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Timeless 1st album Timeless, their first album debutted at #5 at the oricon chart, which is an excellent score for a band that is barely a year old. Well, that is actually not a surprise because we have witnessed with our own eyes and ears that UVERworld is growing at a tremendously fast rate. I adore all the tracks in Timeless, exclusive of a few which I found just acceptable. I wouldn't want to go into details about their A sides because I know and you know that they are way awesome. The 9 new tracks (exclusive of D-tecnolife album version) are all above average. I might not like Nitro, but I know of at least 10 others who like it. Toki no namida is my most favourite album track but others found it only acceptable. Even so, I am not particulary fond of the line up. CHANCE! gives a great start to the album, as well as toki no namida. However, the rest just sounds wrong. Personally, I think putting Rush in the 3rd track is a mistake because that makes all the first 3 tracks all the fast paced ones. Burst and Nitro should not be put together as they are overpowering each other. I have known a number who like either Burst or Nitro but only a few who like both. Putting Lump of Affection and Tobira is another mistake. Just like Burst and Nitro, these 2 songs possess a similar musical style and tempo. They will naturally overshadow each other which is an unfortunate thing, because both tracks are one of the highlights in the album itself. Due to the line up, I believe there are quite a number out there who doesn't think Timeless is all that great the first few times you listen to the album in ascending track numbers. The bonus tracks in this album are SE and D-tecnolife (album version). I won't give any comments on D-tecnolife album version. You can read my review on this song in details here. SE is an instrumental which can sound pretty boring if you really listen to it. I have no information on what's the purpose of putting it as a bonus track. This track is composed by Takuya and Satoru Hiraide. Adding on to all the splendid new tracks, this album is artistically appealing unlike their previous singles that only has a huge picture of UVERchan as the covers. This album jacket has got a picture of a full size white UVERchan that comes in various colours for those who have purchased the first press edition. The booklet, though simple looks elegant with the black background and white text. Moreover, UVERfans should cheer because this booklet consist of a 1 1/4 page group picture where our boys look really cool in. For those who have purchased the first press edition, you even got a bonus extra of 5 additional individual pictures that cover 1 1/4 page each. Timeless is one of the few album that I have in my possession that I can continue listening to it without having to skip any tracks. One of the reason being UVERworld never restrict themselves into one specific style of music. I highly recommend it and you better keep a look out of their future releases because they are even more remarkable than this album.
For people who almost cried when they realised they miss the first press edition (including myself), we are lucky Sony decided to release a special edition of Timeless which includes a bonus DVD with a total running time of approximately 30 minutes! This DVD consist of their first 3 PVs and the complete footage of 'Welcome to UVERworld'. The 3 PVs are of a very high quality, no logos, clear; non-pixelated pictures. Believe me, you can't find anything close to that standard anywhere on the net. I won't give additional rating for the special edition because I am unable to understand what the track 'Welcome to UVERworld' is all about. Either way, if you are reading this and Timeless special edition is still on sale, you better quickly go and purchase one because it's gonna be on sale only till the 22nd December 2006! • Reviewed by Evelyn When I first heard toki no namida, I already thought it was weird because it feels different than all their other tracks. But I never thought that it is our dear Katsu-mama (Katsuya) who wrote the music. Yes, you are not seeing things. Katsuya wrote the music for Toki no namida. At least in the album booklet, his name was written there. No Takuya, no Akira, no Nobuto, no Shintarou, just Katsuya. Maybe I am over-exaggerating here but you can really hear the distinct differences in Toki no namida. It possess a simple melody and a simple key. You can even say that this is just a typical pop/rock song. I don't like songs that start with 2 notes that are 1 octave apart but this introduction solves all the problems. If Toki no namida has a slightly faster tempo overall, it might actually be a better album starter than CHANCE!. The introduction of Toki no namida might be one of the best among all their songs that I have heard so far. It gives the song a grand start. I have a feeling Toki no namida is a just a platform for Katsuya to show off his music writing skills because even the lyrics are simple. This song focus on the instrumental parts rather than the meaning behind the lyrics. So moving on to the instrumental, I like the feel it gives me whenever I listen to the song. I am not good at identifying musical instruments but the echoing sounds at the background during some parts of the song give me the feel that we are 'lost in time'. I also like how the gradual addition of instruments lead you from the verse to the bridge and lastly to the chorus. You can really hear the development in music. One other thing that leads me to the conclusion that this song is not meant for you to focus on the lyrics is that the instrumental, especially Shintarou's drums are too loud and they are overpowering Takuya's voice. Overall, this song is just for you to enjoy the rhythm and the feel of the music. No specific thing to listen for. Just listen to it and sing along!
