Beef or Chicken?

With the airline business down, our heroes branched out into opening their own diner

So with the recent graduation of Pink, we now only have 8 girls to get the party going. How will they cope? Will they still continue to be as awesome as ever?

Our opening instrumental this time is Immigration Control it is a great energy lift. but not as much as Honey Dish. This song makes me want to skip around the house and dance on your grave. You are dead because you couldn't handle the awesome of PASSPO☆ and there was no way I was going to stop listening to them when they sound this good. See you in hell! I'll bring the PASSPO☆ CD's...

Where was I? Oh yeah, we've opened with two rockin' fun songs and いたずらRock'n'Roll has that same energy and now I'm just in full party mode. So here is Not in Theory to give me more of the heavy metal vibes from JEJEJEJET!! So we now get one of those 'seems like a slow song in vibe but is actually a pop punk anthem so get your fist in the air and rock out' kind of songs with 向日葵. It is the absolute fucking business.

So now we need to slow it down with a nice power ballad in Shiny Road. I wasn't sold on this song at first, but it's really grown on me over the past few months. And then especially after watching the concert last night. And I'm pretty sure Pink's vocals are still on here! Then we get ヘブンズバーガー which is so cutesy and silly it should be terrible, but instead it is the absolute funnest track.

はっちゃけ隊 are back! With ハイテンションエモーション（はっちゃけ隊#3）. And a bit less nonsense. But it's still the same rock dance hybrid fun times. FAKE takes us back on the heavy shit. Yellow really does like to get her 'rock chick' on. The "Hey wig out!" line is really cool. Actually, the entire chorus is really cool. There's a fair bit of Yellow-Green in here as well. Now we go from heavy to ballad and the first Band PASSPO☆ song, Perfect Sky. Again, I didn't like this all that much at first. Now I think it's a really nice song.

So from there we get another pop-punk anthem win You - which makes sense, since the last pop-punk anthem was called 「I」. This yet another kick-ass song to raise your fist and get down and wonder how you managed to live without it. Not you, I guess, because apparently you died earlier. And then we close things out with Fairy Tale, which is the perfect closer for this album. Has those power ballad vibes, still rocks but has the feels for sure. I'm going to do an acoustic cover of that, mark my words!

I read a while back where someone tried to say this was better than Cinema Trip (or more precisely, Cinema Trip wasn't quite as good a Beef or Chicken?) because Beef or Chicken? is a near perfect album. I wanted to disagree because Cinema Trip has a special place for me and I couldn't understand how anything could be better than that. But BAH GAWD this album is near perfect. Not even an average song in sight. Just 12 songs of pure joy.

PASSPO☆ just continue to get better and better.

Highlights:
Honey Dish, 向日葵, ヘブンズバーガー, You, Fairy Tale

Lowlights:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

7 / 7 Glowsticks

JEJEJEJET!! First-Class Bonus Disc

Does the black background mean this is "Evil" PASSPO☆?

Time to hit the bonus DVD that came with JEJEJEJET!!.
First up is a "Growing Up" documentary; this involves each of the girls going to a place that means something to the beginnings of PASSPO☆ and discussing what they were doing 3 years ago. White walks around Akihabara, Orange and Aqua go to the live houses they used to frequent, Purple went to their rehearsal room, Blue harasses some white cats, Red went to the park and found the tree they would sing under, and Yellow goes to the record company office because she's a fucking rockstar. Then they each call someone important to them and that has supported the group and say thanks. It's pretty touching.

Then we get a live performance. And one that isn't a totally ridiculous waste of time!
They open with WING and it rocks. Then we get ViVi夏 and it's a barrel of fun. This reminded me that Aqua is a little goddam firecracker and always seems to be having the funnest of times on stage. She brings the most infectious energy with the way she leaps about and gives it her everything. This continues in STEP&GO where she leads everyone from one side of the stage and back to the other, while waving her arms in the air. Aqua in the centre is always a win.

Now we get two of my least favourite PASSPO☆ songs - LA LA LOVE TRAIN〜恋の片道切符〜 and 夏空HANABI. But luckily these are followed with the live fun spectacular that is マテリアルGirl. Aqua is so great at working the crowd. And finally, we end the party with WANTED!! which features Yellow and White singing really tough vocals. Obviously, this live was a longer than is presented on the DVD, because by this point their voices are pretty much shot. BUT it totally works for their solo parts because it gives their vocals a rougher edge. I dig.

