Producing a follow-up to Amuro's Sweet 19 Blues was a daunting task, but producer/svengali Tetsuya Komuro was on a roll in a period that the Japanese music press dubbed "Komuro-jidai" ("The Komuro Era").
From the lush, flashback funk of that album, Komuro changed tactics, moving his arrangements closer to the techno-industrial pop of his group globe.
The album has "mature effort" written all over it, but it feels forced.
Amuro's voice is still limited by her range, but Komuro brings it closer in the mix, and begins to have her sing higher than she can manage (something he began to do with singer Keiko of globe).
It's not the album it could have been: only "No Communication," "A Walk in the Park," and "How to Be a Girl" stand up as fully formed pop songs, though they are terrific ones.
The latter is especially strange, a stop-start drum'n'bass-esque verse is surrounded by electric drones before diving into its rockin' chorus.
The big hit here was the ballad "Can You Celebrate," a perfect soundtrack for any high school slow dance, grandiose, with swirling strings -- though ruined here by Komuro insisting on singing backup (which he does execrably).
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Concentration 20 (Make You Alright) | Namie Amuro | Play | 04:07 | 0 MB | 30 MB |
| 2 | B w/Z You | Namie Amuro | Play | 05:01 | 0 MB | 38 MB |
| 3 | Close Your Eyes Close to You | Namie Amuro | Play | 05:52 | 0 MB | 47 MB |
| 4 | Me Love Peace !! | Namie Amuro | Play | 04:28 | 0 MB | 30 MB |
| 5 | No Communication | Namie Amuro | Play | 04:14 | 0 MB | 31 MB |
| 6 | A Walk in the Park | Namie Amuro | Play | 05:51 | 0 MB | 45 MB |
| 7 | To-Day | Namie Amuro | Play | 04:40 | 0 MB | 30 MB |
| 8 | Storm | Namie Amuro | Play | 03:08 | 0 MB | 21 MB |
| 9 | Whisper | Namie Amuro | Play | 05:08 | 0 MB | 40 MB |
| 10 | Can You Celebrate? | Namie Amuro | Play | 06:14 | 0 MB | 43 MB |
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| 48 mins | 360 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Namie Amuro | Primary Artist |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |