Customer Reviews

Fanclub

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you ever wondered how a good Japanese rock band sounds. This is it. Excellent vocals. Beautiful lyrics. Powerful instruments. I am still amazed at the drumming during the song Blue Train. The solos are just amazing with this group. I honestly have to admit they put our American groups to shame with how well they play. If you have a friend that can let you listen to this album definately check it out. It's entirely worth it.

This Ajikan CD includes in it songs from two singles that came out prior to this CD and one song from a compilation CD. Both singles were very good (though unnaturally expensive for CDs that only had three or four songs on them) and almost all the songs from there made it on this. That's excellent news for those who don't want to "waste" money on singles, because some incredible songs got here.

The CD starts out with a "new" song, a rock waltz (for most of the time) that is amazing and very fun to listen to. While, yes, there are parts where it is no longer a waltz (the chorus at least sounds like it's in 4/4), the song is one of those gems. Songs like "World Apart" are nice and fun to listen to, but nothing truly amazing. Then songs like "Blackout", "Blue Train", and "Gekkou" (ESPECIALLY Gekkou) are incredible. "Gekkou" (Moonlight) starts out with Debussy's Clair de Lune (for those classical music lovers out there!) and then continues onwards into a wonderful song. The rest of the songs on the CD aren't as good, nor too memorable, but are still pleasant to hear.

However, if you can get a hold of the singles, I'd recommend that even more. The "World Apart" single has a surprising song (I won't give away what about it is surprising!) and the "Blue Train" single has two other great songs on it. I still recommend this, but there are better Ajikan CDs out there.

Asian Kung-Fu Generation offers something that seperates it not only from American music but from most music in general: it mixes strong musical pieces with amazing lyrics. This album is, by none, far better than the majority of popular and underground rock in the American scene, and is highly recommended to anybody.

Despite the somewhat high-price of the CD on amazon (it is an import, after all), you definitely get more than you pay for. 11 amazing tracks, all of which are seemingly flawless, each with their own sound and feel. Two that are especially awesome: Track 2, "World Apart", and track 10, "Gekkou".

My review comes down to this simple sentence: if you're looking for great music, regardless of what genres it falls under, "Fanclub" by Asian Kung-Fu Generation is the perfect album for you. Pick it up, you won't regret it.

Asian Kung-Fu Generation is an amazing band you won't regret buying this album! In general the sound on this record is more lyric and melancholic than their 2nd album Sol-Fa and 4th Feedbackfile. There are no 'accidental' or 'filler' songs on it, so you can just enjoy listening to a whole CD without skipping any tracks!

To be fair, I can barely understand 2% of what's being sung since I don't speak Japanese, but music is more than the words, right? It's a good listen as background music if you don't mind upbeat rock playing while you do other things. None of the songs really stuck in my head or were particularly memorable. Maybe I was expecting more stuff like Haruka Kanata, but none of these songs were quite as enjoyable. I give it 3 stars but my expectations were unfair, so it probably deserves a 4. Worth a listen for J-Rock fans, and anyone looking to get into the genre.