uh ~~ okay, i stole this dune pic from rockin' heaven, gomen na! ^^;; . it's just that i don't have a copy of the cd to scan (even if i did have a working scanner). anyway. so dune's my favourite album ~~ the whole feel of it is very, um ~~ dark, smooth, alternative ^v^ . there may not be as much variety as on the other albums, but since i LOVE this particular style, i'm not complaining (all songs are kind of fastish or mid-speed alternative rock, except 'ushinawareta nagame' which is slow). hyde's vocals are smooth and dark, totally suiting the mood of the songs; tetsu's bass often carries the melody, and adds to the 'dark' tone; ken-chan's guitar is in contrast - kind of harsh and bright, but WOW it adds effect; and sakura's drumming ~~ eerm...well, not being a drummer, i'd just say it's good? actually, while i LOVE dune, i think it's more of an acquired taste. the first time i heard it (after only previously hearing true and heart), i was like, "what? O_o;; ". it took me a week of solid listening to begin to appreciate it, and a week after that to LIKE the style. probably because while true and heart are pretty much mainstream pop-rock, dune IS alternative-indies ~~
2. voice
another smooth, dark song (well geez, is there any other type on this album? *grin*). there's a strong bass line, but the melody's carried by the guitar for most of the time. in the chorus section, hyde's voice is GREAT ^_^ . it's really strong, powerful singing ~~ starts low, gets higher and higher, and then hyde stops and ken-chan's guitar solo starts...the join is fantastic *_* . later, the guitar is that trademark sort of harsh fingerpicking, a nice contrast to the smooth vocals and bass ~~
3. taste of love
hm, does this name seem familiar? yeah ~~ i named my site after it ^_~ . well, actually, it wasn't because of the song, but a fanfic my friend hirai wrote with the same name (sakura/hyde, if you're interested). anyway. ah ~~ the bass intro to this song is COOL ~~ a bit of distortion gives it interest. the vocals are typically smooth...hyde seems to slide between the notes, rather than hitting each one precisely ^_^ . um ~~ the guitar is COOL. at first it's that contrasting harshness, but the solo is...strange...it has this really weird, alternative sound to it. i love it! it totally suits the mood of the song, ne.
4. entichers
'entichers' (it's french) means 'to be besotted with'. apart from that, this is another one of my favorites ^_^ . there's this cool, um, alternative funk-beat rhythm (mainly bass and drums), totally different to the previous songs. if you've heard 'singin in the rain', it's kind of the way that's different to the rhythm of the rest of the songs on heart. the vocals in this song aren't as smooth, each word's separated ~~ and ken-chan's guitar has an interesting sound...fingerpicking again, but kind of different ^v^ hm, oh yeah...this song also has a pretty cool bass solo in the middle...listen for that ^_^
5. floods of tears
this was laruku's first single ever ^_^ . hyde's voice is higher and lighter, but actually the bass carries the melody. the guitar's pretty plain, but underneath, you can hear tetsu's bass line compensating for it ~~ coolly complex! the guitar solo's pretty short, just a brief bit of fast notework, still impressive, though. oh ~~ also hear the way hyde can hold one note for AGES and still sound great, though at this stage he hasn't started to use that vibrato thing that gackt's excellent at using on these types of songs ^^;; . the music box bit at the end is so cute!
6. dune
another song where the vocals are higher and lighter ~~ the fast vocals and the pacy guitar complement each other, ne! ^_^ . the focus is more on the vocals, especially in the middle section, where the bass and guitar are just separated chords at intervals. this whole song is pretty changeable...it goes from light to dark, slow in places then faster, the guitar and bass dominance interchanging.
7. be destined
it's a VERY dark song...kind of draws you in ^_^ . another strong bass intro, with single notes from the guitar, then it morphs into a guitar chord-driven rhythm. the chorus is very strong, and it still manages to be dark, even though the notes are higher...oh, and there's these cool hyde voice-overs. not exactly like in 'niji' sort of thing, but semi-spoken under the singing ^_^
8. tsuioku no jookei
the intro's delicate guitar...sort of arpeggiated (ugh. is that how you spell it?) chords...very pretty ^_^ . then there's a silence, and tetsu's bass comes in. um ~~ there's this very prevalent plucking, kind of spanish classical style...and i'm not sure if that's a guitar of some other instrument, cuz i can hear ken-chan's guitar still going in the background *sweatdrop*. the vocals are smooth and sultry, smooth slides between notes. cool song ^_^
9. as if in a dream
this is probably the most well-known song off dune apart from 'floods of tears'. and didn't hyde say it was his favorite laruku song? ^_^ . well ~~ whatever it is, it's EXCELLENT. all the elements seem to blend perfectly...semi-fast guitar carrying the melody; mid-speed bass; cool drums; and hm...KAKKOII vocals *grin*. actually, technically, i guess hyde's voice isn't PERFECT here ~~ it's rougher, and you can hear his breaths in between the notes, but it just adds...SOMETHING...to the song *_* . adds to the atmosphere, i guess you could say. man, i want to hear this live!
10. ushinawarete nagame
hm. i don't like this one as much. it's basically a piano/hyde duet, with the occasional orchestral backing. not bad, but a bit plain for my liking, and it's slow bordering on dreary ^^;; . no guitars or bass.
