temp23 wrote:But also because they actually decided to include "Take Me Out", a song released in 2016, and that's not a bonus track, that's part of the main tracklist.
Now, don't take me wrong, I love "Take Me Out" (it was actually the song that made me want to listen to more of them and eventually become a fan) but considering it was already included in last year's Best Album, which also had 2 newer songs, makes the song feel even more out of place and I think this move was unnecessary as it seems like they just wanted to fill the space.

Technically, "Take Me Out" is not out of place and was a necessary move. It has been their only physical single release since YELLOW and hasn't been on an actual original/studio album yet (BEST ALBUM 『SCANDAL』 doesn't count because any best-of album is not an original album), so they're kind of obligated to include it on HONEY. They always put the A-side song of any singles they release onto a studio album.

This also happened with "HARUKAZE," but in a shorter time frame―it was released as a single in February 2012, then on their first best-of album SCANDAL SHOW in March 2012, and then on their 4th studio album Queens are trumps ~Kirifuda wa Queen~ in September 2012. Oh, and if you want to get really technical, also on BEST ALBUM 『SCANDAL』 in February 2017 lol.

The band has 11 years with almost yearly albums and still coming up with new cool songs. Come on, give them a break

temp23 wrote:Not gonna lie, kinda letdown by the tracklist. In part because it's only 10 songs and I hate 10-songs albums, always feels like the artists are saying "see, it's not an EP". But also because they actually decided to include "Take Me Out", a song released in 2016, and that's not a bonus track, that's part of the main tracklist.
Now, don't take me wrong, I love "Take Me Out" (it was actually the song that made me want to listen to more of them and eventually become a fan) but considering it was already included in last year's Best Album, which also had 2 newer songs, makes the song feel even more out of place and I think this move was unnecessary as it seems like they just wanted to fill the space.

And if you're really worrying about them just filling up space, you should think about why Futari is up there. Dont get me wrong, i love Futari very much and I'm glad its on the CD, but, they only put B sides that was made for some project or tv show or something to be on albums, but no it's just a regular b side. At least with Take me Out case, its a lead single.


@thoseguiltyeyes
Thank you! you took the words right outta my mouth .uhuh.

If it turns out like Yellow? Hmm. That'd be great as Yellow (for me) is a great album. Though I would agree that instead of Take me out, maybe they should've include Hello and Freedom Fighters instead.

01. Platform Syndrome (3:30)
Lyrics: RINA ~ Music & Arrangement: MAMI

02. OVER (4:30)
Lyrics: RINA ~ Music & Arrangement: MAMI

03. Take Me Out (3:40)
Lyrics: RINA ~ Music: MAMI ~ Arrangement: Ryou Eguchi

04. Oh! No! (5:02)
Lyrics, Music & Arrangement: MAMI

05. Midnight City (3:05)
Lyrics & Music: RINA ~ Arrangement: MAMI

06. Short Short (3:51
Lyrics: RINA ~ Music & Arrangement: MAMI

07. Mado wo Aketara (5:20)
Lyrics & Music: TOMOMI ~ Arrangement: Mizuki Masuda

08. Futari (3:40)
Lyrics: RINA ~ Music: MAMI ~ Arrangement: Keita Kawaguchi

09. Electric Girl (3:43)
Lyrics: RINA ~ Music & Arrangement: MAMI

10. Koisuru Universe (4:17)
Lyrics: RINA ~ Music: MAMI ~ Arrangement: Keita Kawaguchi

How did you know this? And Rina almost wrote the lyrics for the whole album, lol. Haruna, write a little will you. Songs written by you were great.

Osakashnaide wrote:How did you know this?

I just checked for myself. It's up on Tower Records. Added it into the post.


P.S. to everyone: It'd be nice if everyone could make sure to post sources whenever possible.

I see. Thanks.

Ah! "Mado wo Aketara" is a pure Tomomi song! Arranged by fellow band girl/Scandal's friend
Mizuki Masuda of Negoto. Looking forward to hearing this!
Well I'm a Gin Tama fan and currently addicted to Destiny (Negoto).

Regarding the inclusion of Futari: sometimes a B-side is not a B-side.  In the classic world of A side/B side, consider the flip side of these singles...

* Hound Dog / Don't Be Cruel (Elvis Presely)
* We Can Work It Out / Daytripper (Beatles)
* Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane (Beatles)
* Ruby Tuesday / Let's Spend The Night Together (Rolling Stones)
* We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions (Queen)

Just a few examples, but my point is "Futari" is not a throwaway track they just added to the "Koisuru Universe" single.  Since they began writing songs in full, I haven't felt they are flippant on what they are giving us.  I think they have faith in everything they are writing.  If not, they wouldn't have played any of these "B" songs live, and they all have been at this point (with the exception of "I Want You" -  Let's be honest, this is really more of a Rina solo song than Scandal).

