I say it’s the proper time to do this post so if you haven’t read the first half of the year, click here!!!!!!!. Oh and BTW, the post might have included July but there was no album that I didn’t review in July so it’s omitted this year LOL.
August
DIR EN GREY – DUM SPIRO SPERO CD2
DIR EN GREY actually had another disc on their studio album they released this year! Reason why I didn’t review that was simply because it was fully of acoustic takes, demo versions, and remixes of the album’s songs. The only two things that stood out was the symphonic version of “AMON” and “Rasetsukoku” which is the only original track on CD2.
Miliyah Kato – M BEST
Miliyah is actually the first official best-of released in the second half of the year. From the looks of it it features most if not all of her A-sides released since she debuted. The first disc features songs in her first three eras: “Rose”, “Diamond Princess”, and “TOKYO STAR”. The second disc features songs during the “Ring”, “HEAVEN” and well the singles released after that album. It’s a fulfilling best-of not gonna lie and I actually would be curious to her early stuff (AKA the first disc).
Nana Tanimura – NANA BEST
I mean I could’ve reviewed Boobsmura’s first album but like it says it’s essentially a best-of since it took her eight singles before this one was put out! Even then the album is filled up with 19 tracks. Of course besides the A-sides, a couple of B-sides filled the gaps and three new songs were added in, “MY WAY”, “GIMME MO”, and “Innocent”. It’s a pretty good place to start with Nana if you never got into the singles.
ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D – DRRROOKiEZ is PUNK’D respect for DRRR!!
I guess this could be considered as a concept mini-album. There are 7 main songs in which one of them is “Complication” (their debut A-side). The rest are basically new songs to my eyes which should’ve meant I could’ve reviewed it >.> Beyond the seven songs are four extra bonuses which kind of ties in with the anime. Mainly because the main character of the anime takes over for 3 of the tracks while DROP gets a short game version. Strange release from the band to be honest.
Minori Chihara – Key for Defection LIVE CD
Strange that on this list, Minorin is the only artist to release a live disc in the second half of 2011. Only released through Lantis stores, Key for Defection is three discs of various songs Minori performed. A lot of the songs are from the current era though which hasn’t been very great if you ask me. Luckily it’s balanced out by tons of stuff in her three other eras. Of course it’s a live album so it prolly did better for the songs to be heard live I say!
BoA – SUMMER SELECTION 2011
Talk about a seemingly useless release! avex decided to cash cow BoA since she was busy doing various projects by releasing this digital “summer” album. There’s seriously noting to really be happy about since it’s a lot of pick and choose here. Songs like “QUINCY” and “ID; Peace B” seem to be more of the odder choices while there’s recent “WOO WEEKEND” and “I SEE ME” as well (the latter prolly the only reason you should look at this release, but is prolly obsolete since it’s on BoA’s upcoming single, “Milestone”).
September
Aya Kamiki – THE FINAL JOURNEY
It’s just so strange to see Aya Kamiki release ANOTHER best-of on top of the two she did last year. However, this is Kamiki’s final release under avex before she went indies on us. This best-of contains a mix of both of her stuff on GIZA and avex. It’s a little strange but it’s so nice to see some of the stuff from “Gloriosa” and “EVILALIVE” on here and “Infinity” from the “Revolver” single. It also has two new tracks in “THE FINAL JOURNEY” and “Starting Another Day”. Great release I say!
AAA – #AAABEST
Yay!!! AAA finally releases their second best-of and it’s kind of less like than their first one actually. It does feature all of the primary A-sides (which means all the amazing secondary A-sides are not present). Of course the two A-sides released prior, “No cry No More” and “CALL” are also on here. Unfortunately the bonus tracks here are just new versions of “Hallelujah”, “Hurricane Riri, Boston Mari” and “Get Chu!”. Not really much to fall back on but at least the A-sides were strong (maybe not so much the “depArture” singles) but still…
BONNIE PINK – Back Room -BONNIE PINK Remakes-
I do kind of wish that Kaori wasn’t so quiet this year, but she did release a self-cover album to make up for time. Back Room is mostly just acoustic renditions of actually random chosen songs. Most were clear choices like “A Perfect Sky” and “Ring A Bell”…but stuff like “Burning Inside” and “Paradiddle-free” were unusual yet great choices. There’s also a new song in “Look Me In The Eyes” to tide things over until she releases something new…Cool little album here.
SPYAIR – Rockin’ the World CD2
I didn’t notice it at first but SPYAIR’s first major label album actually included a second disc. However, upon more information about it I found out that that the second disc contains all their B-sides they’ve released in the era (minus “SINGING” since it was on the first disc). To replace that loss one of the songs is a new one, “OVER”. It’s definitely for the collector and big fan of the band!
Rina Aiuchi – Forever Songs -Brand New Remixes-
I guess GIZA wants to cash cow Rina still despite the fact she left the music business last year. For being a remix album I was expecting a little more variety of songs than the 12 we were given. I mean the songs remixed were originally found in Rina’s first three albums…how about some love for the later five albums? Some of these songs have been remixed on the last remix album already!!! C’mon GIZA step it up!
October
LM.C – ☆★Best the LM.C★☆2006-2011 SINGLES
I’m pretty happy that LM.C finally released their first best-of album! Featuring all of the A-sides and the main tracks (from the first two singles) this is quite a strong release! Also the album contains one new song in “The LOVE SONG”, however it was released as a recut single with the tie-in of the anime so it does make this sad release but is a great place to start with the duo here.
