Ballads & Memories (Japan Version)

I don’t know if the album sleeve images and title “Ballads & Memories” is accurate to describe Globe’s new record. This record is filled with pop tunes and upbeat rhythms, not necessarily typical of ballads. But the production will leave a memorable melody in your head for awhile. The songs are wonderfully arranged, composed, and produced. Tetsuya Komuro is a phenomenal songwriter who understands the way lyrics must move in a melody and when they ought to pause for emphasis as in Track 13. The vocals are good but strange in the way they were mixed because they come across as brightened karaoke style recordings. The lead vocal sounds separated from the music and the reverb on her vocal is overwhelming. She literally sounds like a human distorted organ, which they run over and over again, annoyingly.

Her voice is nevertheless unique and irreplaceable much like Faye Wong’s. She hits a wide range of difficult notes and makes it sound so easy.

Jesse’s Journey into Selected Tracks:

Track 1. Good for a rainy night, having a little bit of Frank Sinatra and beautiful melody drops. The piano playing is great, stylish and very moving; it helps the song avoid dragging. But her vocal is out-of-tune at the low notes, and the harmony is different in breathing, making it very awful. But later the song is brought back to its great status by the strong chorus drop, a ghostly similarity to Teresa Tang.

Track 3. Regardless of the beautiful intro, the song is pretty much downhill from there. The melody remains strong but the distortion and sound effects and reverb kill the song, leaving no room for there to be any logical separation between the vocal and the arrangement.

Track 4. It has a catchy beat and beginning with distorted electric guitar riffs waving to and fro, which is refreshing due to the trite organ playing furiously in the first few tracks. The song could really rock out more because the beat is perfect for a drummer and guitarist to capitalize on, but instead Globe chooses to include rap verses. The wailing guitar and raw percussion give it a grungy American/British feel.

Track 5. Cool, awesome pop hit. The rich guitar pop and strong percussion get this track moving like a dance track, and the repeating English lines at the prechorus foreshadow a brooding, melancholic feeling in the chorus. Very well composed.

Track 9. The pretty orchestral intro make this track classy and ready for one of those war soundtracks where real time has slowed down and fallen soldiers are dying in honor of their country. More coincidentally, a cadence of snare drums beat on at the end of the chorus like a military drum line. Obviously, it’s a good song if it can get you to think of something like that. Later it adds another chapter to this epic by having very moving guitar riffs and solos that call back to the lead vocal.

Jesse’s Junction:

Best Song: Tracks 4, 13
Best Vocal: Track 13
Best Composition: Tracks 1, 9
Best Production: Tracks 4, 5, 9
Radioworthy: Tracks 4, 13
Jesse’s Favorite: Tracks 4, 9

Jesse’s Advice:

If you like their style of production, then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this record.

Reviewed by Jesse Liang.