On a side note, Takuya fans might want to rip the part where he sang 'Dear lover, it's you' and set it as your alarm clock. Till date, it is my most effective alarm because I always wake up at least 15 minutes before the alarm ring. I suppose my phone don't want me to get illusions on Takuya singing that to me XD • Reviewed by Evelyn From beginning to end, this song seems to a “rush” of emotions and sounds. The song starts out with our beloved Takuya screaming out (in English), “You've got a master key!” The song progresses with a harder sound and then we are greeted with Takuya's slower chorus singing. Since I am no music (nor Japanese) major, I will simply say how the music made me feel and the impact it left with after reading the translation. • Reviewed by Harana The lyrics. Another of Takuya's love songs (his love songs always seems to be somewhat the same ne?), about leaving/separation/living alone. Definitely can detect the sadness and longing. The feeling that this song gave me. Kind of sad, don't even have to see the lyrics, from the tunes only can somewhat hear the emotions. What I loved most was the sliding of the guitar string (sounds like it's acoustic). It makes it more... attractive...? A 9/10. Very emotional, very touching especially hearing it the 1st time. I can just imagine Takuya singing his heart out (for who I wonder...?) Although I didn't quite like the part when the saxaphone came in, but it blended in with the drums very well later on. • Reviewed by Shinya Seriously, I wonder why they just don't rename this whole song and call it 'Blaster' instead? From time to time, whenever someone asked me 'what song are you listening to?', I would answer 'blaster'. Why? Because they simply put too much emphasis on the word. At first, I wasn't really fond of this song because it reminds me of PRIME. What made me want to listen to it was the live performance of this song in Shibuya-AX. Just like PRIME, this song is meant to be performed life where the atmosphere (and crowd) is there. The lyrics for this song doesn't make much sense and it keeps repeating itself. Thankfully, the song runs for 2:53 or I would never manage to listen to it till the end. Instrumental wise, I think Burst is too simple whereas PRIME is overdone. Though simple, it works fine for the verse and chorus but the introduction and bridge sounds off. I love how Takuya puts emphasis on some words and the way he says 'yeah'. That is one element in this song that made it tolerable and even enjoyable for some. Generally, Burst is not really something you would want to listen to but something that you would want to shout to. It would be better if you play it in a noisy environment. Just follow Takuya's cue and shout 'YEAH!' and 'PEACE!' whenever appropriate. When you are stressed up, take a 3 minutes break, turn up the volume for Burst and SHOUT as loud as possible during the chorus. It helps, really. On a side note, you might want to use this song as an alarm if you are bad at waking up in the morning.
• Reviewed by Evelyn The eighth track of UVERworld's debut album, Nitro, makes use of an infectious chorus while maintaining a bit of a rock sound. • Reviewed by Harana The lyrics. Great lyrics! By far one of my most favourite lyrics, but while you may get the feeling of the song, I seriously think Takuya shouldn't randomly add in english words like "Join to lump of affection"... The feeling that this song gave me. Teens angst kind of song, something that I suppose Takuya wrote when he was younger? Anyway, it's a song that I can relate to, so it leaves a good feeling. It's like someone standing up for love, not love like romance but love (or warmth) as a feeling. EXCELLENT! 9.5/10. Quite a non-karaoke-able song (cause the rap is just too fast >.< Ah... that's a personal opinion. Then again, song review IS about personal opinion on the song.) But an excellent song, perhaps it had been the translator, but the way some of the words are phrase are very unique. Can't look at it at face-value, kind of making me think that behind every UVERworld song, there is always a deeper meaning. • Reviewed by Shinya The lyrics. Another of their usual 'life' kind of song, talks about finding the door, opening the gate etc. The feeling that this song gave me. VERY AMUSING!!! Well when I heard the opening, I thought, it's not bad, definitely can feel the Uverworld-ness (their usual style). Then I heard it. "Free blood step by step." Cue jaw dropping. Yes the song sounds serious, but until now, I still can't help laughing at that part. *Cough* Sorry. An 8.5/10. It makes me happy. Haha. (Ah... my reviews are getting crappier. NYAH! Need to buck up!) Okay... who suggested that they should put a full blast instrumental track? Though it is something new from UVERworld and it actually follows the theme 'timeless' if you listen to it hard enough, this track existance is close to nil because the first 11 tracks are overshadowing it. I have a feeling UVERworld is hesitant in putting this track in because they put it under special track. However, by putting this track before D-tecnoLife (album version) shows that they want people to listen to it even though it is a mere bonus track. On with the review, the first few seconds actually sound promising but the repetitions of many parts screw it up. The main idea of this track is there but there isn't enough development, making the whole track sounds dry and some parts, jumpy. No matter what, you can't deny that 3:10 is too long for this song. Yes, this song is tolerable but it isn't catchy enough to make people want to listen to it. This song probably serves as a platform to show off Takuya's programming skills because there are way too many sounds that are not produced by guitars, bass nor drums. If that's the case, I would think that they put too much emphasis on Takuya showing his talent instead of producing something that is of high quality. Then again, I would like to applaud UVERworld's courage for trying something new every time.
• Reviewed by Evelyn |
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