Release Date: 2003/11/21
Debut album. This is one of the best J-albums ever made, in my opinion. If not, it's a definite must-listen for all of those who are interested or love Daigo Stardust. This is a brilliant album. Very *glam*. Daigo certainly did well for his debut album.
Scans:
Track listing:
1. THE SPACE TOY [lyric]
2. STARS [lyric]
3. QUEEN STARDUST [lyric]
4. EIEN NO SPACE COWBOY [lyric]
5. DEAR SUNSHINE [lyric]
6. D*TRANCE [lyric]
7. DOLLY [lyric]
8. RUBY & SAPPHIRE [lyric]
9. I WANNA BE YOUR STAR [lyric]
10. MARIA [lyric]
11. HEAVY HEAVY [lyric]
Review:
* Recommended: STARS, Eien no Space Cowboy, dear sunshine, D*Trance, ruby & sapphire, MARIA
* Note on album jacket: Daigo goes really glam and visual kei-ish in this album cover. His photos for the singles "Maria" and "Eien no Space Cowboys" are nowhere near these artistic ones and from the album and his costumes and look are nowhere near these bizarre ones from the album. I read somewhere that for his major record label debut he gave up the eccentric looks and settled instead of a more 'tame', bishounen type of image. I don't know which I like better. But thankfully this means he?s just creative and not using the same image over and over again for every single shot he makes.
I am so excited about this album. This is one of my favorite albums *EVER*. Considering that I'm not a 100% J-Rock fan and that I've only known Daigo for a couple of months now, I don't know if I can make a good review about the album or not but to be completely honest, I am SO EXCITED about this album. "The Space Toy" has become one of my favorite albums EVER. It's such a ROCKING album.
All right, let me elaborate on why I like this album so much and why Daigo Stardust is now my one of no. 1 favorite J-artists, if not *the* absolute favorite, in the rock category.
Of all my favorite J-rock artists, Daigo Stardust is probably the most "J" (as in, "Japanese") in terms of music and voice.
Probably it's just me (who, lately in terms of J-rock, listen mostly to B'z, Gackt and Takui), but Daigo's voice is really refreshing, especially because he sounds truly like a J-rocker. If I want to make comparisons with my other favorite J-rockers, Daigo's voice reminds me of Hyde's early and mid L'arc-en-ciel days. I really miss this kind of voice.
Vocals apart, Daigo makes music and sings in his own style. I think because he used to be an indie artist, which means he goes a long way back in his musicality, means that he probably has already developed his own music style before he got signed by a major label. I don't know how much he changed his sound from his indie days to now, but I kind of have the feeling that he sounded more or less like the way he did now.
If there's one thing I really noticed from listening to "The Space Toy", Daigo doesn't really do ballads. Not in this album, anyway. He has more fast songs than slow ones. The only real ballad in this album is "Dolly" and it's got a hypnotizing sound. The lyric is really romantic, but I felt more like skipping it to hear the faster songs. The fast songs just really rock. Literally! "The Space Toy", "Stars", "dear sunshine", "D*trance", "I wanna be your star" and "Maria" just make you really wanna do some head-banging and jumping around. Check out the guitars and beats in these songs - AMAZING. Oh and Daigo's unique voice... either you want to sing with him or shout out his name in ecstasy!
Oh, but if you're a person who can't really take heavy rock songs and still want to check out his sound, I suggest "Queen Stardust" because it sounds a bit lighter than the others. Actually and "I wanna be your star" is also more of a rock and roll sound than heavy rock (but this one still makes you want to head bang. LOL!)
My favorite song in this album is "Ruby & Sapphire". It's so well-written. First of all, the music is both heavy and melodic, making it sound really deep. Secondly, his voice is more colorful than in any other song. He pitches high and low (when he goes low, he sounds really sexy!!!). Then there's this serifu/shout-out in the second verse:
"Tatoe sekai ga ashita owari wo tsugeru toshitemo, boku wa? boku no yume wo oitsuzukeru daro!
Tatoe sekai ga ashita owari wo tsugeru toshitemo, boku wa? boku wa uta wo utaitsuzukerunda!"
