Forum - View topicSound Decision - L'Arc~en~Ciel LIVE in U.S.A DVD
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kaijujanai
Posts: 2 |
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Actually, you do imply that Hyde sounded live exactly the way he did in the DVD. You say in the very first paragraph, "the lead vocalist is not on his game. Not that anybody in Baltimore cared.."
I am not making "excuses." You are unneccessarily harsh and unforgiving of the recording. You repeated say that Hyde's slurring of his words ruined the songs. You offensively say that you should keep a running "hyde o meter" because you never know when he's going to be good. It is completely unrealistic of you to believe that Hyde should sound as clear as a prerecorded cd. and your "review" is totally confusing! You do not talk about the concert in its entirety. You only concentrate your critique on Hyde. You go from saying Hyde sucks to Hyde is right on target. Which is it? You change your mind halfway through to buy it. buy it. buy it. hyde sounds better. buy it buy it buy it. It sounds like you were forced to say something good about the dvd just to plug it. And you totally neglect the performances of the other members. You do not critique them. You just say they were awesome. They were fantastic, absolutely flawless. End of story. When you compare that lack of information to a review that concentrates on Hyde's vocal performance only, it only further emphasizes your already biased opinion. I do not understand why you are so sarcastic. I do not see how this DVD is a must buy if you seem to dislike it so much. Should I buy it just because you say I should? 
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jmays
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Fair enough. I imagine that he projected better in person, and that even if he hadn't, the spectacle of the concert itself would have overwhelmed people in Baltimore, but that's a small leap on my part, so I'll grant you that one.
"Ready Steady Go" takes a big hit because Hyde slurrs a lot. It's frustrating in "Stay Away" but doesn't totally ruin the song. Never said slurring anywhere else. Hyde-o-Meter may offend you, but it's true: sometimes he's on, sometimes he's not. The one time I compared to a CD recording was in "Ready Steady Go," when I said the guitar and drums were better in the concert.
BOTH. Hyde was inconsistent, so I wrote that he was inconsistent.
If I reviewed every member's performance in every song, you'd have a 10,000 word review to read. I picked the most important and most variable aspect: Hyde. Exactly what sort of bias are we talking about here? Do you think I have a personal grudge against Hyde, that I threw in those comments about being a real pro and his flawless singing in "Places" for fun? Oh, right. You disagree. Thus, I am biased. Got it. |
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astra
Posts: 131 |
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I think the review was right on the money until it came to its conclusion: that you should buy the dvd. why should someone buy the dvd if the concert sucked? who cares if its a "historic" dvd? i think the review is correct in pointing out the significance of the dvd but to say that people should buy this simply because of that does not follow. it seems like the reviewed simply wanted to end on a good note.
i did attend the concert because, well, it was free with otakon admission. i had fairly decent seats because a few jrock obsessed friends of mine got us some. despite the fact that the concert was over an hour delayed (ugh) i did think some aspects of it were quite well done. not enough to warrent a "must buy" verdict, however. the concert got off to an awful start. the reviewer is right: hyde is dreadful. the combination of god awful ballads and his nasty screeching sounds like a moaning squeeling cat orgy. i haven't heard the dvd, but if the poster who claims that hyde sounded better in concert is right, then that alone is enough to make this dvd unwatchable. although we really wanted to like this band, my friends and i were reduced to both laughter and boredom by the concert and some parts even had us covering our ears (not the jrock obssessed ones of course) the concert picked up around the end with the nice lights and fire. also, l'arc spared us the earsplitting monotony of the ballads and moved on to more fast paced stuff. the best part of the night was the engrish. gotta love the engrish. do you want bananas? i walked out of the concert kind of confused. i was frankly appalled that this is even called music. the instruments were competantly played throughout but whoever composed this stuff needs to be shot. and hyde is obviously just a pretty boy who isn't afraid to screech. as performers, the guys do alright despite the crowd apathy but the concert is flawed because of hyde's lack of talent and the fact that their music is hideous and uninspiring. so why is this dvd special? i went to the concert because, like you said, its historic. i wanted to see what all the jrock fans are in love with. most importantly, however, it was free. this dvd is not free. i suggest this dvd to fans (of course) and anyone who wants to satisfy their morbid curiousity but music lovers should stay away. |
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driftingwind
Posts: 7 |
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You spend way more words describing how hyde voice sounded bad in the live than saying the good points about the DVD, and yet, you say that it is a best-buy. That makes you sounded insincere and sarcastic at the end of the review. If you do not like the DVD, say so, the way you wrote the review makes you sounded that you are forced to say it is a good buy or so.
