A Ballads

A Ballads (stylized as BALLADS) is the second greatest hits compilation by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released physically on March 12, 2003 through Avex Trax, and digitally distributed worldwide on September 14, 2006 by Avex Entertainment Inc. It is her first compilation release in two years since A Best; it premiered three months after her sixth studio album Rainbow. The compilation compiles ballad-inspired singles released by Hamasaki between 1998 and 2003, whilst the material is divided into new-arrangement remixes and the original versions. With all the tracks written by Hamasaki, it includes two new songs— "Rainbow", which served as the album's promotional single, and a cover version of Japanese singer Yumi Matsutoya's 1975 track "Sotsugyō Shashin".

Ballads
Slipcase sleeve and digital artwork
Compilation album by
Ayumi Hamasaki
ReleasedMarch 12, 2003 (2003-03-12)
Recorded1998–2003
GenrePop
Length72:03
LabelAvex Trax
ProducerMax Matsuura
Ayumi Hamasaki chronology
Rainbow
(2002)		 Ballads
(2003)		 Memorial Address
(2003)

Released in six formats featuring a photograph by JFKK, A Ballads received favorable reviews from music critics. Many praised the collection for including some of Hamasaki's best vocal work, and commended the songwriting. Minor criticism was aimed on the newer renditions of the original songs. Commercially, the album was a success in Japan, reaching number one on the Oricon Albums Chart, making it Hamasaki's second compilation and eighth album to reach the top spot. It was certified Million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments of one million units. The album experienced limited promotion during its release, with some of the tracks appearing during Japanese commercial endorsements.

Background and material

In December 2002, Hamasaki released her sixth studio album Rainbow. Early issues of the album included a code number and URL address that allowed customers to visit an exclusive website that promoted the album and listen to a 40-second demo of her unfinished song "Rainbow".[1] During its promotion, Avex Trax and Hamasaki received over 100,000 messages from fans, telling them their opinions about the unfinished demo. Due to the mixed response of her fanbase, Hamasaki decided to develop the song further and release it as part of an upcoming compilation album, which was later named A Ballads.[2] During the process, Hamasaki confessed that "[she] had never before written lyrics that were based on messages received directly from [her] fans. It was with "Rainbow" that [she] decided to give this approach a try".[2]

A Ballads is Hamasaki's first compilation to compile songs that were inspired by ballad music, with it portraying her second greatest hits album after A Best (2001).[3][4] Each track from the album was released either as a single or as a promotional recording, recorded between the years 1998 and 2003. Six of the tracks on the album were composed and co-produced by Hamasaki, who used the alias Crea.[3] The album consists of fifteen tracks, including two new recordings—"Rainbow" and a cover version of Japanese singer Yumi Matsutoya's 1975 track "Sotsugyō Shashin".[3] Seven of the album's tracks—"Appears", "You", "To Be", "M", "Seasons", "A Song for ××" and "Who..."— feature new arrangements and compositions, whilst the songs "Key", "Hanabi", "Dearest" and "Voyage" are included with their original versions.[3]

Songs
"I really wanted to hear (read) all of the messages that were sent in (both lyrics and themes), because if 100,000 people come together, they will see things in 100,000 different ways. Some of the messages I received were very sad, while others conjured up happy images and colors. But I thought that a professional writer would do a better job of tying these words together in a piecemeal manner than I. That's why... I read all of the messages and then wrote lyrics based on what I felt afterward."

—Hamasaki talking about "Rainbow".[2]

To explain Hamasaki's the background and development, Hamasaki hosted a commentary on her website.[5] The first song, "Rainbow", was originally composed by CMJK, but Hamasaki felt the finishing product was "missing something", and re-worked the demo version with Japanese musician Dai Nagao.[2] According to Hamasaki, she wanted to reflect the emotion and words used in each 100,000 messages she received from her fans to create the song, but because there were numerous emails, she decided to write it as a summary and her feelings as an "aftermath" from reading the messages.[2] The song was described by a staff member at CD Journal as an "organic midtempo pop ballad" song.[6] "Appears" was remixed by Japanese group HΛL. According to Hamasaki, she had asked the group to re-compose their original version of the track in order to reflect "current [musical] themes of 2003."[2]

