Saturday, April 23, 2011

Physical copy of 'Checkmate!'




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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

3 more days! I am excited for her tenth studio album. I am just waiting patiently. :) Go namie Amuro!!! :)

Anonymous said...

tr14 secret track: WANT ME, WANT ME feat. VERBAL !!!!

benjamin said...

Over the years a fair amount of songs featuring NamieAmuro had been excluded from her studio albums. First watched 'Luvotomy' in PLAY-concert, 'Toi et Moi' in So-Crazy-concert, 'Do or Die' in Live-Style and 'Black Diamond' in Best-Fiction-concert, all in DVD. So I actually have "When Pop Hits the Fan", "Award SuperNova" and "Ravex Trax" (They are alright). But who would go the distance to purchase Jhett, Zeebra and Double just to listen to Namie? I reasoned AVEX would come to their senses and release an album of these lost jewels. Checkmate! is the reward to my long-suffering patience. Thankfully Namie is not tearing another poster of herself. Instead she shows her impeccable taste in fashion and poses twice for cover, so we can buy the new album twice. The CD pose is slightly naughtier than the 2-disc version. And I love the extra photos inside the lyrics booklet (can't say I like the slow-mo animation of tearing a poster with Past-Future, which is nonetheless a good album)


The new songs in Checkmate! are ok but not better than the older collaborations. A bit too much of hee...hoo... in 'Make It Happen'. Probably thats how Kpop sounds nowadays. Yeah it sounds cute and even cuter when I watch the MV. These Korean cuties are delicious. By comparison the other MVs look a bit lacking in style, except 'Black Diamond'(featuring the well-endowed Double). Why not use the live performance of 'Rock U' (Past-Future tour DVD) as its MV? Its quite a visual treat. 'Luvotomy' sounds even better in live performance (Play-tour DVD); the choreography is great and I love seeing NA sweat on stage. Checkmate! is musically diverse, more mainstream (less R&B/hip-pop) and appeal to a wider audience than her past albums. All new songs are kid-friendly, in fact most of them are, except Wet-n-Wild (and the hidden track). But why leave it til now? Wet-n-Wild belongs to the tracklist of Play (thats a compliment). Checkmate! is PG-rated thats what I mean. The more I listen to it, the more I recognize and love Namie's talent in R-rated R&B hip-pop. But I sensed her departure from very wet-n-wild dance music since the 60s70s80s single. She's gone experimental, and its a great way forward as shown in Past-Future.


Checkmate! is not just a compilation of songs; it filled a gap in Namie's discography and my collection of her works. So I double my satisfaction by purchasing both CD and CD/DVD versions.