I am not saying hyde is perfect, because he's not, far from it, but from your first sentence onward, you started on how hyde sounded bad, and then went on to repeat it 9 times again in the review. I can understand you want to comment on it if you found hyde singing bad, but the frequency of it makes one wonder the point behind it. When did you see a 1200 word movie review that focused just on how one actor messed up one scene after another and repeated it up to 10 times? I haven't seen any; because it is unhelpful to the readers (who got your point on the 3rd mention), as well as boring. Adding to that you take hyde's OK sign out of context, and your sarcastic remark about his comment in the interview, while giving nothing but high praise for the other members, this creates the impression that you have a personal grudge against hyde. BTW, Live recordings are never like CD recordings. If you are expecting someone jumping and running around to sound exactly like the way he does in CDs, then perhaps it is better to buy the DVD of someone who lip-synch. Rock concert is not about standing straight and delivering the most perfect song in history (and you can see why hyde sang so much better in Pieces and Eien - Forever, because he's doing exactly that). Things were done in the concert to make the fans become more involved, like climbing an amplifier, or prolonging a note to make a bigger impression in the first song. The later is a deliberate effort of the singer instead of a flaw on pacing, like you suggest in the review. You can tell it is deliberate because none of the other parts of the song are out of pace. It is important to notice it when you are writing a review of a live DVD. In response to astra’s post, I think some people just don’t like the tone of hyde’s voice and that’s it. If L’arc were as bad as you said in the Live USA concert, then why would the counters be flooded with people buying SMILE right after it? |
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jmays
ANN Associate Editor
Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Y'know, I just can't figure out why you and astra and kaijujanai are insisting that I pick one side or the other. Love it or hate it. How about "this DVD has a lot of problems but I still really think you should buy it because the good outweighs the bad"? It's like the Star Wars of J-Pop in America, okay?
As for the frequency of my criticisms, I'd like to introduce y'all to this thing called a track-by-track review. I did it for Haibane Renmei, Chihiro Onitsuka, and even L'Arc~en~Ciel's SMILE album. Haibane was awesome from start to finish, but I was very disappointed by the first half of Onitsuka's concert and some of the tracks on SMILE, and nevertheless, I recommended them all. Weighing the factors--it's not a novel concept. All songs do not weigh equally, and there are intangibles to consider, like L'Arc's history and the importance of a concert like the one they had in Baltimore. You don't need to lecture me on the essence of a rock concert or the impact of holding a note; I've seen enough of the former and I do the latter myself all the time. As I said in the first paragraph, "atmosphere and awesome pyrotechnics only do so much when you're watching a rock concert from the living room couch." And I had no problems with Hyde holding long notes. He was dragging in the first song, which is entirely different. I don't know why this CD recording thing keeps coming up--I certainly said nothing about it, so I guess you're just apologizing for Hyde's missteps. At any rate, his vocal issues are distracting from time to time, which was the only point I made in the review. Oh, and about taking Hyde's "OK" sign out of context...it's called an analogy, man. You know, when you say something is like something else? If I really want to blow your mind, maybe I'll try a metaphor next time. |
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mufurc
 Posts: 612 |
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On the topic of Hyde not being 'up to his game'... he almost never is. I've been a fan of Laruku for a long time, actually, they're my favorite band, but even I have to admit this. Off the top of my head, I can only think of Club Circuit Realive and Hyde's own unplugged solo live (along with a couple of early, indie gigs) as lives where he sounds consistently great from start to finish. (Incidentally, I think Club Circuit Realive is by far the best concert DVD Laruku's ever released. Anyone who's wondering what the band is really capable of should buy that, 'historical importance' or whatever be damned.)
