Search - Shikao Suga :: 19SAI

Very good music but much too expensive

Graves | Pennsylvania | 06/28/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Suga's "19sai" probably gets lots of attention because of the anime HOLiC for which he performs the opening single '19.' In a world of J-pop that is usually performed by women or over amped electric guitars, Suga comes across as different and in all the best ways. Although still J-pop it has a nice bluesy feel to it that made me eager to hear more and be willing to pick up an album of his work to see what the rest of his stuff sounds like.



The good news, Suga is consistent and the sound travels easily through his work. Like the best J-pop the sound easily breaches the language barrier and his bluesy jazz stylings are great listening. $30 seems a bit steep but for an album full of this stuff, if you're willing to pay....



The bad news, this album has 3 songs. Three! Count them, it won't take long. I don't care how good the music is, for just three songs it is NOT worth $30! $10 a song? Is this what they charge in Japan? Is his career suddenly fading so he's going for as much money as he can? I don't know who to blame for this price gouging but they should be called to task.



I'm sorry, the music *is* good but it's not THAT good. I have a lot of J-pop and quite frankly, I feel burned by this. It is going to make me very leery of ordering more. Save yourself from making this mistake. Maybe you can download his music for a reasonable price but then you'll probably buy just the stuff you know and he will lose out on people not hearing his other music which is a shame. Suga is very good, but unfortunately the high cost of this leaves me bitter.

"