Rock'n'Roll Circus

released 14 april 2010

  1. THE introduction
  2. Microphone ★
  3. count down ★
  4. Sunset ~LOVE is ALL~
  5. BALLAD
  6. Last Links ★
  7. montage
  8. Don't look back ★
  9. Jump!
  10. Lady Dynamite ★
  11. Sexy little things ★
  12. Sunrise ~LOVE is ALL~
  13. meaning of Love
  14. You were...
  15. RED LINE ~for TA~ (album version)

I don’t have any clear memories of my first impressions of Rock’n’Roll Circus. Given that I have an old playlist in my iTunes library of my favorite tracks off the album, it’s a fair bet that I enjoyed some of the tracks, but not all of them. Listening to it again now, I can understand why — the songs I picked out were the rock tracks, and the ones I’d left behind were the slower ballads.

I’ve always liked Ayu’s rock songs more than her ballads; that taste is likely apparent throughout these reviews. And it’s not that the ballads on this album are bad songs on their own; they’re lovely if you set out to listen to a slow ballad. Interspersed with heavy, upbeat rock and pop tracks, though, they slow down the album as a whole. It doesn’t really help when the same song is on there twice.

Rock’n’Roll Circus isn’t a bad album, it’s just very uneven. I think I would like it a lot more if it were a shorter, more focused album; the extended tracklist gives it room to meander and isn’t really a benefit. All that said, the cover art for this album is one of my favorites, and I’ve long regretted not buying a physical copy.

Rating: 3/5

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