LOVE PiECE was Ai Otsuka’s 4th studio album. It was released on September 26, 2007 and reached number 1 on the charts with 208,031 copies sold. In Japan it has sold more than 373,382+ copies, but according to Avex, it has sold over 550,000+ copies. The cover featured six different shots of Ai hence the name LOVE PiECE, in addition to that there was also a photo booklet released featuring her in six different backgrounds. This was also the first album to feature more than three singles. And none of the single’s B-Sides were featured on this album.

Tracks:
1. Mirai Taxi
2. Yumekui
3. Mackerel’s canned food
4. PEACH
5. Kumuriuta
6. Hoshi no Tango
7. Katorisenkou
8. Frienger
9. CHU-LIP
10. HEART
11. Ren’ai Shashin

Review:
Mirai Taxi lit. Future Taxi. Let me start off by saying that this song is the best song on the album, in my opinion. The song opens up with some guitar beats and then a keyboard, either that or synth sounds. Anyway the point is the music sounds great. Ai’s vocals here are prefect and her English is pretty good. The chorus here is so addictive and sounds so darn good. This was the prefect way to open up the album. Overall this is the BEST song on the album, too bad there was no PV for it. This was the first of five new tracks.

Yumekui lit. Dream Eater. This song was released as a single. As mentioned before it is a pop rock song, but mostly pop. Ai’s vocals are sweet and laid back. The chorus here was particularly catchy. This is just what the album needed, a light hearted pop song. Click here for the review of Yumekui.

Mackerel’s canned food the second of five new tracks. This song begins almost like PEACH with a rock feel. But this mostly features the drums beats and a little guitar music. I must say that Ai’s vocals are fantastic here as they sound do happy and so laid back. The chorus is pretty good and uses some English. I want some of that canned food now.

PEACH, the effervescent rock summer track. This song was released alongside HEART as a double A-Side single. With that being said it was also the last single of this era. I think that it was such a great song and it makes for a terrific addition to the album. Click here for the review of PEACH.

Kumuriuta lit. Cloudy Song, the third of five new tracks. This song was used to promote the album and had a PV made for it. This song is soft and more of a ballad than anything else. The lyrics are sweet and seem innocent. The chorus was good but the one problem I had with this song is that during it there was no change in tone until the middle of the song, but afterwards it got a lot better. With that being said the song is so good. This song had a PV to go with it and was placed on the album, along with two PV’s, although one of the PV’s was a first press bonus.

Hoshi no Tango lit. Star’s Tango, the fourth new song of the five. This song begins pretty quickly and seems somewhat fast-paced in the music. It seems a little more mystical and magical than the other songs. The song is driven by the piano and an acoustic guitar and they both play in complete harmony. It’s a pretty good song, but the one problem was that it was too short, but still good. Quite the mystical sounding track.

Katorisenkou lit. Anti-Mosquito Incense, kinda a weird title. This is the last of the five new songs on the album. It begins with a mosquito buzzing sound but then turns into a quick rock paced song. Let me tell you that this is the most aggressive song on the entire album, well out of the new songs. It almost sounds mad but it’s not. I can say that it is one of the most unique songs that I’ve heard from Ai. And with that this song ends the new songs on this album, kind of a shame really, oh well.

Frienger the rock oriented song, that also used two names to make the song, Friend & Ranger This song was the first song to be released as a single and thus began the LOVE PiECE Era. Besides it being rock it has a pop feel to it. It’s pretty upbeat and makes for a great song. My favorite part was the chorus as it was so catchy and it sounded great. Here is the review of Frienger.

CHU-LIP, the upbeat brass rock tune. This song features the guitar and sounds pretty good. This song was somewhat edgy but could’ve been better. It was also released as a single and was Ai’s first new single of 2007. To read the full review of CHU-LIP, please click here.

HEART, the second double A-Side. This song was released along side PEACH for her 5th single of this era, and the only double A-Side single on this album. This song is so sweet and sounds so upbeat. It’s more of an innocent pop tune filled with love and happiness. It’s my favorite song of all her singles. The chorus here is really great and so catchy. This song had a PV that was placed on this album, and not on the single. For the full review of HEART, click here.

Ren’ai Sashin lit. Love Photograph. The ballad of the album. It’s such a beautiful ballad that features the piano and violins. The chorus here really shined through as the as the best part of the song, and it sounded so beautiful. It was released as the 3rd single in the LOVE PiECE Era. Quite the powerful song, and quite the amazing song too. It was the last song on the album. This song was such a great way to end the album. Although if the Haru version of this song was added to the album, it might have been even better. Here is the review of the moving ballad Ren’ai Sashin.

Overall Review: LOVE PiECE was such a fantastic album. I think that this is my favorite album from Ai. I loved all of the singles from this era, so that made the album good. And the fact that all the new songs on the album were pretty good also helped. I think that Ai needs to do some more albums like this. The one problem that I did have with it was that this album had no B-Sides from any of the singles that were released in this era. But all the songs were good so that made up for it. Overall this is her best work in years.

Final Grade: 100A+