''Luna Sea'' is the debut 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 April 21, 1991 by

Extasy Records Extasy Records is a Japanese record label founded in April 1986 by Yoshiki Hayashi, co-founder of the heavy metal band X Japan. The label's first release was X's 1986 single "Orgasm". Over the next few years, the label signed several then-lit ...

. It sold over 30,000 copies by July 1992. After reuniting in 2010, Luna Sea re-recorded the whole album and released it on March 16, 2011 through HPQ.

Overview

At a sold-out February 11, 1991 concert at Meguro Rock-May-Kan, Lunacy were discovered by

X Japan was a Japanese rock band from Chiba, formed in 1982 by drummer and pianist Yoshiki and lead vocalist Toshi. Starting as a predominantly power/speed metal band with heavy symphonic elements, they later gravitated towards a progressive soun ...

guitarist hide and were signed by X Japan co-founder

Yoshiki Yoshiki is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Yoshiki can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *義樹, "justice, tree" *義基, "justice, foundation" *義機, "justice, opportu ...

to his

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

. The band changed their name from Lunacy to Luna Sea and took part in the label's sold out Nuclear Fusion Tour in March with Gilles de Rais and Sighs of Love Potion. On the tour, a 3-track sample CD including a song from each band was freely distributed, to which they contributed a short sample of "Precious". Their self-titled debut album was released on April 21, 1991. In support of the record, they held their first nationwide tour Under the New Moon, which started on June 13 and was separated into two legs or "Episodes" with a final concert held on September 19. However, a third leg of 17 shows was performed from October 13 to December 30. ''Luna Sea'' is the band's only release on an indie label as they signed to

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 ...

for their second album, 1992's ''

Image An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...

''. The album's cover photo was taken in Inokashira Park in the winter. "Time is Dead" is a re-written version of "Sexual" (later called "Sexual ") from their 1989 demo tape "Lunacy". It is the first original song that J ever wrote. "Shade" was re-recorded from their 1989 demo of the same name. is translated as "Almost Transparent Blue," which comes from the

Ryū Murakami is a Japanese novelist, short story writer, essayist, and filmmaker. His novels explore human nature through themes of disillusionment, drug use, surrealism, murder, and war, set against the dark backdrop of Japan. His best known novels are ''Al ...

novel of the same name. A longer, reworked version of "Moon" was recorded for their second album ''Image''. "Precious..." was re-recorded 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 ...

''. It was also covered by Merry for the 2007 '' Luna Sea Memorial Cover Album -Re:birth-''. The album was remastered by

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography Ted ...

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. This edition came with a DVD which contained live promotional videos for the songs "Moon" and "Precious...", that were recorded at

Nippon Seinenkan The is a hotel and convention complex in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The main hall can accommodate 1,360 guests. Performances Musical artists who have performed at the Nippon Seinenkan include Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku, on July 1, 2012. Others inclu ...

on September 19, 1991. It reached number 123 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 ...

Track listing

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

Personnel

;Luna Sea *

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

: 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 ...

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 ...

*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 ...

: Shinya ;Production *Producer and arranger: Luna Sea *Engineers: Yoshiaki Kondo, Takao Okimoto, Atsushi Tanaka *Direction: Mr. Hattori, Makoto Ebina, Akihiro Nagasaka *Jacket design and photos: Miss Saori Tsuji *Costume coordinator: Miss Sayuri Chihara *Hair stylist: Tetsuya Endo *Road crew: Ippei Kuwabara, Seiji Noro, Atsushi Naito, Yosuke Narita, Kenichi Nanba :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 ...

2011 re-recording

In 2011, the band re-recorded the whole album and released it on March 16 on their new label HPQ, which is owned by

Avex Group is a Japanese entertainment conglomerate led by founder Max Matsuura and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1988, the company manages J-pop talents like Ayumi Hamasaki and internet sensation PikoTaro. It has also shifted into other busi ...

. When asked why they chose to re-record the album,

said "It’s sort of like returning to our origins. After ten years, we have to recreate ourselves, and going back to something as original and basic as our first album is part of the process. It’s very important to be able to recapture that feeling, and to recreate it with our current skills to show how we’ve improved over the years.", and Ryuichi added "The sound we have now has a similar feeling to our first album." It is notable that the version of "Moon" that appears on the re-recording is of the longer version of the song from their second album, ''Image''. It was released in three editions; a regular, a limited with a DVD of a music video for "Shade" that uses footage from their Lunacy Kurofuku Gentei Gig ~the Holy Night~ free concert on December 25, 2010, and a premium which includes a reproduction cassette of their 1989 demo "Shade" and a reproduction shirt from their 1991 Under the New Moon Episode I-III tours. The album reached number six on the Oricon Albums Chart and charted for seven weeks.

Track listing

Personnel

;Luna Sea *Vocals:Ryuichi *Guitar,

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 ...

: Sugizo *Guitar: Inoran *Bass: J *Drums: Shinya ;Production *Producer: Luna Sea *Keyboard and sound effect programmer: Daisuke "d-kiku" Kikuchi *Recording and mixing engineer: Hitoshi Hiruma *Recording engineers: Kenichi Arai, Masaaki Tsuya (Kamome Studio), Tasumasa Yamashita, Akinori Kaizaki *Recording assistant engineers: Yosuke Watanabe (Victor Studio), Junpei Ohno (Studio Sound Dali), Masayoshi Shinomiya (Studio Sound Dali), Tomotaka Saka (Wonder Station) *Mixing assistant engineer: Yujiro Yonetsu (Prime Sound Studio Form) *Mastering engineer: Ted Jensen (Sterling Sound) *Mastering coordinator: Tsuyoshi Niwa (Sterling Sound) *Additional mastering engineer: Kazushige Yamazaki (Flair Mastering), Ayako Kawamoto (Flair Mastering) *Art direction and design: Shizuka Aikawa (Avex Marketing Inc.) *Photograph: Yosuke Komatsu (Odd Job, Ltd.) *Hair and Make up: Hirokazu Niwa (Maroonbrand), Hisako Araki (Octbre), Hiroshi Miyagi (Squash) *Stylists: Yohei Usami (bNm), Bun, Saori *Executive producers: Masatoshi Sakanoue (Luna Sea Inc.), Masato "Max" Matsuura (Avex Group) *English lyric translations: Jessica Polichetti :Personnel per album's

.''Luna Sea'' (2011) liner notes, 2011-03-16. Retrieved 2013-06-12.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Luna Sea albums 1991 debut albums Luna Sea (2011, Re-recorded) Luna Sea (2011, Re-recorded) Extasy Records albums