hiro Special Box [w/ DVD, first pressing only limited release]

I'm not much for the teen groups. I like my music a bit more sophisticated and I'm certainly not the target audience. But somehow, for me the group Speed became a "guilty pleasure." Now, this box set is a collection of songs from the solo career of arguably one of the most talented of Speed's lead singers, Hiro. In addition to the overly bubbly pop songs that I'm embarrassed to admit I like (but like nonetheless), there's a healthy dose of really interesting tunes in here, too. "Hero" is a very creatively constructed song. Moreover, the remix disc is almost better than the main disc - which is a very rare occurrence. The remixes of "Namida," "Love is Shouting Out," and "Mitsumeteitai" do much more than just stretch out a song to a longer version. They become new songs that stand on their own. As for the music video DVD, the collection of hits there is good and many of the videos are quite interesting to watch. This is an excellent box set to add to any J-Pop Library.