BIG MACHINE Release: 9/17/2003 BMCV-8008 All words by Koshi Inaba All music by Tak Matsumoto

Is this album good? Yeah, it's good. Get it! I could end the review here, but I have to think of more ways to describe the music. If I sound picky further down, that's because I'm trying to make myself so.

As I listened to Big Machine, I realized that we fans have been spoiled by B�z. They make it sound so easy, and they regularly come up with such quality that sometimes I think we cease to be startled by it. We complain if they make anything short of fantastic. How many wonderful melodies has Tak written by now? We expect perfection!

Big Machine is B�z 13th studio album and is built around a hard rock sound with a B�z twist. Of course, it�s never all straight rock with B�z. But Big Machine never gets too heavy and reaches a nice medium between GREEN and ELEVEN. There are only 2 previously released singles on this album, Yasei no ENERGY and IT�S SHOWTIME!!

If I had to make a comparison, I�d peg this album somewhere around 1995�s LOOSE. It�s not as lightfooted as GREEN, which was a summer album, and not as intense as ELEVEN. In fact, this album has a lot of mood swings. Listening to GREEN made me feel happy. But Big Machine, is, for me, tinged with a sort of restlessness and has a much more serious atmosphere. Perhaps reflecting the state of the world? But BIG MACHINE never loses itself, instead pacing through a series of emotions and ending on a positive note.

The arrangements on this album are some of the best I�ve ever heard from B�z. Tak and Koshi are stellar. Tak has solos that blew me away, and Koshi�s voice is, as ever, something to drown in blissfully. My only complaint is that there isn�t a vocal performance from Koshi that completely knocks me out. Ok, that sounds bad! I have a feeling that this is only because he makes it all sound too, too easy by now. But make no mistake -- I can�t really fault him with anything, and he sounds fantastic. Maybe I miss the intensity of songs like F.E.A.R., Deep Kiss, or Nagai Ai. Maybe it's because he sounds so uniformly good on every song that I can't pick one performance that stands out. Angry, boyish, serious, tender ~ it's all in here.

Oh, a note about Tak�s solos. I found that while there wasn�t really a long Tak solo like say, in Raging River, he has a more noticeable presence throughout the entire length of each song.

I say that GREEN was a tough act to follow. GREEN, the varied summer album with incredible replay value, and its carefree air, and many catchy phrases to shout along to (as long as you didn�t mind the synthetic drums). Personally, I think I enjoy GREEN a tiny bit more. Time will tell. But Big Machine manages to retain some of that lightness in bright songs like Wake Up Right Now, while fusing hard rock with a moodiness that I haven�t heard them expand on so much before (hints of it in The Spiral in GREEN). Result: Still at the top of their game.

BIG MACHINE is another really great starter album for new fans. But I don't think we hardcore fans will find anything to really complain about either. Whether you agree with me on the following individual track reviews or not, I think I can safely say that overall, BIG MACHINE is an extremely worthy purchase and another must-have for everyone's B'z collection.

1. Arakure The album starts off with a bang. This song is impossible to sit still to! It�s an explosion of exuberant hard rocking fun. The arrangement is superb and so well harmonized. In some songs, Koshi�s voice is so gripping that it�s all I focus on. But in Arakure, one also notices the strong bass. One notices the crisp drums. Everything churns together wonderfully and rushes along, further boosted by a fine Tak solo, and punched up with Koshi�s rhyming. Stay Green, Seventh Heaven�this is another very addictive opening track, although it is harder than those other two, and the beginning beat is reminiscent of Shinji Kurai from ELEVEN.

2. Yasei no ENERGY
I can�t say that this version is all too different from the single. I never did a review for Yasei and I guess that�s because I don�t have too much to say about it. It has a nice opening riff from Tak. It�s a good upbeat mid-tempo song with lyrics that reference how the paths of Tak and Koshi were destined to cross. There�s a beautiful line that refers to a mythical bird. Another B'z "motivating" song; easy going and yet carried forward by a focused energy.

3. WAKE UP, RIGHT NOW
An Asahi Super Dry CM song.
Tak and Koshi clearly have a good time with this song! It�s effortlessly brisk and catchy and playful. The �Wake Up!s� and �Right Now!s� are fun. Koshi breaks out into �Nananana,� and doesn�t care if he sounds cute. We all know he�s manly enough to do whatever he wants. Tak has a really nice solo!

4. Hakanai Diamond
They inject some attitude with this relentless hard rock number. Every element is very quick on its feet. This has possibly my favorite Tak solo of the album. I do wish it were longer! Everything is perfectly executed, but I did find the melody kind of hard to get into at first. That�s just me though; many fans immdediately indicated this is a contender for best song on the album.

