Album review: Ayumi Hamasaki - Love Songs

Love Songs is business as usual for Ayu. Some big songs, lots of Banshee style warbling, and a generous track listing with a bunch of interludes and instrumental segues every dozen songs. This however IS the problem with Love Songs - it's just business as usual. Nothing about it feels fresh. Nothing about it feels new. The whole thing feels and sounds like some cheap attempt to cash in on a full length release before the end of the year, when Ayumi really could have gotten away with releasing a mini album instead.

Many had their doubts about Ayumi's 12th studio album centring around Love Songs, fearing it would mean a long player full of slow, sappy numbers. But opening track, aptly titled "Love Song", is a great beginning to the album, and does away with the qualms. The track opens with a catchy little piano melody and a set of orchestrated strings, before kicking off with an acoustic guitar which builds up to an amazing crescendo during the chorus. If you liked "Last Links" from Rock 'n' Roll Circus, you'll like this. A great song.

"Cross Roads" is a nice follow up from "Love Songs", but it sounds so outdated. It rings of familiarity purely because there are probably hundreds of anime's and Japanese films which have had songs just like this one play during the credit roll. Outdatedness aside for a minute, the instrumental bridge section is 80s hotness.

"Moon" was a song which had to grow on me. But once it did, I was won over. The song plays out like a more rock driven version of "Ballad". A similar tone, and similar melodies in places, but more angst. It may or not have been Ayumi's intention, but it acts as a great partner to "Ballad".

"Sending Mail" is what I will have to refer to as 'the monster song' on the album. Straight up 80s, overblown, and a great chorus to anchor it. This song really is all about that chorus. It just hits you out of nowhere and makes you wanna just stamp your feet and whip some hair back and forth. The production is solid, and the way the song just builds and builds until the final moments really is something. Easily one of the best songs on the album, and one of the best Ayumi Hamasaki songs I've heard in quite a while.

"Last Angel" sounds like a really badly produced track from a chillout CD which came free with a Sunday newspaper. There's nothing good I can say about this song what-so-ever. It's crap and kills the flow of an already trudgingly paced album.

"Like a Doll" tries to marry electro pop with orchestral backdrops and pop wizardry, but it comes off sounding like a bad mismatch of styles. Ayumi also does the song no justice vocally. The few flecks of sparkle within the mediocrity that is the music manages to out shine Ayumi completely. A solid vocal performance and some kick ass vocal arrangements could have helped elevate this song. But as it stands, it's just crap.

"Blossom" is your atypical Ayu power ballad. A bit of joy, a bit of pain, overblown instrumental sections around the bridge, a few warbles and some strings. Not a bad thing by any means. "Blossom" is a pretty hot song. By numbers. But still hot.

"Thank U" is like throwing up in your own mouth. Terrible. And you wish it hadn't happened. Ayumi's vocals sound awful. Fans may defend this song to the death and claim how amazing it is because it's this and it's that. But the song is plain garbage, and I don't care how heartfelt or personal this song may be. Ayumi's vocals sound piss poor because she sings in ranges which do not suit her. If you like hearing Ayu try to sing over what sounds like a left over piece of music from Yoshi's Story on the Nintendo 64, then this might be your jam.

"Sweet Season" sounds like a miscellaneous Japanese karaoke song. I can't say much more about the song other than that. The same goes for "Do It Again", which highlights greatly how Ayumi is in serious need of  somebody to arrange and produce her vocals for her. The lack of vocal production, layering and harmonising on this song is glaring. Notably because the chorus is so bare bones lyrically, being nothing but ♪ Dance...dance...dance. Do it again ♪. Punctuated by moments of silence and then a switch out of the word 'Dance' for 'Sing'.

Just when you thought you'd been sucked into a time hole or a Yakuza karaoke mini game, in comes "November". It still features hints of the karaoke house which stagnated the previous two songs, but the production is much stronger, and the song features a far better chorus. It's just a shame the chorus wasn't made bigger, and that all of the dramatic moments within the production are thrown in during random moments, and not the part of the song which could have benefited from them the most.

"Virgin Road" (again...) is your typical Ayu ballad, with orchestral theatrics and dramatic flourishes to bring on the grand gestures. It's a wonderfully produced song. The same goes for "Seven Days War", which is a great close to the album. It's a shame that the album only picks up within the last two tracks of the album. Because once "Seven Days War" kicks in you really are left wanting more; only to sit in the end of CD silence at the realisation that the album you listened to was boring, and that perhaps you should stop buying the annual releases of Ayumi Hamasaki so willingly.

Ayumi Hamasaki's vocals are what are sure to divide listeners. She has a very distinctive voice, but she still doesn't seem to know how to use it to the best effect across every song. She can sound amazing on one song, and then like a banshee being railed on another. And there are a few instances on Love songs where good songs are made hard to listen to because of how Ayumi is singing them. She really does need to put some effort into the production of her vocals. Not every song needs to have the most intricate of vocal layers. But many of the songs on this album really do need them, and feel empty without them.

Love Songs is one of Ayumi's more consistent albums in terms of sound. But it feels like background music, or a collection of J-drama, anime or video game themes. The whole of Love songs also sounds really outdated. I'm not sure if a whole album sounding like a karaoke songbook composed in the 80s was the intention. But if it was, then Ayumi Hamasaki succeeded with flying colours. Because Love Songs sounds so dated you can taste the dust and smell the ass crack of Father Time as you listen to the songs.

Had Ayumi made a mini album out of Love Songs' best tracks, she would have had a solid EP which left fans wanting more; because the songs on this album which are good, are great. But the sheer amount of filler suffocates them to the point of dragging the whole album down. And that fire that Ayumi had about her for Rock 'n' Roll Circus is sorely absent here.

Verdict: *Turns off Virgin Road onto Ho Street*

Album highlights:
■ Love Songs
■ Sending Mail 🏆
■ November
■ Virgin Road