ayumi hamasaki - Love songs (microSD+USB+DVD - Limited edition)
AND IT’S FINALLY HERE!! “Love songs”~
*watching the DVD right now while I’m blogging this entry*
I say, this has to be the biggest packaging ever (not including Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus because the CD is inside)~ It’s really really gorgeous, this album!
Anyway, some background about “Love songs”. It’s ayumi hamasaki’s 12th studio album and her second album of year 2010! Uncommon much? But who’s complaining? This album is as solid as Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus in my opinion, with pretty strong songs like “Love songs”, “do it again”, etc…
And of course, she released her album in various versions and this time, she released Love songs in 3 different jackets (CD+DVD, CD-only, microSD+USB+DVD). And guess which one I’m going to show here~ :D
TA DA!! I got the microSD+USB+DVD version, which is *shameless~* the limited edition version! Look at ayumi struggling inside that bubble wrap! Imma save you, ayu!
The album came in this vinyl sized box with her big gorgeous face across it. I prefer the CD+DVD cover though but this is not bad too. Love the color choices actually; very soft, romantic, mysterious (like “I’m going to tell you a secret about my desired love life”) kinda feel.
The sticker on the plastic cover.
In case you want a comparison on how big and marvelous the album is, it’s about 4 times the size of a regular CD casing. It’s really good to hold in your hands too~ Furthermore, the quality is good; I almost mistaken the material as plastic.
The obi’s details… Yes, it comes with an obi…
And how ridiculously big the obi actually is. Actually, when I first saw the album, I laughed a little because I never expected it to come with an obi because of it’s huge size but it still did~ Perhaps because the obi holds lots of “vital” information though I doubt people actually go through it.
And the back of the album. I had a really hard time trying to get a picture with the correct color but eventually, I managed to! Those flowers kinda remind me of the flowers you see on our overhead bridges in Singapore. In fact, on closer inspection, they are; OVERHEAD BRIDGE FLOWERS!!
The track list. This album contains 16 tracks (including the bonus track, SEVEN DAYS WAR’s live version), featuring the singles “MOON/blossom”, “crossroad” and “L”, all fantastic singles, may I add~
This is how the album looks like when you lift up the flap. You’re greeted with ayu smiling sweetly at you as though she’s saying “Thanks for buying me!!” On the left, you see the lyrics booklet slotted there and on the right, you see ayu’s beautiful face.
The lyric booklet. I love the motif at the back~
*GOES GAGA!!*
So here are the contents of the album; the microSD on the top left, the USB on the top right and the DVD (if you cannot recognize it, you should come out from your cave). Each media device stores different stuff and I shall elaborate it soon.
First of all, the microSD. Unfortunately, the contents can only be accessed by using a Japanese phone. It contains all the tracks and PVs from this album. So, I suppose if you are in Japan, you can just slot this card into your cell and immediately enjoy her album. How handy~ Did you notice that the casing of the SD card is like that of a CD+DVD casing? Cool eh?
The microSD’s back… I forgot to take a shot of the front of the microSD card itself. Basically, it says “Love songs”. WOW!! Obvious, no?
The USB device! Actually, when her album was announced for this format, I was thinking that the USB will be something as elegant as the NEXT LEVEL’s one but I was wrong. Honestly, I’m slightly disappointed but I’ll live… This USB stick reminds me of chocolate though~
The USB when you remove the cap. At least they put ayu’s A on it… O YES!! Did I mention that when I first opened the album, I swear I smell something sweet coming from it. I wonder if they did something to the album to make it smell like chocolate (maybe it’s the USB) but it really smells like strawberry flavored chocolate~
Anyway, the USB contains the tracks of the album in WAV format (lossless audio format), which basically translate to the best quality ever! (at least that’s what I understand). The whole album weighs a whooping 1.19GB!! That’s almost 12 times the size of a regular mp3 album! Each songs weigh around 70 - 90MB, if you want to know. However, I feel that without good audio technologies (like a good headphone or speaker), chances are you won’t spot the difference. But psychologically, you will feel that the WAV is definitely better.
Moving on… The album also comes with a photo booklet that’s also supersized. It’s almost like a calendar just that there are no dates inside.
Some of the gorgeous photos inside the book… As opposed to Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus, I feel the artistic direction of this album is for a soft, feminine side of ayu. All the photos are feminine, hopeful and of course, BEAUTIFUL!
More ayu!! I love that fountain, by the way…
And moving on to the lyric booklet. They used the album art for the CD+DVD version as the lyric booklet and I though that’s a good move because I find that version’s cover the nicest.
The lyric booklet is also filled with gorgeous photos~ In this one, you can see ayu’s tattoo. I’m not a big fond of tattoos but somehow, this tattoo made the whole picture feel complete…
Now that’s what I call a lyric booklet y’all! A booklet with lyrics inside! Unlike some artistes’ booklets that just contain words that no one will actually read.
And that’s the last picture I have for this post. Overall, I find this album solid (come on~ Which ayu album isn’t right? :P) because it’s a different feel altogether. Unlike her previous albums, this album focuses more on ballads and is less experimental. There is a couple of rockish songs and they are good too.
I love this album! It’s the fantastic Christmas present from ayu (even though I have to pay…) and it compliments the previous album really well; Rock + Ballads. 2010 is definitely a good year for ayu~
頑張って、あゆちゃん～～ :D
