Sputnik Music Forums - View Single Post - Featured Artist #13: X-Japan

StreetlightRock · 04-04-2005, 01:48 AM

The Art of Life

In 1993, X-Japan released the mini-album, The Art of Life. Containing one song, The Art of Life (duh) clocked in at just over 29 minutes, and was probably the best song that X-Japan ever produced. The only song Yoshiki wrote fully in English, it has been compared with Dream Theatre’s ‘A Change of Seasons’ – an indication of how epic it is. A progressive masterpiece, this song contains everything anyone could need. Staring off with a piano and guitar intro, the dreamy melody doesn’t hint at what would come next….

With a build up comparable with Stairway (not quite, but it’s good!), the song soon lurches into a fast paced fury of guitar solos and drums, the melody constantly changing, with background strings making the song blissfully epic. hides and Pata’s synchronized solos at points in the song makes for even more unique and interesting song. At around the 13 minute mark, the song slows down, to make way for the piano solo. At a length of just over 7 minutes, the piano solo is absolutely unreal. Yoshiki, Staring off with a note-by-note intro, the piece slowing begins to build itself up, with the bass part becoming ever more grand, becoming a fury of ‘wrong notes’, before breaking back into melody again. Fading out, the strings come in again, with an almost orchestral like sound, become once again lapsing into guitars and drums. The songs slows down the piano, stings, guitar and drums, altogether, carrying the song through to its end. X-Japan only ever played this song live once, and went for an amazing 34 minutes.

During this year Yoshiki also worked with Beatles producer George Martin to produce Eternal Melody – was consisted of X-Japan songs arranged for classical performance. The double album was performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and also included other classical performances by Yoshiki on the piano. (Despite the ‘hard rocking’ image of Yoshiki, he absolutely loved classical music – as can be seen in his six minute symphonic composition of ‘amethyst’, a beautiful classical piece)

Dahlia Tour/Dahlia

1994 was an interesting year for X-Japan, which saw them perform at ‘The Great Musical Experience’ together with international artists such as Jon Bon Jovi, Bob Dylan, INXS and Joni Mitchell. Yoshiki also worked on some various projects, contributing to the KISS tribute album, KISS my ***, playing Black Diamond, and in June, Yoshiki released the single ‘Foreign Sand’ together with Roger Taylor of Queen. In December, X-Japan played again in the Tokyo Dome. It was more of a ‘break’ year for the band, not writing any new material.

The next year X-Japan went on their biggest tour yet, the Dahlia tour. Playing at venues all over Japan for an entire year, the Dahlia tour was also recorded and released as a live CD.

It was in November of 1996 however, that the album Dahlia was released. Received with mixed feelings, some people believed that Dahlia was X-Japans best work, while other believed it to be the opposite. Dahlia undoubtedly had a different sound from their previous albums, this due to the ‘new’ bassist, Heath, as well as the fact that hide wrote a number of songs on the album as well. That said however, because of the long wait that fans had to endure between Dahlia and their last ‘proper’ album, Dahlia was probably the fastest selling album X-Japan ever had, with more X-classics, including the title track (A personal favorite), Rusty Nail, Scars and Tears. Amidst the delight of the fans however, were rumors of tension within the band, as well as with Atlantic records (X-Japans ‘new’ record company, who they signed on with in 1993), whom detractors of the album believed pushed too hard to get the album out as fast as possible.

Recommended Tracks:

-Dahlia
-Rusty Nail
-Crucify My Love

The Last Live

On the 20th of April, 1997, Toshi announced he was leaving the band, saying that Yoshiki’s songs were not the style of singing he wanted to do. After a few months of speculation, Yoshiki announced that X-Japan would disband, as they were unable to continue without Toshi. Fans were shocked by the turn of events and many refused to believe it. Many thought that the break-up would be temporary, and something would happen to bring the band back together again. Rumor had it that Yoshiki had plans to form a new band with a new singer, together with hide.

