PROMISE ~Without You~

COVER SONG

Music, lyrics, images used in this clip, and all other credits are copyright properties of their respective owners. I do not own any part of them except for my own vocals of course :)

SONG INFORMATIONS

Original Artist: JAM Project Feat. Masami Okui
Music & Lyrics: Masami Okui
Arrangements: Kenichi Sudou
Available on: JAM Project - Waga Na wa GARO (Single)
Taken From: GARO Makai Senki (2nd Ending Theme)
Copyright Property: Lantis
Cover Recording Date: 2012-01-16 18:07
MORE INFO ABOUT THIS SONG

LYRICS

Ano hi kawashita yakusoku wo mamoritai
I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOU

I want to protect that promise we made that day
I can’t live without you

SIGH hitori no yoru kimi no sugata omoi nemuru
Yoru ga akeru koro ni kitto modotte kuru kara
Doko ni mo aru you na yasuragi mitsuketai
Itsu no hi ka futari de asu wo tsumugou te wo toriatte

Sigh, a lonely night sleeping while thinking of your after image
Because you’ll definitely return when dawn breaks

I want to find a peace that exist everywhere
Someday, let’s join hands and weave our future

Yogoshimare kokoro wo yadosu tamashii ni mou kegasarenai de!
Inori go kakete CANVAS wo irodoriegaku ANGEL
Hateshinai sekai no naka de kagiriaru jikan wo kizamu
Ano hi kawashita yakusoku wo kanau to shinjitsuzuketeru…

Please don’t hurt that soul holding an evil heart anymore!
An angel entrusting her prayers and painting a vision
In this endless dimension, carve the limited time
Believing that it will fulfill the promise we made that day…

SIN yume no naka de kimi no surudoi kiba wo daku
Itoshii toki wo muda ni wa mou nidoto shitakunai
Semarikuru LIMIT ga futari wo oitateru
Chigau sora tondeyukitai shiroi tsubasa ga hoshii

Sin, hugging your sharp teeth within a nightmare
I don’t want to waste the precious moments again

The imminent limit is chasing the two of us
I want to fly to a different universe; I want white wings

Arekuruu sekai no naka de hikiyoserareta futatsu no SPIRIT
Nagareru boshi tachi no you ni yukusaki shirasarezu ni
Hateshinai sekai no naka de dare mo ga sadame wo seotte
Wasurekaketeta yakusoku wo kioku heto yobiokosu kara

Two spirits pulled into the turbulent world
Because like shooting stars untold of the path ahead
Everyone is bearing their fate in this endless dimension
Calling out to the memory of that half-forgotten promise

Arekuruu sekai no naka de hikiyoserareta futatsu no SPIRIT

Nagareru boshi tachi no you ni yukusaki shirasarezu ni
Hateshinai sekai no naka de futari wa sadame wo seotte
Ano hi kawashita yakusoku ga kanau asu mamoritsuzukeru
I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOU…

Two spirits pulled into the turbulent world
Because like shooting stars untold of the path ahead
We two are bearing our fate in this endless dimension
Continuing to protect the future when the promise we made that day fulfills
I can’t live without you…

NOTE: Lyrics and translation from TheoTheRice... (too lazy to edit in such relative short time, so no correction this time)... 

PERSONAL THOUGHTS

To be honest, I was completely caught off guard with this song!!

I have planned to publish this song next week, cause I meant to release it along with the final episode of the show itself. What show is that? GARO Makai Senki ... an adult-oriented tokusatsu show, that is pure EPIC AWESOME in many aspects. GARO Makai Senki is the long awaited + anticipated sequel to the 2005 hit show by the same name. If you haven't heard about it, please read it on the Wikipedia link since I'm going to make brief comment for this post XD....

I thought the series would follow the prequel's nature with 25 episodes, which would've fall next week. That's the reason why I put on my lazy couch potato uniform, and focused on beating some new XBOX 360 games that my brother bought me several days ago. Therefore I kept the recording (that I've done more than a month ago) in my HDD, untouched, waiting to get my mood back and do the sound editing early next week. Beside that, the result for the main vocal was too noisy as well, so I figured I would do another re-take next week, hoping that my health would be okay to sing again by then. Yup, I haven't record anything since my duet with HanaNoMerodii last month, due to several health problems (flu, sore throat, aphthous ulcer, cough... what else? T_T). Then the most shocking news arrived when I read several comments about the series on Rangerboards, that stated 'Next week is finale'. I actually have read it on Monday, so I thought it was still going as I predicted. However, yesterday morning, I had another shadow of doubt, so I checked the posting date of that comment, and it was posted... LAST WEEK O_O. I still couldn't believe it, so I rushed to get the latest episode (last week's) of the show, to make sure. I finally able to watch it YESTERDAY afternoon, and... with the supreme shock, when it has NO weekly preview when Zaruba asked the audience to watch the FINAL conclusion of the show in the next episode, which means: THIS MORNING is the FINALE day of the awesome show. Following the shock, is another shock that something went wrong with my XBOX console, that it needed to be taken to repair (again... thank God it's free). So I had no choice but to swept my new games aside, and get working with the editing. I had no choice, but to use the ones I've already recorded, cause no way I could do another take with my current condition.

