Happy New Year, everyone! I’m back with an (admittedly) small set of recommendations for the first release session of the new year, simply because there were only 4 of them! And honestly, I’m surprised at that… who bothers to release on the same week as Ayumi Hamasaki’s album? Precisely.

AKB48 - album - “SET LIST ~Greatest Songs 2006-2007~”
Hamasaki Ayumi - album - “GUILTY”
Kuraki Mai - album - “ONE LIFE”
w-inds. - album - “w-inds. Single Collection “Best Eleven”"

So I’ll just go through these one-by-one then!
AKB48 - Set List ~GREATEST SONGS 2006-2007~

01. Aitakatta 02. BINGO! 03. Yuuhi wo Mieteiru ka? 04. Boku no Taiyou 05. Mirai no Kajitsu 06. Dear my teacher(Team A Ver.) 07. Skirt, Hirari (Album Mix) 08. Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru 09. Virgin love (Album Mix) 10. Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou 11. Tanjoubi no Yoru (Team A Ver.) 12. Korogaru Ishi ni Nare (Team K Ver.) 13. Sakura no Hanabiratachi (Team A Ver.)

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*wince* SO not my style. Very morning musume-esque. Download if you like bubbly, happy pop songs with chipper girl voices… a lot of chipper girl voices. resists urge to compare to chipmunks I typically like Best albums because they give a great indication of style. Well, all of these sound the same, so I guess it has done its job…

Hamasaki Ayumi - GUILTY

01. Mirror 02. (don’t) Leave me alone 03. talkin’2 myself 04. decision 05. GUILTY 06. fated 07. Together When… 08. Marionette -prelude- 09. Marionette 10. The Judgement Day 11. glitter 12. MY ALL 13. reBiRTH 14. untitled ~for her~

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Normally I’m not a huge ayu fan. I just don’t have that much respect for her. That being said, I’m definitely enjoying a few songs on this album, namely talkin’ 2 myself and Marionette. It has a much more rock feel than her previous album secret does. Even the slow songs, like decision, have a heavier background than I normally equate with her. Could we be seeing *gasp* a style growth from the queen of similar-sounding pop songs every album? And yet many of these songs sound the same still.

Kuraki Mai - ONE LIFE

01. One Life 02. I Like it Like that 03. one for me 04. Born to be Free 05. Shiroi Yuki 06. Silent love ~open my heart~ 07. everything 08. Season of love 09. secret roses 10. Wonderland 11. BE WITH U 12. Over The Rainbow (Bonus track)

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I haven’t really listened much to Kuraki Mai before this. She always seemed “just another pop princess”, or another BoA, but I think I should have paid more attention to her. One Life was an immediate hook at the beginning of this album, and I really enjoyed the different songs on the album. Unlike ayu’s, her songs have a lot of differentiation between them, and I think the album flows well.

w-inds. - w-inds. Single Collection BEST ELEVEN

01. Shiki 02. Yume no Basho e 03. Kawari Yuku Sora 04. Izayoi no Tsuki 05. Yakusoku no Kakera 06. IT’S IN THE STARS 07. TRIAL 08. Boogie Woogie 66 09. Hanamuke 10. LOVE IS THE GREATEST THING 11. Beautiful Life 12. INNOVATOR 13. Past Tense 14. Shangri-La 15. Forever Memories ~2007 Live version~

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Look, another single collection, masquerading as a best album! This time, I think I can say I like the artist much, much better than AKB48. Ahh, back to a time when Tachibana Keita could actually hit those high notes! (Did y’all hear his solo single Friend? *covers ears*) This is their second “best” album, so it doesn’t contain all the songs I’d consider their best, but a few are good repeats. It needs SUPER LOVER on it though XD;;

So there we go. The 4 albums kicking off the new year, and sorta something for everyone. Except rock fans. Or indies fans. Oh hell, alright, you had to really like pop to enjoy these… but still, not bad. Opinions? See something I missed? Wanna kick my face in for not liking ayu? Comment!