L’Arc-en-Ciel - Awake (2005)
Awake by L’Arc-en-Ciel
Biography
L’Arc-en-Ciel (raruku an shieru?, “the arc in the sky” or “the rainbow” in French) is a popular Japanese rock band, formed in 1991. The group has sold over 15 million albums, 30 million singles, and millions of other units, such as videos.
In February of 1991, bassist Tetsuya Ogawa (Tetsu), later band leader, recruited vocalist Hyde along with guitarist Hiro and drummer Pero, and formed a band under the name of L’Arc-en-Ciel. After a year of gaining notoriety in their hometown of Osaka, Hiro left the band on June 12, 1992. Pero soon followed on December 30 of the same year, supposedly to join up with his friend Hiro again. To replace the two, Tetsu convinced his friend Ken Kitamura to quit his university studies (he was an architecture major at The Nagoya Institute of Technology) and join the band as the guitarist. Later, a new drummer, Yasunori Sakurazawa, was recruited after Tetsu saw him perform in a few shows.
On April 1, 1993, the band released their debut album Dune under the indie label Danger Crue. The album was a success and rose to number one on the Oricon indies charts, catching the attention of some major labels. In 1994, L’Arc-en-Ciel signed on with Sony’s Ki/oon division, releasing their second album, Tierra that same year. Heavenly followed in 1995, and True, their first million seller, was released in 1996.
In February 1997, drummer Sakura was arrested for illegal drug possession, and officially quit the band on October 4, 1997. This proved to be the lowest point in the band’s history. When news of Sakura’s arrest became public, there was an immediate official response. CDs were removed from the shelves and any of their songs that were used as theme songs were quickly replaced, such as “The Fourth Avenue Cafe” for Rurouni Kenshin which was immediately replaced with former theme “Heart of Sword” after only six episodes of running time. Although L’Arc-en-Ciel’s latest album True remained on the charts for two years, their next single “The Fourth Avenue Cafe” was postponed. It was eventually released in 2006.
In 1997, “Niji“, the first single after Sakura’s departure, was released with Yukihiro listed as a supporting member. Not long after the release of the single, Yukihiro was signed on as the official drummer for L’Arc-en-Ciel. In 1998, L’Arc-en-Ciel released the album Heart.
L’Arc-en-Ciel released three more albums of new material during the next few years. Ark and Ray were released simultaneously on July 1, 1999, and became the first Japanese albums to be released simultaneously in many other Asian countries. Both topped the Oricon music charts, with Ark occupying number one and Ray at number two. The release of ark and ray marked the high point of the band’s career, with each selling over two million copies.
Real followed in 2000, which was the last CD of new material for some time, although many more compilation and remix albums would follow. L’Arc-en-Ciel’s last new song before their hiatus, “Spirit Dreams Inside“, was the closing theme song to the movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.
In June 2003, L’Arc-en-Ciel performed a series of seven concerts in Tokyo called the Shibuya Seven Days, during which they announced a new album for release the following year. The band released “Ready Steady Go” in February 2004, its first single in more than three years. It topped Oricon charts and was used as an opening for a popular anime series, Fullmetal Alchemist. The single was followed by “Hitomi no Juunin“, in early March. The album, Smile, was released on March 31. Shortly afterwards, on June 2, 2004, the single “Jiyuu e no Shoutai” introduced P’unk-en-Ciel, a partial change, for the first time on CD with “Milky Way“. In the past, the band also played a punk version of “Round and Round” live.
In 2005, the band released various singles, including “Killing Me“, “New World“, and “Jojoushi“. These were later featured on their latest album, Awake, which was released on June 22 with twelve tracks, including “Lost Heaven“, the closing theme of the Fullmetal Alchemist movie. The band’s single, “Link“, released on July 20, 2005, was also featured in the movie as the opening theme, but has not appeared on an album yet.
@taken form wikipedia.org
Killing me
Awake album tracklists are:
