I finally got the LP version of Kalafina's ring your bell single in the mail on Monday. This completes my collection of all the versions for this release. :P Unfortunately, I don't have a way of playing this LP because I don't own a turntable. :( So fingers crossed that this sells so well that Sony will grant ufotable's founder Kondo Hikaru's wish that they will release a LP containing all of Kalafina's Kara no Kyoukai songs. I will totally buy it in a heartbeat, that's for sure. Then maybe if they keep releasing LPs I'll have a reason to actually buy a turntable. :D
I'll keep this post relatively short too because there isn't really that much to say and also because I've been putting in quite a bit of OT at the office recently and I think I'm falling ill again, so I should sleep soon if I can.
First up, photos. :)
There you have it. Photos of the front and the back of the cover. The lyrics sheet is pretty big, it's just slightly smaller than the cover. I took a closer photo of the trio as well. There is an A Side and a B Side to the vinyl record. ring your bell and Koibito no Mukashigatari no Yuugure no are on Side A. ring your bell (in the silence), ring your bell ~ instrumental ~ and ring your bell ~ TV size ~ are on Side B. The same three flyers that are in all the other versions are inserted between the cover as well.
That's the good stuff. :)
Here's the less happy stuff. :( I got mine shipped from Amazon Japan because by the time I was able to order this on CDJapan, they were all gone. By the time I returned to Singapore from Japan, it was sold out virtually everywhere. In the end, I managed to snag three copies at cost for my friend and I. This was one of the copies that I managed to order.
Sadly, the facility that shipped my order out didn't do a very good job and inserted my LP into a flimsy envelope which only had a thin bubble wrap as protection. They didn't even but in any hard cardboard and there was no sticker on the package indicating that it was fragile or that it wasn't supposed to be bend.
So my new LP looks all banged up now. :'( Check out those deep creases. :'( I did write to Amazon about it. They couldn't replace it for me of course because it's no longer available on Amazon and is only available through re-sellers. :( We managed to work something out and I feel a little better about it. BUT I still rather have a nice pristine copy of this LP. This is after all the first LP that I have ever owned in my life and the first LP that Kalafina has ever released so it's kind of special to me. :( So unlucky. :(
But.... at least I do have the LP. The price at time of writing is more than double now on Amazon Japan's Marketplace. It was also the no.1 selling LP on Amazon Japan for maybe a week or more. So I guess, I can be happy that I did manage to get a copy. :)
Okay... time for bed.... good night. :)
10 comments:
hmmm... someone else's record ended up warped when he got it (though he says it's still playable). Dunno if it was from Amazon too
I'd be all for more Kalafina releases on vinyl (Sony take my moneyz plz)
on a random note, for some reason whenever I read your blogposts the page will randomly redirect to something else or an ad (today it was myspace) o___o
Aw, tots jealous of ur LP~ I was literally 3 seconds to late or I would have gotten mine off CDJapan...instead I just ordered Type A lol~ Was going to anyway tho, but I wanted the LP~
As a side-note: did u see their first week sales? Pretty low. Almost the same as "Believe", but lower.
Hi Aki,
Oh... a warped LP? That sucks. :( I wonder how it was shipped. :(
Yeah, I'm up for more vinyl releases too. I hope their releases keep doing well, then maybe we'll get what KPP got. That is, a vinyl release of her all her past albums. Would be nice to get that for Kalafina too. :)
Hmmmmm.... the redirect issue. I checked using various browsers on my comp, my tablet and my phone and I didn't get a redirect. I checked with two other friends too and they didn't get a redirect. Could you possibly check to see if your browser /comp got infected with malware?
Thanks for letting me know though because it's good to check these things.
cheers :)
Hi Konno Asami,
Thanks for dropping by and leaving comments. Wow, you almost got the LP? It really sold out fast, didn't it? :( I managed to snag the last few too. Luckily someone pointed me in the right direction and I managed to order the copies I needed.
Yeah, "ring your bell" sales aren't as good as some of their other singles. :( Hopefully, it'll pick up over the coming weeks or just keep selling over a period of time like "believe" did. "believe" wasn't quite as well received because it came immediately after the hugely popular "heavenly blue" but in the end the "believe" single ended up on the Oricon charts as Kalafina's 6th best selling single. So fingers crossed for "ring your bell".
My personal opinion is that, while I like "ring your bell", it isn't quite as easy a song to immediately like like "heavenly blue" for example, I think. First time I heard it, after the the Budokan live, I wasn't sure how much I'll like it. But some of Kajiura Yuki's music / Kalafina's songs are like fine wine, aren't they? I quite like the song now and have been looping it for a while. :)
I hope people do continue to buy the single because I also think the coupling song is a pretty good song. It's my kind of song, so maybe I'm bias. But I really do like "Koibito no Mukashigatari no Yuugure no". The opening seems so mysterious and sounded very much like a call to worship. Kind of an interesting song, in my opinion. :)
I am still of the opinion that Kajiura Yuki and Kalafina's music isn't as mainstream as some fans seem to think. And because their music is not like most of J-Pop, J-rock and the current popular genres out there, they'll always be times when they may not be able to push those numbers. I think this is one of those times. While I always feel that Kajiura Yuki's and Kalafina's music isn't radio friendly most of the time, I think "ring your bell" is one of those songs which are even more non-radio friendly then something like "heavenly blue" with it's more consistent hard rock style. How would you classify "ring your bell"? It's very Kalafina and Kajiura Yuki in many ways. As long time fans, we like that but will newer fans that came on the bandwagon later and who aren't as crazily in love with them as some of us, would they like this song which is so different from "heavenly blue"? I don't know.
