THE END / Nakashima Mika

11 January 2007

中島美嘉 Nakashima Mika
THE END

13.12.06
4th album
AICL-1783

tracklisting
1 一色
2 EYES FOR THE MOON
3 GLAMOROUS SKY
4 BLOWING OUT
5 MY MEDICINE
6 NEGLEST WIND
7 REAL WORLD
8 ISOLATION
9 BLOOD
10 一色 (ALTAnative mix)
11 MY WAY

purchase date 22.12.06

review
With the conclusion of the "NANA" movie series, a first and last album is released by mika under the pseudonym "NANA starring MIKA NAKASHIMA". This album contains all previously released songs performed by mika under the NANA identity and new songs of the rock genre. Therefore, this original album also doubles as a soundtrack for the "NANA" movie series. "THE END" is mika's first full album that failed to debut at #1 on oricon, as it only peaks at #2.

"一色" is the theme song for "NANA2" and was released as an advance single. Like its predecessor "GLAMOROUS SKY", the lyrics of "一色" is again written by Yazawa Ai, the author of the "NANA" comics. However, "一色" is composed by TAKURO from the well known J-rock band GLAY. "一色" might not sound outstanding during the 1st listen, but after a few runs, I think this song is actually much better than "GLAMOROUS SKY". Eventually, "一色" becomes my favourite new song in this album. "一色" starts off mellow, with only mallets and acoustic guitar, but more instruments joins in gradually and finally exploded into a ballad-rock number at the 1st chorus. After the end of the 1st chorus, the song turns mellow again, but not as soft this time. It reverts to ballad-rock at the 2nd chorus and remains as such till towards the end, before it turns calm again. The climax of the song would be the yelling of "sweet dreams baby" at the bridge. The most touching part of the song is that, the lyrics and emotions of the song fits in nicely with the character development of the 2 Nana in "NANA2". In many ways, "一色" reminds me of "Fed up" from her 3rd album "Music", which is mika first attempt in ballad-rock, but more towards the orchestra side. The pv of "一色" features specially filmed monochrome footage of NANA starring MIKA NAKASHIMA singing against a white background and wandering around the streets. It is also beautifully edited with meaningful shots extracted from "NANA2". The pv fully captures the essence of the song.

The ALTAnative mix of "一色" completely destroyed a good song. The instrumental and vocal track sound as if they are 2 different tracks that are being played simultaneously from 2 different players. Mika's soulful vocal doesn't seem to fit into the punk rock arrangement. Sadly, this is the version being used in the "NANA2" movie soundtrack, which is very disappointing.

"EYES FOR THE MOON" is featured in "NANA2" and is included in the "一色" single. "EYES FOR THE MOON" is written and composed by TAKURO and the song sounds very much like the ALTAnative mix of "一色", but definitely better. It has a more catchy chorus and arrangement.

"GLAMOROUS SKY" is the theme song of "NANA", with lyrics written by "NANA" author Yazawa Ai. "GLAMOROUS SKY" is composed by HYDE from another reputable J-rock band L'Arc~en~Ciel. This song is too pop music to be considered a true punk rock. But nevertheless, it is still a very good rock song.

"BLOWING OUT" is written and composed by mika's regular collaborator Lori Fine from COLDFEET. The lyrics for half of the song is written in English, making this song resembles "MY MEDICINE". "MY MEDICINE" is an all English song used in "NANA" that truly showcase mika's strength in vibrato. The arrangement of "NEGLEST WIND" sounds rather retro, reminding me of yaiko's "一人ジェンガ" and it is the least rock track in the album. Like the previous track, "REAL WORLD" sounds retro and it reminds me of a song by hitomi in her "LOVE LIFE" album.

"ISOLATION" is another song from the "GLAMOROUS SKY" single. "ISOLATION" was the 2nd best song in that single. "BLOOD" is the best and my favourite track from the "GLAMOROUS SKY" single. Both "ISOLATION" AND "BLOOD" are ballad-rock number that fully utilized mika strong blues vocal and relates back to her jazz roots.

With only 9 original songs, "THE END" is only slightly longer than a mini album and the 2 bonus track included only pulls down the overall quality of the album. "MY WAY" is a cover of a punk classic. With eerie sound effect and spooky lyrics, this is the worst song in this album and it features one of mika's worst vocal performance to date. I don't understand why there is a need for this cover to be included in this album. If a SID Vicious classic is really necessary, I would rather it to be included in the "NANA2" soundtrack or "一色" single, not here.

Although the inclusion of the 4 songs from the "GLAMOROUS SKY" single is a much welcome move, I actually prefer the 3 new songs to be inserted into the "一色" single. With more new materials included, the "一色" single might be able to break sales record again (like what "GLAMOROUS SKY" did last year). Even if Sony needs to upgrade the status of "一色" from a single to a mini album, it is still cheaper than a full album.

Lastly, the cover art of this album is very bad. mika really looks like a corpse or zombie on the cover and in the booklet. Unlike photos from "GLAMOROUS SKY" and the pv of "一色", photos in "THE END" does not show any feature of Ozaki Nana.

recommending #1 一色, #9 BLOOD, #3 GLAMOROUS SKY
rating 5/10 ok

Buy it here:
The End / Nana starring Mika Nakashima

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