Do The B-side / Do As Infinity

11 February 2007

Do As Infinity
Do The B-side

23.9.04
2nd best album
AVCD-17544~5

tracklisting
CD 1
1 Wings (Strong Mix)
2 散りゆく夕辺
3 sell…
4 Glasses
5 My wish – My life
6 CARNIVAL
7 シグナル
8 徒然なるままに
9 Remember the hill
10 What you gonna do?
11 mellow amber
12 10W40
13 トレジャプレジャ
CD 2
1 BE FREE

purchase date 27.1.07

review
To be exact, "Do The B-side" is an urabest album. As implied by the term "ura" (裏), which means "reverse" in Japanese, an urabest album is a type of best album that primarily compile B-sides, also known as coupling with (c/w). An urabest album might also include album tracks or secret tracks. This is an opposite concept from the standard best album, which typically only includes the A-sides, album lead tracks and popular hits. Although the concept of urabest album is not new, it is still not common in J-pop. I like this idea of urabest, because for some artists, their A-sides can be very experimental (to show improvement), whereas the B-sides would be more conservative and typical towards the artist's style. However, do note that there are also artists who release conservative A-sides coupled with experimental B-sides (to safeguard sales). Most importantly, not all B-sides are of inferior quality, which is a very common misperception by many people.

Following the footstep of SMAP, hitomi, GLAY, L'Arc~en~Ciel, and Yaida Hitomi, D.A.I released this urabest album "Do The B-side", just in time to commemorate their 5th anniversary. "Do The B-side" compiled B-sides that are not included in their original albums. However, this collection is not complete as "Faces" and "Simple Minds", the c/w from their debut single "Tangerine Dream" were omitted, despite there is still enough room for these 2 songs.

"Do The B-side" start off with a new mix of "Wings", the main B-side from "Tangerine Dream". With a catchy Shinjuku-Rock style similar to their hit "Oasis", I think this is the best track in this album. As an alternate version "Wings 510" was already being included in their 2nd album "NEW WORLD", it makes me wonder whether this song is eligible for inclusion here, considering that "Faces" and "Simple Minds" can be selected instead.

The Shinjuku-Rock arranged "散りゆく夕辺" and "sell…" are extracted from the singles "Heart" and "Oasis" respectively. "Glasses" taken from "Yesterday & Today" is a Pop-Rock number, which is rather rare from the Shinjuku-Rock-centred band. Reverting back to Shinjuku-Rock, "My wish – My life" is the coupling track of "rumble fish" and surprisingly, it is one of the quieter track in this urabest.

With different lyrics and a much mellower arrangement, "CARNIVAL" is the alternate version of its evergreen A-side "Desire". "CARNIVAL" is a song about break-up, contrasting the hook-up love story of "Desire". Comparing "CARNIVAL" and "Desire", I still preferr "Desire" for its more powerful vocal and fuller instrumentals. This should be the reason why it is chosen as the single A-side instead of "CARNIVAL". In addition, do let me share that koda kumi's marketing of "夢のうた / ふたりで…" as a 2 story single isn't exactly a new idea.

Extracted from the "遠くまで" single, "シグナル" is a Pop-Rock song infused with dance beats that is most obvious before the 1st chorus. A remix version of "シグナル" ia included as a bonus track in their 3rd album "DEEP FOREST" and the remix is used for the ending roll of their video clip collection "5". "シグナル" is one of the song that I really like in this urabest album.

"徒然なるままに" from the single "Week!" is not sang by D.A.I's vocalist Tomiko. Instead, it is sang by D.A.I's guitarist Ryo and it is Ryo's only attempt as the main vocalist. Like many D.A.I fans, I don't like this song, not because it is sang by Ryo, but rather this song is pretty bland.

"Remember the hill" is the c/w of "冒険者たち" and it is a continuation of "Standing on the hill", a song from their 1st album. "Remember the hill" is a County-Rock atypical of D.A.I. The use of various Irish instruments gives "Remember the hill" a carefree travelling vibe that is similar to Yaiko's music, especially songs from her "i/flancy" and "Air/Cook/Sky" albums.

"What you gonna do?" is the B-side of "陽のあたる坂道" and it is similar in style to "nice & easy". This song has an interesting arrangement. Interestingly, "nice & easy" was supposed to be the B-side of "陽のあたる坂道", until it was selected for inclusion in their best album "Do The Best", which was released a month after "陽のあたる坂道". The sudden switch to "What you gonna do?" once again proves that D.A.I has a huge catalogue of high quality unreleased songs.

Although "under the moon" was not included in their 4th album "TRUE SONG", "under the moon" is also not included in this urabest, because it is an A-side. Thus, there is a year-long jump into songs from the "GATES OF HEAVEN" period.

"mellow amber" was included in the "魔法の言葉 ~Would you marry me?~" single. "mellow amber" is a Shinjuku-Rock song that is similar in style to songs from their early days. Although D.A.I still sings this style of music, their arrangement had leans more towards Pop-Rock. Thus "mellow amber" resemblance to their early numbers is a small surprise. Named after a variety of bike petrol, "10W40" from "本日ハ晴天ナリ" is the sequel of "mellow amber" but the arrangement is more towards Pop-Rock. The last track "トレジャプレジャ" is the coupling track off "柊", which is a Pop-Rock song similar to their latter works.

The first press limited edition of this urabest comes with a 2nd disc containing a new song "BE FREE". "BE FREE" is D.A.I's typical Pop Rock, nothing special but nothing bad either. "BE FREE" is like a bonus premium single for fans to celebrate the 5th anniversary. Personally, I think D.A.I should have included the instrumental of "BE FREE" in this single. Else, I think "BE FREE" can easily fit into the 1st disc, which only has 13 tracks in it. Separating the set into a 2 discs collection makes the 1-track 2nd disc so redundant. Besides, I really hate those bulky 2-discs jewel case packaging, as it takes up double amount of storage space unnecessarily. I prefer 2-CD works to come in those normal-sized 2-discs jewel case like those used for "ayu-mi-x Non-Stop Mega Mix Version".

D.A.I has always produced quality works and this is an excellent urabest album that showcased hidden gems of the Shinjuku-Rock and Pop-Rock genres by the talented trio. However, as an urabest album, it is quite monotonous in style and non-fans might be bored with this quickly.

I'm looking forward to more urabest albums from other artists like Aikawa Nanase, Amuro Namie, hiro and MAX, who have abundant amount of great B-sides not featured in any of their original albums. In fact, artists like Otsuka Ai, Shiina Ringo and Shimatani Hitomi also have sufficient exclusive B-sides to release an urabest album.

recommending #1 Wings (Strong Mix), #7 シグナル, #10 What you gonna do?
rating 7/10 above average

Buy it here:
Do The B-side [Limited Release] / Do As Infinity
Do The B-side [Regular Edition] / Do As Infinity

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