SDN48 - Yuuwaku no Garter

I finally have all of the songs SDN ever released! I kept holding off on buying this because stage albums are kind of expensive and I was waiting for a cheaper used copy to surface on ebay or Amazon. I had never listened to any of the songs from this stage before receiving the CD so I was expecting songs much like their singles. I was kind of right.

Track #1, Overture: The overtures still annoy the crap out of me, but it's a, uh, interesting change from the normal I guess.

Track #2, Saturday Night Party: I think it's interesting how the overture kind of flows into this song. I don't know of another 48G stage that does that. As for the song, it really doesn't sound like what you think of when you think SDN. It just sounds like a standard AKB stage track. I guess it makes sense that they would have stage songs like this because they had members transitioning from AKB and fans doing the same. But for me, it's just an average 48G stage track. 3.5/5.

Track #3, Never!: This song is slightly more like the SDN of the singles. It sounds like your typical teenage idol group song with the constant "Never Give Up!" chant & the cheerleader sounding vocals. What gives it the SDN flavor is the verses, they have a very slight Latin tinge. 3/5.

Track #4, Black Boy: Here's where the songs finally begin to be what I view SDN as. Although it has a funky spin on SDN's style, it still has too much of a typical 48G track feel to it. Despite this, the song is really catchy and one of my favorites of the stage. 4.5/5.

Track #5, Yuuwaku no Garter: This is my favorite song of the entire stage. It reminds me so much of early Britney Spears. Like a mix of her music from Oops I Did It Again & Britney. I love it. The 48s need to release another song like this. I also need to look up the producer. Good chance that he/she has done other great stuff. 5/5.

Track #6, I'm Sure: This song is also among the better ones from the stage. It has a MM Platinum era mixed with early AKB feel. My only gripe about the song is the one main singer who sounds so young and it's weird. I'm unsure if that is her actual voice or if she was just trying to do the cutesy singing. 4/5.

Track #7, All In: I like the 80s vibe of the song. It gives it a unique flavor from the rest of the stage up to this point. The song does feel like it drags on too long, even though it's only 3:40 in length. 3.5/5.

Track #8, Jajauma Lady: This could have fit perfectly on the single with Mino Monta. It's the first song of the stage that I can envision being on one of their single releases. It has that upbeat classy yet sultry feel that the Mino Monta single has. 4/5.

Track #9, Ganbariina: I have such mixed feelings about this song. It has that slight Latin tinge to it like many other SDN songs, but everything else sounds like a AKB reject. I really don't know what to think about it except that it may have fit better on an AKB stage instead of SDN's. 3.5/5.

Track #10, Futsuu no Anata: This song certainly sounds right out of the 1980s. Usually I like this kind of throwback stuff, but I don't care for this song at all. It suffers from not going anywhere. The song feels like it keeps the same pace throughout the whole thing. There's no change from verse to chorus and it's just monotonous. 3/5.

Track #11, Best By: I'm not too fond of this song either. The end of this stage as a whole is pretty underwhelming. This song is better than Futsuu just because of the guitar solo in the bridge. It gives the song some much needed life. 3.5/5.

Track #12, Aisareru Tame ni: Well, I guess the ballad song had to pop up somewhere. However, this isn't a snoozefest like most 48G ballads. The vocals are what distinguish this song from others. The girls of SDN really had a lot of talent. 3.5/5.

Track #13, Kodoku na Runner: Review Here

Track #14, Touhikou: This is such a good song to follow Kodoku na Runner. It's similar to Kodoku in style. This song certainly songs like an SDN track and I'd love to here something like this from 48G today. 5/5.

Track #15, Vampire Keikaku: For a song with vampire in the title, I was expecting something more along the lines of a dark pulsing EDM track. This is not that. This is the more funky side of SDN. I don't feel like this is a very satisfying conclusion to the stage. I feel like this should be switched with either Ganbariina for a light ending or Kodoku for a powerful ending. This seems like a song that should have been in the middle of the stage. 3.5/5.

Honestly, I was expecting a lot more out of SDN48's only stage. It's really a mixed bag. I was hoping for more songs like Kodoku or Gagaga, but there really isn't on this stage. It's not a bad stage at all, in fact, other than AKB's 6th stage I'd say it's my favorite of all of 48Gs stages. My expectations were just too high. 4/5.