Hyde's just like that - most Laruku fans have accepted this. He can sound absolutely great on lives, but usually he errs on the 'wince' end of the 'Hyde-o-Meter' (I actually like that idea :D), though he almost always sounds the best in the end of concerts. As someone who's had experience with singing I can guess why this is so - smoking is just one of the problems, apparently laziness is also there... also his voice is the kind that loses its edge with age. In any case, he's been getting worse recently - his voice is has lost quite much of its range and flexiblility. (And it's starting to show even in recorded songs - one who's familiar with his voice can hear him straining in Jojoushi. I love that song to death, but I don't know why they keep writing songs that they know Hyde is going to have problems with.) But, well, this is part of Laruku. There are people who'll get past this (I have managed to, though I still wince whenever he makes a particularly painful miss), and there are people, mostly casual listeners, who won't. I think it's just natural. Those who can't listen to him live will just buy the CDs and avoid the live DVDs, that's all. |
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jmays
ANN Associate Editor
Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Haven't seen it--thanks, I'll check it out. |
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littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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See, this is why most reviewers cringe when the die hard fans come along to pick apart a review. Hyde just sucked vocal wise at this concert. Accept it. Don't try making any excuses, there's always an excuse, and in this case, no one is looking for one. It was just at this particular performance he was not, like said before, up to his usual game. I see it happen all the time at concerts, but usually the fans don't even notice above all their energy, excitement, and other noise. The recording may of been crappy quality, but it's not lying on the audio. Hyde screwed up at parts, and Mr. Mays was just telling it like it was. He didn't compare it to those professionally mixed and recorded cds, he was just judging it like anyone who knows stuff about voice does. He wasn't saying Hyde is always like that, he was just saying at that time he sucked. Singers have good days, and singers have bad days. A bad singer in an awesome band doesn't ruin the whole concert experience. If the band is good enough, the show is worth admission for their performance with or without the singer.
Anyway, in the end he gave the dvd a great review but judging the concert performance as a whole, not based just on the singing, and you're complaining? Damn, it's hard to please fans these days. And by the way, bands DO exist that sound exactly like the cd, I see them all the time, and hell, in most cases they sound even better live vs the cd. When you see a band like that live, you're completly blown away, and you just know they're something special. You can judge a band's talent by how they sound live, and most bands sadly aren't as great live, and in turn it makes them seem manufactured. |
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driftingwind
Posts: 7 |
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Do not blame die-hard fans in this case, because for this review, people who love the band and people who hate the band (ex. astra) both find this review's rings false
The reason is that it spends way too much time complaining about its lack of vocal merits, and spends way too little time explaining what is good about this DVD. For example, at the comment on the song Blurry eyes, the reviewer says :
and yet before Blurry Eyes the reviewer only found TWO good songs in the concert, which is Heaven's Drive and Revealation. This leaves the question whether the reviewer believe what he says is true. The end result is that no one was convinced that the DVD's good outweighs its bad as the conclusion of the review said. Not the fans, nor the haters. The conclusion did NOT weigh different elements together, but simply toss in a vague "despite a frustrating number of bumps in the road". As for whether the review compares hyde's performance with the CD. Let me quote this:
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mufurc
Posts: 612 |
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Actually, in my opinion Laruku is one of those special bands. Of all their concerts I've seen (and I've seen quite a few, though I still haven't seen the Otakon live), musically they always sounded at least as good, but usually even better than on recorded material. The only problem is with Hyde... as I said in my previous post. But when he sounds good (which does happen, see Club Circuit Realive for proof) then seeing Laruku live, even if only on DVD, is an awesome experience. It does bother me a little that people for whom the Otakon live was the introduction to Laruku seem to think that Hyde is an untalented pretty boy who can't sing to save his life. He's not. He has (or rather, used to have :/) an amazing voice with an amazing range, and he's one of the best vocalists I've ever heard... it's just that he usually sucks in lives (not always, though, as I said, he can sound wonderful). I hope people who watched the Otakon live and liked the music but hated the vocals won't give up on the band so easily and will pick up some CD albums... then they'll hopefully hear that there's a basis for all the hype about Hyde and Laruku. |
