We have Contact
Minorin’s new album “Contact” officially goes on sale today and I got my hands on a, very literally, shiny copy. The fold out Minorin picture which spans 3 full folds is impressive, though the lyrics booklet could use a few more photos IMO. I can understand focusing on selling her on the merit of her voice, but it’s undeniable that Minorin is quite attractive, and her smile is especially charming, they should show it off more.
On the music side, so far my impression of it is generally positive, but I don’t think there are any tracks which quite swept me off my feet like my first encounter with “Shijin no Tabi”. Speaking of “Shijin no Tabi”, I’m very VERY annoyed that they decided to make a gapless transition between the ending of “Contact” - the track which preceeds “Shijin no Tabi” - straight into the pumping intro while competely cropping out the beautiful piano solo lead-in of the PV version, as it means I can’t listen to the track on repeat without feeling that the intro is missing something and it being abrupt. This means I’ll have to buy the PV DVD come December (not that I wasn’t going to buy it mind you) and rip that version instead. In the mean time I’ll just have to go back to looping the lower quality live recording which I made during the announcement.
October 24th, 2007 at 23:37
I am very impressed with Contact. It’s leaps and bounds better than any of Minorin’s previous work and I can’t stop listening to it. I think I’ve become an overnight fan.
October 25th, 2007 at 08:07
You’re so lucky; I’m still waiting patiently for my copy to arrive in the mail, at the same time avoiding any previews or CD rip uploads on Nico or Youtube. So from what I hear is true, eh. Loop-less albums can be fine, but it sounds like they cut the clips at the wrong time. :(
I also agree that photographers should let her smile more for covers. I don’t think I’ve seen her smile on a CD cover since her 1st album, which is a bit heartbreaking. I guess trance has to have a serious attitude.
October 25th, 2007 at 09:59
I can’t stop listening to the new album! I agree with you on Shijin no Tabi… I really wish Contact and it didn’t run together. The song is still pretty addicting though. Out of the rest of the new material, I’m really enjoying Dears, too late not late, and mezzo forte. Overall though, I like the entire album, definitely an album that can be played on random for extended periods of time.
October 25th, 2007 at 12:40
Been listening to the leaked album (no, haven’t got my copy yet either :/) over the last few days. I do generally like it, though I agree with all the comments on Shijin no Tabi’s botched intro. There are a few songs that I can’t bear listening to though (Futari no Reflection, Cynthia, Natsu o Wasuretara) and nothing else quite matches up to the highs of Shijin no Tabi and the two singles except maybe Dears. And there are no ballads, boohoo.
Still, Contact’s a cut above the other drab anime-related releases I’ve been ploughing through - and it debuted at No.12 in the charts yesterday! I don’t expect her to stay there though, and should (optimistically) end up selling around 5-6k copies in its first week.
October 27th, 2007 at 02:47
Overall, I liked most of the tracks on the new album, this after listening to it for a few loops. Impressive effort from Minorin, especially Shijin no Tabi. I do agree that it’s a real pity they cut out the very nice piano intro, as it took a bit of the balance of the song. For the rest, I enjoyed Futari no Reflection and Dears, though I need to pay the rest of the tracks some more attention. I guess this seals my purchase of the album asap. XD
October 28th, 2007 at 22:47
FYI you can find the full PV here (only accept access from within Japan)
http://www.gyao.jp/sityou/catedetail/contents_id/cnt0039733/
October 31st, 2007 at 12:41
Wooh, Contact ended up debuting at No.11 for the week, selling 15,546 units. My estimates are rubbish ^^; Congrats to Minorin!
November 11th, 2007 at 06:11
[…] decided to download the Nipponsei rips after reading the reviews of this album by houkoholic and beerman [there was another very detailed, track-by-track review but I can’t, for the life […]