SUPER LOVE SONG
| SUPER LOVE SONG | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by B'z | ||||
| from the album ACTION | ||||
| Released | October 3, 2007 | |||
| Promotions | #3 ("Burnout Dominator") #3 ("JAPAN COUNTDOWN" October Theme) | |||
| Length | 11:07 | |||
| Label | Vermillion Records | |||
| Producer | Tak Matsumoto | |||
| B'z singles chronology | ||||
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SUPER LOVE SONG is the forty-forth single by B'z, released on October 3, 2007. Along with the year's earlier single "Eien no Tsubasa", it would first be collected on the band's sixteenth studio album, ACTION, prior to being added to 2008's 20th anniversary compilation B'z The Best ULTRA Pleasure.
During B'z SHOWCASE 2007 -19-, "SUPER LOVE SONG" would become one of the few B'z songs to be premiered live ahead of its unveiling through official channels. The song would be used to open shows for B'z throughout the summer at all dates of the aforementioned tour as well as B'z SHOWCASE 2007 -B'z In Your Town- and their appearance at SUMMER SONIC 2007.
A promotional video was filmed for the single featuring American drummer Jeremy Colson and Robert DeLeo of the Stone Temple Pilots on bass, who both also played for the studio version. The video made use of computer-generated imagery and featured only the band members. Although it was not included on the limited edition that included a DVD—which instead featured a live performance of the song—it was aired on multiple music channels at the time of release. In addition, B'z performed the song twice on television as promotion: the first a week prior to release on "HEY!HEY!HEY!", and again on a "Music Station" special on October 24th.
While the title song of the single was not used as a tie-in promotion, the second B-side, "FRICTION", was included on the soundtrack of the Electronic Arts racing video game "Burnout Dominator" in all regions. The game saw its release in Western territories in March before being released in Japan in late September. The song was also used as the theme to music show "JAPAN COUNTDOWN" for the month of October. Earlier in the year, the song was available internationally on iTunes as part of the game's soundtrack beginning in April, making it available well before the other two tracks on the single. As of December 2012, the song is no longer available on international iTunes stores. However, the song would also appear in another installment of the same video game series when it was included in 2009's "Burnout Paradise". This was the band's first original English composition since 2005's "Brighter Day" and was their latest game tie-in until "Into Free -Dangan-" served as the global theme to the 2012's Dragon's Dogma.
"SUPER LOVE SONG" premiered at the top of the Oricon Weekly Singles and was the fortieth consecutive for the band to do so. The single would sell over 180,000 physical copies in its first week of release and go on to be certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan while finishing nineteenth overall for the year of 2007.
On November 19, 2007, one month after the single's release, B'z made history when they became the first Asian artists to be inducted to Hollywood's RockWalk in Los Angeles, California.
Track listing
- SUPER LOVE SONG
- Although the song as we know it is a hard rock number, this wasn't always the case. Production on the song began in Los Angeles in January with it originally intended to be of a much slower tempo. The early days of recording what would become ACTION were rough for the band, with Tak expressing in a "CLOSE UP" interview: "We had a slump unlike anything before." Koshi noted that, to overcome the initial slump for the album's session, they started "doing music with a different feel to it. With that, we started to get the rhythm—what we call the 'recording rhythm'." The band were satisfied with the result and premiered it live in the summer of the same year.
- Kokokara — From Here, ここから
- The B-side featured a Mellotron being played by famed specialist Patrick Warren. The song was not included on ACTION when the accompanying studio album hit shelves in December and to date has never been played live.
- FRICTION
- A song with entirely English lyrics, it was written for the Electronic Arts video game "Burnout Dominator". The song was recorded in Tokyo with the band's mainstay Canadian drummer Shane Gaalaas being credited with advising the English lyrics. While this original version can only be found here, an updated rendition with re-recorded vocals and an altered arrangement can be found on ACTION under the title of "FRICTION -LAP 2-".
- Limited Edition (CD+DVD):
- 「SUPER LOVE SONG」 Live Performance
- From B'z SHOWCASE 2007 -19- at Zepp Tokyo, filmed on June 21, 2007. The show would be released on DVD as a bonus disc included in a special edition of B'z The Best ULTRA Treasure. In 2010, it was made available on Blu-ray in a double package with B'z LIVE in Namba 2006.
Personnel
B'z
- Tak Matsumoto: Guitar, Music Composition, Arrangement
- Koshi Inaba: Vocals, Lyric Composition, Arrangement
Drums
- Jeremy Colson (Tracks 1, 2)
- Shane Gaalaas (Track 3), English Lyrics Advising (Track 3)
Bass
- Robert DeLeo (Tracks 1, 2)
- Akihito Tokunaga (Track 3)
Keyboards
- Akira Onozuka: Piano (Tracks 1, 2)
- Patrick Warren (Track 2)
Production
- TAMA MUSIC Strings: Strings (Track 2)
- Daisuke Ikeda: Programming
- Hideyuki Terachi: Programming (Tracks 1, 2)
- Jay Baumgardner: Mixing (NRG Recording)
- Howie Weinberg: Mastering