Since I’m in a blogging mood, thought I might as well post again. I feel bad for leaving this poor blog to languish here for long periods of time…

I’m going to talk about my copy of Hinoi Team’s 1st Album, SUPER EURO PARTY! Why is it so special? It’s because that was the first time I ordered something from CD Japan, and also the CD+DVD First Press edition!

It arrived in this really LONG box. I didn’t know why until I realised they had put a huge A1 poster together with my CD.

And this is the sticker on the plastic wrapping saying it was the FIRST PRESS!!

This is the cover. Another first press goodie is that the whole cover is actually a sticker.

The CD…

The DVD…

When you remove the CD and DVD, you get pretty pictures of the Team members…
Asuka and Rina of the Right wing:

Hikaru and Keika of the Left wing:

Lastly, the back of the CD.

Edit: CD Scans HERE!

I think most people would have already heard the album, so just a few quick words from me. It included basically all of the singles and coupling tracks, but also included interesting new songs. The new songs are Hey Mr. DJ, Everybody Dance, Emoticons, JAM JAM JAM, Aishiteru and Just for me.

My only gripe with the music on the CD is Everybody Dance. I felt that allowing Hikaru’s voice to overpower it in a loud and dangerously veering off-tune falsetto was unwise. It was achingly ear-splitting… literally. One does not know whether to listen to Hikaru’s screaming or Asuka’s lower voice in the background. As a result, confusion ensues and this makes for a very discordant song.

Hey Mr DJ, JAM JAM JAM and Aishiteru are just average, but the sweet melodies of Just for me and Emoticons make up for them. So weighing up the pluses and minuses on this 16-track album, I’d give it an 7.5/10 mainly because the catchy single and coupling songs are able to carry the lesser songs through.

As for the DVD, all I have to say is that it’s my favourite because it has all the PVs and dance shots in crystal-clear quality. I dance in front of my TV daily as exercise and this is way better than squinting at a small video on my computer. I think this DVD is the most worth-it thing in the entire PARTY package because I use it so often. I’m taking one point away because it doesn’t include the dance shot for STICKY TRICKY AND BANG, as well as the similar dance moves for the three new dance videos included, Sing Na Na Na, Super Euro Flash and YEAH!. I thought it spelled a lack of creativity on the choreographer’s part. But other than that, it’s a comprehensive video selection of Hinoi Team’s work.

Aaaand the packaging made me feel so pampered, it took me a while to remember that I’d actually paid for this. Altogether I think that Hinoi Team’s management has hit upon the right formula, and they’re doing a really good job – except with that mistake of releasing STICKY TRICKY AND BANG only a week before SUPER EURO PARTY. But on second thought it could be because they wanted to capitalise on the increased attention just after a single release to put out the album. I can’t wait for the new single NOW AND FOREVER, which will be without Korrikki! Shall be counting down to August 9th… wait that’s National Day for us. Excellent.