B'z (English Album)

B'z
Studio album by B'z
Released	July 25, 2012
Recorded	2012
Genre	Hard rock
Length	20:21
Label	Vermillion Records
Producer	Tak Matsumoto
B'z chronology
C'mon (2011) B'z (2012)
Singles from B'z
Into Free -Dangan- Released: April 4, 2012

B'z is the self-titled debut English album by B'z, released worldwide via iTunes on July 25, 2012. The five-track album contains new English reversions of popular B'z singles released between 2000 and 2006. The newly-written English lyrics were a collaboration between Koshi and longtime drummer of the band, Shane Gaalaas. Along with Cory Churko, Shane was entrusted to participate in the mixing of the album due to the band's trust in his familiarity with the B'z sound and vision.

"Love Bomb", an English version of 2005 B'z single "Ai no Bakudan", served as the opening track to the album as well as the theme to a summer campaign for Pepsi NEX in Japan. Months before, the closing track "Into Free -Dangan-" was made the theme to the Capcom video game Dragon's Dogma and was included in all editions of the game on a global basis.

The release was supported by B'z LIVE-GYM 2012 -Into Free-, a seven date tour of both coasts of the United States and Canada in the fall of 2012. All songs were performed on the tour, with "Splash", "Juice", and "Into Free -Dangan-" having debuted in the setlist to the previous year's tour, B'z LIVE-GYM 2011 -long time no see-.

Production and information

Speculation of an English album had been ripe since the summer of 2011, when the band's brief B'z LIVE-GYM 2011 -long time no see- tour brought them back to the United States and Canada for the first time in eight years. On the tour, English versions of fan favorites "Samayoeru Aoi Dangan", "juice", "SPLASH!", and "Brotherhood" were premiered to much praise. It would not be until the end of the year that news of the band's next foreign venture would be realized, when a studio version of the intro to what would become "Into Free -Dangan-" was uploaded as a teaser video on the band's official website. The video contained footage of various highlights from the previous year and closed with the message "2012 - Into the Beginning".

On February 1, 2012, the silence was again broken when a joint announcement was made with video game company Capcom stating that "Into Free -Dangan-" would serve as the global theme to the upcoming game Dragon's Dogma. Simultaneously, the official B'z website was updated with a sample of the song now serving as the intro video. Shortly thereafter, a trailer with footage from Dragon's Dogma was released with a shortened version of the song playing alongside scenes from the game.

“

It wasn’t enough material to release it in a full package, and they’re just English versions of already existing songs, after all. And considering that, we thought it’d be best to offer a digital download of what we’ve produced. It’s comfortable for everybody to get it and we were able to release it quickly. It’s also a good way to see how we do on a global scale.

”

Track listing

All music and guitar by Tak Matsumoto. All vocals by Koshi Inaba with English lyrics co-written by Koshi Inaba with Shane Gaalaas.

1. Love Bomb — Original: Ai no Bakudan (2005)

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2. Splash — Original: SPLASH! (2006)

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3. Juice — Original: juice (2000)

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4. Ultra Soul — Original: ultra soul (2001)

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5. Into Free -Dangan- — Original: Samayoeru Aoi Dangan (1998)

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B'z LIVE-GYM 2012 -Into Free-

B'z LIVE-GYM 2012 -Into Free- was a LIVE-GYM tour by B'z that toured both coasts of the United States and Canada. The tour began with a show in San Francisco on September 17, 2012 and concluded with a seventh show in Los Angeles on October 7th, 2012, that was streamed live for fans all over the world at no cost. This tour was the first in which B'z performed on the east coast of the United States, with shows in both Maryland and New York.

All five songs from the English album were included in the setlist for the tour, along with a number of classics not played in a number of years. This tour marked the first time that "GO FOR IT, BABY -Kioku no Sanymaku-" had been played live and was also the first time since 2006 that "Shoudou" had been performed by the band.

At the close of the Los Angeles stream, B'z LIVE-GYM 2012 -Into Free- EXTRA was announced as a Japanese extension of the North American tour. The extension provided four dates that allowed for fans back home to get a chance to see the show live, with shows at four different locations, including Budokan and Osaka Jo Hall. The setlist retained all of the songs originally included in the North American tour, but added "Itoshii Hito yo Good Night..." and "HEAT", the song that B'z recently wrote for Korean artist Kim Hyun Joong.

Personnel

B'z

• Tak Matsumoto: Guitar, Music Composition, Arrangement
• Koshi Inaba: Vocals, Lyric Composition, Arrangement

Drums

• Shane Gaalaas: Drums, Lyric Composition, Mixing

Production

• Cory Churko: Mixing

Full personnel information is pending a physical release or official announcement.