Kiyoharu - UNDER THE SUN

[Pretsy 1343]

Since I was so stoked about Kiyoharu's new CD due to its surprising collabs (Miyavi, Toe etc. etc.), I sacrificed a large part of my pastime to dig this out of the interwebs - out of MH, to be exact. Now, I am going to give a shot to limited edition, which excludes "sari" for one reason or another.

Let's go track by track:

1) WALK ON THE MOON

Something you might expect him to do during his "Madrigal of Decadence" - era. Quite okay for being an intro but no mindblowing action here to be expected. 7/10

2) JUDIE

Miyavi x Kiyoharu collab in which most people were interested - I am being reminded of some songs from "Poetry", which deserves a big plus (see, my favorite album!). Definitely some jamworthy stuff for those who don't mind Miyavi's recent electro-acoustic trickery...except if Kiyoharu's omnipresent moans won't haunt/disturb/annoy the hell out of you 8/10

3) LAW'S -New Take-

Woah, a leftover song of "Madrigal"! A lack of big changes is such a big letdown to me, and probably to other Kiyoharu listeners, but hey - I'd rather take small changes than butchering *COUGH*Darlene's album version*COUGH* 7/10

4) YESTERDAY

Basically Kiyoharu's take on alt/indie-dabble with his trademark, lamenting vocals. Guitarwork here is truly inspiring, wonder if Toe's/Downy's guys had any part on this? Either way, this is something I always expect from Kiyoharu - a performance full of lament and emotions, with considered use of OOOOOOOOOOHing he's noted for. Definitely attention-worthy effort 9/10

5) The sun -album version-

More like a remix a la in vein of "Madrigal" - most parts of single ver. were either put out or drowned under big amount of synth...I mean the hell, why the heck would you mute the first solo? Kiyoharu's vox just won't go along the other instruments but instead, float over them. Kiyoharu, I expected you NOT to go back to weird "album ver." remixes, ew. 5/10

6) Ryuusei

Best UTS single to me, and prolly the best pop song he has produced ever since...say, MELLOW? Has a nice tinge of old brit rock influence(think of '98 Placebo without excessive Sonic Youth-ish riffage) in it...a nice combo of western nostalgia and Kiyoharu's trademark formula 9/10

7) Veronica

Imagine if Kuroyume's "Alone" and Kiyoharu's "Emily" had a baby - I kid, I kid. This is quite okay song, with familiar Kiyoharu elements in it (like the way the chorus goes, aka "flamenco-ish guitar vs. Kiyoharu battle" + a touch of glam rock in solo). Not else to say about it 7/10

Namida ga Afureru

Kiyoharu ballad at its most known form - softly sung notes of Kiyoharu, along with piano+elec./ac. guitar+orchestra-ish BG, work together greatly in bringing a rainy day-like atmosphere - but chorus is something that blows my mind- I bet I never heard same from him for a long, long time. You might take this as a piece of familiar "vk orchestra ballad"-fad, but such greatly flowing performance makes up for every cliche you would find. Big favorite of mine. 10/10

9) ALICE

Another piano/orchestra synth-based ballad but with a lot more eerieness - let's assume that this is "nocturnal ballad " of his. It's so cold-toned that you can even feel the breeze (I kid again, it's just the weather ). Truly atmosphere-inducing song. Oh, and Kiyo's hooked on female names again, how familiar from him! 9/10

10) MESSIAH

Straightforward slow rock song, probably with more input on lyrical impression. Digging the classic rock-ish guitarwork and synth - not else to say about this song though 7/10

11) UNDER THE SUN

Finally, the title song. Most folks seemed to like it alot but this feels more like a over-dragging version of "Ryuusei" to me. Not sure how lyrical impression or further concentration would help me on liking this song, but I gave it a shot once; not sure if I'd give another next time - 5/10

So, did this surpass my expectations? Nah, not really. As people said, it's more of a reminder of his early albums, a la "MELLOW" or "Poetry" - with goddamn annoying cons from his previous "Madrigal"-album. Will I give it another spin? If I only had enough interest these days in retrying albums I didn't like in the past...so yeah, "Ryuusei", "YESTERDAY" "Namida ga Afureru" and "ALICE" deserve much better companions than say, album ver...REMIX of "the sun", ERGH.

7/10 in overall, no math needed.

[morbiusss 10]

i just rediscovered this on my ipod.....it didnt give me much back then nor does it now. FFOREVER LOVE was his best album and thats the standard i have for kiyoharu records. UNDER THE SUN has brought up 2 really good singles (ryuusei and namida ga afureru), but the album lacks diversity. every song is 4/4, nearly every song is using his popular key change formula (key change from verse to bridge and back from bridge to chorus). i like MESSIAH and the title song very much. Veronica is cool too but, again, that formula! ALICE is very atmospheric indeed. too many mediocre songs though!

[Elazmus 1873]

Good review, seems fairly done! The two tracks that really stuck with me off this one are Judie and Alice