Eternal Melody is the first classical studio album by Japanese musician

Yoshiki Yoshiki is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Yoshiki can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *義樹, "justice, tree" *義基, "justice, foundation" *義機, "justice, opportu ...

. It was released on April 21, 1993.

Overview

In 1991, Yoshiki released his first album, classical compilation ''Yoshiki Selection'', which included various classical works together with orchestral arrangements of songs by his band

X Japan was a Japanese rock band from Chiba, formed in 1982 by drummer and pianist Yoshiki and lead vocalist Toshi. Starting as a predominantly power/speed metal band with heavy symphonic elements, they later gravitated towards a progressive soun ...

. In 1992, inspired by Keith Jarrett's album ''

The Köln Concert ''The Concert'' is a live recording of solo piano improvisations performed by Keith Jarrett at the Opera House in Cologne (german: Köln) on 24 January 1975. The double-vinyl album was released in 1975 by ECM. It became the best-selling solo a ...

'', he began learning about

jazz improvisation Jazz improvisation is the spontaneous invention of melodic solo lines or accompaniment parts in a performance of jazz music. It is one of the defining elements of jazz. Improvisation is composing on the spot, when a singer or instrumentalist inv ...

and orchestration. Eternal Melody was recorded in February, 1993, at the Air Lyndhurst Hall recording studio in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, owned by English record producer

Sir George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the " Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Bea ...

, and mastered at Abbey Road Studios. The music was written by Yoshiki, produced by George Martin, co-arranged with

Gavin Greenaway Gavin Greenaway (born 15 June 1964) is an English music composer and conductor. He is the son of Roger Greenaway. Early life and career Educated at Strode's College and Trinity College of Music, Greenaway started working with his father befo ...

and , and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Besides including orchestral arrangements of X Japan songs, the album also contains two new songs, "Overture" and "Amethyst." Eternal Melody was followed by ''

Eternal Melody II Eternal Melody II is the second classical studio album by Japanese musician Yoshiki. It was released on March 23, 2005. Overview In 1993, Yoshiki recorded his first classical studio album, '' Eternal Melody'', in London at the studios owned by ...

'' in 2005.

Release

The album was released on April 21, 1993, by

Toshiba-EMI , formerly , was one of Japan's leading music companies. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of British music company EMI Group Ltd. on June 30, 2007, after Toshiba sold off its previous 45% stake. Its CEO and president was Kazuhiko Koike. When ...

. It reached number six on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in ...

charts in the first week of May, selling 83,740 copies. The following week, it dropped to number nine, with 31,940 copies sold, and in the third week it dropped to number fourteen, with 15,050 copies sold. In the fourth week, it dropped to number twenty five, selling 9,030 copies. The album charted for six weeks in total. It was re-released on December 27, 2001, by Polydor.

Single release

On November 3, two singles written and co-produced by Yoshiki were released: "Amethyst" and "Ima wo Dakishimete", with the second being a karaoke adaptation of the second orchestral song from the first single, which wasn't included in the album. The first single was released by Toshiba-EMI, as the single of London Philharmonic Orchestra, and co-produced by George Martin, while the second single was released by

BMG Japan Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music co ...

, and name credit went to TBS, as was the theme song for their drama ''Tetteiteki ni Ai wa...'', and co-produced with drama director Endo Tamaki (from TBS). In the third week of November, the singles reached number five and three on the charts, with sales of 74,740 and 85,610 copies, respectively. They charted for five and eighteen weeks, respectively. In 1994, "Ima wo Dakishimete" was the 35th annual best-selling single, with sales of 581,610 copies, and won the "Excellence award" at the ''

36th Japan Record Awards The 36th Japan Record Awards were held on December 31, 1994, and were broadcast live on TBS. Award winners *Japan Record Award: **Takeshi Kobayashi (producer), Kazutoshi Sakurai (Songwriter and Composer) & Mr. Children for " Innocent World" *Bes ...

''. The song "Amethyst" was included in his second classical compilation, ''Yoshiki Selection II'', and with "Ima wo Dakishimete" in his second classical studio album, ''Eternal Melody II''.

Track listing

Recording personnel

* Arrangers: George Martin, Gavin Greenaway, Graham Preskett * Recording, mixing engineer: Bendoru Hayden * Assistant engineers: Steve Orchard, Jeff Foster * Mastering engineer: Chris Blair (Abbey Road Studios) * Performed: London Philharmonic Orchestra

References

{{Authority control 1993 debut albums 1993 classical albums Yoshiki (musician) albums Albums produced by George Martin Albums arranged by George Martin