Any plans that anyone had however were put to an end, when on the 2nd of May, 1998, hide was found dead in his apartment, after a night of heavy drinking, an apparent suicide by hanging. With no apparent motive for the suicide, the shock was huge, and four fans actually attempted to commit suicide themselves, two of them actually killing herself because of the news. There are suspicions that hide’s suicide may have been an accident: two theories saying that he might have either been doing a neck exercise or practicing for a mock stage suicide for an upcoming gig. On the day of hides’ funeral, fifty thousand people turned up to pay their respects to Japans greatest guitar player. Yoshiki flew from Los Angles back to Japan immediately after he heard the news, and the band got together one last time at the funeral to play ‘Forever Love’. Following hide's demise, Yoshiki entered a state of depression for almost three years, being unable to compose or play – during this time, he never played the drums. There and then, the legend of X-Japan came to an end, all hope of the band ever getting together again dashed. There is a hide Museum in Yokosuka in Japan, where his guitars, car and other items of interest are still displayed today.

A few members of X-Japan still continued doing music, with Pata creating his own band Ra:IN (Rock and Inspiration), Toshi was rumored to have joined a cult involving musical therapy (many believe this cult was the reason he quit the band) and singing in small concerts once in a while, and Yoshiki doing various projects, including Violet UK and Globe, as well as producing for different bands. Perhaps a testament to the ‘greatness’ of X-Japan, was the fact that in 1999, Yoshiki was asked to write and perform a song for the emperor of Japan. The Emperor liked the song so much, he even composed a poem about it. Yoshiki was again invited to the Akasaka palace in Tokyo, to dine with the emperor a year later.

Well, that’s about it, I recommend all you guys to check them out, I should however say that a few of you might not like the vocals. The Japanese accent is not one easy to get used to.

Misc:

-hide holds the world record for the longest throw of a television… from a hotel window.
-Yoshiki always asserted he had amethyst coloured blood
-Current Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he’s a fan of X-Japan
-Don’t bother trying to play the piano solo in Art of life. It requires four hands. Honestly.

Samples of songs can be found here:

http://www.geocities.com/juliesan79/index.html

Keep Rockin!

Further Reading:

