Review by T.Grl

1999 is a year that, in a way, ends an era in GLAY's career. In that year, GLAY seemed to test just how high they could reach with their phenomenal "Expo'99 - Survival" concert, which lured no less than 200,000 paying attendants. They played big sold out tours and made some more records to their list of big achievements. In such a scenery, HEAVY GAUGE brought a sound that was much like anything GLAY had released the years before, but not quite. A little more mature, lacking the "fun-oriented" tracks which were present in every GLAY album, this one made some people believe GLAY was changing. That didn't do any harm to the album's success, though, as it kept up to the high sales their albums and single had been having. However, 10 years later, we can tell it was at least the beginning of a bigger change that would come with their next studio album "One Love". Regardless of anything, this is a great album. All five single tracks included are big hits, with the highlight being "Winter again", surely one of their biggest classics. It's an essential album for any GLAY fan and anyone who loves Japanese rock.

"SAY YOUR DREAM" is the official start to GLAY's celebration of 15 years since their debut single "RAIN". It's a great work that feels like GLAY really want to show how happy they feel for being able to reach this important mark and thank their fans for supporting them all these years. The single has 6 tracks. "chronos" is a beautiful piece of music that prepares the listener for the 13 minutes second track, the main song "SAY YOUR DREAM". Divided into an upbeat pop/rock sounding first part and into a slow balladish second part, "SAY YOUR DREAM" is typical GLAY sound, which may be good or not so good, depending on the listener's point of view. I actually wished GLAY would be a little more daring in this one. However, as the song progress and after a few listens, you know that the song is coherent with the concept of representing their career. The focus is on the lyrics and the music just works in favor of it. "Haru made wa", on the other hand, is very refreshing, with a sound that GLAY has surely never done before. For some fans, it might remind something from "Unity Roots and Family, away", but in reality it's different from any other sound they've done. It's a beautiful slow song with piano and sinthetizers, beautiful guitar lines and beautiful lyrics. "The Meaning of Life" completes this album and the series of English covers GLAY has been doing. Like the other covers, this is a spot on rendition, with Teru messing up a little with the English lyrics, but nothing we couldn't forgive him for. The most important is that although this CD has 6 tracks, none of them seem irrelevant. This is a CD that feels great in all aspects, for the quality and for the lengh. You are certainly getting more from this delivery than you are paying for. GLAY really knows how to celebrate their 15th anniversary.

"SAY YOUR DREAM" is the official start to GLAY's celebration of 15 years since their debut single "RAIN". It's a great work that feels like GLAY really want to show how happy they feel for being able to reach this important mark and thank their fans for supporting them all these years. The single has 6 tracks. "chronos" is a beautiful piece of music that prepares the listener for the 13 minutes second track, the main song "SAY YOUR DREAM". Divided into an upbeat pop/rock sounding first part and into a slow balladish second part, "SAY YOUR DREAM" is typical GLAY sound, which may be good or not so good, depending on the listener's point of view. I actually wished GLAY would be a little more daring in this one. However, as the song progress and after a few listens, you know that the song is coherent with the concept of representing their career. The focus is on the lyrics and the music just works in favor of it. "Haru made wa", on the other hand, is very refreshing, with a sound that GLAY has surely never done before. For some fans, it might remind something from "Unity Roots and Family, away", but in reality it's different from any other sound they've done. It's a beautiful slow song with piano and sinthetizers, beautiful guitar lines and beautiful lyrics. "The Meaning of Life" completes this album and the series of English covers GLAY has been doing. Like the other covers, this is a spot on rendition, with Teru messing up a little with the English lyrics, but nothing we couldn't forgive him for. The most important is that although this CD has 6 tracks, none of them seem irrelevant. This is a CD that feels great in all aspects, for the quality and for the lengh. You are certainly getting more than you are paying for from this delivery. GLAY really knows how to celebrate their 15th anniversary.

"Love i Beautiful" is one of my favorite GLAY albums. When I think of what makes it stand out among many others, it's nothing like "an exceptional musical achievement", or "something really original", or even that the album is a good representant of GLAY's style. In this case, it's just that this album is made of great tracks. There's no bad track in it, even songs like "American Innovation" or "World's End", which could seem fillers, are good enough to enjoy. It also has the quality of representing many aspects of GLAY's musicality, with rock songs, beautiful sad ballads, and fun upbeat pop-rock: everything GLAY has always done without really sounding like the "old" GLAY. It is GLAY's latest album so far, their 10th studio album (or 9th major studio album, if you will). If there's something this album has that older albums don't have, is that it can benefit from GLAY's experience and maturity.

"Love i Beautiful" is one of my favorite GLAY albums. When I think of what makes it stand out among many others, it's nothing like "an exceptional musical achievement", or "something really original", or even that the album is a good representant of GLAY's style. In this case, it's just that this album is made of great tracks. There's no bad track in it, even songs like "American Innovation" or "World's End", which could seem fillers, are good enough to enjoy. It also has the quality of representing many aspects of GLAY's musicality, with rock songs, beautiful sad ballads, and fun upbeat pop-rock: everything GLAY has always done without really sounding like the "old" GLAY. It is GLAY's latest album so far, their 10th studio album (or 9th major studio album, if you will). If there's something this album has that older albums don't have, is that it can benefit from GLAY's experience and maturity.

"EXPO '99" just shows how huge GLAY really got in Japan. It's simply the biggest concert ever held in Japan. A historical concert that deserves to be in the DVD collection of any GLAY fan and even Jrock fans. The band holds it pretty well, showing why they are some sort of "King of Lives". Although it's expected for a concert as huge as this to lack warmth and energy, the crowd is really involved and the band interacts very well with it.

It's GLAY's first album to bring a major difference from their previous works. Their smash hits albums "BEATout!", "Beloved" and "pure soul" all have a consistant style combining rock songs to fast pop songs and power ballads, all for which they are very well known. "HEAVY GAUGE", which is also one of their most commercially successful albums had a slightly different sound, but nothing as shocking as this one. The singles "Global Communication" and "Hitohira no Jiyuu" had already shown that 21st century GLAY wanted to do something new. The result is an album with 18 songs which vary so much in styles that it's impossible to classify its genre. Although it also has the rock sound everybody is familiar with (like 2000's "Mermaid"), most songs are nothing like the previous GLAY songs. Not every song is great, there are some that actually are very sappy. However, there are songs like Christmas Ring and Hitohira no Jiyuu and Muyuubyou, wich are mature and elaborated. The album as a whole convey a message that manage to bring everything together.

This album has an excellent work in all the tracks. Minimal arrengements with carefully placed different sounds, which blend beautifully. Endeed, It's GLAY being different, so many Glay fans who are used to their fast sound or power rock ballads don't like it. That doesn't mean that music fans who are not attached to any expectation or even GLAY fans who know how to enjoy something different can't like this. It may not be a fan favorite, but is a refreshing artistic achievement for GLAY.