8YEARS - Many Classic Moments (CD+DVD)(Japan Version) DVD Region 2

It has been almost eight years since globe, led by impresario Tetsuya Komuro, made their initial splash on the Japanese music scene. In the time since their debut, members Tetsuya Komuro, Marc Panther, and Keiko have produced a constant stream of hits in Japan, retaining a large and loyal fan base and selling millions of records to boot. While not the first "best of" album from globe, 8 YEARS - Many Classic Moments is arguably the most concise, simultaneously serving as a lovingly selected overview of the group's pre-Yoshiki output and marking the dawn of a new era.

The album kicks off with Feel Like dance, a synthesizer-driven track with Keiko and rapper Marc Panther trading vocal duties. The album slows down somewhat through the first section of the fifth track, FACES PLACES, a pretty cut that has Keiko reflecting on the people she has known and the places she has been. The track speeds up around the two-minute mark, featuring a heavy wah-wah guitar and strong backbeat before toning back down for the acoustic fadeout. The sixth cut on the album, Love again, shows the group in their more upbeat 1998 techno/trance phase, followed by the stylistically similar wanna Be A Dreammaker. 1999's still growin' up continues in the beat-driven techno mode, with several heavily treated vocal interludes contrasting nicely with the melodic verses and providing the song with extra intensity. DON'T LOOK BACK (2000) and try this shoot (2001) show the band at a stage where they have grown completely comfortable with the trance genre for which they are now best known. The eleventh track, 2002's Many Classic Moments serves as the record's theme song, and jumps skillfully between melodic, techno, and trance modes. Winter comes around again (TK Mix) and seize the light (DARK ANGEL Version), both from 2002, round out the album nicely, if abruptly, the sudden ending leaving the door wide open for globe and new member Yoshiki.

Note: The group will be releasing this album and their first single with Yoshiki simultaneously.

Reviewed by BH