Even if you announce that the world is going to end tomorrow, I? I?ll still chase my dream!
Even if you announce that the world is going to end tomorrow, I? I?ll still continue to sing!
When I heard the exclamations, coming out of his mouth, I feel so inspired. And let me tell you then when I first hear this song and these phrases, I was in such a depressive mood. This song was able to lift my spirits up and I was thinking, "That's right. I should do the things that I love doing most even if the world is going to stop revolving tomorrow. There's no point in complaining and wallowing, because there's still a lot to be done!" Funny how some phrases from a J-rocker can make me feel suddenly spirited!
"Maria", the debut single song, is another song that is well-written but it?s not written by Daigo. Kyosuke Himuro wrote it and he let Daigo arrange it in his own style and re-write the lyrics in his own words. Although it's not a 100% Daigo song, it doesn't eliminate the fact that it's one of the best songs in the album. I don't know anything about Kyosuke Himuro except that Daigo is a fan of him and he's psyched about being able to sing a song written by Himuro, but listening to this song, I have to applaud Himuro's musicality. What more, listening to Daigo's lyrics for Himuro's melody makes me believe that Daigo really has a way with words. (Now in case you haven't noticed, one of my favorite phrases these days is "ARE YOU A BELIEVER?" and that comes from this song, "Maria".)
I'd also like to focus on "Eien no Space Cowboy", his second single song, as well. I'll just let you know that this is the only song in the album of which the title is written in Japanese. All the other songs' titles were written in English. Just this one has Japanese characters. I?m also giving two thumbs up for "Eien no". He works his vocals like in both "ruby & sapphire" and "Maria". He starts with a low and then on the refrain, he just shouts out the verses but the "Maria" vocal returns because after he increases his vocals, it stays "up". The song is even more melodic than "ruby & sapphire" and I truly admire the guitar throughout the song (the guitarist for this song is Dutch Iida... bravo Iida-sama!).
Now let's talk about Daigo's lyrics. It?s really amusing how Daigo writes some lyrics in English when I think "The Space Toy" is an authentic J-rock sounding album. *major sweatdrop* But I really don't mind (hey, who am I to condemn people who are showing interests in a foreign language and trying to practice it at everything they do?)... because had the titles and lyrics been 100% Japanese, I think Daigo will lose the "weird" (in a good way) charm that is also a big factor in his career. The fact that he's trying to make his (I repeat, J-ROCK SOUNDING) album different by inserting English lyrics and using 99% English titles for his songs is, in my opinion, a big selling point in the whole "The Space Toy" experience. I'll give Daigo credit for his pronunciation; he pronounces English quite well even though he still needs a lesson in making his sentences make sense in relation to one another (he doesn't have a problem creating a single correct phrase. He just has a problem connecting the meanings between each phrase and the other in one song). Still, there's much room for improvement.
(And I hereby offer my services to teach him better English along with Junnosuke Taguchi. ^-^ Hohoho.)
Just a bit of trivia: the first song in the album, "The Space Toy", has the most English lyrics in a song (almost 80% of the lyric is English). Meanwhile the last song in the album, "heavy heavy", has the least English lyrics! Only one phrase insert, which is "WINDING ROAD". Hahaha.
Now all that's left for me to talk about in this review is Daigo himself.
I am now so optimistic that, even though Daigo's promotion pictures in various magazines (from girl's fashion and idol magazines to J-rock magazines) shows that he's the ultimate bishounen and that everyone is keen on portraying him as a Yuuichiro Sakuraba-style rock star idol, Daigo will continue to be a true artist. His antics, such as waving the audience a kiss in Pop Jam or answering some questions PATiPATi posed to him in English phrases, won't hide the fact that he is a craftsman of rock music. I'm convinced that he has an artist's nature in him which won't allow anyone else try to change his art definitively.
It would be a shame if anyone tried to make him like an "industry-doll" because with his kind of potentials he would be able to do more in the future. Already in this debut album, Daigo composed, penned and arranged all of the songs in it. In fact, the album credits even say "PRODUCED BY DAIGO * STARDUST". At this point I truly believe that Victor Entertainment has found a gem. I know I've found one: I?ve found a brightly shining space toy.