Brand NEW to B'z! Hello from Ireland...

[IrelandCalling4]

Konnichiwa!

I have gione hog-wild for B'z!! 

A new fan, I have just grown to love the guitars, melodies, and groovyness of B'z music; so far only have 'Action' & the brilliant 'Monster' on CD, aswell as 'Best Treasure' & 'Best Pleasure' compilations, but am ordering 'The 7th Blues' and also the DVD 'Live/Gym Monster 2006'

Seeing the excellent live videos on YouTube made me a fan, and I've a query;

I hope to get 'Live in Namba' as the YouTube videos of this look amazing!! Indoors, smaller venue, maximum rock'n'roll - but I see on Blue-Ray it also included Zepp Tokyo 2007. May I ask - was this Zepp show released before, as I may get the 'Namba' DVD but don't have a Blu-Ray player so would miss out on Zepp show on Disc-2?

Domo arigatou & 'abu' (Yeehaw!) for B'z!

[Arthuro]

Hey there IrelandCalling4,

welcome to B'z Net Party!

As for your question: The SHOWCASE 2007 in Zepp Tokyo was also released on DVD as part of the limited edition of the compilation album B'z The Best ULTRA Treasure.
See here: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=BMCV-8024


Cheers,
Arthuro

[IrelandCalling4]

Greetings Arthuro,

Many thanks for that! There seems to be a mountain of Live footage when it comes to B'z!

I was watching the excellent Live/Gym 2008 & Live In Namba on YouTube and loved them!

Must have a look for the ZEPP footage; CD's in Japan are very expensive, even more than Ireland; but perhaps to get the ZEPP footage, the special edition of 'Ultimate Treasure' is worth it!

[Lebon14]

CDs in Japan will always be expensive but I recommand myself to get them in Japan because those are the original releases, and when you get them, it adds value and makes you proud of having it.  Also, B'z doesn't release a CD every week so, 50 euros once in a while for the band you love won't hurt much.

Also, I would recommand their latest album (but I'm sure they will release a newer album this year though) Magic.  If you like Hard rock, this album is filled with it!  I also recommand Eleven and Brotherhood.  If you want to have a blast from the past, Off The Lock and Risky are really good albums.  If you don't feel like buying two albums, you can grab, on eBay, their unofficial Best Of album "Flashback" which is full of tracks from their 3 first albums (B'z, Off The Lock & Break Through) plus their first mini-album "Bad Communication".

Video wise, Glory Days will be a pretty good choice.  This is their 20th anniversary performance (performed ON their 20th anniversary).  Available on DVD (Region 2) and Blu-ray (Region free).  Ain't No Magic is amazing too (available on same formats)!  But all are pricey (6000 yen).  But if you are a fan, price won't matter!

Enjoy the B'z fandom!
Welcome to BNP

Later!

[Arkard]

Actually as far as cd releases go, I'd recommend both of the new ULTRA collections.

[IrelandCalling4]

Many thanks for all of the recommendations,

For Lebon14 - I got the 'Magic' album just days ago, and was listening over the weekend. I must say it is FANTASTIC!!!! Best album yet (I have 'Action', 'Monster'). Truly great album. Also watched 'Dive' on YouTube from the 'Aint No Magic' DVD; what a song, a perfect opener to a show.

'Brotherhood ' & 'Eleven' you thin would be great also?

I'm looking for any news on a new B'z album aswell, maybe 2011 will see it

[Akai-Shuichi]

Don't forget to check out LOOSE, my favorite album

[IrelandCalling4]

I'll keep 'Loose' in mind too¬!

I just ordered "Big Machine" from Amazon, and hoping to order "The Circle" today aswell..the problem is reading reviews^ I don't speak Japanese, so unlike other bands I order online there's very little in the way of english reviews for their albums.

Would you rate 'Big Machine' & 'Circle' as good B'z albums?

I loved the hard rock of 'Magic' & 'Monster'; would there be other B'z albums with similar sound?

[Chi1992]

I just ordered "Big Machine" from Amazon, and hoping to order "The Circle" today aswell..the problem is reading reviews^ I don't speak Japanese, so unlike other bands I order online there's very little in the way of english reviews for their albums.

Would you rate 'Big Machine' & 'Circle' as good B'z albums?

I loved the hard rock of 'Magic' & 'Monster'; would there be other B'z albums with similar sound?

Well, I always say each album is good In my opinion The Circle is better than Monster, it has harder sounds and this oriental taste *-*
Big Machine is a powerful experiment- many energetic sounds and great guitar parts, but not as good as in Brotherhood XD Just my opinion, but If I see a Brotherhood in music shop I would take it without hesitate. I recommend Big Machine if you want to hear something fresh and original

For me every album is different, it's hard for me to describe what similarities has one to another, if you like their new music the most, then buy the latest albums, but you can also get ULTRA ones where there are the best tracks from all their career

[IrelandCalling4]

Thank you very much Chi for your thoughts, 'Big Machine' sounds great - experimental with the big guitar parts! When Amazon send it out to me I'll be adding my review here!

It's wonderful being at the start of this adventure - I'm relatively new to B'z but already have 5 albums^  And a further 2 or 3 ordered!

[Lum]

I think The Circle is more experimental than Big Machine... Not a complete success for me, but, hey, they're still B'z 
I'd love to see some more footage from Circle of Rock Live-Gym because it would be interesting I think... These songs have some particular sounds.

Brotherhood first 4 tracks are the best start ever imho... F.E.A.R., Brotherhood and Nagai ai are my top 3 B'z songs.

[Chi1992]

I think The Circle is more experimental than Big Machine... Not a complete success for me, but, hey, they're still B'z 

Well, actually I like The Circle more than Big Machine in general ^^

Brotherhood first 4 tracks are the best start ever imho... F.E.A.R., Brotherhood and Nagai ai are my top 3 B'z songs.

Yes, Brotherhood is awesome, they did great work with instrumentals *-*

[hikaru]

Hi, im new to B'z too! So, this topic is very useful to me~ Reading all your post made me curious about all B'z album. What do you guys think about 'Brotherhood' album? i would like to try the album. Is it a good start? i like the hard rock sound, i have magic but im not that impressed with magic but the live performance of aint no magic was really great! Thanks in advance~

[Chi1992]

According to what you wrote I think you will enjoy Brotherhood ^^ I'm not sure if it's good to start I always say it depends on one's enthusiasm and taste in music But as many people I just recommend this album with all my heart 'cause it's just worth it *-*

[Arthuro]

What do you guys think about 'Brotherhood' album? i would like to try the album. Is it a good start? i like the hard rock sound, i have magic but im not that impressed with magic but the live performance of aint no magic was really great!

Brotherhood is a great album, no doubt. But if you want to start out with a good hard rock album, I'd recommend ELEVEN. ELEVEN has great hard rock songs: Seventh Heaven, Shinjiru Kurai ii Darou, Ai no Prisoner, Kirameku Hito, juice, TOKYO DEVIL, Kobushi wo Nigire and Tobira. Even the ballads do have a fair amount of rock/hard rock in it, putting them more in the genre of power ballads. Raging River is an awesome track.
If you're not sure, you can listen to the tracks on youtube, I'm sure somebody has uploaded them. Just search "B'z + track name"

Oh and JUICE is one of my favorite tracks  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARGASvI2WBI)

Cheers,
Art