This CD makes your day! Amazing! (miss)understood is Ayumis best album so far! I own every album of her but no other has this diversity of styles. Let me tell you a few examples:
Bold&delicious - sounds a little bit like the later works of Namie Amuro!
STEPyou - you like "evolution"? You'll love "STEPyou"!
Ladys Night - reminds me a little bit of her early works like "Fly High". Very up-tempo and fast-sung (It's nearly rapped, if you ask me)!
Will, Pride, HEAVEN - some of the best ballads I've ever heard. "POWDER SNOW" and "SEASONS" are great, but these ballads are different. Although being beautiful, they are more "dramatic" than "SEASONS" and other earlier ballads. You can hear how Ayu worked on her voice! The Ayumi of 2001 could never sing a song like "Pride". Now, she can^^.
Of course the other songs are great as well!
But don't forget about the DVD! With "fairyland" you get the most expensive J-Pop video so far on DVD! And of course the video to "rainy day", which was shot in Nürnberg, Germany.
The video to "Ladys Night" is very Ayu-ish - simply enjoy!
The photobook: Very nice!
Want to see Ayu with a sunburn or see her going to the supermarket? Get the Photobook!
If you want to criticize something of this outstanding work, you could say, that there is no rock-song like "about you" or "humming 7/4" on this album.
My rating: The most diverse and mature album of Hamasaki Ayumi! A+
(miss)understood CD+DVD A great album from the queen of Jpop, Ayumi Hamasaki. This time she offers us some great tracks and videos that are very interesting, and if you're lucky enough you might get the photobook called on my way that has some fun photos of Ayu on her vacation in Hawaii.
