISON ROCK'N'ROLL shares some heavier aspects akin to that seen in THE PREDATORS but overall it still has that pillows feel). Not to mention it's also been stated that when changing up from a four-piece band to a three-piece band things definitely have to change up to accommodate for the changes especially with new members you don't always work with (especially in this case given the span from the first mini-album to their new material).

I'm pretty sure each member makes up their own part for the song. I'd hate to be in a band that told me what to play and not let me use my own musical creativity.

Therefore, everyone else, including Manabe, Shin, and Jun share the same sentiments toward musical creativity.

It's pointless for us to offer random conjecture on this. Perhaps if anyone has anything substantive to offer? I would love to hear it, as would the rest of IM. Until then, unfortunately, we have to trust liner notes and random guessing...

Kaze?