For the most part, it's pretty easy to break down the differences between the US versions and the import versions of Arrested Development's albums- unlike Speech at times! They either have a couple bonus tracks or there aren't any differences. We'll get into all of the albums at some point, but with the recent release of Strong in the US, I thought it would be a good idea to break down the differences on their latest release. Now keep in mind I am going under the assumption that the US version will match the online version now available- I could be wrong and I'll find out more when my copy arrives.
Anyway, to make it simple we will simply post the tracklists with some thoughts on the different songs on each release. The songs in bold are exclusive to that version. I bought the album version when it came out (for a ridiculous shipping fee from Japan, but it was worth it!) so I'm not real familiar with the US version as I just purchased the songs I didn't have when they dropped.
US Version
1. Bloody
2. Free - Cool song that sounds a lot like "Say Hey (I Love You)" by Michael Franti and Spearhead.
3. Let Your Voice Be Heard
4. The Trends- Another great song- when I heard it on youtube, I was begging for this to show up on the US release.
5. Haters
6. Any Tree But That
7. Greener
8. Too Much Woman For Ya
9. La La La
10. We Rad We Doin' It
11. The World Is Changing
12. Africa We Thank Yah - Another really good song. I love the sounds of African music so this is a nice tune.
Japan version:
1. Haters
2. Too Much Woman For Ya
3. The World Is Changing
4. La La La
5. Let Your Voice Be Heard
6. Bloody
7. Greener
8. The World Is A Friendly Place- I'm surprised this isn't on the US release as it's really catchy and uplifting. Takes aim at the idea that the rest of the world is a dump or in Speech's world, "toilet bowl".
9. Any Tree But That
10. We Rad We Doin' It
11. So Authentic- Wow, I'm really shocked this one isn't on there. Love this song. I mean, I think this one was a classic.
12. Granola Girl This is a different vibe from AD but I like it, although I'm not really an Auto-tune fan and it's a little jarring on an AD album. Still, you judge it for what it is and not what you think it should be, and it's good. Rasa Don and One Love handle the vocals on this one, so it's a rare Speech-less AD song. A video for the song appears below.
13. A Truce- This certainly isn't a bad song and I like it, but I would definitely go with "The Trends" or "Africa We Thank Yah" over it.
14. The World Is changing (DJ Hasebe Remix)- Pretty good remix of the song, adds in some different sounds and other elements. A really well done remix and kind of brings the release full circle as a coda.
There are a few unreleased songs for various reasons (none of which appear to be quality issues) from the AD youtube page that were covered here.
When I get my hard copy of the US release, featuring new mix-downs, I will be sure to post my thoughts. I'm old school, I just can not dig online versions in the same way that I can a CD with artwork, liner notes, and so forth.
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