is a song by Japanese musician hide, released sixteen years after his death. Originally demoed in 1998, the track was finished utilizing

Vocaloid is a singing voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project led by Kenmochi Hideki at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, in 2000 and was not originally intended to b ...

technology to mimic the artist's voice. It was included on a compilation album of the same name that was released on December 10, 2014 by

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

. It reached number 2 on the weekly

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

chart and was the 81st best-selling album for the year 2015.

Background and completion

"Co Gal" was originally intended to be included on what became hide's last album, ''

Ja, Zoo ''Ja, Zoo'' is the third album by Japanese musician hide, released on November 21, 1998. It is also his last studio album as he died on May 2 while recording it, and the only one released under the name hide with Spread Beaver. It is his best-se ...

'' released posthumously in November 1998. However, the artist died on May 2 before completing it, leaving only a

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

and written lyrics under the working titles of or . These lyrics were displayed at the hide Museum in his hometown of

Yokosuka is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 409,478, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city ...

from 2000 to 2005. As the title suggests, the song satirizes the Japanese fashion trend that was popular in the 1990s. It was actually performed by hide's band Spread Beaver on the 1998 Tribal Ja, Zoo Tour, which the surviving members undertook using recordings. One such performance was included on 2005's ''hide with Spread Beaver Appear!! "1998 Tribal Ja,Zoo"'' DVD, with bassist Chirolyn providing the vocals. In a process that took two years,

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

utilized their

technology to mimic the deceased musician's voice and complete the song after receiving an offer by Universal Music Japan. His actual voice, breathing sounds and other cues were extracted from previously released songs and the demo (which features alternate lyrics) and combined with the synthesized voice. hide's friend and Spread Beaver bandmate INA then made further alterations. Kenji Arakawa, a spokesman for Yamaha, said he believes this to be the first time a work by a deceased artist is commercially available and includes the dead person singing lyrics completed after their death.

Release

"Co Gal" was released on December 10, 2014 by Universal in celebration of what would have been hide's 50th birthday. It was coupled with fifteen of his most popular songs, which were remastered and listed as "bonus tracks". The limited edition with a different cover also features hide's original demo of the song and a DVD of music videos and three television performances from the show ''Pop Jam''. A music video for "Co Gal" created using unreleased footage of recording sessions in Los Angeles combined with previously seen material is also included. An Ultimate High Quality CD version of the album was given a limited release on December 9, 2015.

Track listing

References

External links

Teaser of the music video for "Co Gal"
{{Hide (musician) 2014 compilation albums Japanese-language albums Compilation albums published posthumously Vocaloid songs Hide (musician) albums