Track Listing
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Roulette de Kuchizuke wo
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Cold Finger Girl
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Oishii Kisetsu
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Mirai no Hikari
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Ketteiteki Sanpunkan
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Kuchi ni Shita LOVE
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Shinkai
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Kanousei Girl
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Gokokuhoujou ROCK
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Ladies&Gentlemen
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New Moon Day
1. Roulette de Kuchizuke wo
I love that this album begins with a bang with Roulette de Kuchizuke wo. It does solidify in my mind that the album is pretty much full of rock songs for sure. For the most part the song does its job by giving us an explosive start and Chiaki’s vocals are pretty solid and strong for this song…it might be much, but it’s a good song.
2. Cold Finger Girl
I still find myself thinking that Cold Finger Girl is like too similar to Anna Tsuchiya’s “Atashi” because of its arrangement and kind of mood it brings to the table. I will say that it’s one of my least favorite songs she released as A-sides because poor Chiaki’s vocals are just all over the place and just was offkey for most of the chorus IMO. It has lost its sparkle after a while and just seems like messy work now.
3. Oishii Kisetsu
At least she picked herself up after that yell-fest with Oishii Kisetsu if you remember was the primary A-side off the third and final single of the era. I love when Chiaki opens the song with just her voice and harpischord playing along. It of course grows into more of something that actually does sound good…despite Shiina Ringo producing the song…I can tell that both could pull this song off…but hmmm. I still think it’s pretty good…at least most of it…the guitar solo and the godawful shriek was just not in good taste.
4. Mirai no Hikari
Hey, Ujihara from DOES produced our next track?!? Oh man, this has to be something! While it’s not too apparant, it feels like a more solid sounding “Cold Finger Girl” since Chiaki’s vocals aren’t all over the place and yet the music is just as rockin’. It’s a very solid rock song from Chiaki and doesn’t have anything that’s too weird going on…very straightforward!
5. Ketteiteki Sanpunkan
Of the pre-released songs, I really wish she hadn’t put this song on the album (to be honest, she shouldn’t placed “Ryuusei no Namida” here instead!). I think she should’ve redone this song to be without any of the filters that were present because it seriously annoyed me to no end and it had potential too because the arrangement is kind of groovy and edgy…it’s just how the vocals turned out was just bad!
6. Kuchi ni Shita LOVE
Hey, synths finally! I must say this rather interesting change in style of music was kind of surprising and yet good for her. The beats are quite catchy and Chiaki’s vocals also sound a lot more at ease when compared to some of the previous songs. There’s still traces of guitars like the solo, but most of the song feels so different and quite a trip to listen to. Odd, coming from two guys from the rock band JET.
7. Shinkai
Working with Hidehiko from BUCK-TICK (another band I review on the site) for the next song, Shinkai is the slowest song yet on the album with mostly a piano-based arrangement but opens to more of a mid-tempo synth-rock kind of song. To me, of the new songs I was least impressed with this one since it just didn’t seem right…especially if she was going for a slower song.
8. Kanousei Girl
As the era’s first A-side (because clearly “Ryuusei no Namida” SURELY doesn’t count), Kanousei Girl was a total 180 from the seriousness of her debut. I love the song’s more peppy feel and it still comes off quite well despite being oddly cute for Chiaki. The chorus is still a little funky to me since it’s so different from the rest of the song, but I still enjoy it otherwise.
9. Gokokukoujou ROCK
Being the album’s longest song at 6 minutes, I wondered how this was going to turn out since I’ve heard of THEATRE BROOK before and one of the members of the band produced our next new track. The thing that surprised me the most is that Chiaki’s voice is so much deeper and has so much more presence than before. It’s really surprising she pulled off a song like this since it’s funky and totally can stand on its own…this should’ve been an A-side!
10. Ladies&Gentlemen
I can’t believe Stephen Jenkins from American rock band, Third Eye Blind was able to produce something for Chiaki ^_^. I’ll will say that I wasn’t surprised that the song was what I was expecting from him, but maybe a little harder. Chiaki first sounded bored singing, but the second verse actually put her back up into some sense and she hits some pretty bizarre high notes. I think it’s catchy, but could be considered messy to others….Iono…
11. New Moon Day
Closing the album, New Moon Day is kind of like a mix of the rock songs that are found on the album and some of the synthy stuff mixed with chanting! For a closing track, this lacks oomph and energy for some reason and just felt like it was taking too long to get to the end for me. I guess Chiaki was trying to sing with emotion, but it didn’t help the lackluster arrangement.
Tracks Recommended
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Kuchi ni Shita LOVE
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Gokokukoujou ROCK
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Mirai no Hikari
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Kanousei Girl
Song of Avoidance
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New Moon Day
For an artist that started out on such a high note with “Ryuusei no Namida”, Chiaki’s debut album was a bit wishy-washy for the most part. I loved that she went to tons of different producers for CIRCUS, but there was kind of a slip of either the not-so-interesting arrangements and the vocal issues some of the songs…plus factoring in that her debut didn’t even make the album (but the PV is on the CD+DVD edition here) was just of bad choice. It’s not too much of a good album…but there were a few songs that were good ^_^
