''Heart'' is the fifth album by
L'Arc-en-Ciel
, stylized as L'Arc〜en〜Ciel and abbreviated as Laruku, is a Japanese rock band formed in Osaka in 1991 by bassist Tetsuya and vocalist Hyde. Following the departure of original members Hiro and Pero, guitarist Ken and drummer Sakura were ...
, released on February 25, 1998. It is the band's first album with
yukihiro on drums and marked the band's return to mainstream attention following the arrest of the former drummer
sakura
The cherry blossom, or sakura, is the flower of trees in ''Prunus'' subgenus '' Cerasus''. ''Sakura'' usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, such as cultivars of ''Prunus serrulata'', not trees grown for their fruit (although ...
. It reached number one on the
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics
Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...
chart and sold over a million copies, being certified 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 prom ...
.
The first single to be released from this album was "
Niji".
Track listing
Personnel
*
hyde –
vocals
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
,
alto sax
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E, smaller th ...
on track 1, "master devil" on track 7
*
ken –
guitar
The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
,
autoharp
An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of t ...
on track 1,
tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...
on tracks 5 and 10
*
tetsu
Tetsu (written: 哲, 徹, 鉄 or テツ in katakana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
*, Japanese photographer
*, Japanese voice actor
*, Japanese musician
*, Japanese politician and Prime Minister of Japan ...
–
bass guitar
The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
*
yukihiro –
drums
The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
, industrial noise on track 1, metal percussion on tracks 4 and 7
* Hajime Okano –
keyboards on tracks 1, 6 and 7,
ARP 2600
The ARP 2600 is a subtractive synthesizer first produced by ARP Instruments in 1971.
History
Developed by a design team headed by ARP namesake Alan R. Pearlman and engineer Dennis Colin, the ARP 2600 was introduced in 1971 as the successor to ...
on track 8
* Hitoshi Saitou – keyboards on track 1
* Shinri Sasaki –
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
on track 2
* Chieko Kanehara – strings on tracks 2 and 10
* Shirou Sasaki – horns on track 2
* Chinpaul Gorichie – female chorus on track 2
* Hal-Oh Togashi – keyboards on track 3
* Kyoya Kimura – "devil's voice" on track 7
* Chinpaul Gilbert – "grand master devil" on track 7,
12-string guitar
A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in ...
on track 9
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
1998 albums
L'Arc-en-Ciel albums
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