Shoko Nakagawa – Shokotan☆Cover 3 4-1 ~Shoko☆Idol hen~ & Shokotan☆Cover 4-2 ~Shoko☆Rock hen~
In tradition, Shokotan released another cover album but this time split in half in two releases. One being cover of idol songs and the other more of rock/anime themes. I didn’t recognize any but “Sekidou Komachi Doki” on the idol mini which is sad but I also didn’t notice most of the tracks on the rock release either cept “Koigokoro” fron Nanase Aikawa and “Don’t say “lazy”” (which is pretty damn popular and she’s done a short version of it already on her last cover album).
Phantasmagoria – Wailing Wall -2004-2010
It seems that Phantasmagoria have more best-ofs than actual releases XD. Since it is their “so-called” final release, Wailing Wall is everything and anything Phantasmagoria has done during their on/off tenure. 29 songs and a DVD and we’re good. The only thing that would pull fans in is the fact that the stuff from their short comeback is on this so it’s might worth it to look at it!
November
Ayahi Takagaki – melodia
November started off with a mini cover album from Ayahi. Now usually I would do these reviews but seeing as 4 of the seven songs on the mini I’ve already reviewed on her three singles, it wasn’t worth to review it. Add in the songs were pretty much way light for me to make it stand out for me.
Nana Mizuki – THE MUSEUM II
Nana finally got her second best-of out which chronicles the “GREAT ACTIVITY” era all the way up to the three singles released after “IMPACT EXCITER”. Luckily we also got some B-sides out of it 2 new edits of “Meikyuu Butterfly” and “SUPER GENERATION” and a new song in “ROMANCERS’ NEO”. The DVD is pretty much a disappointment though with only a live thing and “POP MASTER’s” PV. I’d say it would’ve been stronger if all the PVs were here but that’s why we have Nana Clips.
PUFFY – 15
I guess to commemerate their 15th year anniversary, they released a new best-of album in 15. It’s two discs full of different songs whether they’re A-sides or album tracks (maybe a couple B-sides, not sure since I only recognize a couple of songs on here). There’s a lot of songs on both discs and it’s pretty much an instant buy if you’re a good enough PUFFY fan!
Rie fu – I Can Do Better
Interesting that Rie fu would release her best album but then again it isn’t because she had five albums preceding it. Beyond the A-sides found on the album, some B-sides and “Hitotsu Hitotsu” from “at Rie sessions” are included. Of course there’s one new song in “For Your Wedding” so it’s a nice little collection here.
immi – RimmiX 2 -CM & Tacomimi-
In a very quiet manner, immi released the second of the RimmiX series (which are remix albums, if you haven’t already guessed). However! the songs are actually remixes of demo songs that she’s been sporadically putting out since “Spiral” so this is actually an interesting release. All but two songs are remixes, the other two I’m guessing are originals so hmmm it’s worth it but it was a limited release x.x
JUJU – DELICIOUS
Yup, JUJU released ANOTHER cover album this year, but the biggest difference is that the style and genre is totally jazz this time around! Including the single “Lullaby Of Birdland/Mizuiro no Kage” the album is mainly covers of well-known American songs. My curiosity though is what’s with the Peanuts’ cast on the cover…what does it have to do with DELICIOUS? xD
JUJU – JUJU Complete BOX
JUJU also released the box set on the same day as “DELICIOUS”. This contains her first three albums, “Wonderful Life”, “What’s Next”, and “JUJU”. It also has two extra places for whatever else JUJU-related which is pretty cool I guess. Still for something that might attract the more recent fans to go back in her catalog.
December
Ami Suzuki – Ami Selection
Whoohoo! Ami’s first best-of under avex…hmmm so then why are there SONY songs representing half the album eh?!? Luckily all 8 of the SONY songs featured were redone so they aren’t as shrill since Ami’s vocals weren’t that great back then. The rest of the best is kind of an odd bunch. It was obvious “Reincarnation” and “KISS KISS KISS” would be found here since they have no album to represent. “FREE FREE” and “Delightful” because of their popularity amongst fans. However the last three tracks were strange choices because “Tsuyoi Kizuna” was an indies release and “Alright!” and “Negaigoto” were kind of eh tracks…she should’ve just stuck the other avex A-sides on the album TBH.
Crystal Kay – LOVE SONG BEST
Only a year and we get another best-of from Kuri? I guess it makes sense since she’s leaving SONY and all that. It features a lot of the same songs that were found on “BEST of CRYSTAL KAY” but there’s more than that as well like album songs and B-sides. It also comes with a second disc that has 6 wintry songs to fit the season. Not an exciting release to be honest but it’s nice that more of the more recent stuff is here.
COLTEMÖNIKHA – COLTEMÖNIKHA BEST
Who knew Nakata was going to realign with Kate for one more release? It’s been quite a while and this release might not be that exciting (it’s basically the two mini-albums together). However, we get two songs in “girly star” and “Usotsuki Jingle Bell”. It’s a pretty interesting release and it’ll be interesting seeing the PVs for “Usotsuki Jingle Bell”, “Soratobu Hikari”, and “NAMAIKI”.
mihimaru GT – mihimania III ~Collection Album~
mihimaru GT kind of snuck this album album out with confusing dates which actually says it was released on the 14th and not in January because that’s when they’ll stop selling it. It’s a bit of a depressing release since 8 of the songs are B-sides from “Switch” to “Evo★Revolution” plus one extra song. Not impressive but it’s for fans that wanna hear the B-sides when they didn’t buy the singles.
MISIA – MISIA no Mori -Forest Covers-
And finally at the end of the year our final release comes from MISIA. Unsurprisingly it had to be in the form of a cover album. Most songs are the usual cover field like “The Rose” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” (the latter was previously released). There’s a couple of Japanese takes on the songs and a couple of Christmas tunes thrown in as well. Yeah…hmmm
YUP THAT’S ALL THE ALBUM’S I PURPOSELY DIDN’T REVIEW ^_^
Kurayami Monogatari 