Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Utada's Best Effort in Years, March 25, 2008
Heart Station is a great triumph from Utada. I just received my copy in the mail along with a beautiful promotion poster. Each track is strong because all the songs fit so well together. There is a feel good vibe throughout all the tracks that runs like a common thread from the first song to the last. Sometimes Cds aren't very bad but the tracking order is wrong so the album lacks the right continuity. That doesn't happen with Heart Station. Now, thanks to Ipod playlists you can arrange the track order anyway that you wish. I would not change anything on Heart Station.
I have been a Utada fan since First Love debuted in 1999. I was living in Osaka, Japan at that time and you could hear First Love piped in at Mr. Donuts and outside from speakers around the shopping districts. First Love was such a huge hit, that even the local baseball teams were playing it over the loud speakers.
Distance was another strong album and its long been my favorite Utada CD since it appeared back in 2001. When Exodus came out, I felt the quality wasn't there. I honestly thought that Utada was heading for the big downward spiral that often happens to J--pop singers who are no longer popular and not desired by the public. That was something lacking in Exodus that caused it not to sound like a real Utada effort. Ultra Blue was ok and much better than Exodus but it lack the creativity and driving energy of First Love and Distance.
That's why I'm glad that Heart Station has just been released. This is the album to cause people to forget the experimentation that resulted in Exodus. I think it will put Utada back on the Japanese charts and keep the current fan base happy while acquiring new members.
From Fight The Blues, Utada sets up the perfect audio atmosphere that leads to Heart Station, another strong track, and then Beautiful World.
The first 3 tracks are very strong. Next up is Flavor of Life, as a ballad version. Then it's the nice catchy piano intro to Stay Gold. Kiss & Cry takes elements of a song in Exodus and remixes that fleshing it out into a much stronger track.
Gentle Beast is a nice little melodic interlude which blends in well with Celebration. Celebration is my favorite track on Heart Station. I think its just as strong as Wait & See and Automatic from past albums.
My second favorite track is Prisoner Of Love that captures the right emotions musically for the context.
Teiku 5 is very catchy and keeps the tracks moving along. A wonderful upbeat song.
Boku ha kuma reminds me of Japanese children's music and it does a great job of showcasing youthfulness. When I first heard it, it made me think of the old Ultraman show and all the children singing the theme song in Japanese. Next is a great song called Niji iro basu, with a driving beat that shows off Utada's playful singing style. Last is the bonus track, Flavor Of Life this time as a regular pop song but it still works for me as a dance track or a ballad.
Here's the track list
1. Fight The Blues
2. HEART STATION
3. Beautiful World
4. Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version
5. Stay Gold
6. Kiss & Cry
7. Gentle Beast Interlude
8. Celebrate
9. Prisoner Of Love
10. Teiku 5
11. Boku ha Kuma
12. Niji Iro Basu
13. Flavor Of Life
If your new to Utada and you like HEART STATION, I also recommend First Love, Distance, Deep River, and Ultra Blue. Out of those recommendations, First Love and Distance are my favorites. They are much stronger than both Deep River and Ultra Blue.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Japan Reinvented : Utada's Best after "Deep River", April 24, 2008
As my favorite female Japanese vocalist, Hikaru Utada has rarely made a poor musical choice over the last decade. I hold her single "Colors" (alongside Ken Hirai's "Aika (Elegy)") to be the greatest thing to come out of the entire J-Pop movement, and its a pity this wonderful vocalist is not known more to the Western world. She did try, on her "Exodus" album a few years ago, but sadly that didn't do for her what the record company thought it would.
Cut to 2008 - after a difficult personal life and time away from the spotlight, Utada returns with her strongest album ever. I will be the first to admit that its not her 'best' album - that honor remains with the timeless "Deep River" (which still sounds jaw-droppingly flawless), but its certainly the best female J-Pop album in the last three years, and certainly the one with the most diverse musical genres within it.
Hikaru Utada has had a very Christina Aguilera-type career in Japan, where her debut album was straight-forward radio-pop. She then experimented on her later albums with more of a ballad-style, acoustic-folk sentiment, but all the while retaining her trademark pop sensibility. On "Heart Station", all these elements come together. There is a faux-rock track, a track written especially for young children, and a noteworthy song about death.
That song about death, "Teiku 5" (translation : Take 5) is by far my favorite track on this stellar record. The cut is notorious because it ends suddenly with no forewarning (and I mean that, it just ends abruptly with no musical cohesion or sense), but as an artistic statement and explanation of what death is all about, this made perfect sense. Never one to think that Utada would venture into the realm of spirituality, but she's done it in the most interesting way here.
My other personal favorite would have to be the singalong "Boku Ha Kuma" which is so instantly addictive. The production here is top-notch - and it sounds like Pharell and Timbaland both collaborated on the album (they did not, obviously, but it sure sounds like them). Utada also stretches herself vocally here - in fact, every song could be a single. Most single-worthy of all is "Flavor of Life" (already a huge hit on the Singles Chart in Japan) and the opener "Fight the Blues".
Lets face it - no one can do JPop as well as Utada. Sometimes I think she has rejuvenated the entire genre. Recently I was listening to some contemporary Jpop by its' prime female stars such as Koda Kumi (whom I really can't call a musician), Ayumi Hamasaki (who is too pop-rock for my liking), and even Every Little Thing (a little too acoustic and Starbucks-ish for me). Utada fills the void perfectly. She has the right elements of pop, folk and radio-friendly tunes that stick in your head whether you speak Japanese or not. This is what I look for when I buy a pop album, which is why alongwith Ken Hirai's AMAZING new 2008 album "Fakin' Pop", this is a prime contender for Album of the Year.
Never boring, and constantly innovative, this is one album you should be buying if you're a true appreciator of world music. And check out that cute album cover! Utada returns to us, and the world is a better place.
Four and a Half Stars
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful! Loved it!, May 15, 2008
What a great CD!
Track 1: Fight the Blues. I dare you not to say "We fight the blues" after hearing this song...
Track 2: Heart Station. Great. Nice melody
Track 3: Beautiful World. Favorite track. Possible Anime song. Chorus is beautiful.
Track 4: Flavor of Life (ballad) Soulful. Not crazy about the wailing-like aspect, but good sound.
Track 5: Stay Gold. Good ballad.
Track 6: Kiss & Cry. Nice trumpet sound. Makes me think of Cowboy Bebop or something. Lyrics are fun. Melody will make you hum it for days.
Track 7: Gentle Beast Interlude. Instrumental?
Track 8: Celebrate. Ha! Will definitely make you "swing;" this is like a super cheesy dance music that you can swing to. Nostalgic. Listen to it.
Track 9: Prisoner of Love. Cool. I wish I could sing the chorus.
Track 10: Take 5. Favorite Track. Has some very anime-soundtrack feel to it. I somehow think of "outer space" anime. Kinda like lynminmei's theme in the Macross movie.
Track 11: Boku Wa Kuma. Cute song. Sounds like a Sakamoto Maaya song.
Track 12: Nijiiro Bus. Favorite song. Would love to sing the chorus of this one. I swear I had the words "Nijiiro Bus" for days ringing in my head.
Track 13: Flavor of Life. I like the ballad version better.
Here's how much I love this CD: I bought the full mp3 version (since I didn't want to wait) and then bought the CD in Amazon. Great pictures in the booklet. Worth it.
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by Utada Hikaru 