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krazy_vv
Posts: 2 |
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hey, I actually just registered on this forum to reply to this, lol
I don't see why people have to get so bent out of shape over some criticism. Especially the devoted fans, it's nice to be a fan, but don't just blindly defend anything your favorite does -_-" I thought the reviewer was being really honest... the dvd is great, but u really gotta admit, hyde screwed up some parts pretty bad :/ Ii've been a really REALLY devoted l'arc fan for years now (as in, almost any live u can think of, I have it on my computer!).... and I've noticed the serious decline in his voice lately, and yeah, it does make me kinda sad. Even on the cds, SMILE is nowhere near the level of REAL (I really thought his voice was amazing on that one). And can u imagine how a song like 'niji' would sound if hyde were to record it now?  I actually thought hyde's voice was best in Reincarnation Live back in '97, lol. His voice used to be really smooth, and it had such a nice tone... totally different from the hard edge it has now, and it's also much lower than before. Of course, Reincarnation 's not on dvd, u gotta download all 690mb of it ^^; (for me, tho, it was totally worth it!!) I don't know if hyde's bad voice recently has more to do with his smoking, or that year of horrible screaming that he recorded and called "666" -_-;
But of course, in the end, I just love seeing them perform live I was actually kinda dissappointed with smile when I first got it, but once I watched them perform the songs live, I fell in love with the album ^^; (I downloaded the dvd months ago when it was released in japan, but I bought it the first day it was available in america!!) I only disagree with the reviewer in that I liked hyde's voice on more songs than he did, lol. (I think I would give him a B, not a C, lol). I thought it was an awesome live, and and awesome dvd... and the bonus revelation was AMAZING!! lol~
Anyways, that's all my thoughts on the topic, sorry to waste people's time with that post  ;
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Zoe
 Posts: 898 Location: Austin |
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I don't see any blind defenses here--everybody pretty much agrees that live-hyde leaves a bit to be desired.
I'd say there's a difference between being honest and hitting you over the head with it--there's a crack about hyde in almost every paragraph. With so many negative remarks, I feel the reviewer fails to convince the reader that it's an "absolute must-buy." |
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Arcyu
Posts: 3 |
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If you think the Otakon dvd is bad, then by all means avoid the new SMILE TOUR dvd that was recently released. Believe me, Otakon is perfect compared to it. I sort of expected it to not be great, but bought it anyway since this was the band's first tour for a new album in four years. I think I can understand why the reviewer was very critical, yet reccommended the Otakon dvd. But may'be he should have been clear on who should buy it. It's definetely for those who are larc fans and Japanese music fans. And not for those who have absolutely no clue as to who they are and be disappointed by watching this.
And if you want to see hyde shine on dvd, buy Grand Cross Conclusion. It is probably the only larc dvd where you won't cringe while watching. He gives an outstanding performance all around. One sorta off-topic thing I'll add before I stop writing: the only Japanese band I heard that sounds better live than on recording is LUNA SEA. They sound exactly like on cd, but they take it up 1,000,000 notches. |
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krazy_vv
Posts: 2 |
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i agree, grand cross conclusion was hyde's best dvd, and imo, all around l'arc's best dvd
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Hotaru
Posts: 481 Location: NY |
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if you want to see a bad hyde performance, watch the dvd that came with smile. XS terrible.
these people don't want miagi to have an opinion. just cause they disagree with it doesn't mean either side is right. at the concert, i thought he performed well. then again, i was far away and that could have affected it somehow. i'm also a very big fan, so i could have been blinded (deafened?) by my fandom to see/hear that he wasn't great. |
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