Track Listing
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SEASONS
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SEASONS “Acoustic Orchestra Version”
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TO BE “Acoustic Orchestra Version”
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SEASONS “so happy so sad mix”
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SEASONS “Jonathan Peters’ Radio Mix”
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SEASONS “Ray of Light Mix”
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SEASONS “Neutralize: Final Attack Mix”
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SEASONS “D-Z BLUE SUNBEAM MIX”
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SEASONS “Dub’s Rain of duv Remix”
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SEASONS -Instrumental-
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ever free “HΛL’S MIX 2000″
1. SEASONS
Rounding out the trilogy of songs, SEASONS is the ballad of the era right now. I’m liking this song already because it does show some maturity within Ayu and it’s very fitting. Besides that, it’s the first of Ayu’s amazing ballad songs. It’s because while her vocals aren’t the best she’s done, she put some emotion towards the song and with the arrangement it did her well.
2. SEASONS “Acoustic Orchestra Version”
I was really excited to see that SEASONS was another song that got this really nice treatment. While this version doesn’t beat out “Fly high’s” acoustic orchestra version, this was a great rearrangement of SEASONS and the added BKGD vocals were a nice touch as with the strings playing melancholically.
3. TO BE “Acoustic Orchestra Version”
Wow…two on one single? TO BE is actually more of an acoustic tune rather than added with an orchestra. I’m still not exactly too fond of TO BE as a song because there’s not really much to remember it by. It’s rather very simple and Ayu I think sorta resang the song to fit the mood, but her vocals are still a bit hoarse.
4. SEASONS “so happy so sad mix”
Our first remix for SEASONS begins with this remix which has an ethereal feel to it from the start. It’s rather nice because it doesn’t sound like anything I’ve heard beforehand and Ayu’s vocals/lyrics are a bit more subdued. Though it hardly changes as the song goes by and that’s rather disappointing, but it’s still a nice, calm tune.
5. SEASONS “Jonathan Peters’ Radio Mix”
We finally put some up energy back into the remixes with Jonathan Peters remix of SEASONS. It has that eurobeat feel to it that gave the ballad a bit of an extra punch to it and it sounded a whole lot more epic like this rather than it’s original form. Even the strings added more depth and didn’t leave it dry and boring. I’m really liking this remix.
6. SEASONS “Ray of Light Mix”
I guess what came out of this remix was that this SEASONS remix was more of a club remix than anything else. It has that typical long opening, but actually sounds tribal at the same time. It does have added echo effects going, but it doesn’t save this remix.
7. SEASONS “Neutralize: Final Attack Mix”
OH! I was expecting something really hardcore for this remix of SEASONS, but it falls flat because it’s an awkward remix. Like it sounds like it’s trying to be a terrifying remix, but it doesn’ t exactly do it right and it seems way to slow to have a remix title like this. Lyrics are also repeated way too much as well. I don’t like this.
8. SEASONS “D-Z BLUE SUNBEAM MIX”
Of course the biggest piece of awesomeness cake belongs to D-Z’s remix of SEASONS. I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed with any of their remixes and hearing a trance version of SEASONS made me happy and I was right. The opening is long unsurprisingly but it’s full of synths all over the place and laced with energy, I was surprised they handled the song pretty well.
9. SEASONS “Dub’s Rain of duv Remix”
Then we get the dubbed version of SEASONS and once again shows a light reggae sound mixed in with synths. It doesn’t seem this really mixed with SEASONS all that well and made the song sound a bit monotone even when Ayu was singing. How about we just pass this song up.
10. ever free “HΛL’S MIX 2000″
I’m surprised HΛL didn’t make a remix for “SEASONS” this time beacuse it’s rather strange that they instead made one for ever free the forgotten B-side. Now this remix is rather more towards what they’ve usually pulled out and it’s as ethereal as ever. That’s the problem, it’s so ethereal that it doesn’t seem like it’s a real track anymore.
So Ayu actually finished the singles trilogy with a nice enough single. SEASONS actually had really nice remixes this time so it wasn’t as foreboding like the past singles of the era. TO BE and ever free’s remixes weren’t up to snuff and was actually worse than most of the SEASONS remixes. How weird.
