Release Date: 2005/11/23
2nd album. 2 years after releasing his debut album, Daigo released his long-awaited 2nd album, entitled HELLO CRAZY GENTLEMAN. This album includes 5 songs that were previously released as singles. It's a MUST-LISTEN for all J-rock fans because in this 2nd album Daigo rocks, and he rocks hard.
The album comes in 3 Limited Edition covers (Type A, Type B, and Type C) and 1 Regular Edition Cover.
SCANS:
Limited Edition Type B Cover & Back Cover
Limited Edition Bonuses (Photocard - Original Version, HOLY HOLY Lyric + Daiemon Greeting)
Other Versions of Bonus Photocards
From left to right: HMV version, Shinseido version, Tower Records version, Tsutaya Records version
Regular Edition Cover, Inside Photo & Back Cover
Jacket Photos
Track listing:
01. HELLO CRAZY GENTLEMAN [lyric]
02. STAND UP! [lyric]
03. SUPER JOY [lyric]
04. UNRAVEL [lyric]
05. DAISY [lyric]
06. SUMMER ROSE [lyric]
07. ETERNITY SUMMER [lyric]
08. SCAPEGOAT [lyric]
09. RAY ~YUME NO KANATA HE~ [lyric]
10. ROCK THE PLANET [lyric]
11. GOOD BYE FOXY LADY [lyric]
Bonus Track (Available only in Limited Edition)
12. HOLY HOLY [lyric]
Review:
* Recommended: everything! (oh, well, except one song... see full review below!)
* Graphics & Photos: Although not as "glam" as his first album "The Space Toy", fans can still expect to see juicy pictures of Daigo. In fact, perhaps fans can see him MORE in this one as there are 3 types of covers and 2 editions! So it's like a DAIGO PHOTO GALORE. (And it was difficult as hell to organize for me because I had to differentiate the file names according to the type of covers and editions. Duh.)
It's amazing how this album has very different graphics from the first album; it shows that the graphics represent the new concept endorsed by Daigo. He's less "glam" and more "cool". So do the album covers and photos. Everything is more simple. The focus is not on the fashion and make up, but his personal style. There are lot of photos of him with a microphone and a guitar. I personally love that because:
1. Good-looking singers with microphone are irresistibly sexy
2. I like the way he holds the guitar
3. It's so representative of his status as a musician and singer/songwriter.
What more, I personally love the huge star in each of the covers because it's so DAIGO-ish. I mean, you don't choose STARDUST as your fame name and not put a star on your album cover!
* Fashion Check: REGULAR EDITION WINS OVER THE LIMITED EDITION! The fur thingie that he wears on the cover of the regular edition is amazing. I love seeing him in it. And the purple sunglasses he wears on the inside photo of the regular are also superb. These pictures of Daigo with furs and purple sunglasses are definitely GOOD ENOUGH REASONS for the fans to buy botheditions. The photos of Daigo Santa in the photochard (original version) and the HOLY HOLY lyric sheet are also very sweet. Apparently, a lot of fans really like that one!!!
* Music: To be honest, I was really anxious while anticipating this album. Why?
Since he returned with the "Scapegoat" single in June 2005, it is very obvious how much he has changed a lot from the first time I started getting into Daigo. With the release of "Scapegoat", Daigo explained that his style was now more mature; he would no longer be using a lot of those glittery, sparkly things that we saw him with before and he would be more mature both in music and his fashion. Now I got into Daigo in the first place because he was all glam and glitter - I think he was very unique and special in that way - so I was really worried that he would be less impressive if he left all that glam and glitter. "Scapegoat" was definitely a song that was not "glam". It was pure hard edgy rock. (The B-side of that single, "Rainy Dance", was also decidedly edgy despite the fact that its electronic sounds, courtesy of goatbed, with whom Daigo collaborated for that single, making the song a perfect example of his transition from "glam rocker" to "hard rocker). That was "Scapegoat".