I always encourage buying their singles, albums, dvds, BDs etc. While I wish that good music doesn't need the numbers to back it up but it's a business after all and if they don't sell, the companies etc are less likely to back them and in the end not only will the music that we love suffer, we as fans will suffer too.
Hence, in my own small way, now that I can afford it, I do my part and buy their music. :) Hopefully Kalafina and Kajiura Yuki will keep on going from strength to strength. :) I want them to keep making music that is unusual. Even if it's typical Kajiura Yuki or Kalafina, I don't mind because even if they are typical Kajiura Yuki / Kalafina, they are still different from most of the rest of the stuff in the mass market. And it is precisely because Kajiura Yuki and Kalafina make the kind of music they do that I am such a big fan. :)
Talked too much.... sorry... I'm so long winded. :D
Cheers
Haha~ it's ok about talking a lot, I do that too about Kalafina. I agree tho, "Ring your bell", is definitely a song that not many would be so ecstatic for; especially those that fell in love with "Heavenly Blue" or even "Kimi no gin no niwa". Kalafina's music is an acquired taste (like the wine u mentioned).
"Ring you bell", reminds me of "Symphonia" a little bit. I remember that song wasn't really popular either, but it was good and I like ring your bell. I'm actually surprised that Kalafina has such a stable base in selling CD's tho...u'd imagine, compared to what's actually popular (AKB48, Arashi, Koda Kumi, etc...) Kalafina doesn't seem like a group that can make it, but they are doing so well in my opinion.
Hello again Konno Asami san :)
Sorry the reply took a while. I was sick for a couple of days. :(
Indeed Kalafina is an acquired taste. They don't do most of the normal stuff that many others do. Their music videos for example. For most non-fans, maybe even some fans, they they aren't the most eye catching music videos, are they? :)
Mostly all they do is stand there and sing and swing their arms around. Sometimes they walk but that's about it. LOL. But for some reason, I have become very fond of their music videos. It seems soooooo Kalafina. I have come to a point where I don't want to see them dance. It's like the signature Kalafina music video is for them to stand there and sing with feeling. I kinda like it now and don't really want them to change it even if these music videos never win any mtv awards, I would like Kalafina music videos to always retain their "Kalafina-ness". :)
I do agree that Kalafina doesn't seem to be a vocal unit that could have become such a bit hit. I think, perhaps, at one point in time the trio themselves wondered if they could ever hold a one-man live in the Budokan. They aren't your typical J-Pop, J-Rock, J-music group. They aren't even your typical Anisong group.
Compared to some other popular J-music groups and Anisong groups, Kalafina sure took their time to finally be able to hold their one-man in the Budokan. Perhaps, that's why I feel like the Budokan lives meant so much to them. When I was in the arena those two nights, it was a really emotional experience, it really felt like those Budokan lives meant so much to them and because of that the Budokan lives were made more memorable for me.
I don't know why "Symphonia" wasn't popular. I really liked that song. It's also one of my Japanese friends favourite Kalafina song. I really love how Keiko sings this song, especially at the lives. It feels like she's spreading her arms and running down an open field... it feels soooo much like the scene in The Sound of Music film when Maria sings "The Hills are Alive"... she's standing on the mountain top, her arms wide open and the camera zooms in on her as she sings around. I don't know... Kajiura Yuki's songs, performed so capably by vocal units like Kalafina.... soooooo emotive to me. :)
I can't wait for more music from both Kajiura Yuki, FictionJunction and Kalafina. With each live I attend, whether it is the Yuki Kajiura Lives w/FictionJunction or the Kalafina live... with each live... I fall deeper and deeper in love with them. :)
It's ok~ hope you're feeling better tho~~
I use to complain about their MV's, now I've just accepted them haha. They are so "Kalafina-esque". Although, I find it funny when they dance because they just can't lol.Super jelaous of u going to Budokan tho...I cried hearing all the reports on twitter and from u. Cause it does mean so much; not only to them, but to us fans whom have been supporting them for so long. I can't wait to buy the DVD's~~~ so excited lol.
From the looks of things, I don't think we'll get a new single till October/November, but maybe they'll surprise us and release an album instead~~~
Thank you! I'm much better. :)
Kalafina's dancing... hmmmm... they pretty much just strike poses rather than really dance. I suspect that Keiko probably can to some extent because she did take some classes in her teenage years. But if you're talking about those boy/girl band group dancing... then yeah... I don't think Kalafina can dance. :)
Although, I actually like it that they don't really dance. Because if you're dancing like Perfume and AAA for example, it would be extremely, maybe near impossible, to sing the kind of songs that Kalafina sings live. So, I'm happy enough that they strike poses and run around and sway to the music. Good enough for me. :D
It's a pity that not all hardcore and long time Kalafina fans were able to be at the Budokan because I think we would all have felt something special. Although there will be the BD and the DVD, it's hard to really feel how it felt like in the arena that day, I think. Still, I hope that perhaps you'll be able to experience what I experienced, when Keiko thanked all the fans, the overseas fans included, on behalf of all three of them. That moment will be one of the moments that will be etched in my mind forever.
I'm super excited about this release of course. I pre-ordered the BDs and selected Fedex delivery. :P It would be good to try and re-live those two days again. :D
Yeah, I think you're right. I don't think we'll see another release till Oct/Nov. Kajiura Yuki's pretty busy with all her lives right now too. Now that they have announced that the new tour is called "far on the water".... I think most of us will be thinking... it's got to be an album, right??!!?? :D
cheers
hmm. now it isn't redirecting anymore. maybe it was my computer...
the other day I had a dream that Kalafina's next single came out on vinyl but the first track was Kimi no Gin no Niwa. I don't remember listening to the new song tho. orz
Good to hear that it's not redirecting any more. :)
Hahahaha.... I have yet to dream of Kalafina. Nice dream but would have been nicer if you had heard the new song. :P
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