Due to the noisy result, I had a rough tough time doing the editing for the main vocal. Frustrating even! The other tracks are acceptable though, cause those are minors... Hold on, what OTHER TRACKS? Well, since the original instrumental is COMPLETELY off-vocal -meaning it didn't have any harmonizing choruses like those available on other karaoke songs-, I had no choice but to record them myself XD. I've recorded 2 complimentary tracks to support the main vocal: the male harmonizing part (I could hear Hiroshi Kitadani and Hironobu Kageyama very clearly), and the female Woooo Waaaaa part. It should've been more than 2 additional tracks, since it's a JAM Project song (with 5 vocalists) and if you pay attention to the original song, even the female Woooo Waaaa part consists of alto and soprano part. Well, I had no choice but to use what I currently have anyway, so... these ones will do, so please pardon for the lack of perfection quality of this cover >w<...

Anyway, this is my 1st JAM Project song I've ever recorded, eventhough my second one, a duet with HanaNoMerodii was published before this. I've sang Hironobu Kageyama, and Hiroshi Kitadani's solo songs before, but never their group's. I haven't been a fan of this group, but I can say for sure that watching GARO brought a new light to their songs for me. The main reason I avoided their songs, is because they are a 5 vocalists unit, hence you can always hear different harmonizings for each member. Even with this song, (that is much better suited to be called a Masami Okui solo feat JAM Project song) have multiple harmonizing and backing vocals in the usual JAM Project's nature. That's the toughest part, and took quite extra time to study and pull through. I could've just record them without considering those musical ornaments, but I have this perfectionist pricky attitude that I simply couldn't resist. For me personally, those musical ornaments are essential necessities for a song, that it would sound totally empty without having them around. Yep... it's probably just me though, so please bare with me on that... ;D. Why didn't I cover the opening theme instead? With the same reason that the arrangement is too complicated, and since this one is essentially a solo after all, and what can I say, the lyrics grabbed my attention heartily, in a very personal way...

I always hated when things went out of plan, so here it is... to follow my agenda, the 2nd ending song to one of the best Toku shows of all time, published the very same day of its final episode, as a special tribute to celebrate the ending of another very well done show that managed to keep up (if not surpassed) the 1st installment. I could've always treated it the laid-back style: kept on playing Sonic Generations and Soul Calibur V and lazily post the song next week... but my devilish-perfectionist-side ultimately won the fight hahaha. It just wouldn't feel right to post it later on. Beside that, I had more than enough with being forced to postpone songs last December-January, I'll try my best to stay on schedule even while I'm still struggling with the same shi*ty internet.

The final episode has aired several hours ago in Japan (it's airing on fricking 2.00 AM, cause it's adult), but the fansub will not come until  Sunday/Monday... and with my internet, I'll have to wait until next Wednesday to watch it (that is, if nothing goes wrong again). Actually, by the time I finished the video for this cover yesterday, it was already the airing time of the show. I already felt too sleepy to keep on going though, so I gave up, decided to sleep to watch it later next week -_-. I'm anxious to see how this sequel ends, cause already there are rumors of a third installment. Hmmm, I wonder why I underrated the prequel without ever watching it the first place? Probably the 'adult show' propaganda was totally giving me the ickiness and dirty thoughts before I gave it a taste. Yeah, you might think of me as a weird guy, but I really never enjoy the numerous female topless nudity parts of this show. Probably because I prefer it... somewhere else XD (just kidding)

Okay, as I said, I'll make it brief haha. Hope you'll enjoy the song, pardon for the lack of perfectness with the background choruses, or the low quality of the main vocal. It's a result of a very rushed editing (eventhough it was still completed at 23:00 yesterday T.T), so expect minor pickups here and there. It could've been way better and richer in sound, but at least it's not as empty as the instrumentals XD. As I said, the lyrics sold me out in a personal way, so this is not just a special tribute for the series, but a deeper meaning: a special message I've always wanted to tell to a certain precious close person of mine as well. So, it's yet another piece of  - story of my life through a cover song as well, and I hope it'll reach out to that person... somehow... someway...

Here's hoping my health will get better soon, so I could finish recording another JAM Project song (a trio project) and other works. Till then, Have an awesome day and bye now!           

~Furede Riko

PS: Now off to bed!!! Hahahaha... Can't fight the headache anymore >_<

"Where there is light, shadows lurk and fear reigns... yet by the blade of Knights, mankind was given hope..." (GARO Opening Intro)


ORIGINAL SONG

Here's the live performance of the song, if you want to hear the studio version, please buy the original single or find it somewhere online XD

Masami Okui - PROMISE ~Without You~ (LIVE)
Hope you enjoy it! ^o^v

-oOo-

What's Next?
- ...Still heading to the New World... with the Straw Hat's dream 9...
Thank God they wouldn't be angry by getting their song swapped to next week XD