Then there was "Super Joy", the next single that came out before this album. Luckily for the Glam Daigo fans, "Super Joy" was more reminiscent of his old music style. There was also a ballad in the single, "I Fall In Love Again", that reminds us of the softness of his older sound. But then the 3rd song in the single, "Just Begun", was a massive hard rock song, completely different from anything he had ever done before!
With all that, naturally I was anxious and curious to find out how his new album would sound... especially because we already know he's going to put in the 5 title tracks of his previous singles ("Rock the Planet", "Daisy", "Summer Rose", "Scapegoat" and "Super Joy") in it. "Rock the Planet", "Daisy" and "Super Joy" are definitely Glam Daigo. But "Scapegoat" is Edgy Daigo and "Summer Rose" is somewhere in between Glam and Edgy. I really didn't know what to expect.
But then I listened to "Hello Crazy Gentleman" (HCG), the album.
And I'm not worried anymore.
First of all, let me make it clear that this album is more EDGE than GLAM. Even with "Rock The Planet" and "Super Joy", most of the new tracks in this album scream "EDGY!!!"
One song in particular, "Unravel", oozes the most edge and angst. Never mind that the lyric is written in ridiculous Engrish (Ha! My first critic for this album! Daigo, what the hell were you thinking?! XD)... the heavy guitar in the intro and Daigo's use of his vocals sound depressing at first, especially when you read the lyrics that says "Boku ga inakutemo sekai wa mawaru / Ikiru imi sae mienaku narisou de / Kono kodoku kara toki hanatareru / Sonna hi ga kuru darou ka", which means (loosely translated) "even if I'm not here, the world will still go around / The meaning of life seems to fade away / I wonder if the day will come for me to be released from this loneliness".
"Scapegoat" is also along the lines of "Unravel", music- and lyric-wise. The acoustic trills of the bass in "Scapegoat" do make the song sounds very cool but also very edgy. The lyric is just as 'dark'.
"Nando shawaa wo abitemo kioku no nioi ga ochinai / Nureta kizuguchi wo hirogeru you ni / Naifu wo tsukisashite"
And that means: "No matter how many times I shower the scent of memory won't go away / To make this wet open wound even wider / Stick a knife (at it)".
Morbid, Daigo, morbid.
Well, this is not to say Daigo didn't have profound, seemingly morbid lyrics in his previous album. But the general tone of "The Space Toy" was more cheerful than this album. Because the sound of HCG heavier in general, lyrics like the ones above give a darker meaning to this album's tone.
Putting the depressing songs aside, thankfully HCG does have songs with uplifting lyrics, courtesy of the excellent "Stand Up", "Super Joy" and the very cute-sounding "Goodbye Foxy Lady"!
"Stand Up" is hard rock, music-wise. But the lyrics are very inspiring! (By the way, did you know Daigo once made a cameo appearance in a TV drama called STAND UP, starring Kazunari Ninomiya of Arashi, Hiroki Narimiya and Oguri Shun? XD Is that coincidence?)
On the other hand, "Super Joy" is an eternally beautiful love song that contain the words VIRGIN LOVE. *LOL* Kind of makes you wonder, what the hell is he singing about, eh? (I might do a translation of that one of these days.)
"Good Bye Foxy Lady", which is one of my TOP FAVORITE tracks in this album, sounds like a Beatles' song from the '60s! The percussions are GRAND! Very exciting. As you probably notice, this album's first track is "HELLO CRAZY GENTLEMAN". Daigo then cheekily closes the album with a track called "GOOD BYE FOXY LADY". Word play is definitely one of Daigo's strengths (although he's much better playing with words in JAPANESE than in English, obviously) and these two songs are perfect examples of that. Listen to this song and feel very good inside! ^.^
"HCG", the song, itself might take a while to get used to. I wasn't too keen on this song at first because despite its typically Daigo sound that I like, Daigo's vocal is laced with too much electronic effects (think "Just Begun" vocals with softer sound). Luckily, after listening to it for a few times, it becomes better... the refrain part is love. Nice interlude, too. The way he says "I say hello / You say hello / Hello Crazy Gentleman" in the end is cute, too.
