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.

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