SM Town Live World Tour feat. Girls Generation, Super Junior and SHINee to perform at Madison Square Garden

The Internet was ablazing with excitement among K-Pop fans with today’s announcement that on October 23rd, Girls’ Generation, Super Junior and SHINee are performing in Madison Square Garden for a six-hour concert as part of the SM Town Live World Tour.

SM Entertainment said in a statement, “The concert will show the global power of K-pop again. We expect this New York concert will be a big hit following the success we were met with in Los Angeles, Tokyo, Shanghai and Paris.”

SUPER JUNIOR – U/TWINS (a J!-ENT World Groove CD Single Review)

“SUPER JUNIOR’s special CD single release in Japan is actually a re-release of their 2006 hit K-Pop CD single feature two double A-sided tracks and the first CD K-Pop CD single to debut in the Oricon Daily Charts top 10 and first K-Pop CD single to make it in the top 10 for the Oricon Weekl Charts.”

GROUP: SUPER JUNIOR

CD SINGLE: U/TWINS

LABEL: rhythm zone

CATALOG #:  RZCD-45945/B

DURATION: 13:45

RELEASE DATE: July 9, 2008

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

1. U
2. TWINS
3. Miracle
4. Endless Moment

DVD: 4:3, Region 2, Duration: 21 minutes

1. U
2. U – Making Video-

During the time we we were working on our TVXQ book for J!-ENT, we were getting a good number of requests from fans wondering if we were planning to do any articles, interviews or any writeups for Super Junior.

I was not too familiar with the group but understood that they were a 13-member boy band from Korea (except for one member, Han Geng, who was discovered from an SM Entertainment audition in China) that has spawned off several side groups such as Super Junior-K.R.Y. Super Junior-T, Super Junior-M and Super Junior-Happy.

As for this CD single, “U” was originally released in Korea back in 2006 as the group’s first CD single and was released in July 2008 to commemorate the group’s Japanese website debut and the group’s first fan meeting in Japan.   The CD single was the first Korean CD single to successfully enter the Oricon CD single charts top 10 (note: The CD single debuted at No. 4 and on the weekly charts was No. for both the daily and weekly charts.  The limited edition version of this CD single featured the Japanese version of “U”.

The first track “U” (or “Thinking ’bout U girl”) is  a straight-forward pop/dance track with lyrics by Tae Hoon and music composed by Ken Ingwersen and Kevin Stimm and arrangement by Hwang Seong Je.  The track features every member sharing vocals and harmonization duties and a rap by EUNHYUK.  Overall, a pretty cool dance track.

The second track “TWINS (KNOCK OUT” features lyrics by Yoo, Young Jin who also arranged the music for the track.  Unlike the previous track which had the dance pop and groove, the overlying instrument heard is electric guitar but all in all, the track has a constant beat, giving the whole track a pop/rock feel.

The third track “Miracle” is a pop track which is a cool song featuring a catchy beat and showcasing the group’s harmonization.  A happy, cheerful dance track.

The fourth and final track is “Endless Moment” which is an all out slow jam.  The song is actually a very good ballad which ha that old school slow jam feel and very cool vocals and harmonization by the guys.

The DVD features mainly the guys showcasing their choreography and the making of is really an extensive look at the guys practicing the choreography and being interviewed on camera.   As well, as the filming of several parts of the music video.  The Korean dialogue is subtitled in Japanese.

The CD insert features a 20-page booklet with the lyrics to the songs and production credits but a solo grayscale photo of each member of the group.  And also included is a flyer for July 2008 releases from rhythm zone.

I’ve listened to one album from the group but this is my first CD single of Super Junior.  All in all, the group has cool vocals and the group manages to become cohesive and work well together via the harmonization in their tracks.

I think that it’s a really cool concept that Super Junior has going because its similar to Morning Musume with its various members, additional members, side groups and so forth.  The members are quite interesting, as some look punk rock, some are of different physical sizes but all in all, they look cool.  But hopefully there are not too many group adjusting or boosting the numbers of the group to 20-40 or anything like that.

But overall, “U/TWINS” is a solid CD single and you get a good balance of upbeat songs with different musical styles and the DVD features a cool music video and a lengthy “making of” which fans will probably dig.

Check out more of our reviews at J!-ENT’s World Groove

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