Uncontrolled by Namie Amuro -album review-

It's not a first listening review, most of the songs were released as singles and I know them quite well, there are only four new songs.

Here's my humble, unprofessional and totally biased review.

01. In The Spotlight（TOKYO）- I fell in love in a 15 sec preview, then I heard full version and I wasn't that impressed and then again after few listenings I started to think it's on the same level of awesomness as the Japanese version of Yeah-oh. It's a song that makes you want to stand on the roof of a bus and sing as loud as you can. 10/10

02. NAKED - I heard this song during a concert, it was the first song and I found it weird so I didn't listen to it again for quite a while, however, the tune is so weird that it kept coming back to me and somehow I got to like it, not my favourite song and it feels weird between In the Spotlight and Go Round (used to made me want to skip it) but I got used to it 7/10

03. GO ROUND（'N ROUND 'N ROUND）- I should probably just repeat what I wrote in the single review, I loved the Japanese version to the bone so I was interested a lot in the English version and it didn't disappoint. It flows quite well, the English lines sound pretty good. There's only one thing I cannot understand, mainly, why they changed the "How many times, how many days, how many tears, how many times" to "How many times, how many times, how many times, how many times", it was the most pointless thing to do, I wish someone could fix it (copy the end of the Japanese version into the English one). 9/10 *(10/10 for the Jap version)

04. Sit! Stay! Wait! Down! - This song is truly amazing, the melody and intensity is awesome, its only flaw is the fact that it's about ...a dog. No wonder there's no PV to this song although it could be pretty funny with all the Sit / Stay / Wait / Down / Good boy / Bow-wow-wow stuff. Totally engrossing and uplifting. 9.5/10

05. Hot Girls - I thought it's going to be pretty awefull song but the stanza appeared to be quite interesting, I like the first and last verse a lot ("Round and round they go, will they stop? no-one knows" - some people say it's "where" not "will" but I hear "will" :p), however, what made me burst with confusion was the line "If you want him to commit you've got to keep yourself fit" (if that's what she sings but I can't think of anything else), it seemed so bald and inappropriate to say and so true at the same time, it made me pay more attention to this song. 8/10

06. Break It [AL ver.] - I totally love the live version, I like the original song little less because it's less powerful and this version is somewhere between those two but I like it even less, dunno why, maybe it sounds more like a remix. It's still a good song though. 8/10

07. Get Myself Back - A beautiful mid-tempo ballad, very relaxing and soothing, I heard it on a concert for the first time and fell in love with it right away. It has a very delicate ending, I always wonder how Namie's voice doesn't quaver during that part at concerts. 9/10

08. Love Story - Another ballad, this time it's slow and slightly depressing with it's main chorus "Cause life's no love story" at least that's what I hear all the time, I didn't see the booklet yet, some people say it's "Cause that's our love story" which would change the feeling of the song a lot to me. I didn't like this song at first, I have no idea why. 9/10

09. Let's Go - I found it ok after first listening buit it grew on me very quickly, catchy dance song, amazingly uplifting. "Light my fire!" 9.5/10

10. SINGING “YEAH-OH” - English version of Yeah-oh. It was very hard to get used to different lyrics, it sometimes feels funny how the new verses sound and not really rhyme with the old english verses that already were in the Japanese version like "there's one thing and it's quite all right". So far I totally prefer the Japanese version. 7/10 *(10/10 for the Jap version)

11. Fight Together - One of those songs that sound cheesy let's-unite-and-love-everyone at first but it's really uplifting and I cannot wait to hear it live, I already assume it's going to be an encore song or maybe even the ending song. "Don't forget, we fight together!" ㋡ I have no idea why or how but it reminds me a bit of Dr. 8/10

12. ONLY YOU - I didn't like this song at first, I thought from the start it's gonna be my least favourite song and I guess it is but it's still good and uplifting. I didn't like Namie's low notes at first but further on the song flows amazingly. It's Japan's Euro 2012 anthem, they played it before the matches but it doesn't really fit the theme IMO. 8/10

13. Tempest - The last ballad on the album, it sounds like it was made to amaze people, it starts really nice and immediately transfers into chorus. I first heard this song live and it definitely had much more charm combined with Namie's innocent face, it's much more stiff on the album. Not my favourite ballad but the song is very nice nonetheless, it has one peak moment but I wouldn't chose it as an ending song, it somehow doesn't fit this album, I'd rather prefer Namie put Higher or Arigatou on this album instead of this song. 7/10

Album rate - 8.3/10

I truly regret they included the English versions of Go Round and Yeah-oh, still, I'm glad there's not even one song on this album I dislike, it flows amazingly from first to last song, I even included Higher and Arigatou (and exchanged Go Round and Yeah-oh to Japanese versions) and it's almost perfect that way. I kind of feel the album rate occured too low compared to how I feel about it, but when I think twice about each song there are many great but not perfect songs so the rating feels almost correct. With Go Round and Yeah-oh exchanged it would be 8.8/10

*songs: Break It, Get Myself Back, Naked, Tempest, Love Story, GO ROUND, YEAH-OH, Only You, In The Spotlight (Tokyo).