X-Japan Main site: http://www.x-japan.de/main.htm

Katrin's and Chris' X Japan page: http://www.projectj.net/xjapan.htm

Art of Life Review: http://www.chaoticempire.org/artoflife.html

04-04-2005, 01:48 AM	#2
StreetlightRock MuzikMuzikMuzikMuzik Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 7,047	The Art of Life In 1993, X-Japan released the mini-album, The Art of Life. Containing one song, The Art of Life (duh) clocked in at just over 29 minutes, and was probably the best song that X-Japan ever produced. The only song Yoshiki wrote fully in English, it has been compared with Dream Theatre’s ‘A Change of Seasons’ – an indication of how epic it is. A progressive masterpiece, this song contains everything anyone could need. Staring off with a piano and guitar intro, the dreamy melody doesn’t hint at what would come next…. With a build up comparable with Stairway (not quite, but it’s good!), the song soon lurches into a fast paced fury of guitar solos and drums, the melody constantly changing, with background strings making the song blissfully epic. hides and Pata’s synchronized solos at points in the song makes for even more unique and interesting song. At around the 13 minute mark, the song slows down, to make way for the piano solo. At a length of just over 7 minutes, the piano solo is absolutely unreal. Yoshiki, Staring off with a note-by-note intro, the piece slowing begins to build itself up, with the bass part becoming ever more grand, becoming a fury of ‘wrong notes’, before breaking back into melody again. Fading out, the strings come in again, with an almost orchestral like sound, become once again lapsing into guitars and drums. The songs slows down the piano, stings, guitar and drums, altogether, carrying the song through to its end. X-Japan only ever played this song live once, and went for an amazing 34 minutes. During this year Yoshiki also worked with Beatles producer George Martin to produce Eternal Melody – was consisted of X-Japan songs arranged for classical performance. The double album was performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and also included other classical performances by Yoshiki on the piano. (Despite the ‘hard rocking’ image of Yoshiki, he absolutely loved classical music – as can be seen in his six minute symphonic composition of ‘amethyst’, a beautiful classical piece) Dahlia Tour/Dahlia 1994 was an interesting year for X-Japan, which saw them perform at ‘The Great Musical Experience’ together with international artists such as Jon Bon Jovi, Bob Dylan, INXS and Joni Mitchell. Yoshiki also worked on some various projects, contributing to the KISS tribute album, KISS my *, playing Black Diamond, and in June, Yoshiki released the single ‘Foreign Sand’ together with Roger Taylor of Queen. In December, X-Japan played again in the Tokyo Dome. It was more of a ‘break’ year for the band, not writing any new material. The next year X-Japan went on their biggest tour yet, the Dahlia tour. Playing at venues all over Japan for an entire year, the Dahlia tour was also recorded and released as a live CD. It was in November of 1996 however, that the album Dahlia was released. Received with mixed feelings, some people believed that Dahlia was X-Japans best work, while other believed it to be the opposite. Dahlia undoubtedly had a different sound from their previous albums, this due to the ‘new’ bassist, Heath, as well as the fact that hide wrote a number of songs on the album as well. That said however, because of the long wait that fans had to endure between Dahlia and their last ‘proper’ album, Dahlia was probably the fastest selling album X-Japan ever had, with more X-classics, including the title track (A personal favorite), Rusty Nail, Scars and Tears. Amidst the delight of the fans however, were rumors of tension within the band, as well as with Atlantic records (X-Japans ‘new’ record company, who they signed on with in 1993), whom detractors of the album believed pushed too hard to get the album out as fast as possible. Recommended Tracks: -Dahlia -Rusty Nail -Crucify My Love The Last Live On the 20th of April, 1997, Toshi announced he was leaving the band, saying that Yoshiki’s songs were not the style of singing he wanted to do. After a few months of speculation, Yoshiki announced that X-Japan would disband, as they were unable to continue without Toshi. Fans were shocked by the turn of events and many refused to believe it. Many thought that the break-up would be temporary, and something would happen to bring the band back together again. Rumor had it that Yoshiki had plans to form a new band with a new singer, together with hide. Any plans that anyone had however were put to an end, when on the 2nd of May, 1998, hide was found dead in his apartment, after a night of heavy drinking, an apparent suicide by hanging. With no apparent motive for the suicide, the shock was huge, and four fans actually attempted to commit suicide themselves, two of them actually killing herself because of the news. There are suspicions that hide’s suicide may have been an accident: two theories saying that he might have either been doing a neck exercise or practicing for a mock stage suicide for an upcoming gig. On the day of hides’ funeral, fifty thousand people turned up to pay their respects to Japans greatest guitar player. Yoshiki flew from Los Angles back to Japan immediately after he heard the news, and the band got together one last time at the funeral to play ‘Forever Love’. Following hide's demise, Yoshiki entered a state of depression for almost three years, being unable to compose or play – during this time, he never played the drums. There and then, the legend of X-Japan came to an end, all hope of the band ever getting together again dashed. There is a hide Museum in Yokosuka in Japan, where his guitars, car and other items of interest are still displayed today. A few members of X-Japan still continued doing music, with Pata creating his own band Ra:IN (Rock and Inspiration), Toshi was rumored to have joined a cult involving musical therapy (many believe this cult was the reason he quit the band) and singing in small concerts once in a while, and Yoshiki doing various projects, including Violet UK and Globe, as well as producing for different bands. Perhaps a testament to the ‘greatness’ of X-Japan, was the fact that in 1999, Yoshiki was asked to write and perform a song for the emperor of Japan. The Emperor liked the song so much, he even composed a poem about it. Yoshiki was again invited to the Akasaka palace in Tokyo, to dine with the emperor a year later. Well, that’s about it, I recommend all you guys to check them out, I should however say that a few of you might not like the vocals. The Japanese accent is not one easy to get used to. Misc:** -hide holds the world record for the longest throw of a television… from a hotel window. -Yoshiki always asserted he had amethyst coloured blood -Current Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he’s a fan of X-Japan -Don’t bother trying to play the piano solo in Art of life. It requires four hands. Honestly. Samples of songs can be found here: http://www.geocities.com/juliesan79/index.html Keep Rockin! Further Reading: X-Japan Main site: http://www.x-japan.de/main.htm Katrin's and Chris' X Japan page: http://www.projectj.net/xjapan.htm Art of Life Review: http://www.chaoticempire.org/artoflife.html Last edited by StreetlightRock; 11-30-2005 at 09:18 AM.