spacecadet wrote:Yeah, I kind of felt that way too, especially about those two videos. Why did they even do another video for dobondondo like this?? The first one was so much better!

Fans came up with the PVs for Almond Crush and Dobondobondo: https://www.scandal-heaven.com/t6140-recruiting-music-video-directors

I have a feeling there's something about that dance instruction video that we're not "getting", though. Like... who is that guy? (Maybe I missed it in another post.)

The two guys are a comedic duo so that was just for entertainment, really.

I don't regret getting the DVD version, I love the photoshoot part and the taiyou scandalous dance was kind of funny. Well, the 2 music videos really weren't that great, but I liked the idea of the dobondobon one. My favorite moment was when Mami helped picking up the cards again, it seemed just so down on earth
the bandscore is also now available at CDJapan: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=NEOBK-1361961
I'm looking forward to play Koe on bass!

~Tomami~ wrote:My favorite moment was when Mami helped picking up the cards again, it seemed just so down on earth

Yeah I noticed that too, although I was remembering it as Tomomi (maybe they both do it at different times).

I never regret buying their CD/DVD editions, I was just a little underwhelmed by those videos.

I might actually get the official band score this time too.

Nice review, guys! ..v^_^ I really enjoy reading it..

For me, after tried looking up the chords for most of the song in QAT, I sense an interesting musical progress from them. Especially from Rina and Tomo. And when both of them collaborate on 'Bitter Chocolate', they really came up with something awesome..I really love Rina triplet part on this song. Darn! she's way too awesome! Honestly, I think Rina's progress is kinda above them all..

For Tomo, the bassline on Koe show another side of her. Looks like she's dancing on her bass! ..Don't forgot with Kill The Virgin..90's vibes and catchy reffrain caught me! Rina played that catchy tune with Prophet-5 on this song...

Well, Mami really took my heart away with 'Koe', her voice, and especially her solo..simple, but impressive! And the way she sing it, kinda refreshing..Mami really own the song!

..Haruna? Hmmm, I'd say..she's the real Queen on this album.. 'Nuff said..

Oh well, they did something different on Queens Are Trumps, a nice riff and awesome guitar doodles!..Eyup, Yoshio Nomura might did all of it, but somehow I heard few of Mami's solo style..(maybe I'm wrong though, hehe). I'm really curious on how they play this song in live performance..

In order, my favorite songs : Koe, Bitter Chocolate, Rock N' Roll, Bright, Kill The Virgin, Queens Are Trumps, Rising Star, and Right Here..

I only purchased QAT regular edition plus SCANDAL Show with bonus poster..only for USD 18..

jigoku79 wrote:Eyup, Yoshio Nomura might did all of it, but somehow I heard few of Mami's solo style..(maybe I'm wrong though, hehe). I'm really curious on how they play this song in live performance..

Parts of it will probably be pre-recorded, which is something they do on various songs for the parts they don't play themselves. I would think the intro will be pre-recorded, maybe in darkness at the beginning of shows. Once the song gets going, I don't think there's anything they *can't* play themselves, although it will probably sound different because Yoshio Nomura just has a really distinct metal kind of style with a lot of vibrato, and neither Mami nor Haruna play like that. I doubt they'll do as many little fills during the song as are on the album (since they need to play and sing at the same time), or maybe they will just leave those parts pre-recorded too.

thoseguiltyeyes wrote:Fans came up with the PVs for Almond Crush and Dobondobondo: https://www.scandal-heaven.com/t6140-recruiting-music-video-directors

Ah, that makes sense! While I found them a bit disappointing it must be awesome for the fans who made those videos to see them included on the dvd!

spacecadet wrote: I'd love to hear the girls write more music themselves.

Yeah, me too, Rina in particular seems to have quite a talent for it. Hope the fact they've got fewer writing credits on this album isn't a sign of things to come...

I've listened to the album a lot more now and "Kill the Virgin" is rapidly becoming one of my favourite scandal songs ever. Some people find Tomo's singing a little offputting, (she is quite shrill!) but I got a little shiver down my spine listening to her sing this today (the "I wonder" bit that ~Tomami~ mentioned earlier). She just seems to get so much emotion in her singing!

spacecadet wrote:Parts of it will probably be pre-recorded,

Hmm, Mami could pull off the intro part and few part in between, I guess.. I kinda doubt that Yoshio's solo part would be pre-recorded. And I think Mami would play the rhythm part only through outro ..
Just found info that Haruna put down her guitar while performed this song in Wako on QAT Hall tour. Well, have to wait for more detail info on the tour then..

@Sabroni
At first I didn't like Kill The Virgin, but then, this song slowly grow on me..I agree with you, Tomomi really put her emotion on KTV..Same goes with Haruna on 'Bright', and Mami on 'Koe'.. ..