The album included the original version of "Key (Eternal Tie)" as Hamasaki felt that the original was "more important and unknown" than the proposed-reworked version she had planned.[2] "You (Northern Breeze)" was one of the last reworked tracks, and was described by Hamasaki as being influenced by Western music.[2] "To Be (2003 ReBirth Mix)" was not re-worked or re-arranged by any of the album's collaborators, with it being purely remastered and mixed again by music engineer Koji Morimoto.[3] "Hanabi" was one of the album's only tracks to appear in its original version, and has been described by a CD Journal staff member to have been inspired by Europop, trip hop, and dub music.[7] "Dolls", a J-pop influenced pop ballad, remained the sophomore original track to make part of the record.[7]

Like "To Be", the next track "Seasons" was remastered and mixed by Morimoto. The final original track, "Voyage", was described by CD Journal as a midtempo ballad influenced by gospel music, layered with several string arrangements and other instrumentation.[7] "A Song for ××" was re-worked as a live demo, recorded at the Avex Trax studios in Japan.[3] For the promotional track "Who...", Hamasaki asked CMJK to create a more "warmer" version than the original.[2] The closing track for A Ballads was "Sotsugyō Shashin". According to Hamasaki, she had imagined recording a cover for a studio album, but was unsuccessful at doing so. To compose the track, she and the song's co-composer Tasuku composed it by using a Fender Rhodes Suitcase Mk I electric piano in order to reflect the song's original 1960s–1970s pop influence.[2]

Release

A Ballads was released physically on March 12, 2003 through Avex Trax in five formats, and digitally distributed worldwide on September 14, 2006 by Avex Entertainment Inc. The first five formats were compact discs; each one of the four early editions included a slipcase sleeve that had two clones of Hamasaki asleep next to each other, with the inner booklet portraying four different photographs of the clones. The four alternative covers were different variations of the two Hamasaki figures in a pink-coloured room.[3] The fifth format came without a slipcase, and had the slipcase image as the inner booklet cover.[3] The digital release featured the slipcase cover and the entire photo shoot was photographed by JFKK.[3]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
CD Journal(positive)[6]
HMV(positive)[8]
Hot Express(favorable)[9]

Upon its release, A Ballads received favorable reviews from most music critics. Tetsuo Hiraga from Hot Express believed that the album's material was able to connect with both younger and older audiences. He also pointed out the "Royal-esque" tracks "Seasons" and "Dearests" as some of her best recordings.[9] An editorial review on HMV singled out A Ballads as one of the best ballad albums in recent history; the review labelled it a "classic", and commended Hamasaki's vocal abilities, her songwriting and her vulnerability.[8] In a similar review, a staff member of CD Journal enjoyed the album and complimented its new additions to the album.[6]

Commercially, the album was successful in Japan, with it debuting at number one on the Oricon Albums Chart and replacing 200 Km/h in the Wrong Lane (2002) by Russian female duo t.A.T.u. at the top spot. Hamasaki's entry sold 561,127 units in comparison to t.A.T.u.'s 167,627 unit sales.[10][11] By the end of 2003, A Ballads was ranked at number eight as the best selling album in Japan of that year. It sold 917,555 units, and was also her second album to enter the top ten, just behind Rainbow which sold 1,856,919 units.[12] As of July 2016, it has sold over 924,242 units, her first greatest hits album to not sell over the one million mark.[11] Nevertheless, it was certified Million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments of one million units.[upper-alpha 1][13][14] It is Hamasaki's ninth best selling album based on Oricon's sale database.[15]

Promotion

The album experienced limited promotion during its release, with some of the tracks appearing during Japanese commercial endorsements.[upper-alpha 2] The compilation's only release was promotional song "Rainbow", which was used as the theme song for Hamasaki's Japanese talk show Ayuready?, and to promote products by Lumix.[6] An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Wataru Takeishi, featuring two clones of Hamasaki chasing each other, and eventually meeting at a dinner in Japan. Near the end of the video, it is revealed that the second clone is in fact her imagination or conscious.[19]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Ayumi Hamasaki with the exception of Yumi Matsutoya's contribution on track 14..

CD and digital download[3]
No.TitleMusicArranger(s)Length
1."Rainbow"
CMJK5:29
2."Appears" (HΛL's Progress)Kazuhito KikuchiHΛL5:57
3."Key" (Eternal Tie Ver.)Kunio TagoNaoto Suzuki3:15
4."You" (Northern Breeze)Yasuhiko HoshinoTasuku5:03
5."To Be" (2003 ReBirth Mix)D.A.I
  • Naoto Suzuki
  • D.A.I
4:49
6."Hanabi"
  • Crea
  • D.A.I
CMJK4:49
7."M" (HΛL's Progress Remix)CreaHΛL5:24
8."Dearest"
  • Crea
  • D.A.I
Naoto Suzuki5:34
9."Dolls"CreaHΛL5:56
10."Seasons" (2003 ReBirth Mix)D.A.INaoto Suzuki4:20
11."Voyage"
  • Crea
  • D.A.I
Ken Shima5:07
12."A Song for ××" (030213 Session #2 Take)Yasuhiko HoshinoShingo Kobayashi5:51
13."Who..." (Across the Universe Mix)Kazuhito KikuchiCMJK5:36
14."Sotsugyō Shashin (卒業写真, School Photograph)" (Yumi Matsutoya cover)Yumi MatsutoyaTasuku4:22

