B'z The Best XXV 1999-2012

B'z The Best XXV 1999-2012
Compilation album by B'z
Released	June 12, 2013
Genre	Rock
Length	1:58:23; Disc 1 - 1:03:27; Disc 2 - 58:29
Label	Vermillion Records
Producer	Tak Matsumoto
B'z chronology

The band during the video for "Q&A", one of the two new songs found on the collection. The song was also featured as an opening theme for the Detective Conan series.

Being the first compilation by the band since their respective individual releases, singles "Ichibu to Zenbu/DIVE" and "Don't Wanna Lie" are collected here for the first time.

The compilation is the fourth to include "Konya Tsuki no Mieru Oka ni", and the first to house non-album single "GO FOR IT, BABY -Kioku no Sanmyaku-".

Moment from the famous promotional video for mega hit "OCEAN", released on home video here for the very first time. The video, filmed on the sea with support from the Japanese Coast Guard, is one of the band's most recognizable.

B'z The Best XXV 1999-2012 is a compilation album by B'z released on June 12, 2013 as part of the band's 25th anniversary celebration. It is the second of a two album set collecting the band's first fifty singles, with its companion album B'z The Best XXV 1988-1998 being released the same day. As with its brethren, the album was issued in both standard and limited editions, with the latter being coupled with a bonus DVD collecting all of the promotional videos for the included singles. In addition to singles from the mentioned years, each album contained two brand new tracks unreleased elsewhere while the limited editions featured a new video for one of the bonus songs. Found packaged in this collection are the bonus tracks of "Q&A" and "Utopia", with a video for "Q&A" being featured on the limited edition.

The singles compiled here constitute all twenty-six songs released by the band from 1999 to 2012. The forty-sixth through fiftieth singles, starting with "Ichibu to Zenbu/DIVE" and through "GO FOR IT, BABY -Kioku no Sanmyaku-", were collected here on a B'z compilation for the first time. Additionally, it was also the first appearance of the single version of "DIVE" on a B'z album of any sort.

On April 8, 2013, "Q&A" was announced as the next opening theme to the Detective Conan anime series, beginning with the May 4 airing. This was the band's first contribution to the anime since "Don't Wanna Lie" served as both an opening to the television series and the theme to the then-latest movie, Quarter of Silence. Selected lyrics, such as the titular "Question! Answer!", were included on screen alongside recognizable characters from the series. Unlike with the band's previous tie-in with the franchise, B'z themselves do not appear in the opening and instead utilized an entirely separate music video. The dedicated music video, running at over six minutes in length, is among the longest B'z videos, and features a story written around the theme of "Question! Answer!". The video also became another of the B'z video catalogue to employ special effects, and also involved extensive stunt work.

Later, on June 9, "Utopia" was announced as the theme song to the TV Asahi drama "DOCTORS 2". Simultaneously, the band offered their first glimpse of the song with the addition of a short promotional video for for the song to their YouTube channel. Being only ninety seconds in length, the video was not included in the limited edition of the compilation and is only available for streaming.

Upon release, B'z The Best XXV 1999-2012 debuted right behind its sister album at the top of the Weekly Oricon Albums chart, with both exceeding sales of 370,000 copies and being certified Platinum within just three days. The release of the two albums came three days prior to the beginning of the band's 25th anniversary tour, B'z LIVE-GYM Pleasure 2013 -ENDLESS SUMMER-. The tour was announced with stops all over the whole of Japan prior to a pair of final shows at Nissan Stadium on September 21 and 22.

Production and information

This collection marked the first occasion in which the band released many of their music videos for home consumption. Notably, all footage has been remastered and restored for the greatest possible video fidelity. While the vast majority made their home video debut on this release, the final four—"MY LONELY TOWN", "Sayonara Kizu Darake no Hibi yo", "Don't Wanna Lie", and "GO FOR IT, BABY -Kioku no Sanmyaku-"—had been previously released in limited editions for their respective singles. The videos for "Sayonara Kizu Darake no Hibi yo" and "Don't Wanna Lie" saw additional releases on the DVD packaged with the limited edition of the band's then-latest studio album, C'mon, as well.

At the time of the albums' announcement, B'z made 90 second clips available for the videos of all 50 singles for the very first time via their official YouTube channel. In addition, in the week preceding the release, a special program known as the "B'z 25th Anniversary Digest 1988-2013" was aired on Japanese streaming website Niconico. Upon completion of the airing, the video was made available for fans worldwide on YouTube. Clocking in at over 43 minutes, the video contains samples of all of the band's music videos, as well as a number of highlights from their many live performances and backstage footage.

Special Live Promotion

Prior to release, it was announced that Japanese TV production station TV Asahi would be opening a new venue in the coming winter known as the EX THEATER ROPPONGI. To commemorate the occasion, B'z was to hold a special, smaller scale show as the debut performance for the new venue with only twin pairs of 850 tickets available. In order to gain entry to the shows, fans were required to register cards contained in their copies of both B'z The Best XXV sets. One code from each was required, with the show set for November 30, 2013. Additionally, TV Asahi would also use "ultra soul" from the collection as the theme to their "World Swimming Barcelona 2013" coverage. The resulting show B'z Special LIVE at EX THEATER ROPPONGI resulted in a very diverse setlist that contained a great many gems that hadn't been played live in some time, the stage debut of a new song, and a memorial cover of the 1985 LOUDNESS song "Crazy Nights".

Track listing

All music and guitar by Tak Matsumoto. All lyrics and vocals by Koshi Inaba.

Disc 1 (1999-2005)

Disc 2 (2006-2012)

Brand New Tracks

Q&A
A hard rock tune, "Q&A" was made as an opening theme to the "Detective Conan" television anime series, for which B'z has contributed numerous songs over the years. The music video of the song is over 6 minutes in length with a number of story cutscenes interspliced between the band performing. The song also features a bass solo near the end, something of a rarity for B'z works.
Utopia
The last of the four new songs from the XXV releases, "Utopia" was also the last to be publicly unveiled. It became one of the few B'z songs to receive a dedicated short promotional video when one was uploaded for it on June 9, 2013.

Limited Edition (2CD+DVD)

The limited edition of the compilation comes packed with a bonus DVD that, for the first time, brings together the promotional videos prepared for all of the twenty-six included singles as well as a brand new video for the exclusive song "Q&A".

Contents

26 Remastered Music Videos — 「girigiri chop」 through 「GO FOR IT, BABY -Kioku no Sanmyaku-」

Brand New Music Video — 「Q&A」