Sabroni wrote:

spacecadet wrote: I'd love to hear the girls write more music themselves.

Yeah, me too, Rina in particular seems to have quite a talent for it. Hope the fact they've got fewer writing credits on this album isn't a sign of things to come...

Yeah... now that they're becoming more mainstream, I think it's pretty likely that they'll actually write less of their music. Instead, they'll get more famous people writing music for them. I wish the opposite were true...

It is interesting that Bitter Chocolate comes from Rina, who has no guitar training at all (that we know of)... drummers are usually just trained in rhythm. Hopefully we get a new song from Mami or Haruna one of these days so we can hear their current style too.

I've listened to the album a lot more now and "Kill the Virgin" is rapidly becoming one of my favourite scandal songs ever. Some people find Tomo's singing a little offputting, (she is quite shrill!)

"Kill the Virgin" is probably a love it or hate it kind of song... personally, it's one of the two songs on the album I always skip. My wife, who is also a fan, feels the same. I also feel like Tomomi sings a little too much in general these days... Haruna is the band's singer (it's right there in the credits!) and I *love* her voice. Tomomi used to just come in for a change of pace, or a harmony, or to hit a high note that Haruna can't... but now she's really singing lead on a lot of songs, or switching off 50/50 with Haruna on some songs, and I don't feel like her voice is well suited to that. It's like they're co-vocalists these days, and I just want to hear Haruna's voice on most songs (well, look at my "favorite member"...)

I know some people will consider this blasphemy It's possible to like Tomomi without wanting her to sing, though. I do think she's great, and she's an awesome bassist, but I just want her to sing a little less and play some awesome bass lines instead

^ Although Rina hadn't receive guitar theory, but I'm sure that being a pianist since she was 5, I'd assume she'd done some music theory through then.

I like Haruna and Tomo sharing the vocal parts, I meant that's what makes SCANDAL different from most bands... they do more vocal sharing

If Tomo just did the usual backup singing and the harmonising like Mami and have less parts... well I'm afraid its just another band but with a chipmunk voice in it (not I don't mean it a negative way... how else can I describe it?).

Well I know some good artists who write their own music for their own band and for others... I mean its just I guess the girls don't know what to write and what to compose so... that's what music and lyric writers for...

Well I hope at least the musical composition has more SCANDAL involvement in it... makes sound more like them. You know what I mean.

spacecadet wrote:Yeah... now that they're becoming more mainstream, I think it's pretty likely that they'll actually write less of their music. Instead, they'll get more famous people writing music for them.

I disagree on that. The first song that was written and composed by a member was "Emotion" by RINA on their Pride single, which was released only last year. Though RINA even said herself that she began writing the composition at the end of her third year of high school, which would have been as early as 2009.

After that, "Satisfaction" was written by MAMI, "Very Special" by TOMO and RINA, and "Bitter Chocolate" by RINA. If anything I'd say that they're going to keep writing and composing more and more songs themselves rather than have writers write for them.

thoseguiltyeyes wrote:
After that, "Satisfaction" was written by MAMI, "Very Special" by TOMO and RINA, and "Bitter Chocolate" by RINA. If anything I'd say that they're going to keep writing and composing more and more songs themselves rather than have writers write for them.

Ah, but that would put them in a very rare category indeed in Japan. It generally does not work that way there... usually the more money riding on a band (especially a female band), the less freedom they have.

I hope you're right, though. I like the songs the girls write a lot, and I have full confidence in their songwriting abilities.

spacecadet wrote:
Ah, but that would put them in a very rare category indeed in Japan. It generally does not work that way there... usually the more money riding on a band (especially a female band), the less freedom they have.

That is if they are an idol. SCANDAL isn't what you really consider as an idol, is it? A lot of other famous bands write their own stuffs just fine.

The music industry in Japan does work a little differently to in the west, they certainly seem to expect bands to release stuff more frequently and I guess this leads to bands using songs written by other people more.
Scandal are a successful band and are surely making plenty of money for the label, this should allow them to be a bit more in control and hopefully write more music as well as providing lyrics for other people's songs. They've earned the right to do that if that's what they want.

spacecadet wrote:I also feel like Tomomi sings a little too much in general these days... Haruna is the band's singer (it's right there in the credits!) and I *love* her voice. Tomomi used to just come in for a change of pace, or a harmony, or to hit a high note that Haruna can't... but now she's really singing lead on a lot of songs, or switching off 50/50 with Haruna on some songs, and I don't feel like her voice is well suited to that.