Along with the inclusion of "Take Me Out" (even though it is over a year old), "Futari" probably fits well in the context of the overall album and gives the album a consistent flow from start to beginning.  I don't think there is a member in this forum that would believe "Yellow" would been a lesser album if the B-side "Flashback No. 5" was included.  Maybe they are hitting on a theme with the other tunes  and felt "Hello" and "Freedom Fighters" (which I love) did not fit in so well.  Maybe they are holding onto these two songs and "Life Is A Journey" and "Flashback No. 5" for the next edition of "Encore."  We can only hope.  

As for 10 songs?  I love it.  One of my biggest complaints since the dawn of the CD age is that albums have gotten too long, and for some bands this meant the inclusion of a few dull tracks so they could pad out to 14 or 15 tunes.  If they dropped down to 10 to 12 songs like back in the space-restricted vinyl and tape cassette days, albums would be more consistent and (for me at least) a better listening experience.  I won't bore everyone with a series of examples but since I mentioned The Stones earlier, I will mention that even a band this great has been a big offender.  Remove a few songs from "Voodoo Lounge" or "The Bigger Bang" and you have an album just as good as "Tattoo You," if not better.  That being said, I will not complain if Scandal gives us more songs, but I am very happy with what we do get on their albums.  Just make sure it rocks!

Lastly... Haruna, please write more songs.  We love your input.

For each album another step, now MAMI is almost arranging the whole thing.

Rina & Mami are a solid music duo, aren't they?
super happy to see a song by Tomo (will she also sing it? who knows, maybe it's time they felt like have a new song with only Tomomi's voice), but not that much at the lack of Haruna in the credits. I hope she feels confident enough as a songwriter, because she has the talent to do so, and this time she just didn't provide a song demo or they decided the other songs were stronger/they fit the concept better.

I'm hoping Timo would be singing more in this album. I love Haruna's voice but her voice together with Tomos is what I really love about Scandal's music.

Star~world96 wrote:
And if you're really worrying about them just filling up space, you should think about why Futari is up there.

And yet, I'm much more okay with them including Futari than Take Me Out. Why? Because of the following:

thoseguiltyeyes wrote:
Technically, "Take Me Out" is not out of place and was a necessary move. It has been their only physical single release since YELLOW and hasn't been on an actual original/studio album yet (BEST ALBUM 『SCANDAL』 doesn't count because any best-of album is not an original album), so they're kind of obligated to include it on HONEY. They always put the A-side song of any singles they release onto a studio album.

This also happened with "HARUKAZE," but in a shorter time frame―it was released as a single in February 2012, then on their first best-of album SCANDAL SHOW in March 2012, and then on their 4th studio album Queens are trumps ~Kirifuda wa Queen~ in September 2012. Oh, and if you want to get really technical, also on BEST ALBUM 『SCANDAL』 in February 2017 lol.

I understand that might be a common practice in japanese albums and I didn't know that had already happened with "HARUKAZE" BUT like you said, it was in a shorter time frame. In the case of "Take Me Out", that song is almost a year and a half old. It's kinda funny that its creation is actually closer to the release of "Yellow" than "Honey". And why does that matter to me? As this person says:

Don Dio wrote:Along with the inclusion of "Take Me Out" (even though it is over a year old), "Futari" probably fits well in the context of the overall album and gives the album a consistent flow from start to beginning. I don't think there is a member in this forum that would believe "Yellow" would been a lesser album if the B-side "Flashback No. 5" was included.

Now, I don't know if "Take Me Out" fits sonically with the rest of the album cause it hasn't come out yet, maybe it does, but the fact is "Take Me Out" was created, again, almost a year and a half ago. On the other hand, "Futari" was created in the same time period as the other songs from the new album. To me, that is important because I believe it helps maintain the consistency of the album. Hence why I said it feels out of place. If they really wanted to include it in a studio album, they could have simply put it as a bonus track.

----------------

Don Dio wrote:
As for 10 songs?  I love it.  One of my biggest complaints since the dawn of the CD age is that albums have gotten too long, and for some bands this meant the inclusion of a few dull tracks so they could pad out to 14 or 15 tunes.  If they dropped down to 10 to 12 songs like back in the space-restricted vinyl and tape cassette days, albums would be more consistent and (for me at least) a better listening experience.

Well, I guess that can be the case for Rock music. I actually listen to Rap more than Rock and usually, I prefer the albums to be as long as possible. Think for example, Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp A Butterfly". The album fills the whole CD and there's not a single filler track in there and it never sounds boring.

Rina doing the lyrics bodes really well for this album. Ever since Rainy I have been very impressed with her writing.

As for the number of tracks, it could simply be that the girls decided that these were the only songs that really fit into the theme they were going for.

We don't know how many other songs they have shelved.

temp23 wrote:On the other hand, "Futari" was created in the same time period as the other songs from the new album. To me, that is important because I believe it helps maintain the consistency of the album. Hence why I said it feels out of place. If they really wanted to include it in a studio album, they could have simply put it as a bonus track.

