Strangely enough, this album, along with her most recent single and the DVD that came with this album kinda pushed me over the edge into calling myself an Erina fan. Through her first couple singles and generally the whole "indies" period, I wasn't terribly fond of her, but wasn't ignorant to the point where I wouldn't listen to her new stuff as it came out, it just never really caught very well with me and her personality was always super-annoying. When Love+Peace came out, I started to fall in love. The video had everything you could want on the cuteness scale, the song is absolutely awesome, and it showed a much more toned-down side of her idol personality (visually.) Having S/mileage and 8-bit clouds makes it about 10 times better as well, and then I found out she's been doing concerts and events with S/mileage for a while too, so things just keep getting better. With Love+Peace being her first single that really broke her mold for me, it really seems like they've nailed down all the facets they needed to make her a real gem and its nice to have another unique solo artist in the H!P family now.
The DVD that came with this album has the history of her "career" so far, from when she was an H!P egg all the way until November of this year, and its a really good compilation that shows a lot of behind-the-scenes and rarely seen stuff that shows a lot of her true personality, not the insalely robotic idol personality she'd put on most of the time. It served as a nice re-introduction to who she is and what talents she really has, and I think it helped me enjoy this album. The album is almost like a retrospective of everything she's done up until now, and though I had heard all of her previous singles, they never really stuck, whether it was just because most of the PVs were just so strange and unfitting for the music or there was something else going on, now I really see the appeal that EmEl was talking about earlier this year when we met at AX and how she harkens back to the 70s and early 80s idols that we love, but also puts a new element of playing the piano into the mix. This helps a lot because in each song, whether you notice it or not, the piano is one of the main driving forces of the music, and having Taisei behind a lot of the producing surely helped with this as well, but the final product, when you listen to it thoroughly, really stands out. Only a few of the songs near the end of this album really get to the point where you want to go to sleep, the first 3/4 of it are extremely good and a very diverse group of songs.
Anyway, as for particular comments about the album:
Otome no Inori really stands out to me now as just being one of those classic-sounding piano driven idol songs with a really somber and calm sound and would normally seem like a weird album-opener, but it fits for the kind of artist she is. Its better without the PV.
Osozaki Musume is awesome and fairly upbeat, but really sounds like a classic early 80s idol song. I dig.
Sekai wa Summer Party is a song I never really liked a huge amount (probably because of the PV,) but when I listen to it now within the context of knowing a lot more about her and what kind of artist she is, it really fits and I like it a lot. It became one of my 3 favorite songs from her, period, after listening to it more.
Itsumo Itsumademo is an absolutely gorgeous ballad in a classic idol style. Kinda folk song-y, in the best way possible. Not much else to say besides the songwriting and arrangement are both beautiful.
I was never too familiar with LALALA SOSOSO, but after listening to it more thoroughly here, I fell in love with it, especially the verse <img src='
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' /> It is one of the most unique songs among most of her catalog, it doesn't fit the classic idol mold as much as most of her other songs, but its still a really good song in its own right.
Hajimete no Keiken was the first song by her that I actually loved the first time I heard it and saw the PV. It still holds up even moreso today.
I'm not a huge fan of Lucky Aura, but its a pretty good song. The instrumentation is just a little strange and the song is a bit much on the repetitive side, but again, its still an enjoyable song, just not one of my favorites.
Santa no Saxophone is just a silly ska song, and I'm usually absolutely head over heels for ska songs, but this one is just pretty good. Its enjoyable but not OMFGTHISISAWESOME good.
Kono Mune no is just a very slow ballad type song. Not a lot to say about it. I can listen to it, but I have to be in the right mood for something that slow.
Matsuge no Saki is an awesome, cutesy classic idol type song, I could listen to it anytime.
Oyasumi Nasai is basically a slow jazz/lounge type song mixed with idol style, a good almost-closing song for an album, kinda gets you into the mood to wind down.
Mano Piano is a pretty sweet song, its very simple, very slow, and the re-recorded vocals here actually make the song listenable, where the previously recorded version kinda wasn't.
And aside from the album, her latest single, LOVE & PEACE = PARADISE is absolutely awesome, that meaning the A-side and B-side as well, they're both top notch songs in all areas.
All of these things have come together now to make me what I'd call an official Mano fan. And again, its great to have a new H!P idol to follow, as long as they keep up the good work.