Album First Impressions: Garou, Girls Aloud, Leah Dizon, Mandy Moore, Sakamoto Maaya, Stephanie

. Some of these albums I’ve never reviewed, and I don’t really plan to (sometimes because Tsuki’s already done it), so I’m throwing them on here. =D Added approximate marks XD.

Garou – Piece of My Soul (B-)

Garou is a Francophone-Canadian singer, most known for his role as Quasimodo in the musical Notre-Dame de Paris (both in the Paris cast and the London cast). I’ve never seen the British version of the musical, but the French version is fantastic. “Piece of My Soul” is Garou’s first English album, and his fourth album overall; however, there’s not much here to note about. The thing is that Garou is a fantastic singer, and he shows this well here. In addition, he has a rather unique gravelly voice which makes him stand out somewhat from the pop crowd. However, the material on this album is rather bland and uninspiring. Most notable track is the opening “Stand Up”, which was also the first single off the album. It’s a catchy rock-esque track, which displays Garou’s energy and his voice. This is pretty much an average release.

Girls Aloud – Sound of the Underground (C)

After being disappointed with this British pop group’s latest effort, I decided to start at the beginning of their career for some insight on their debut album. Unfortunately, this album is just as poor of a release as their latest work. The melodies on this album just come off as really awkward. In addition, the girls don’t particularly sing well on this album either, and they come off as a little bit amature-sounding on this album. There’s some nice hooks on this album, but otherwise, I wasn’t particularly interested in this album. I don’t really have any highlights on this album.

Leah Dizon – Communication!!! (C)

If you think Dizon sang badly on the first album, you’re in for a treat on her second attempt. While Dizon has a stronger voice this time around, her pitch has drastically gone from passable to absolutely god-awful. Seriously, I didn’t even cringe this much through Destiny Line. She singing is just really bad on this album. On the other than, I liked a lot more songs (in terms of composition, general production) a lot more this time around. “Love Paradox” is definitely one of my favourites from Dizon, and the strongest Dizon song to date in my opinion. However, far too many times I thought that certain songs would have sounded rather good only if Dizon was actually in tune. For example, “Lost at Sea” has a lovely melody, but Dizon sounds absolutely terrible and out of tune. Hopefully, she pulls out music at the level of “Love Paradox” for the next album.

Mandy Moore – Amanda Leigh (B-)

Terrible cover-art aside, Mandy Moore goes for a more mature approach for her most recent album. Thankfully, despite rumours, she kept with her more folk-pop music. However, at first listen, not many of these tracks stand out in any way, despite being rather pretty. Moore’s singing is still solid, and some of the tracks are pretty calming, but if I were to pick out stand-out tracks off the top of my head, I wouldn’t really be able to remember much of what happened the first time I listened to the album, save for the first two or so tracks. The music is pretty, but Wild Hope made a much better first impression on me.

Sakamoto Maaya – Kazeyomi (B)

Unlike Tsuki, I didn’t quite enjoy Kazeyomi to the same degree as she did. For me, Maaya’s voice seemed a lot more strained than I was used to hearing from her, and as a result, I didn’t really enjoy the overall album as much as some of her past work. However, there are still some notable tracks. “Vento” is a gorgeous opening composition for the album, and actually one of my favourite tracks off the album. “SONIC BOOM” is a pretty mid-tempo song, which shows a much stronger vocal from Maaya, and “ピーナッツ” (Peanuts) is an irresistable, adorable track that features pizzicato strings and xylophone. It’s still a cute album overall, but not one of my favourites

Sakamoto Maaya – Lucy (A-)

While this wasn’t the first time I listened to Lucy, this was the first time I formed an overall opinion about the album. A lot of these songs I grew up listening to, and most of them are just as enjoyable as they were when I first listened to them years ago. As a product, Lucy delivers some fun pop music, a lot of which are nicely sung. My personal favourites include 空気と星 (Kuuki to Hoshi), a lovely ballad that shows off Maaaya’s beautiful tone and delivery, and ストロボの空 (Strobe no Sora), a mid-tempo track with a lovely, flowing melody (although Maaya’s singing isn’t as good on this track). While Maaya still has some ways to go as a vocalist, she still has solid performances on this album, and the material is throughly enjoyable.