I just don't dig that it's over.

Highlights:
Aqua reminding me that she is as awesome as she is small

Lowlights:
I could do with the whole concert, thanks

5 / 7 Glowsticks

JEJEJEJET!!

♪Wanna be on top?♪

Today we open with a quick flight announcement in Ignition. This is a great fast-paced instrumental opener that sets up the vibe quite nicely. These are improving with each album. And then it's straight into the ROCK with BABY JUMP〜天国への搭乗便〜 which kicks aaaaaasss. I love their quick, strong delivery of the vocals and the "We will rock!/Baboo" break. PASSPO☆ really know how to open albums the right way. And continue them; BEAST IN YOU is another dark, heavy, awesome song.

サクラ小町 continues the vibe but includes another killer guitar hook. This song is like Yellow's coming out party - in WING, she was doing some cool big parts, but here she's really belting out the cool parts with power. The rockin' out doesn't stop, as next we get おねがい which is way more in the vein of the classic PASSPO☆ sound. Though 4 albums in now and I don't even know what that "classic PASSPO☆ sound" could possibly be, because there's all sorts of stuff going on these albums. But whatever, because STEP&GO is kinda on that similar vibe. But not really.

気分はサイコー!サイコー!サイコー! is a song I did not like at first. Now I consider it a highlight of the album and I have to stop myself from giving it a 5 star rating when I know it really isn't a 5 star song but then I realise that it doesn't matter so I give it 5 stars. Because it makes me want to party. This is the はっちゃけ隊 song #1; はっちゃけ隊 are the PASSPO☆ side group. It involves Yellow, Red, Orange and Blue drinking beer and being ridiculous. They're so bad it's amazing and it makes me happy this group seems to be continuing to perform. Especially because then songs like this won't die.

妄想のハワイ is kinda fun. Shang Shang シャンデリア seems to be incorporating some classic Asian sounds into the Idol musicverse. I'm not sure I get this song. But I certainly get キャンディー・ルーム. Super fun pop-punk to the rescue! That chorus is WAY too catchy! And Yellow doing all the silly cute voices just tops it off. くちゃLOVE is actually exactly the sort of song I consider signature PASSPO☆; pop-punk sensibilities with an almost power ballad vibe, without being a slow song at all. Do I make sense? No. PASSPO☆ break all genres and power of correct thinking.

Truly is one of those songs that starts off kinda 'meh' but then slowly builds into something more interesting than you were initially expecting. But then it's back to rockin' in your face with MASK. Wish on a Star has a great hook but also doesn't really go where you expect. Or want. Growing Up（Album ver.）, like 気分はサイコー!サイコー!サイコー!, was not something that grabbed me at first. Now it's probably my 2nd favourite song on the album. It's really groovy, but also a soulful musing of how life moves forward. The single version isn't quite as awesome as the album version - there is a chord change in the chorus that's missing in the single version. Amazing how one chord can make a large swing like that.

Growing Up is the 1 of the 1-2 punch to end the album. The 2 being 「I」. I recall a review of PASSPO☆'s final concert where they wrote 「I」could have been written for the event and they're not wrong at all; the lyrics are about chasing your dreams and staying together no matter what. The last line is especially fitting: "No one can take your place/It's my faith!" It's a fast-paced punk anthem with all the feels. This album ends with a raised fist in the air and DAAM it feels good!

This is the longest album in the PASSPO☆ library with 16 songs at 62 minutes. If you took out a couple of the lesser awesome songs like 妄想のハワイ and Shang Shang シャンデリア it would be near perfect. But as it stands, it's still a mighty fine album - I think it even has the most 5 star songs of all their albums! My first few listens didn't really grab me a whole lot, but it was possibly on my last flight to Osaka where I listened to it and finally realised I was wrong and there are too many great songs to ignore.

Highlights:

サクラ小町, キャンディー・ルーム, くちゃLOVE, Growing Up (Album ver.) , 「Ｉ」

Lowlights:

PASSPO☆ not staying together like they promised in 「Ｉ」

5.5 / 7 Glowsticks