broylim / catalog

F.I.R. - Atlantis 亞特蘭提斯

Unboxing of F.I.R.’s 6th studio album - Atlantis at
http://wordshutter.blogspot.com/2011/05/fir-atlantis.html

4 albums + 1 single

And I’m back to my crazy CD spree after I found 300 dollars credited into my bank account one fine day called “yesterday”. Within 2 days, I bought 4 albums and 1 single and the total amounts to almost a hundred bucks! I’m spending way too much but HECK!!

It’s been so long since I went on a CD spree and I think I deserve it after being stuck on Exile Island for over 2 weeks.

Speaking of which, I’m going back tomorrow. :( So if you want to catch up with me online or something, now’s probably your last chance (though I doubt anyone would but heck~)

Okay~ Pictures!!

So yesterday, I bought the above CDs…

1. Animal - Ke$ha’s debut album
2. Almost Alice - Various Artists (Well, it’s “almost” Almost Alice… You’ll know why later)
3. 让我们一起微笑吧! - F.I.R.
4. Alive / Physical thing - Koda Kumi

First… Koda Kumi’s “Alive / Physical thing”!! I’ve been wanting this single for very long just for one song!!

I was caught in a dilemma yesterday; whether to get this single as well as “Almost Alice” because I was thinking of money. But eventually, I told myself “HECK! Just get both!” And I just picked both of the CDs up and paid for them along with the rest of the albums I’ve already picked. For this single, I just want the “TRICK Live version” because I love that song! Other than that, I already have the rest of the songs. So I’m basically paying like 20 dollars for a single track. :S

Fierce Kumi~~ I didn’t regret getting this single even though it’s just for that song because it’s worth it. Besides, this will add more volume to my growing collection of CDs so I have something to boast about. :P

“Almost Alice” is a compilation of songs by various artists and I bought it specially for the first track “Alice” by Avril Lavigne. I’ve been singing that song at K-box for so long but I don’t have it in my iPod and that’s sad. It’s a pity they don’t sell the physical single for “Alice” in Singapore; otherwise, I would have gotten the single as opposed to this compilation album because the cover is slightly disturbing.

If you had actually read the words previously about why it’s “almost” Almost Alice, here’s why. When I placed the disc into my disc drive yesterday, I realized that I was “conned” because the CD had been swapped with the “Alice in Wonderland Soundtrack”; meaning the CD and the casing doesn’t tally!

And that bloody hell means I have to go all the way back to HMV to do an exchange!! And that’s what happened today!! Waste of my time, bus/train fare and energy!! What is HMV thinking, selling an album that’s already opened before (the price tag was ajar and the box had some scratches on it). Was really annoyed.

But on the bright side, I got to sample some tracks of the “Alice in Wonderland Soundtrack”. It’s pretty interesting actually. If you had watched the movie, you would find the tracks familiar. Too bad it’s not what I’ve wanted…

This is how the REAL “Almost Alice” CD looks like; white instead of purple! Well honestly, if I were the staff at HMV, I would probably be confused because both the discs are similar and that both the albums are placed just side by side on the same shelf. But they ought to be more careful next time!! Haven’t listened to “Almost Alice” yet but heck, I just want the first track~ :P I hope the whole album is good though…

I don’t know what’s gotten into me to get this album because I don’t even know who Kesha is but considering that the album features tracks like “Tik Tok” (which is quite a good song in my opinion), and that my sister actually enjoys her songs, I decided to take the risk to just go ahead and get this album.

Listened to the album while on my way home from City Hall today (because I had to exchange the stupid Alice album -_-) and thought that it’s okay. I was expecting something fiercer though, something with more “punch”. Tik Tok sounded a little weak though (or maybe because I didn’t turn up the volume?? or maybe because we sang it with more punch at K-box??). 

F.I.R!!!! I was searching for their re-release album (the one that comes with the DVD) all over the place but I couldn’t find it anywhere! Should have gotten it the first time when I saw it because I’m not liking the packaging for the first version; the digipak version. I like the cover though…

Many artists had released digipak versions of their singles/albums and I don’t really have complaints against them (e.g. Namie Amuro’s “Past < Future”, Evanescence’s “The Open Door”) because they have something solid to hold the disc. The reason why I disagree so much with this version of F.I.R’s album is because the disc is just slotted into this slit in the digipak and that potentially promotes scratches.

If the whole packaging isn’t this flimsy, the whole concept of the packaging would actually work for me. Why can’t they just invest a little bit more on a plastic disc holder? Furthermore, the album costs 21 dollars! Would it hurt for a slightly better packaging?

Okay. Packaging aside, the album is expectedly F.I.R-ish. So far, besides “We are…”, none of the songs have captivated me YET. I feel that F.I.R.’s songs take time to grow on you because of their lyrics. In fact, I think they are one of the few Chinese groups that focuses on lyrics rather than random words.

Oh yes. QUESTION: Why is “We are…” titled so? It’s already not a coincidence that F.I.R’s style is similar to Do As Infinity because one of the band members is a fan but is it a coincident that Do As Infinity also has a song titled “We Are.”? But to be fair, both the songs sound totally different and the lyrics are obviously not the same. But coincidence? I think not~

But I still love F.I.R anyway~ :D

And I got Adam Lambert’s “For Your Entertainment” today and I’m not disappointed because it’s so ROCK! Fierce! Good! I was actually contemplating whether or not to get this album because I only like 1 or 2 songs from this one but got it anyway because it’s cheap (16 bucks) and it’s worth it! Bonus tracks and all~

The packaging is just a typical one but the pictures are nice and daring! I think this is the first English male album that I’ve bought. (Let me think… It might even be my first male album if you don’t include bands~!) Was listening to this album while blogging this entry and even though I was pretty distracted, I could still “feel” the songs. That’s magical~~

Okay. That’s all I have for today. *KANASAI* Listening to “Almost Alice” now and the song “The Poison” scared me because of the sudden twist in the song… I LIKE!!!

But anyway~ I’m booking in tomorrow but this time, with my iPod and speakers so I won’t feel detached from the world. Waiting for my ayumi hamasaki singles to be released and shipped so I have more things to blog about~ :D

Until then~