Samayoeru Aoi Dangan
| Samayoeru Aoi Dangan | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by B'z | ||||
| Released | April 4, 1998 | |||
| Promotions | #1 ("Pocari Sweat" CM Theme) #1 ("J-Rock Artist Count Down 50" ED Theme) #2 ("Formula Nippon" Fuji TV Theme) | |||
| Length | 8:01 | |||
| Label | Rooms Records | |||
| Producer | Tak Matsumoto | |||
| B'z singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Samayoeru Aoi Dangan (さまよえる蒼い弾丸, Wandering Sapphire Bullet) is the twenty-fourth single by B'z, released on April 4, 1998. Although a non-album single by definition, it was shortly thereafter collected on the band's first best-of collection, B'z The Best "Pleasure", as the final track. The collection, released to coincide with the band's tenth anniversary year, became the highest selling album in Japanese history, with sales in excess of 5,000,000 copies.
Two additional versions of the title song exist. The first is a re-recorded version found on the 2007 international EP and the latest came in the form of an English version from the band's debut English album in 2012. The former was an entirely re-recorded version of the original with no lyrics changes that was also rearranged to resemble their most recent live rendition of the song. Given that the EP was only released in Western territories, it remains one of the few B'z songs unreleased in Japan. The latest edition of the song is a fully reimagined English version, retitled to "Into Free -Dangan-" and released worldwide on iTunes as a digital single on April 4, 2012. The English version was premiered the previous summer during B'z LIVE-GYM 2011 -long time no see- and served as the theme song to the Capcom video game Dragon's Dogma in the spring of 2012.
This single marked the first involvement of Shinichiro Ohta with the band.
Upon release, "Samayoeru Aoi Dangan" sold over 400,000 copies in its first week on shelves, which was enough to earn it the top spot on the Weekly Oricon Singles chart and become their twentieth consecutive to do so. It remained on the charts for eight weeks prior to being certified a Million seller by the Recording Industry Association of Japan.
Track listing
- Samayoeru Aoi Dangan — Wandering Blue Bullet, さまよえる蒼い弾丸
- Hi
Personnel
B'z
- Tak Matsumoto: Guitar, Music Composition, Arrangement
- Koshi Inaba: Vocals, Lyric Composition, Arrangement
Drums
- Hideo Yamaki
Bass
- Masao Akashi
Production
- Akira Onozuka: Hammond Organ
- Daisuke Ikeda: Synthesizer (TRACK 2)
- Shinichiro Ohta: Chorus (TRACK 2)
- B.B.IKKIES: Chorus (TRACK 2)