Bring it! [Regular Edition]

This was Puffy's first album in quite some time that I didn't pre-order immediately, mostly because the pre-album singles didn't impress me a whole lot. I did eventually get it, though, and it seems I was right to be less-than-enthusiastic about this record. The album can roughly be divided as such: songs that embrace Puffy's recent attempts to make guitar-driven pop-punk music (about half the album, including two songs written by Avril Lavigne), songs that attempt to recapture Puffy's "classic" sound ("Anata to Watashi" and "Wedding Bell," both produced by longtime associate Yuta Saito), and songs by Tokyo Jihen ("Hiyori Hime" and "Shuen no Onna," both written and produced by Ringo Shiina). The different styles kind of clash a little, but Puffy's albums are usually pretty diverse anyway, so that's not really a strike against this CD. If nothing else, it keeps your attention. The Tokyo Jihen songs are good -- the single "Hiyori Hime" seems like Ringo's attempt to write a "Puffy" style song with a little of her own style thrown in, but "Shuen no Onna" sounds like Ringo simply took one of her own jazzy songs and put Ami and Yumi's vocals on it. Yuta Saito's songs more-or-less successfully sound like they could have been recorded in 1998 or 1999, and it's welcome to hear Puffy hasn't completely abandoned the old style completely in favor of the harder-edged rock they've embraced in the past few years. That leaves the pop punk stuff. It's usually catchy and occasionally clever, but some of the songs are just kinda loud and not much else -- they don't really do much to grab your attention, it seems. "Bring It!" is a thoroughly listenable album, don't get me wrong, and it's mostly enjoyable. But it isn't among Puffy's best works. But if you need a Puffy fix, it'll do.