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| LADY LEMONAAADE KIMI WA LADY LEMONAAAAADE |
hi my name is monstii and OH BOY. NEW CARNATION??? IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2025????
YEAHH!!!!
well, actually, i lied! this album isn't new at all! today i shall be talking about Carnation's 13th official album, WILD FANTASY, originally released in 2006.it was just recently (as in, literally a week when i write this) rereleased on streaming services worldwide! i'm not sure if it was also rereleased physically, because this album just appeared without any official statements or anything! its wasn't even rereleased on a special date or anything, it was really just random. fingers crossed that more of their albums are made available worldwide, but i wouldn't hold my breath.
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| carnation @ sat tower records store in osaka, 2006. |
as for the album itself, there's only one way i could describe it, and that would be the logical continuation the band's "3-man era" sound. now mind you, when i say this, i really mean that this album feels more like a LIVING/LOVING pt. 2, as opposed to a finale in the trilogy of "3-man era" albums, if that makes sense? this isn't me saying it's a bad album either, absolutely not! i'm just saying that it doesn't really bring too much new to the table.
now, you could argue that this was just kind how carnation was at the time, and you would be right! after Love Sculpture, and the departure of two of their members, carnation did make the conscious shift towards less experimental, less pop-y more straightforward rock, but LIVING/LOVING and SUPER ZOO still have distinct sounds that you can tell apart pretty well, while WILD FANTASY feels like Masahiro Naoe was trying to redo the sound of LIVING/LOVING, but ultimately i feel like it doesn't have as much of an identity as LIVING/LOVING or SUPER ZOO! which leaves some songs just feeling a little flat and not really having parts that stick to you.
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| carnation performing live, 2007. |
huh. i think that's the longest i've ever spoken critically of carnation. weird! i feel like i've caused some great disturbance in the force. oh well!
i have spoken my main gripes with this album, so i feel like i should also mention the things that i do like about this album!
all of the things that are consistently great about carnation are there, with great production and mixing and a great performance by all members and guest musicians, and Masahiro Naoe gives it all with his vocals as well.
the album doesn't really have any bad songs, at the worst just okay ones, and at the best we do have some standouts, one in particular that i'd like to point out.
Lady Lemonade is my personal favorite from the album, its a mellow and sentimental tune that is a nice refresher and a real standout, it also has a REALLY good (maybe even better than the studio version?) live version on the ROCK LOVE live album (that was taken down from youtube :- (... )
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overall, i think its an okay album. its most definitely not carnation's greatest, but its most certainly not anything offensively bad either, (i firmly believe carnation has made no bad music and you cAN FIGHT ME ABOUT THIS AND YOU WILL LOSE)
would i recommend it? ...eehhh i don't know. if you'd never listened to a carnation album, i think this wouldn't be the greatest first impression, it barely covers carnation's versatility and creativity, not to mention its the last album of an era and sound that carnation wouldn't really go back to go after drummer Hiroshi Yabe's leaving carnation.
if i could give it a number score, it would be a 6/10! ...for reasons that i just talked about. thank you, have a good night.
if you would like a good start to carnation, i actually have no idea! all of the albums available worldwide are from different eras and all have different sounds and feels, so i think a good start would be going here and listening to all of their singles from the 90's, because i think it gives you a good general idea of most of carnation's music, and an idea of where they kind of go from. however, i think every carnation album and song can be appreciated by itself, so do whatever you want i guess.
thank you for reading today's carnation glazing, its been a little bit since i posted something real long like this, but my motivation to make posts has come back full swing, so expect some stuffs comin soon! you can follow me i think if you press a funny button on the right, but im not really sure what that does exactly LOL.
monstii signing off!
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