ALONE
| ALONE | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by B'z | ||||
| from the album IN THE LIFE | ||||
| Released | October 30, 1991 | |||
| Promotions | #1 ("Hotel Woman" Theme) | |||
| Length | 9:50 | |||
| Label | BMG Rooms (1991) Vermillion Records (2003 Remaster) | |||
| Producer | Tak Matsumoto | |||
| B'z singles chronology | ||||
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ALONE is the ninth single by B'z, released on October 30, 1991. The sole single from their album from the same year IN THE LIFE, the single became a standout hit and became one of the band's many million selling singles. With the launch of this single, the subsequent album, and their growing catalogue of hits, B'z earned the title of the artist with the most discs sold for the year of 1991.
The success and fame of the song has led to it being one of their most collected songs. The only alternate version by the band was first found on IN THE LIFE, which features the English chorus from the song performed a capella to open the track. This version would also later be collected on The Ballads ~Love & B'z~ in 2002. The original single version of the song would be collected on B'z The Best "Pleasure" in 1998, B'z The Best "ULTRA Pleasure" in 2008, and B'z The Best XXV 1988-1998 in 2013.
Despite the song's popularity, live performances of it have typically been reserved only for special occasions. The most iconic performance came during the encore of B'z LIVE-GYM Pleasure'95 "BUZZ!!", in which Koshi played a grand piano that rose from beneath the stage with Tak standing atop it. This performance was featured in full on home video as part of the concert film "BUZZ!!" THE MOVIE in 1996. "ALONE" was then retired until B'z LIVE-GYM Pleasure 2000 "juice" five years later, and would not be heard again from the band until B'z LIVE-GYM 2005 "CIRCLE OF ROCK". In the years since, it has not yet been revived during any proceeding tours.
No promotional video was filmed for the single's release, though there was a tie-in with a Fuji TV drama titled "Onna no Kigyou Suspense: Hotel Woman" where the title song served as the show's theme. In recent years, when "ALONE" has been highlighted for compilation commercials and on television programs, the performance from "BUZZ!!" THE MOVIE has assumed the role of a promotional video. In 1992, a karaoke version of the song was released on the band's first karaoke album.
The single was simultaneously remastered and re-released on March 26, 2003 along with nine other of the band's older singles and the then-latest single, "IT'S SHOWTIME!!". On the daily chart at launch, B'z held a monopoly over the chart's top eleven slots, with the new single ranking at the top and the re-issues covering the remaining ten. Ultimately, B'z would set a record that week for holding nine of the Top 10 slots for the week of release, with "ALONE" coming in eighth place.
The legacy of the title song for this single is that of one of the band's best-regarded and best-remembered works. Upon release in fall of 1991, the single debuted at number one and held onto the spot for two weeks despite healthy competition. It became the second of the band's singles to reach one million copies after "LADY NAVIGATION" and achieved a number of sales milestones in its time on shelves, having been certified Triple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan and receiving Oricon's Million certification as well.
In 2012, friend of the band and fellow rock musician Eric Martin released an English cover of the song as part of his Mr. Vocalist series. This newly English rendition retained the arrangement of the original as well as the English chorus but also featured a new solo by Stevie Salas, who had frequently collaborated with Koshi on his solo work previously.
Track listing
- ALONE
- Although it is now considered one of the band's quintessential ballads, Tak initially wanted "Mou Ichido Kiss Shitakatta" to serve as the ballad single from IN THE LIFE. He went on to say of the song: "That sort of major rock ballad had become characteristic for rock bands. That was a type of music that I, as well as Inaba, wanted to explore." The composition was something Tak worked on while on the road for B'z LIVE-GYM '90~'91 "RISKY", and ultimately took a great deal of time and effort to get right. While extremely popular, it is rarely played live, instead being reserved for special occasions. In a poll asking which songs fans would most like to see performed during the twentieth anniversary tour, "ALONE" was the fifth most requested, but was not included in the final setlist. The performance of the song highlighted on "BUZZ!!" THE MOVIE is considered the quintessential version by the majority of fans. In the album version, the final English chorus is used to open the song without any instrumental support.
- GO-GO-GIRLS
- Self-cover of a song Tak and Koshi wrote for female artist Yuiko Tsubokura, who had released her own version three months earlier on her album I Wanna Be Myself and also provided backing vocals for this recording. As such, the lyrics in the song are from a female perspective. To date, it is only available on this single and has not been collected elsewhere.
Personnel
B'z
- Tak Matsumoto: Guitar, Music Composition, Arrangement, Chorus (Track 1)
- Koshi Inaba: Vocals, Lyric Composition, Chorus (Track 1)
Support Members
- Ikkoh Tanaka: Drums (Track 1)
- Jun Aoyama: Drums (Track 2)
- Akira Onozuka from DIMENSION: Keyboards (Track 1)
- Yuiko Tsubokura: Chorus (Track 2)
- B+U+M
Production
- Masao Akashi: Arrangement, Manipulator (Track 1)
- Chris Bellman: Remastering (2003 reissue, Bernie Grundman Mastering L.A., U.S.A.)