''Image'' is the second studio album by Japanese

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Luna Sea Luna Sea (stylized as LUNA SEA) is a Japanese Rock music, rock band formed in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1986. Due to the use of make-up and costumes early in their career and their widespread popularity, they are considered one of the most success ...

, released on May 21, 1992. It is their major label debut on

MCA Victor MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

, reached number nine on the

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon Albu ...

, and charted for 14 weeks. In 2000, it was certified Platinum by the

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include p ...

for sales over 400,000.

Overview

The album was supported by the Image or Real, its three date encore, and After the Image tours for a total of 25 shows and an accumulative audience of 28,500. The song "Search For Reason" is re-recorded from their 1989 demo "Shade". "Vampire's Talk" was originally titled "Feeling", and "In Mind" was titled "Sinful Song". This recording of "Moon" is a longer, reworked version of the song from their debut album ''

''. Guitarist

Sugizo , born and better known by his stage name Sugizo, is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, composer and record producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist and violinist of the rock band Luna Sea since 1989. Sugizo started his solo care ...

cited "Wish" as one of the songs wherein he tried to replicate the "

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...

feel of

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...

bands" by using effects, "like playing fast with a

wah-wah pedal A wah-wah pedal, or simply wah pedal, is a type of electric guitar effects pedal that alters the tone and frequencies of the guitar signal to create a distinctive sound, mimicking the human voice saying the onomatopoeic name "wah-wah". The p ...

, or using

tape-echo Delay is an audio signal processing technique that records an input signal to a storage medium and then plays it back after a period of time. When the delayed playback is mixed with the live audio, it creates an echo-like effect, whereby the or ...

and

harmonizer Pitch shifting is a sound recording technique in which the original pitch of a sound is raised or lowered. Effects units that raise or lower pitch by a pre-designated musical interval ( transposition) are called pitch shifters. Pitch and ti ...

s. I couldn’t figure out how they did it, so I just made it into my own thing." "Déjàvu" and "Wish" were both re-recorded by the band for the 2000 compilation album ''

Period -the Best Selection- ''Period -the Best Selection-'' is a compilation album by Japanese rock band Luna Sea, released on December 23, 2000, prior to their "Final Act" concerts. All tracks were remastered from their original versions, and tracks 11-13 & 15 were re-recor ...

''. ''Image'' was remastered and re-released by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

on December 5, 2007, it came with a DVD of the promotional video for "Déjàvu". This version reached number 189 on the Oricon chart. "Déjàvu" was also covered by

Mucc is a Japanese visual kei rock band, formed in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1997. The classic line up of Tatsuro on vocals, Miya on guitar, Yukke on bass, and Satochi on drums was solidified in 1999 following the departure of original bassist Hiro. Af ...

for the 2007 '' Luna Sea Memorial Cover Album -Re:birth-''. This album's version of "Moon" was covered by

Masami Tsuchiya is a Japanese singer-songwriter and musician, coming to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and guitarist in the group Ippu-Do. His subsequent output includes solo work and collaborations. Tsuchiya's career in music started with ...

for the 2007 ''Luna Sea Memorial Cover Album -Re:birth-''. "Wish" was covered by Sid for the 2007 ''Luna Sea Memorial Cover Album -Re:birth-''. Luna Sea's first Lunatic X'Mas 2018 -Introduction to the 30th Anniversary- concert at

Saitama Super Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It opened preliminarily on May 5, 2000, and then was officially opened on September 1 of the same year. Its maximum spectator capacity is 36,500, making i ...

on December 22, 2018 was subtitled Image or Real after the album's 1992 tour. There they performed some songs that had not been played since the original tour. ''Image'' and the band's seven other major label studio albums, up to '' Luv'', were released on vinyl record for the first time on May 29, 2019.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Ryuichi, except "Wish" by Ryuichi and J.

Personnel

;Luna Sea *

Vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...

: Ryuichi *

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

*Guitar:

Inoran , better known exclusively by his stage name Inoran, is a Japanese musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Luna Sea since 1986. He started his solo career in 1997. Luna Sea disba ...

* Bass: J *

Drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

: Shinya ;Additional performers *Chorus: Yurie Kokubu, Kaoru Akimoto *Chorus arrangement: Hidekazu Tokumitsu ;Production *Producer and arranger: Luna Sea *Executive producers: Masatoshi Sakanoue (Sweet Child), Seiichiro Ishihara, Takafumi Muraki (Victor Invitation) *Supervisor: Hiroyuki Iwata *Director: Yoshiyuki Maki, Akira Sekiguchi (Victor Invitation) *Recorder, mixer: Masayuki Nakahara (Victor Studio) *Additional engineers: Hirokazu Akashi (Victor Studio), Shigetoshi Saito (Victor Studio) *Mastering engineer: Hiroshi Kawasaki (Victor Studio) *Assistant engineers: Masayuki Oka (Victor Studio), Tomoaki Sato (Victor Vincent), Takashi Kondo (Victor Vincent), Terushi Maruyama (Magnet Studio), Osamu Konishi (Den Music Studio), Akihiro Sano (Studio EGM), Minoru Yasuda (Freedom Studio), Toshio Tanabe (RMC Studio), Shigeru Matsumura (MIT Studio), Satoru Arai (Echo House) *Sound effects: Keishi Urata, Tsuyoshi Kon, Kunihiko Tominaga, Manabu Ogasawara, Tsutomu Nakayama *Sound adviser: Kazutaka Minemori *Drum tuner: Yukihiro Sugimoto *Adviser: Toshihiro Nara *Art direction & graphic design: Sakaguchi Ken Factory *Design coordinator: Tatsuo Sato *Photography: Bruno Dayan *Hair & make-up: Tetsuya Kameyama *Stylist: Sayuri Chihara *Costumes: Mikako Ohhara *Cover model: Sakuraku K. *Shinya's model: Sayuri Ichiyo *Sugizo's doll: Katan Amano, Ryoichi Yoshida *A & R coordinator: Nobuhiro Sonoyama (Sweet Child) *Artist management: Yoshiki Okiyama (Sweet Child), Masato Takahashi (Sweet Child), Eriko Murata (Sweet Child) *Road crew: Yosuke Narita, Keisuke Takimoto, Jyunzi Sakuma *Official fan club Slave: Orie Murasaki, Naoe Tanimoto :Personnel per album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

.''Image'' liner notes, 1992-05-21. Retrieved 2013-10-25.

References

{{Authority control Luna Sea albums 1992 albums