CD of The Month: BoA BEST OF SOUL

Just got myself BoA’s BEST OF SOUL album ^^b. Anyway, here’s a first impression review of the album:

BoA BEST OF SOUL

Artist: Boa

First of all, I have to say that I haven’t listened to BoA before, as much as most of my friends recommend her music to me. I have been a little bit reserved beforehand because judging at her current number of albums (around 7, I believe, including her Korean albums).

But it’s really exciting when she decided to have her best collection out, which has released this month. Now, the reason of getting this album a little bit early is because the first pressing, i.e. Perfect Edition, contains a limited edition DVD which contains all the MVs of her songs (excluding Kono Yono Shirushi [lit. The Mark of This World]). And as a tradition of BoA albums, you always have to expect some bonus tracks, in which the CD contains a cover of LA.LA.LA LOVE SONG (yes, it’s the theme song of one of the popular J-Dramas, Long Vacation, if I’m not mistaken), and the DVD contains 2 making of… videos together with the Love Bug, a collaboration with m-flo.

OK, as a first time listener to BoA and a pretty avid listener to JPop (well… although technically BoA is a Korean :p), honestly first impression wise is that I’m totally caught off guard. Well, the reason why I say so is that most of her music, especially the dance tracks, sounds very American/Western. Surprise, surprise. Although there are quite some slower ballads (which does sound more JPop-ish), the whole album is mainly dominated by dance tracks which has a much stronger western influence. So it’s best to not to treat it as a JPop CD or else you’ll find yourself struggling to fully enjoy this CD (like what happen to me during the first few tracks of the CD :p). And as a best collection, the tracklist is pretty solid, with the power of the whole album builds up until the end of album, with a very climatic Meri Kuri (lit. Merry Christmas), leaving a strong punch to the whole experience. Then later on, the refreshing LA LA LA LOVE SONG serves as a good dessert to make this album extremely enjoyable. If there’s anything to nitpick, I would say that I can’t seem to find a song which leaves an extremely deep impression except for Meri Kuri, and the others could probably need a few listens before I can remember them.

As a bottomline, for those who are into Western pop and dance music, you would find this album extremely appealing, and it should be considered as a good album to start with if you are planning to try to get yourself into JPop. And for JPop fans who haven’t listen to BoA before, you shouldn’t find it hard to enjoy the album since her vocals, music and style are pretty similar to Utada Hikaru and Namie Amuro.

And all BoA fans shouldn’t be missing this album since it contains a cool DVD which shows off BoA’s talent in dancing and squee her flowing hair (reminds me of shampoo’s commercials :p). So for such a solid album with a bonus, coolish DVD, it’s definitely worth the price of the album itself (although it’s sliiightly on the expensive side, IMHO).

Personal Rating: 4/5 Recommended Music: Every Heart -ミンナノキモチ-, VALENTI, DOUBLE, メリクリ, LA.LA.LA LOVE SONG (BoA w/z SOUL’d OUT) Price: RM50/=, Available at Victoria Music Center, Amcorp Mall Tracklist:

- CD -

1. LISTEN TO MY HEART
2. ID;Peace B
3. Amazing Kiss
4. 気持ちはつたわる
5. Every Heart -ミンナノキモチ-
6. VALENTI
7. 奇跡
8. NO. 1
9. JEWEL SONG
10. Shine We Are!
11. DOUBLE
12. Rock With You
13. QUINCY
14. コノヨノシルシ
15. メリクリ
16. LA.LA.LA LOVE SONG (BoA w/z SOUL’d OUT) [Bonus track]

- DVD -

1. ID;Peace B
2. Amazing Kiss
3. 気持ちはつたわる
4. LISTEN TO MY HEART
5. Every Heart -ミンナノキモチ-
6. VALENTI
7. 奇跡
8. NO. 1
9. JEWEL SONG
10. Shine We Are!
11. DOUBLE
12. Rock With You
13. QUINCY
14. メリクリ
15. the Love Bug / m-flo ❤ BoA [Bonus tracks]
16. Making of QUINCY
17. Making of メリクリ

[p/s: I’m thinking of sharing a few MP3 later on, but I’m wondering whether is there any webspace where I can park these files on?]