"Ray ~Yume no Kanata he~" is one of those dramatic songs that reminds me a lot of my favorite song from "The Space Toy" album, -what else if not- "RUBY & SAPPHIRE"!!! There's an orchestral feel to it, and although there's no serifu (monologue) in the song like there was in "R&S", it has the same effect on me. Guess what my favorite part of this song is? Heh, heh. It's the way he sings "zutto, zutto" and "zutto, zutto" (chorus/refrain).
Do I even need to talk about "Summer Rose"? It's my favorite Daigo songs ever after "R&S" so, I suppose I only have praises for this song. Ah, one thing that needs to be mentioned, though, is the fact that this song comes right after "Daisy"! ^.^ Suddenly it was like the single all over again. *LOL* Speaking of "Daisy" - and "Rock the Planet" for that matter - I think it's good that Daigo included these songs in HCG album. This relates to what I'm talking about earlier. In a way, I miss Daigo's glam rock style and "RTP" & "Daisy" were able to appease me in that sense. So it's not like his old sound is completely gone, after all. Still, though, we should all support his change... especially if he makes equally good music with his current sound.
I don't know if people are curious about the bonus track but I was certainly curious about it. I have been dying to hear it, especially because this song was sung by Daigo in his Christmas Live Show last year. When I finally listened to it, I was amazed. My reaction was: IS THIS REALLY DAIGO STARDUST?! The song is so romantic!!! Very Christmas-y!!! Because this is a Christmas ballad, obviously he didn't use his 'rock vocal'. And surprise, surprise... he sounds good! His voice is so sweet! Admittedly, he's still a little bit too nasal, but his attempt at sounding soft and singing in 'wholesome' voice deserve and applause. Hell, it even made me cry the first time I listened to it. *faints* *swoon*
Thanks for the wonderful early X'mas present, Daigocchi!
Before I conclude this long review, I want to point out that Daigo doesn't escape my criticism. Yes, not even the mighty Daigo can get pass my objectivity. *LOL* I do have some critics for him. I might be harsh, so beware Daigo! But don't worry, the criticism is constructive yo!
I just want to say once again: WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING WHEN YOU WROTE "UNRAVEL"?
I can barely make any sense out of his Engrish in this song!!!
I do think he was aiming to say "Just unravel my very own loneliness" but didn't quite get there. Or maybe he translated using the Babelfish Altavista translator, from Japanese to English. ^^;; It's horrible!!! ... well, but now that I've listened to the song for 10000 times (while romanizing, you see), I've practiced myself to go deaf every time the Engrish comes along. The Japanese lyric is also too morbidly pessimistic. I wish he didn't have to give the impression of being so... hopeless. Nonetheless, the music is good and that saves the song from being a total chaos. Yes, the music makes the song worth listening to!
If you haven't noticed by now, there's one of the new tracks in HCG that I haven't mentioned. That is, "Eternity Summer". I don't like this song. Enough said. Remember "Dolly" in "The Space Toy"? Well, this song does to me what "Dolly" did to me. I am ignoring it completely. I think, though, "Eternity Summer" is likeable at times (i.e. when I'm not in a bad mood), but most of the time I just skip the track, unlike "Dolly" (which I always skip). It's not that the song is bad, I suppose, it's just that I personally don't like it. Maybe other people will like it, but this is just my honest opinion.
Other than the Engrish and "Eternity Summer", I am absolutely loving this album. Having been deprived of a full-length album by Daigo, I welcome and cherish this album so very much. This album makes me feel good. Daigo has done it again for me. I'm glad that he's around to make music that entertains me because not a lot of artists these days can do that. I'm glad that I got interested with him in the first place, thanks to his name, and discovered his talent and personality. And this album, "Hello Crazy Gentleman", makes me proud of being a DAIGO STARDUST FAN.