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With this being the 25th anniversary year for B’z, we have decided to run a series of retrospectives throughout the year celebrating the band’s achievements and accomplishments. Essentially, we will be providing extensive write-ups on certain B’z albums, singles, tours, and related subjects on a regular basis for the entire year. All articles pertaining to this feature will also be simultaneously archived in the B’z Wiki for posterity.

Today, we’re looking back into the very near past for an in-depth look at the recent English album B’z, with as much information as you could possibly want on the recent English songs!

Should you prefer to read this article in Wiki form, you can do so right here!

B’z (English Album)

B’z is the self-titled debut English album by B’z, released worldwide via iTunes on July 25, 2012. The five-track album contains new English reversions of a selection of popular B’z singles released between 1998 and 2006. The newly-written English lyrics were a collaboration between Koshi and longtime drummer of the band, Shane Gaalaas. Along with Cory Churko, Shane was entrusted with mixing of the album due to the band’s trust in his familiarity with the B’z sound and vision.

“Love Bomb”, an English version of 2005 B’z single “Ai no Bakudan”, served as the opening track to the album as well as the theme to a summer campaign for Pepsi NEX in Japan. Months before, the closing track “Into Free -Dangan-” was made the global theme to the Capcom video game Dragon’s Dogma and was released as a digital single on April 3, 2012.

The release was supported by B’z LIVE-GYM 2012 -Into Free-, a seven date tour of both coasts of the United States and Canada in the fall of 2012. All songs were performed on the tour, with “Splash”, “Juice”, and “Into Free -Dangan-” having debuted in the setlist to the previous year’s tour, B’z LIVE-GYM 2011 -long time no see-.
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As with every year, B’z has posted a message for their fans on the official fanclub’s website. B’z is now truly 25 years old as the band was founded in 1988. Look forward to those three upcoming LIVE-GYM releases and let’s see what the band has got in store for us this year!

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Koshi and Tak have set down with Japanese magazine “WHAT’s IN?” and shared their favorite albums in 2012. Interestingly enough, Tak’s #5 is one of his own works: Strings Of My Soul. That’s a rather odd choice. Why would he choose his own album as #5?

Here are Koshi and Tak’s favorite albums of 2012:

Tak Matsumoto

1. Aerosmith / Music from Another Dimension
2. One Direction / Up All Night
3. The Derek Trucks Band / Already Free
4. Adam Rogers / Sight
5. Tak Matsumoto / Strings Of My Soul

Koshi Inaba

1. The Big Pink / Future This
2. Led Zeppelin / Celebration Day
3. Soundgarden / King Animal
4. Sakanaction / DocumentaLy
5. Tak Matsumoto / Strings Of My Soul

What are your favorite albums of 2012? Share them with us in the comments! We wish you all a merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Feature

With this being the 25th anniversary year for B’z, we have decided to run a series of retrospectives throughout the year celebrating the band’s achievements and accomplishments. Essentially, we will be providing extensive write-ups on certain B’z albums, singles, tours, and related subjects on a regular basis for the entire year. All articles pertaining to this feature will also be simultaneously archived in the B’z Wiki for posterity.

Today, we will be begin by looking back at the seminal B’z album RUNon what is today its 20th birthday! To this day, the album remains an undisputed milestone in the B’z catalogue.

RUN

RUN  is the sixth studio album by B’z, released on October 28, 1992. The album is one of many for the band to not just launch at number one, but to also sell in excess of 1,000,000 copies in only its first week on shelves. When it made its way to the public, RUN served to showcase even more that B’z was a rock band above all else. Continuing on from the hard rock sound sampled well in the previous album IN THE LIFE, much of the sound here would shape the image of B’z for years to come. The album was supported by B’z LIVE-GYM ’93 “RUN” and is one of the few B’z albums from which every song has been played live. Several of the songs found on the album, including the sole single, “ZERO”, have become staples of B’z live shows over the years and remain beloved by fans.

The titular track “RUN” has been performed live at almost every Pleasure LIVE-GYM since its release, including the 15th anniversary tour in 2003 and the 20th anniversary tour in 2008, and has typically been used to close out shows with a positive and inspirational message. The song was also voted onto the fan-selected best-of collection B’z The Best “Treasure” in 1998, where it was re-recorded in contemporary rock form to showcase the band’s growth and labeled “1998 style”, as well as B’z The Best “ULTRA Treasure” ten years later in 2008.

Many of the album songs went on to become beloved fan-favorites, including the up-tempo rock number “Out Of Control”, which was revived after fourteen years of not being performed live for SHOWCASE 2007 -19-. “NATIVE DANCE” has been included in three Pleasure setlists since its release, including GLORY DAYS. “Sayonara Nanka wa Iwasenai” (Don’t Say the Word Goodbye) was used to close out the album’s LIVE-GYM as well as that of Pleasure’93. It, along with fellow album track “Gekkou” and the aforementioned “RUN”, was voted onto the band’s second 20th anniversary album B’z The Best “ULTRA Treasure”. In addition, “Gekkou” was also previously included on The Ballads ~Love & B’z~ in 2002.

Uniquely, almost all of the songs from the album became the subject of English demos. None of these versions were ever officially released and remain accessible to fans only in leaked form. Judging by the demos available, the only songs to not receive English renditions were “THE GAMBLER”, “Akai Kagerou”, and “Sayonara Nanka wa Iwasenai”. (more…)

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Be With! Vol 94 Cover

We are sure it’s been a while since you’ve read a full interview with B’z that was exclusive to fanclub members. Keen used to translate bits here and there which would also reveal funny bits about the band. We are striving to do the same. In Be With! Vol. 94 the band talks about their collaboration with Kim Hyun Joong, the release of the LIVE-GYM 2011 DVD and their ongoing collaboration with Pepsi!

You can find the interview in our B’z wiki: http://bzwiki.offthelock.com/Be_With!_Vol._94_(June_2012)

I have received Be With! Vol. 95 yesterday and will start translating the interview soon. The interview in this issue was conducted right after the Pepsi NEX PREMIUM LIVE, so they’re also going to talk about that. Once I’ve done that, I will also translate music video shooting diaries, backstage reports and such. This depends on the issue. I’ll start with volume 95 and work my way through all the older ones.

Stay tuned! And don’t forget to keep the hype going!

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At the end of July, we finally got to see what B’z had been working on in their recent studio ventures. From those sessions came the five songs that would make up the worldwide release that formed the band’s debut English album, but at the time, we weren’t privy to the official lyrics with it being a digital release and all. Now, that is no longer a concern, thanks to the latest installment of the band’s official fanclub magazine, Be With! Vol. 95!

Of course, we’ve updated the corresponding B’z Wiki pages on all of the songs with the final lyrics. For a shortcut, click the title of the song you want to check out below!

1. Love Bomb

2. Splash

3. Juice

4. Ultra Soul

5. Into Free -Dangan-