''Versus'' is the third, and second full-length album, by

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 band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

Mr. Children , commonly referred to by their contracted nickname , are a Japanese pop rock band formed in 1989. Consisting of Kazutoshi Sakurai, Kenichi Tahara, Keisuke Nakagawa, and Hideya Suzuki, they made their major label debut in 1992. They are one of t ...

released on September 1, 1993. The album debuted 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 ...

music charts at #3 and sold 802,140 copies during its run on the chart. Just like the previous two albums, ''Versus'' contains only one single released on July 1, 1993, titled " Replay" with another album track "And I close to you" also being included in Mr. Children's fourth single " Cross Road". ''Versus'' also marked the first time use of Takeshi Kobayashi as a writer and composer for Mr. Children.

Track listing

Personnel

Kazutoshi Sakurai is a Japanese musician. He composes and writes almost all of the songs for his band Mr. Children, in addition to writing lyrics and singing for his solo project group Bank Band. In 2006, Sakurai ranked No. 8 in HMV's "Top 30 Best Japanese Singe ...

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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 ...

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 ...

Kenichi Tahara is a Japanese musician. He plays lead guitar in the band Mr. Children. Early life He was born in Fukuoka, and moved to Nakano, Tokyo. He attended Komae Daini Junior High School in Tokyo, where he met the other future band members Keisuke Nakagaw ...

– guitar *

Keisuke Nakagawa is a Japanese musician. He plays bass guitar in the band Mr. Children. Early life He attended Komae Daini Junior High School in Tokyo, where he met the other future band members Kenichi Tahara is a Japanese musician. He plays lead guitar in t ...

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bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

Hideya Suzuki , commonly referred to by their contracted nickname , are a Japanese pop rock band formed in 1989. Consisting of Kazutoshi Sakurai, Kenichi Tahara, Keisuke Nakagawa, and Hideya Suzuki, they made their major label debut in 1992. They are one of t ...

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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 ...

, vocals * Carol Steele -

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 ...

* Takuo Yamamoto -

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

baritone sax The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

* Yoichi Murata -

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

* Toshio Araki -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

Production

Production credits for album:"Versus" album booklet, Toy's Factory (1993) * Producer - Takeshi Kobyashi * Executive producer - Takamitsu Ide, Mitsunori Kadoike * Recording - Kunihiko Imai, Hiroshi Hiranuma, and Doug Conroy * Mixing - Hiroshi Hiranuma, Kunihiko Imai * Brass arrangement - Takuo Yamamoto * A&R chief - Koichi Inaba * A&R director - Makoto Nakanishi, Katsumi Shinohara * Computer programming - Ken Matsumoto * Assistant engineering - Greg Digesu, Jeff Mauriello, Kenji Nagashima, Yoshitaka Shirahata, Kei Kosaka, and Tomoaki Sato * Recording - Waterfront Studios, Tokyo Hilton Hotel, Hitokuchizaka Studio, and Avaco Studio * Mixed at - Peninsula, Studio Vincent * Mastering - Gateway Mastering * Mastered by - Bob Ludwig * U.S production supervision - Kaz Hayashida * Account Administration - Jeff Schwartz and Rupert Gray * Translator - Rika Nakaya * Recording co-ordination - Akira Yasukawa * Promotion - Naoki Imoto * Sales promotion - Masayuki Nakagawa * Art Direction - Mitsuo Shindo * Designer - Satoshi Nakamura * Photographer - Meisa Fujishiro * Stylist - Hiroko Umeyama * Marine coordinator - Masato Nagai * Artist management - Isao Tanuma and Kazushiro Miura * Desk management - Tomoko Okada * Production management - Tetsuhiko /nono * Production co-ordination - Harumi Oshima * P.R management - Chikane Kumagai

Footnotes

*a. Kunihiko Imai is credited for mixing and recording the song "Replay" only. *b. For the song "Main Street ni ikou" and "Toubousha".

References

{{Authority control 1993 albums Mr. Children albums Albums produced by Takeshi Kobayashi 1990s Japanese-language albums