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FacebookWriter's Review February 2012: 'The Boys' and 'MR. TAXI' Repackages
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 This month is the “Repackage Review” where we will take a look at the latest repackaged albums from Girls’ Generation: “The Boys” Japanese album and the “Mr. Taxi” version of the third Korean album. Check out reviews for the original release for the first Japanese album “Girls’ Generation: The First Japan Album” and the third Korean album “The Boys” to see thoughts on the remaining songs not covered in this review. Head over to Soshified’s Lyrics Center for translations of all the songs from “The Boys” and “MR. TAXI”. Re:package Album “Girls’ Generation” ~The Boys~
The repackage contains five new tracks compared to the original Japanese album: “The Boys” (Japanese version), “THE GREAT ESCAPE” (Brian Lee remix), “BAD GIRL” (The Cataracs remix feat. DEV), “Time Machine”, and “MR. TAXI” (Steve Aoki remix). MoonSoshi9: “The Boys” repackage album has an interesting concept of a movie set. The girls all have colorful and elegantly designed outfits which make for a really nice photo booklet that gets included with the album. The album comes with either two posters of group shots of the girls or a set of two coasters. The coasters are made of rubber and have a neat design for Girls’ Generation, but aside from that, the only appeal is the fact that they are a unique item. Where else can you get Girls’ Generation coasters? It also comes with a DVD featuring “The Boys” and “BAD GIRL” music videos. “The Boys” opens up the album, and the Japanese version is somewhat of a mixed bag. There is a lot more English intertwined with the Japanese, with phrases like "Catch your dream” and “Catch your wish". Perhaps I’m used to the Korean and English versions, but the flow just seems weird in this version. “The Boys” is still a good song though, and Hyoyeon’s rap section is particularly cool in Japanese. If the first Japanese album had an electronic sound, the repackage remixes double down on it. “THE GREAT ESCAPE” remix is solid. It takes the original song and tweaks it to be more gritty. The remix works compared to the next song, the “BAD GIRL” remix. Unfortunately, “BAD GIRL”, an awesome song from the first Japanese album, gets completely gutted into a dubstep rapping mess. DEV’s rapping is lazy and uninspired with simply awful and nonsensical lyrics. Throw in a little Spanish number counting and it’s a recipe for disaster. The instrumental isn’t entirely terrible, with the best part being a cool loop of the tremolo effect on the girls’ voices at the end of the bridge, but that decent bridge crumbles into a disorganized mess of a chorus. It is by far the worst track on this album, and perhaps any Girls’ Generation album to date. Thankfully, everything is redeemed with “Time Machine”. This track is pure gold. A haunting beginning leads into an emotional song with moving lyrics beautifully portrayed by the girls’ expressive singing. “Time Machine” is a fantastic ballad that has more of a pop R&B feel than any of their other ballads, borrowing inspiration from Beyonce’s "Halo" and Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown’s "No Air". Simply put, this song needs to be on your playlist. The repackage closes out with Steve Aoki’s remix of "MR. TAXI". This version of "MR. TAXI" is an epic electronic adventure. It builds and builds into a ferocious drop that would make any dubstep fan happy, but the dubstep sound is not overbearing at all, which makes it even better. This is one of the best remixes of a Girls’ Generation song, and a fantastic finale to a great album (with one glaring flaw). Packaging: 6.5/9
letaengbutt: I absolutely love the packaging and design of this repackaged album. The warm studio setting, accompanied by the girls’ outfits, provides a very sophisticated touch to this album. I think that this casual, yet chic, cover of the album is what really caught my eye in the first place, and out of all the Girls’ Generation albums, I feel that this is the one which portrays the girls as mature ladies the most. What I especially love is the fact that the girls aren’t in similar outfits, but are instead in different clothes which brings out their various personalities. Out of the nine, I think that Taeyeon, Jessica and Hyoyeon’s outfits stand out the most. From Taeyeon’s chic hat to Jessica’s edgy heels and Hyoyeon’s daring top, the outfits were definitely the highlight of this album for me. Moving on to the new songs, out of the five new additions, I have to say that the only song which I really love is “Time Machine”. The other four songs weren’t fantastic, but neither were they lousy. “Time Machine” is a really touching ballad, which I love as much as “How Great Is Your Love”, and I can never get tired of hearing the song. One of the reasons why I love it so much is because, like “How Great Is Your Love”, you don’t even need to look up the translations of the lyrics to know that it is a song bursting with emotions. The melody doesn’t drag, and it’s the perfect blend of R&B and ballad for me.The Japanese version of “The Boys” is catchy and doesn’t sound particularly awkward like previous songs which were re-done in other languages. However, I would love to question the lyricist’s decision of using the words “DAN DAN”. What exactly do they mean? As for “THE GREAT ESCAPE (Brian Lee Remix)”, “BAD GIRL Feat. DEV (The Cataracs Remix)” and “MR. TAXI (Steve Aoki Remix)”, I wasn’t very impressed by them. Given the choice, I would still pick the original over the remixes and I feel as though these songs were simply added to make the track list look more impressive. Like what MoonSoshi9 mentioned above, the remixes probably did more damage than good to the album. All in all, I think that with the exception of the remixes, this album was totally worth the money. The amazing photos that came together with the CD and DVD sent me squealing in excitement (in public, mind you!), and the smooth box which the CDs were snuggled comfortably into make a great addition to my SoShi shelf (or shelves). Packaging: 8/9
MR. TAXI
MoonSoshi9: The only new track on the “MR. TAXI” version of “The Boys” is the English version of “The Boys”. It’s still an amazing song, though I do tend to prefer the Korean lyrics. The English lyrics can be confusing. I mean why is Seohyun "watching the phone ring" after she says to "Call an emergency"? Whatever, the vocals and beats are just as good as ever. For this repackage, Girls’ Generation becomes "Police Generation" in one of the hottest concepts ever. The album comes with postcards for each member with pictures on either side, along with a group poster and a random member’s photocard. The girls look absolutely sexy in the cop uniforms. If you were Mr. Taxi, you wouldn’t mind being pulled over by this police force. The album itself is still solid musically, but this version is all about the visuals. Packaging: 9/9
letaengbutt: First of all, I would like to point out that what I’m about to write is meant in a completely non-perverted manner. Alright, now that we have that cleared out, there’s just one thing I need to say. Get this album. Never mind that there is only one new addition (the English version of “The Boys”) to the track list, and forget the fact that the only thing different in this album from “The Boys” is that “MR. TAXI” is the first track on the CD. The cover photo of the album is more than a reason as to why you should be a proud owner of this album. The girls’ charismatic and sexy, bordering on sultry, photos are the only reasons why I immediately snatched up two copies of the album without hesitation. What stood out to me in particular was Tiffany’s red lipstick, as well as the transition from the Japanese waiting-at-the-taxi-stand “MR. TAXI” to sophisticated Korean “MR. TAXI”. Taeyeon (as usual), caught my eye and I love her charismatic yet teasing stare. Yuri’s pose was particularly striking too, and I thought that the girls all looked really good in their leather-themed outfits. Another bonus was the postcard-sized individual photos which left me drooling non-stop upon opening the album. I made a terrible mistake of opening the album right before a major exam, but thankfully, the SoShi luck was with me and I didn’t score too badly in the end… The postcards are amazing and you get really clear snapshots of the girls. Also, the random photo card included in the albums is something which I think everyone deserves to be spoilt by. Packaging: 7/9
Written by: MoonSoshi9@soshified, letaengbutt@soshified Have a news item that you think Soshified should know about? Leave us a tip or e-mail us at tip@soshified.com. |