Stephanie – Stephanie (A-)

Amusingly, I actually enjoyed this Jpop singer’s debut album. She has some catchy pop tunes, and some solid pipes. I was actually surprised how enjoyable this album was. Stephanie projects her voice really well, although she can be a ble mechanical in her presentation. This album is filled with catchy guitar-centered pop tracks. Among them, “Life” stood out to me as an uptempo pop-rock track with a quick melody. Even the really cheesy “Shiny Days” caught my attention. This album is fun and has some pretty solid singing throughout.

Album First Impressions: A Fine Frenzy, Arashiro Beni, Girls Aloud, Savage Garden

A few new blurbs <3

A Fine Frenzy – One Cell in the Sea (B)

Alison Sudol, commonly known as “A Fine Frenzy”, is an American singer-songwriter who has a beautiful voice and an excellent ear for soothing melodies. This is her debut album, and is mostly filled with pleasant sounds and melodies. Unfortunately, not a lot stood out of its own on the album when I was casually listening to it several times during exam period. Out of the tracklist, the single “Almost Lover” was definitely a stand out with its bittersweet lyrics and sorrowful singing from Sudol. The other track that I remember off the top of my head is “Rangers”, the track that comes before her debut single. It has a fabulous chorus with interesting lyrics that caught my attention the first time I listened to it: “And the rangers stream out if their cabins / They are the hunters / We are the rabbits / Maybe we don’t want to be found”. It’s pretty obvious that Sudol is a fabulous lyricist, but listening to the album casually really does nothing for the album. Maybe I’ll like it better when I write a full review for it.

Arashiro Beni – GEM (A-)

Arashino Beni, currently releasing music under the name BENI is a Japanese pop-R&B singer with a beautiful voice. I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I don’t care for this girl’s earlier material. After listening to her latest Universal material, I decided to give her last album a try, and it was surprisingly pretty good. I’ve always liked “How Are U?” and “Luna” has always been a passable ballad from her. What I didn’t realize was that she has much better tracks on this album. There are some pretty catchy R&B tracks on this song, including the first few tracks. “Paradise” is a lovely, breezy tracks, although her voice is a little bit strained on it. I think my favourite track is her studio live version of 恋文, which is probably my favourite off this album. I’m definitely not dissapointed from picking up this album.

Girls Aloud – Out of Control (C+)

After listening to this Tangled Up, I decided to dive into this British girl pop group’s latest effort. To my surprise, this album is nowhere as good as their previous album. A lot of their singing problems show themselves a lot more clearly on this album, and it’s especially annoying when one listens to a solid pop track, such as their single “The Promise”, which is a catchy song, but littered with a lot of bad singing. Much of the songs don’t really catch my attention after that. “Untouchable” is a notable track, but goes on for far too long. “Revolution in the Head” is rather catchy, and probably closest to the stuff they had on their previous album with a stronger dance feel. “Live in the country” is amusing with the animal sounds, and the catchy beats. Otherwise, there’s not much here. I’d recommend Tangled Up over this.

Savage Garden – Affirmation (A-)

I’ve always really liked this Australian pop duo ever since they first came out, but I never sat down and listened to their album all the way through. Surprisingly, this album is pretty good. These guys know how to write good pop music, and it shows throughout this album. “Affirmation” is an excellent mid-tempo opener with some beautiful accompaniment and excellent singing from Darren Hayes. This album isn’t complete without the slightly cheesy, but really pretty “I knew I loved you” in the mix, and the march-like “The Animal Song”. The ending of the album, however, sizzles down to some filler tracks that I really don’t remember that well, but I remember they were uninteresting and bland. Either way, this is a still a solid pop album.