AAA – AAA 10th ANNIVERSARY BEST

Track Listing (DISC 3)

1. I’ll be there
2. Lil’ Infinity
3. Boku no Yuutsuu to Fukigen na Kanojo
4. GAME OVER?
5. Ashita no Hikari
6. Flavor of kiss
7. LOVER
8. Distance
9. STORY
10. Aishiteru no ni, Aisenai

1. I’ll be there

Well, before things start yes the album is basically set up mostly chronologically from when they begun this anniversary of having a single every month.  Coming back to this track in particular, I was loving the beat and the classyness of the arrangement here.  The use of piano adds this rather pleasant tone to it which really makes me happy!  One of the few A-sides released that caught my attention!

2. Lil’ Infinity

At first the next track here sounded like it was going to be a ballad, but after Chiaki’s intro, the tune turns into a kind of fusion of one and a beat-heavy light dance track.  I think I tend to forget this one because of its almost generic sounds and how not into it the group sounds.  I mean the instrumental is rather pleasant (especially when piano takes the melody).  It’s otherwise kind of forgetful for me.

3. Boku no Yuutsuu to Fukigen na Kanojo

Things slow down further with this tongue-twister of a title.  There are some parts where I think it was trying to go the anison route with certain chords.  I also noticed how nice Shuta’s voice is in this track as he takes the first lines.  The song altogether doesn’t strike me fancy as well and reminds me of some songs from “Eighth Wonder” unfortunately…

4. GAME OVER?

I feel like this is the only exciting track the album has to offer to be honest.  I mean it’s got a HEAVY amount of electronics going on and the fact that Hidaka finally fits his raps in smoothly says a lot for the rest of the album coming up.  I’m not sure why, but Chiaki and Misako are rather sacrificed for this cool dance track from the boys and they tackled this song quite strongly (well, the girls have a short part in the bridge)…still this was a pretty exciting song and more than likely my favorite from the release.

5. Ashita no Hikari

Being the A-side to tie-in to an anime, Ashita no Hikari definitely sounds like an ending theme which is a nice pleasant touch.  I will say that I did enjoy the acoustic guitar thrown in to splash some color in the tune, but once the chorus hits…it’s definitely an anison track with the chords the group hits.  Decent song overall and really stuck out on this album moreso than as a single.

6. Flavor of kiss

Next up is a song that’s a little similar to “I’ll be there” with the light dance beats and bright arrangement.  I’m loving Shinji and Shuta’s vocals in this song as they suited this kind of style so smoothly.  The kind of classy and glossy sound this track has stuck me a little better than the aforementioned track and all so it’s a decent track otherwise!

7. LOVER

As the last of this 7-month escapade, LOVER closed things off with this kind of summery-reggaeton-ish love song which is pretty weird, but at least it was something different.  Listening to it, LOVER’s beats and synths are a little headache-inducing and the song itself comes off as a little chintzy.  Not my favorite song of the album, but at least it provided something different in comparison to other songs.

8. Distance

So the album actually does come with two new songs (odd, but makes sense as this is mostly a best album).  With Distance, I was feeling that jazzy introduction before into another song that kind of slides in the same vein as “I’ll be there” and “Flavor of kiss”.  For being a similar sounding song, Distance once agains somehow does manage to stick to me as well…I think the ladies taking the chorus is pretty awesome while the remaining members have the verses and such.  I kind of liked it, pretty good song!

9. STORY

Our other new track, STORY, begins a bit slow but then well…yeah more of the same but with a little more piano and ballad-like touches.  Being 6 minutes long, I was expecting maybe something more and it sort of came close.  I especially love the after-chorus where the strings really open the tune wide open…though I wasn’t a big fan of the verses sadly.  For as long of a song this is, it’s merely OK, nothing totally new from the group.

10. Aishiteru no ni, Aisenai

Closing the album, we have Aishiteru no ni, Aisenai which was also a single that was simultaneously released with the album.  Despite that fact I just reviewed a little while back, the song is an odd song to choose to close the album (a thing I could say that “STORY” excelled at).  It’s an OK song as well and the dramatic strings really adds a nice touch to it…

Tracks Recommended

• GAME OVER?
• Flavor of kiss
• I’ll be there
• Distance

Song of Avoidance

• Lil’ Infinity

I hate to say, but this 3rd disc from their best album (this is credited as their original album disc), this is probably the most laidback the group has been and sadly due to that, it’s also their weakest effort.  I figure with the group getting older, the dance tracks are starting to slow down and for that I wasn’t interested in many of the songs we got during this 7-month anniversary release schedule they pulled off (with the exception of GAME OVER?).  There was just a lack of integrity here and sorry to say, not even GAME OVER? is going to save this one…