5. I�m in Love?
Reverting back to a lighter pop-rock tone, this track reminds me a bit of the classic LOOSE days. It�s also a little like a very grown up, mature Koi Gokoro (there�s a little boyish Nanana in here too)! Why is it still so hard, sensei? I have to put a star for the lyrics here: Koshi does a really great job of capturing that delicate moment, hovering in indecision�.

6. IT�S SHOWTIME!!
IT�S SHOWTIME!! is flat out one of my favorite B�z singles of all time (along with the wonderful 2nd beat New Message). This version is less dance beat and more streamlined than the single version, but basically it still kicks azz. It captures something of the glamour and excitement of a LiveGym (the subject matter of the lyrics). There�s just something exhilarating here! Love the Tak solo and the cool stuff he plays throughout in the background, love the energy in Koshi�s voice.

7. Ai to Nikushimi no Hajimari/The beginning of love and hate
One of my favorites of this album. It has a sober, cool beginning, with Koshi impersonally whispering, then finally getting to sing in a bit of a lower range. I think the verses sound moody, sad, and funky. But this contrasts with the chorus, which lifts the mood a bit before falling back down into the darker rhythm. I suppose it�s like love and hate going together.

8. BIG MACHINE
Another one of my favorites from this album, this title track is coolly serious, or seriously cool, whichever you wish. It starts off with Tak banging on your door, then Koshi flirting around in the lower range again, before getting to let himself go a bit in the chorus. The first note of every chorus? Classic Koshi. Great background vocals and arrangement here.
I can already see Koshi being the intimidating rock god as he performs this and Tak doing the caveman stomp during his headbanging solo. Beneath the fast rock beat, there�s a moodiness and frustration in this song that lends it a darker edge. This matches the lyrics

9. Nightbird
A sudden swerve from the intensity of BIG MACHINE to a ballad. It has a gorgeous beginning and verses sung very beautifully by Koshi that captured me in ok, 2 seconds. Really, Koshi does a great job. However, I have to confess the chorus leaves me wanting more. It seems to build up and not really go anywhere. Everlasting soared, Tokyo moved me, Kienai Niji had an elegant simplicity�Nightbird doesn�t manage to fly all the way�

10. Bluesy na asa/Bluesy Morning
A complete change of pace from the rest of the album. I�m going to put this down as my favorite song from BIG MACHINE. I haven�t heard B�z do a bluesy Friends II type song like this is a long time, and I love it. It simply flows, languid and lovely. Tak is all mellowed out, Baby Moon style. This is also my favorite vocal performance from Koshi from BM. We all know he can rock like crazy, but here, relaxed and singing in a lower range, a falsetto note here and there, he brings a real warmth and longing into the song.
And you know what? He wrote the lyrics from a woman�s perspective. Read them and weep at this man�s understanding of the female sensibility. Buying a Friday, forgetting an umbrella, distracted, eyeing the phone�this is a very realistic portrayal. �Aa, bluesy na asa��

11. Mabushii no sign
More of the familiar old school B�z style. Not Breakthrough-era, but I think it would fit into LOOSE quite well. Happy and comfortable sounding, kind of like a throwback to Love Me I Love You era stuff. Listen to that familiar Tak sound in the beginning! I like it a lot.
However, I find it one of the blander songs on the album. It�s not at all bad, but I just find some other tracks more intriguing in terms of new material.

12. CHANGE THE FUTURE
Another moody, restless, rock song, reflected in the lyrics, CHANGE THE FUTURE is a bit like BIG MACHINE. It has a sort of techno-y, icy cool beginning � it sucked me in right away. I don�t think B�z have really done this kind of song in the past before. Koshi introduces Tak by shouting �Oh!� and Tak obliges with a great solo I wish lasted longer, accompanied by driving bass and a distorted �Change the future� in the background. This is another song where Tak has a great part throughout under the vocals.

13. ROOTS
This song has some of the most beautiful lyrics Koshi has ever written. Keen has kindly translated them for us and I don�t think I could sum them up better than she has:
�In his first take on the world's situation, as real as the sad images that he paints for us, Koshi still does not lose his usual hopeful tone, that eventually everyone will be brothers again.�
Read the lyrics now please. The song cannot be properly appreciated without them. The melody starts out in a folksy way, but builds up. Combined with the lyrics, Tak�s longest and most searching solo on the album, and Koshi�s heartfelt singing, this understated song is a very human, personal way to end an album named BIG MACHINE. It is anything but mechanical.

Drum duty was shared by Shane Gaalaas and Brian Tichy; all bass and programming by Toku-chan aka Akihito Tokunaga.