3 CDs
3 CDs + Blu-ray
4 CDs
1) READY FOR YOUR LOVE
2) Blanket
3) Dance with you
4) Yatterannai ze
5) Ichiban Hajimete no Koibito
6) Don't Kan ・ Don't Kan
7) Emmm...
8) Gift
9) Negative Boy
10) Uta
Ken Hirai Singles Best Collection Utabaka 2 was released last month on 12th July . The 1st 2 CDs tracklist in the 3 CDs & 3 CDs + Blu-ray versions of the best album include single songs that Ken released from 2006 until present while the 1st 3 CDs in the 4 CDs version contain single songs Ken released from 1995 until present .
In Utabaka Dake ni. , it has 10 new songs which're all contributed by 10 different artistes that Ken personally admires . Ken takes the "baka (foolish)" part of the album’s title & entrust the artists with the creation of the collaborative songs , while he just sings them .
Here's the writing & composing credits for all songs in Utabaka Dake ni. :
1) READY FOR YOUR LOVE ; written , composed & arranged by tofubeats . Used in the ads of TOYO TIRES
2) Blanket ; written & composed by Kusano Masamune , arranged by Kameda Seiji
3) Dance with you ; written & composed by TOKO , arranged by Toomi You
4) Yatterannai ze ; written & composed by CRAZY KEN BAND's Yokoyama Ken , arranged by Yashiki Gota
5) Ichiban Hajimete no Koibito ; written , composed & arranged by Makihara Noriyuki . used in the ads of Choya's Choya Natsuume
6) Don't Kan ・ Don't Kan ; written , composed & arranged by Denki Groove's Ishino Takkyu
7) Emmm... ; written & composed by BONNIE PINK , arranged by Murata Yoichi
8) Gift ; written , composed & arranged by LOVE PSYCHEDELICO
9) Negative Boy ; written , composed & arranged by Nakata Yasutaka
10) Uta ; written , composed & arranged by KAN
Utabaka Dake ni. is quite similar to Acid Black Cherry's Acid BLOOD Cherry as both releases include various musicians contributing their own personal input as Ken + Acid Black Cherry tend to mainly write & compose most of their own material .
But in this case unlike Acid BLOOD Cherry where it's not so musically diverse , it's a different case for Utabaka Dake ni. as Ken tackled an extensive wide range of music styles & he surprisingly managed to relatively handle well with ease .
From upbeat songs to ballads to simplistic tracks , Utabaka Dake ni. is a very entertaining disc from start til finish & it frankly can passed off as a standalone Ken studio album but I guess Ken didn't want to make a typical best album so he decided to incorporate this in Ken Hirai Singles Best Collection Utabaka 2 .
I don't really have any bad thing to say about Utabaka Dake ni. as I really enjoy all the tracks as they sound very different from each other & let alone , some of the music genres Ken has never done before until now . The only song I don't quite like is Don't Kan ・ Don't Kan as it gets repetitive after a while but aside from that , it's a solid release as there's something for everyone to enjoy .
Utabaka Dake ni. itself is worth buying Ken Hirai Singles Best Collection Utabaka 2 & in this case , Ken definitely proves that he's no musical idiot that's for sure .