But Scandal's first single Space Ranger had Tomo on main vocal, it's not something new. They've always credited Haruna as the main vocalist but from the word go Tomo's had plenty of songs that she's been main vocal or 50/50 with Haru. To me it's an essential part of the Scandal sound.

yeaaaaah new album <3
seriously i'm so laaaate about this one TT^TT
my college life is driving me crazy i even didn't know about their new album....
but i think this is gonna be the great album <3

With the Tomo singing too much thingy... I mostly disagree but some of it is true. SHe's more of a co-vocalist now which I think is great! I love her voice but What really makes me depressed is that Haruna didn't even get a solo in QAT. Even Mami got a solo and so did Tomo. O.o

Bright is pretty much a solo for Haruna, and it's my second favourite on the album

Uldred wrote:Bright is pretty much a solo for Haruna, and it's my second favourite on the album

Yeah... I love Bright too... In fact, It's probably my second or third fav song in the album but I was talking about an actual solo... You get what I mean, where Tomo is just for backing vocals and harmonies... To be honest, to me the song just had more Haruna vocals than Tomo, like how it was back during their Shoujo S and Shunkan Sentimental days...

ichiruki! wrote:

Uldred wrote:Bright is pretty much a solo for Haruna, and it's my second favourite on the album

Yeah... I love Bright too... In fact, It's probably my second or third fav song in the album but I was talking about an actual solo... You get what I mean, where Tomo is just for backing vocals and harmonies... To be honest, to me the song just had more Haruna vocals than Tomo, like how it was back during their Shoujo S and Shunkan Sentimental days...

Tomo never sings alone in Bright though, only in the chorus with Haruna from what I remember. I'm going to go listen to it again

Ok after intense listening, this has to be my least favourite SCANDAL album. Maybe it's just my musical tastes but I feel as if the band is going backwards on this album after making so much progress on their previous 3 albums. Baby Action was great imo, they really showed off their talents with that album and really explored a range of different genres. I can't grasp the pop-punk feel of some of the songs, I only really like QAT, Rock n Roll, Bitter Chocolate and Kill The Virgin and I guess Harukaze and Pin Heel Surfer are decent.
My biggest problem is the fact that I expected them to write a lot more of their songs on this album, I was really annoyed that there was only one song that was written by a member. I figured that after such great songs from the Baby Action era such as Hikare, Want You, Emotions and Very Special, the girls would be more inclined to write their own songs but I guess I was wrong. In my opinion, Hikare is better than every song on Baby Action and it should have definitely featured on Baby Action
I just don't understand, they can write great songs yet they don't :/
I think I won't be happy until they release an album totally written by them, they can do it! All they need to do is stop touring for a while, take a break, recuperate and then come together as a band and really make a record that means something to them. I know I'm being harsh but they have so much potential, they are great musicians, they have the ability to write great songs, they need to utilise this!

Have you notice that making of PHS & QAT, Haruna looks pissed or doesn't feel like she likes what shes doing. She looks more depressed or some sort. Maybe she doesnt like the new style or what they are doing.. To me Scandal became something different from their past songs. Thats just me I guess :$

nysuke wrote:Have you notice that making of PHS & QAT, Haruna looks pissed or doesn't feel like she likes what shes doing. She looks more depressed or some sort. Maybe she doesnt like the new style or what they are doing.. To me Scandal became something different from their past songs. Thats just me I guess :$

really? .hmmm.
i don't think so. haha, there is actually a thread here about HARU's "pissed" expression here.But, i think that's just her relaxed face(? XDD), i mean, some people are not really transparent with their emotions. Even if they're happy, you can't really see it through their facial expressions.

she just have these really strong expressions, that for me is actually one of her best points. ( .love. ) that's what i think. XDD

@d3nise
Maybe... She's showing her S Side if you know what I mean
I am 100% positive she is thinking of something. Rather not to accustom to what she is doing.
Just a feeling I can tell. But oh well. :$

nysuke wrote:Have you notice that making of PHS & QAT, Haruna looks pissed or doesn't feel like she likes what shes doing. She looks more depressed or some sort. Maybe she doesnt like the new style or what they are doing.. To me Scandal became something different from their past songs. Thats just me I guess :$

What you're seeing is Haru's natural scowl, it appears whenever she is not smiling. There is almost no middle ground in her expression it's either you see her smile or scowl.

If you regularly read their translated blog since their 2008 major debut you will learn that they are pretty much in control of everything from their hair style to even the slightest details of the order of songs in their albums. I think the changes they are taking as their careers progress is based on their own volition.

alrick13 wrote:What you're seeing is Haru's natural scowl, it appears whenever she is not smiling. There is almost no middle ground in her expression it's either you see her smile or scowl.

I just realized that is another thing that I have in common with HARUNA. .clap.

@topic: QAT>=BEST SCANDAL>TB>BA

i very like mami song
at track 7(Koe)
her voice is really2 make me fall in love to her
her voice not just good a rap
but at normal song is pretty good