REVIEW: GLAY - Ashes EP
Alright, my first GLAY review for this site. It feels fitting that it should follow my L’Arc~en~Ciel review from last month. There has always been an unspoken competition between those two bands among fans. Though, for me, there wasn’t until recently. GLAY was one of the first bands I heard while getting into Jrock, and I didn’t like them. In fact, I thought they were awful. That is, up until last year when I had an epiphany after listening to G4. Since then, they absolutely rival L’Arc~en~Ciel for my affection.
This is their third single this year, and it features a Beatles’ cover and three new tracks.
GLAY
Ashes EP
Genre: rock, pop, alternative
Release Date: 10.31.2007
Price: ¥1,143
Released By: Toshiba Emi
Tracks: 4
01.Ashes -1969 -
02.Rosy
03.Sorry Love
04.Mother Nature’s Son (Beatles’ cover)
Ashes establishes right away that it’s one of GLAY’s trademark, upbeat classic rock tracks. I like how the bass comes in strongly for the first verse section and Teru’s falsetto is simply gorgeous. The breakdown before the bridge and minimalistic guitar solo (more like riffing) is really something they do well. I know they’ve always had a session drummer, but their drumming is still generally fantastic. It’s interesting how this song is typical and yet not. For instance, it doesn’t really have a traditional guitar solo. Nevertheless, it’s very strong and plenty catchy.
The next track is Rosy, and it starts out a lot softer than the first one, but quickly builds. Again the drumming breakdown at 1:50 is awesome, and is followed by an actual guitar solo this time. I like the deceptively slow tempo, and there’s almost an off-beat accent in parts. I also like Teru’s progression to almost-but-not-quite falsetto, I had to warm up before I could do it correctly. I guess he still has some tricks up his sleeve. Definitely a strong follow-up to the title track.
Third up is the ballad Sorry Love. It begins rather like
the other two, with Teru singing over some guitar. A string section
comes in at about a minute in. Oddly enough, even though it’s the
ballad, Teru’s vocals in this one aren’t nearly as exemplary as the
last two. I would have to say though, that the guitar solo is my
favorite thus far, it soars above the strings and is about 20 seconds
long.
I wouldn’t say that this is an exceptional ballad by their standards though.
Finally, last up is Mother Nature’s Son. I admit, I have a
soft spot for Beatles’ covers and was looking forward to this one by
such an amazing band whom I feel is significantly influenced by the
Beatles anyway.
It has some very strong acoustic guitar playing throughout, and Teru’s
English is actually not bad. The first verse or so, particularly, but
it gets a little shaky towards the end. He did the “doot doo doo” very
well though. (I’m not being sarcastic, really, it sounded very happy
and whimsical.)
I’d say it was definitely right on instrumentally, Teru had some problems, but overall, I’d say it was a worthy tribute.
Well, I was quite impressed with this outing from GLAY. Especially in the first two songs. Teru has never been a terribly technical singer, but I was delighted to hear that he is obviously still trying to improve. I’m sure it was hard to follow the epic ballad Kodou from earlier this year, but I still couldn’t help but be a little disappointed in Sorry Love. ★★★☆☆
Key:
★★★★★ = Excellent, flawless, perfecto
★★★★☆ = Very good, has some minor flaws
★★★☆☆ = Good, maybe a few boring moments, but overall enjoyable
★★☆☆☆ = Fair, bad outweighs the good
★☆☆☆☆ = Poor, possibly offensive to your ears
(originally published Nov 7th, 2007 )