While it could be possible that all of the yet-unheard songs on the album were written recently, I think it's probably incorrect to assume something like that this early on, especially while we have no knowledge of the new songs.

I'm saying this because "Futari" wasn't written as recently as you think it was; it was actually written between mid-2016 to early 2017. So, in that vein, it was written closer to the release of "Take Me Out" than HONEY.

──When did you complete the two new songs 「Koisuru Universe」 and 「Futari」?

RINA: The rough draft of lyrics for 「Futari」 were done around summer of last year.

MAMI: The music was finished around the beginning of this year. 「Koisuru Universe」 was actively made during our 47 prefecture tour.

https://www.scandal-heaven.com/t13951-natalie-scandal-s-koisuru-universe-interview

One of the biggest examples of them releasing a song that had been written a while back is "SUKI-SUKI" and "HELLO," which were written at the same time (2015) but were released a year apart. The studio version of "SUKI-SUKI" was first released to the public via radio in December 2015 while the studio version of "HELLO" was first released to the public via radio in December 2016.

──The other new song is called 「HELLO」. This too features lyrics by RINA and music by MAMI.

MAMI: This song is actually from when we had a period of time where we talked about 「Let's write tons of winter songs」 and completed it at the same time as 「SUKI-SUKI」 on 「YELLOW」.

https://www.scandal-heaven.com/t13645-music-natalie-scandal-s-best-album-interview

But yeah, I'm just trying to say that we currently have no idea when the new songs were actually written and that, based on their past actions, the band can and does release songs that were written possibly a year or more ago from the present day, which we then perceive as "new" songs even though they literally are not. So, really, the time frame in which the songs were written probably doesn't affect any so-called "consistency" of the album. And do keep in mind that if a song was released as an A-side to a single, it's 100% guaranteed to be on the next studio album no matter how far back it was released.

Yaay! I love the style. Great to see them going to a more girlish and scandalous side, although it still gets me a bit shocked every single time (followed the journey since Temptation Box). A bit sad about short track listing, but if the album keeps KU/TmO direction it must be a BOMB.

Can't wait to hear Timo and Mizuki's song, had Negoto's ETERNALBEAT on repeat this year and their collaboration promises to be amazing! 

Also will be visiting HK this spring, hopefully can get my copy of the album there. 


PS: Haru's waist is damn tiny! D:

@temp23
Even if Take me out was released a year and some change ago, it's still a single, and they always include it the following studio album. That's just the way it has been. Also who knows, when listening to the album, Take me out could fit perfectly with others songs based on the sound.
_____
Looks like Rina and Mami are the bands primary song writers now, with some inclusion of Tomomi here and there. I don't know how Mami can just whip up songs back to back like that, she's amazing.
Was really hoping for some Haruna written songs, it's been almost 4 years, maybe next time.

Can't wait to hear all the new songs especially Oh!No, platform syndrome, Mado wo Ake, and Midnight City.  .happy.

Yeah, Haruna songs were great. And to think one of her best, Hachigatsu, would ba a once a year song is kindda sad. ( at least for me)


I think that OH NO song is the one that Mami said "weird song" or something like that awhile ago. Just my guess.

Don Dio wrote:Regarding the inclusion of Futari: sometimes a B-side is not a B-side.  In the classic world of A side/B side, consider the flip side of these singles...

* Hound Dog / Don't Be Cruel (Elvis Presely)
* We Can Work It Out / Daytripper (Beatles)
* Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane (Beatles)
* Ruby Tuesday / Let's Spend The Night Together (Rolling Stones)
* We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions (Queen)

Yes, true! It's funny how the idea of a "b-side" has continued into the digital age when no one's flipping anything over! Warner Music used to issue compilation albums like "Attack of the Killer B's" (the title is a play on '70's American horror movies) stuffed with their artists neglected b-sides.
https://ibb.co/dskKP6

I also hope to hear more Tomomi and wish Haruna wrote more, but I'm sure it will be good.

I remember they saying in some interview that they liked how Futari kinda complemented Koisuru, so maybe they just thought the song would fit well in the album.
The latest Rina and Mami's songs have been great, I'm happy to know they wrote almost the entire album.

Wow so 90% of the songs by Rina & Mami and one by Tomomi.

Just like Lennon & McCartney on the Beatles albums with one by George Harrison....I mean Tomomi

I'm more curious about the placement of "Koisuru Universe" as the closer, I don't know how it will work.

Otherwise "Take Me Out" absolutely needed to be included IMO, and I'm so eager to hear all of it, especially the Tomomi/Mizuki song. Only a little more than a month away!

Wow, a Tomomi song without food on the title  .hora.

I would love to hear a Haruna song more often, but we'll have to wait to hear it.

Anyways, I want to hear the new songs, but I was expecting more new songs honestly

victor_survive wrote:Wow, a Tomomi song without food on the title  .hora.

I liked the food title songs lol, it give them a certain Tomomi flair to them. Maybe she came up with the title for the album lol.
Let's hope there's a Mami solo song. .clap.