Taeko Ohnuki - SUNSHOWER (1977) (A)

 

I've been a fan of Ohnuki's work for a while now, having listened to most of her discography. Alongside Mignonne and Romantique, SUNSHOWER (which from this point on will be written as 'Sunshower' as opposed to its stylization in all capitals) is one of my favourite albums in her library.  Sunshower is an excellent demonstration of Ohnuki's general composition style, as well as being a great album by itself. The album displays upbeat, multi-instrument songs like Tokai, Summer Connection and (ironically) Silent Screamer, as well as softer piano driven tracks with some jazz elements thrown in. The album itself paints colours of light blue and dull greens in my mind - the colours of a field on a summer's day, even with the aforementioned piano songs. The album brings a joyous tone and feel alongside it, which I am a huge fan of.

8/10.

Hako Yamazaki - Tobimasu (1975) (A)

 I wrote a review about this album way back on a website called AllMusic, so here is the review from that website.

There is not a single song on this album I dislike. I think every song on this record belongs where its placed, and I think every song on this album is amazing. 'Nostalgia' opens the album with a soft guitar arrangement that sets the tone for 90% of the album, and right from the beginning of the album, Hako throws her heart and soul into her voice. The following songs get better and better, each complimenting the last in my opinion. "Change of Pace" brings quite literally, a change of pace to the album, breaking away from the somber tones of the songs on the record to keep things fresh. 'Man and a Woman in a Room' is a great closer to the album that compliments 'Nostalgia' really well. The sound itself, the placement of the songs and they way they compliment each other all mix together to form an amazing, 10/10 album.

Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) (A)

 A lot of people dislike Coldplay, mainly for their music being "too happy" or just annoying pop music, which are reasons I dont quite understand, but I oppose regardless. For the people who's only taste of Coldplay is Viva la Vida, Paradise, Hymn for the Weekend and Something Just Like This (which isn't even a Coldplay song) and form the opinion of the band being 'bad', they need to listen to A Rush of Blood to the Head.

The album speaks about (from my own perceptions) beauty, loneliness, loss, and self awareness / disassociation. 'God put a Smile upon Your Face' talks about the constant struggle of wanting to be better than someone by being worse off, as a sort of competition for the sympathy of others. "Clocks" discusses the odd idea of everyone being in a rush to accomplish their life goals instead of taking the time to enjoy life. The album discusses real things that people can relate to, though they may not recognize it at first.

Now the general listener isn't going to look that deeply into a track, but I honestly think the melodies created by the band in this album are really well done, like the aforementioned Clocks, In My Place, and Daylight.

Personally I could listen to the album over and over and not get sick of it. I love every track in the album, from start to finish. I wouldn't rearrange their order in any way, I think the construction of this album is pristine, from the tracks themselves to the order of them, everything. Whether it be the topics at hand in the tracks or the melodies of the songs themselves, its all a really good experience. 

10/10.

A formal start.

 Here is my first blogger / blogspot post. I've been wanting to make a music blog for a while, following in the footsteps of youtube user Xisuma, and now here we are. I wanted to make a blog as opposed to a series on the RatedEm channel as I feel like its a bit more appropriate to create a written blog when talking about something like music - I dont know if I could translate music reviews into the RatedEm format and be happy with it while also conveying my opinions about it honestly. Long story short, I think it'd be boring to watch.

Here, I will review albums and sometimes individual songs, which will be marked with (A) and (S) in the title of the post. I hope to review all sorts of music, but for the time being to make the blog less empty, i'll post reviews of some of my favourite albums.