Preamble: Nice cover. Come into this with mixed expectations. Previous few singles weren't amazing. Can but hope.
1. 一丁目ロック！ Came. This is easily the best song on the album, and it's right at the damn start. The vocals are good, the riffs are pretty cool for what's basically a punk song. Bass isn't bad. Drums are amazing. D-beats, double bass and other amazingness. Also that punk choir in the chorus is epic. Unfortunately as it's at the start of the album it is very much a case of premature ejaculation. 10/10
2. ヒロインになろうか！ Not a bad little song. The video was all kinds of weirdness what with the Adam Ant ripoffness (fuck Lady Gaga, Adam Ant did it twenty years earlier. Shit, Bowie did it ten years before that too. All pop is a ripoff). Energetic, synths work well in context. Vocals are strong. Does make me laugh every time they say Heroine though, for obvious reasons. Mid-8 with the funny little choir is cool. Overall one of the better little dance-y things H!P have done in a while. Blasts all the stuff from Fantasy!Juuichi off the map without resorting to autotuning the main lines (though does use a little vocoder synth lead). 9/10
3. Bomb Bomb Jump. Title sounds like a themetune to 9/11 (I went there), song sounds like Waracchaou yo Boyfriend Pt2. Generally lacking, finding nothing particularly fun about it. It's major key so meant to be happy. Just... isn't. Find it hard to take seriously when it sounds like they're chanting "Bum bum, bum bum bum bum" in the background. Vocals aren't great. Overall, not a fan. 4/10
4. 真っ白いあの雲. Slower, more ballady song, but not a patch on the frankly fucking amazing Kibou no Yoru from Otakebi Album. The synth bass is pretty obnoxious. Vocals sound too nasal. Overall not too good. 6/10
5. 本気ボンバー！！ Already reviewed the single of this. I do like this song, it's upbeat, fun and has a good bassline. Vocals are generally strong. Guitar riffs are generally decent. Lyrics are funny. Rating hasn't changed though. 7/10
6. 女子会 The Night. Sounds like a castoff from 10 My Me. But better. Pretty decent dark techno pulse in the background. Vocals are decent. Generally though, it's so... bland up until the middle 8. Then there's a quite cool little guitar solo. But then it returns to blandness. The main little techno riff is quite cool though. 6/10
7. ガールズタイムス. A bassline? A guitar riff? From Tsunku? Unbelievable... Does sound like some mid-era Momusu, and none the worse for it. Vocals aren't great, but they don't really need to be. This is light, happy and with the bells and xylophone sounds almost Christmas-y. Amusing 50's Shuubidoobas. Pick slide and solo not bad at all, though "yea yea" gets annoying after Osaka Umainen raped the whole concept... Lead riff at the end is cool. Overall one of the better songs on this album. 8/10
8. 女のプライド. Interesting title. Most feminist sounding thing since Independent Girl. Unfortunately music is pretty shit. Also seemed to have a bloke saying "moo" at the beginning, which confuses me. Little DJ scratchings irritate me. Unfortunately Tsunku seems obsessed with the Toni Braxton sounding shit of late. Maybe not as obvious as the Fantasy examples, but still boring. And with none of the Berryz girls a "z0mg amazing" singer nothing really helps. On the other hand this song does have a cool little pop-piano interlude which doesn't suck, which means it escapes the shit ratings I gave the two songs like this on Fantasy. 4/10
9. シャイニング パワー. This song tries too hard. It's not bad, per se. It's just generic. The annoying call and response shows no decency of use. Protip: Using a different melody helps. On the other hand, the music isn't that bad. Vocals aren't too bad, but Yurina's not strong enough to hold a whole song by herself. Really needs Miya to step up and deliver more. Momo's getting there. But Yurina? I'd rank her among the worst in Berryz. Still better than more than half of Momusu, but that's not saying much... 6/10
10. マジカルフューチャー！ Apparently this has been destroyed since its original incarnation. I wouldn't know. Doesn't sound too bad though. Vocally decent. Little falsettos in the chorus are some true fakjea. Guess Tsunku learned from Ogamana's album that it works. And sounds hot. Little beeps seem to work in context for this song. Bassline is interesting. Guitars are restrained but work when you can hear them. Pretty good song. 8/10
Overall:
Not as good as Otakebi Album, but better than I had hoped following the frankly horrid previous Momusu album. Still, could have been better in some ways. I'm not dying of a fucking lobotomy though, so that's good enough. Doesn't quite flow amazingly, so... this is about right.
6.5/10
Comparison rating:
Buono! - We Are Buono! - 9.7
Morning Musume. - 4th Ikimasshoi - 9.2 (Yes, I remarked it down. Relistened lately. Time hasn't been too kind.)
C-ute - 4 Akogare My Star - 8.5
Buono! - Buono! 2 - 7.5
Berryz Koubou - 6th Otakebi Album - 7
Morning Musume. - Platinum 9 Disc - 6.5
Morning Musume. - 10 My Me - 5.5
C-ute - Shocking 5 - 4
Morning Musume. - Fantasy Juuichi - 3.5
that first song is fucking awesome, shame the rest is flatter, but what a sodding song and it went to Berryz, that so should have been Buono!'s
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