B'z - In the Life

B'z is hardly a band who needs a long introduction. The pop-rock duo has been around for nearly two decades, and has sold more than 76 million records. The group was the first Japanese band to be featured on the Hollywood Rock Walk, the musical equivalent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After releasing four albums and steadily rising in success, their fifth album In the Life finally broke the one million mark in the first week of sales, and racks up an eventual 2 million in the coming years.

In the Life is a foray into a harder rock sound for the group and the opening track, Wonderful Opportunity immediately bursts with energy with a strong synthesizer and some aggressive vocals. The synthesizer is slowly downplayed, and the guitar comes in higher in the mix, eventually equaling out. Koshi remains a strong vocal presence in the very 80's style anthem introduction. The song closes with a powerful synth-saxophone solo, and an abrupt end to the music.

The follow up, Tonight (Is the Night) brings a typical eighties jazz-pop sound; it's a definite "old-school" romancer. The crooning vocals of Koshi reminisce on eighties sensation Rick Astley. The track quickly grows old, but the spirit is uplifted by Kairaku no Heya. The third track is fairly exciting with a power metal style. Tak's guitars are a strong focus, and very powerful. An expertly executed guitar solo tears open the middle of the track, followed by a true piano and guitar duo, which defies control and feels like the brain child of X Japan drummer Yoshiki, although the violent piano has a certain delicacy.

Yet again, B'z pushes another ballad into the album, this time representing glam metal's powerful screechy guitar ballads. Koshi sings with respectable power, and the guitar takes second, mostly jamming the same lines throughout the entire first half of the song. Tak manages to compose another nice guitar solo, followed by some light acoustic strumming. After another few sappy lines, the song finishes with a short second solo, leaving the track on a good note, rather than playing its own style out too far.

Crazy Rendezvous is yet another complete turn from the prior track, kicking in with race-car sound effects, an upbeat synthesizer and a guitar driven rock tune. The entirety of the song is rather uplifting and would make a promising live track, as it's full of life and strong instrumentation. As the song fades, one expects yet another ballad. The expectations are promptly met, with a rather slow and dull ballad, Mou Ichidou Kisushitakatta. The only noteworthy part of the song is a brief acoustic outro, which is very soothing after four minutes of slow screechy synthesizer.

A pattern really shows itself as we hit the starkly cheery seventh track, Wild Life. Unfortunately, after a less-than-memorable ballad, this track lacks attitude, and has a lack of personality. Thankfully, the alternating ballad pattern is discontinued with a nicely composed mid-tempo song, Sore Demo Kimi ni wa Modorenai. The tune exhibits some aggressive, nasally vocals, but also drops down to some authentic emotional singing. The synthesizer in the song is again prominent and it gives a strange chime sound, but it adds some nice dimension to the song. Later, Tak gives a bare guitar solo, complemented only by some quick hi-hat tapping in the background. Unexpectedly, B'z brings in a sudden mellow acoustic bridge, which sounds like an decline in the song's action, however, the spotlighted electric guitar comes back for one final curtain call in this track.

Sore Demo Kimi ni wa Modorenai is a positive song, and the good energy continues in Aikawarazu na Bokura. Here we have a very communal track, with a group sung sing-along styled track played over a very simple acoustic guitar. The track ends with some light applause; this leaves a cozy feeling to the entire track.

The big finale of the album, Alone, doesn't feel like an appropriate clincher to the CD and may be no more than an afterthought after the delightful Aikawarazu na Bokura. The album overall seems a bit repetitive, with too many ballads offsetting the upbeat powerful eighties rock B'z puts forth, but there are some treasures in this album that any casual listener would find value in. Despite woefully showing its age, the album has smart instrumentation and shows off Tak's renowned guitar skills.