''Magic'' is the seventeenth studio album by the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese rock duo B'z, released on November 18, 2009. A limited edition was released featuring a bonus DVD with the video "Magical Backstage Tour 2009" (videos of recording sessions, live footage of their performance at

Summer Sonic The , also known as Supersonic, is an annual two- or three-day rock festival held at the same time in Osaka and Chiba, Japan. The majority of the bands playing in Osaka the first day go to Chiba the following day and vice versa. The line-up co ...

09 and more). It was preceded by two singles: " Ichibu to Zenbu/Dive" and "

My Lonely Town "My Lonely Town" is the forty-seventh single by B'z, released on October 14, 2009. The single features an original song and a ballad version of the previous single as b-sides. In addition, the single was also released in a limited edition, coming ...

." "Ichibu to Zenbu" was used as the

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially b ...

drama

Buzzer Beat is a Fuji TV Japanese television drama starring Tomohisa Yamashita, Keiko Kitagawa, and Saki Aibu. The series primarily focuses on two characters, Naoki Kamiya ( Tomohisa Yamashita), a professional basketball player, and Riko Shirakawa (Keiko K ...

's theme song, and "Dive" was used as a CM song for the

Suzuki Swift The is a supermini car ( B-segment) produced by Suzuki. The vehicle is classified as a B-segment marque in the European single market, a segment referred to as a supermini in the British Isles. Prior to this, the "Swift" nameplate had been a ...

advertising campaign. The album track "Pray" served as the theme to the Japanese film Tajomaru, which was released to Japanese theaters in September 2009. On the release date of the album, it was reported that another album track, "Long Time No See," would serve as the theme to Salaryman Kintaro 2, which is set to begin airing in January 2010 on

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Compan ...

. ''Magic'' debuted at No. 1 on the Japanese

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 ...

weekly album charts with its initial week sales of around 341,000 copies. The album became their 24th number-one album on Oricon charts. The album is also certified Double Platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of Japan 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 pr ...

(RIAJ) for shipment of 500,000 copies.

Production and information

Following their year-long tour in support of their twentieth anniversary in 2008, B'z went on break before returning to the studio. After vacationing in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, the duo reunited and began work on the album. A color advertisement was printed to announce the album, which was included in the morning editions of Yomiuri,

Asahi Asahi (朝日, 旭, or あさひ) means "morning sun" in Japanese and may refer to: Cities * Asahi, Chiba (旭市; ''Asahi-shi'') Wards * Asahi-ku, Osaka (旭区; ''Asahi-ku'') * Asahi-ku, Yokohama (旭; ''Asahi-ku'') Towns * Asahi, Aichi (旭� ...

, Chunichi,

Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain, a predecessor of Shizuoka Prefecture ...

, and Hokkaido newspapers, on September 28, 2009. Aside from announcing the album, information regarding the 2010 tour and the release date of the then-upcoming single, "

," were detailed. The DVD included in the special limited edition contains the documentary "Magical Backstage Tour 2009" that follows the band as they record in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

. Live recordings of the Showcase concert events from July through August 2009 are also included, as well as their performance at the Japanese music festival

. On September 30, 2009, B'z appeared on Japanese radio station bayfm in order to celebrate the station's twentieth anniversary. The show was referred to as a "B'z Special" that served as an introspective and a platform for which to preview the new album. Several songs from Magic were broadcast for the first time with comments interspersed by the band. On November 2, the show was made available via a portal on the bayfm website, and it was later reported that over 10,000 listeners had heard the recorded broadcast within the first day of it being online. The opening track, labeled "Introduction," was a guitar instrumental requested by Inaba once the rest of the album had been completed. This track was designed to merge into the opening of the second track, "Dive," which had previously been on the album's first single. The slow

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

opening of the single version was removed to provide a more seamless crossover from the end of the introduction track. The album contains two

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romance (love), romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn m ...

s, one of which is the previously-heard "Pray" along with "Tiny Drops," which was debuted on the bayfm radio show. The double A-side single of "Ichibu to Zenbu/Dive" and that of "My Lonely Town" are also included in the album, and upon their releases, became the band's record 42nd and 43rd consecutive #1 singles on

charts. Additionally, the final track of the album, "Freedom Train," was actually the first to be recorded.

Track listing

All lyrics written by

Koshi Inaba (born September 23, 1964 in Tsuyama, Okayama) is a Japanese vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He is best known as the singer and lyricist of the rock duo B'z, the best-selling music act in their native Japan. He has also had a su ...

, all music composed by

Tak Matsumoto is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist and main composer of the Rock music, rock duo B'z, the List of best-selling music artists in Japan, best-selling music act in their native Japan. He also ...

alongside arrangement by Koshi Inaba, Tak Matsumoto, and Hideyuki Terachi.

Charts

Singles (Oricon Singles Chart)

Singles (Billboard Japan Hot 100)

"Ichibu to Zenbu/Dive" is a Double A-Side single, but Japan Hot 100 includes only "Ichibu to Zenbu".

Certifications

References

External links

B'z official Web site
{{Authority control B'z albums Being Inc. albums 2009 albums Japanese-language albums