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Tracklist | |
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01 - My Foot 02 - Rock 'N' Roll Sinners 03 - 空中レジスター (Kuuchuu Register) 04 - サード アイ (Third Eye) 05 - Mighty Lovers 06 - ノンフィクション (Nonfiction) 07 - Degeneration 08 - March Of The God 09 - My Girl (Document Version) 10 - さよならユニバース (Sayonara Universe) 11 - Gazelle City |
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Review | |
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My Foot is the Pillows' eleventh full-length album. Just take some time to think that one through. That would be eleven albums in sixteen years. Even more astonishing is the statistic of five albums in the last six years alone. Now if you've heard those last six albums, you can probably tell that the band has been running out of ideas for at least four of them. At this point, the Pillows have lost every hint of how creative they used to be back in the days of Living Field and Please, Mr. Lostman. They don't even have much of the simple magic which made Little Busters and Happy Bivouac so popular amongst their fans. But please don't mistake this as a crotchety old fan railing against the Pillows of nowadays and harkening back to the glory days. No, no, I've got one thing keeping me from that sort of indie cred. I liked Penalty Life. Well some of it at least, but that's still a lot more than most people can say. For all of Penalty Life's poppy devolution, it was something different and had some glorious moments that made the most out of its charms. Still though, it mostly came off as confused and poorly developed. Good Dreams was released the very next year in 2004 and did away with all of the progress made on the three previous albums and returned to the Pixies-influenced power pop found on 1998's Little Busters. With Good Dreams, the group proved that they knew exactly what their anime-worshipping American audience wanted (The Pillows were featured prominently in the Japanese-produced, American-syndicated animation show "FLCL" which gained them much popularity in the USA) and sought to cash in. Good Dreams was, arguably, a good attempt at regaining past glory but was ultimately forgettable. So now it's 2006 and we're presented with yet another new Pillows album. My Foot isn't much of a departure from Good Dreams; the group is still grasping desperately to the idea that they're not too old to rock and roll. That's not to say that The Pillows are completely predictable though—the first song is actually quite good. "My Foot" contains a good tempo, nice guitar riff, and catchy hooks which all combine to help make the song an easy standout. It's a fantastic way to start an album that many people will be approaching with great trepidation. The twist is that "My Foot" just might be the best song on the album and it has to be all downhill from there on out. Quickly coming up next are "Rock ‘N' Roll Sinners" and "Kuuchuu Register" which are both instantly forgettable. These two songs only serve to sour the minor high of the first song. Getting bored within the first ten minutes is never a good sign. The midsection trudges through all-too-familiar territory. The first single "Non-fiction" is fairly creative but ultimately too grating. We also have the second single, "Third Eye," which is pleasant but still too commonplace to be much of a highlight. At this point in the album, most people would have done the wise thing and turned the damn thing off, especially after the absolutely horrid "Degeneration," but frustratingly enough, there's actually a good reason to stick with the album. In My Foot's final act, the band develops something quite good. Starting with the sublime instrumental piece "March Of The God," the final four tracks prove that not all hope is lost and there might still be a spark of creativity and magic left in front man Sawao's old bones. Each of The Pillows' past four albums has been positively frustrating. There's still a lot of potential for the band to come out with a good album but you can tell their heads just aren't in it anymore. They still have all the youthful vigor displayed on their earlier efforts but the rapid releases show they aren't really thinking about the depth of the music anymore. My Foot is in exactly the same mold. If you took all the best parts of everything The Pillows have released in the past three years you might actually have a respectable album. But instead, we've been peppered by a full stream of hastily thought out "instant" music. The Pillows probably still have it in them to release another great album but they're going to have to take some time and think about it first. |
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