Charts

Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)

Release Chart Peak position First Week Sales Sales total Chart run
12 March 2003 Oricon Daily Albums Chart 1
Oricon Weekly Albums Chart 1 561,127 1,040,998 53 weeks
Oricon Monthly Albums Chart 1
Oricon Yearly Albums Chart 4
  • Total Sales: 1,040,998 (Japan)

Singles
Date Title Peak position Weeks Sales

Release history
Region Date Format Catalogue Number
Japan March 12, 2003 (2003-03-12) CD (Copy Control CD) AVCD-17278
Taiwan 2003 (2003) CD (Copy Control CD) AVJCD-10160
Hong Kong March 2003 (2003-03) CD (Copy Control CD) AVTCD-95676
Indonesia 2003 (2003) Cassette AV 0370303

Notes
  1. A Ballads received a 4× Platinum certification for selling 1,600,000 copies; this threshold was depreciated in 2003.
  2. A selection of tracks which were promoted through their parent studio albums may have been included on the compilation. For further information on the singles, see the citations.[16][17][17][18][7]
  3. Crea acts as the pseudonym for Ayumi Hamasaki.[3]
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References
  1. Hamasaki, Ayumi (2002). Rainbow (CD Album; Liner notes). Ayumi Hamasaki. Japan: Avex Trax. AVCD-17239.
  2. Hamasaki , Ayumi (interviewee) (March 12, 2003). "Special Website to A Ballads". Ayumi Hamasaki's official website. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  3. Hamasaki, Ayumi (2003). A Ballads (CD Greatest Hits; Liner notes). Ayumi Hamasaki. Japan: Avex Trax. AVCD-17278.
  4. Hamasaki, Ayumi (2001). A Best (CD Greatest Hits; Liner notes). Ayumi Hamasaki. Japan: Avex Trax. AVCD-11950.
  5. Hamasaki , Ayumi (interviewee) (2013). "Specials section". Ayumi Hamasaki's official English website. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  6. CD Journal Staff (March 12, 2003). "Ayumi Hamasaki / A Ballads (album review)". CD Journal (in Japanese). Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  7. CD Journal Staff (December 2, 2002). "Ayumi Hamasaki / Rainbow (album review)". CD Journal (in Japanese). Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  8. HMV Staff (March 12, 2003). "A Ballads [Copy Control CD] – Ayumi Hamasaki". HMV (in Japanese). Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  9. Hiraga, Tetsuo (March 12, 2003). "A Ballads – Ayumi Hamasaki". Hot Express; published through Yahoo! Music Japan (in Japanese). Archived from the original on March 24, 2005. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  10. "Oricon Albums Chart – Ayumi Hamasaki – A Ballads". Oricon Style (in Japanese). March 24, 2003. Archived from the original on April 22, 2007. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  11. "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」" [Oricon Ranking Information Service 'You Big Tree']. Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  12. "Oricon Yearly Albums Chart". Oricon Style; published through Yahoo! GeoCities (in Japanese). December 2003. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  13. "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 2003年3月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. March 2003 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese). Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan. 522: 13. May 10, 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 29, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  14. ゴールドディスク認定作品一覧　2003年1月～7月 [Works Receiving Gold Disc Certifications List (January to July 2003)] (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. August 10, 2003. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  15. "Ayumi Hamasaki Album Rankings". Oricon Style (in Japanese). Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  16. CD Journal Staff (January 1, 1999). "Ayumi Hamasaki / A Song for XX (album review)". CD Journal (in Japanese). Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  17. CD Journal Staff (November 10, 1999). "Ayumi Hamasaki / Loveppears (album review)". CD Journal (in Japanese). Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  18. CD Journal Staff (September 29, 2000). "Ayumi Hamasaki / Duty (album review)". CD Journal (in Japanese). Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  19. "Rainbow / 浜崎あゆみ (music video)". Avex Group; published through YouTube (in Japanese). November 26, 2015. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
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