is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

from Yuki Saito, released on June 21, 1985, by

Canyon Records Canyon Records of Phoenix, Arizona, is a record label that has produced and distributed Native American music for 56 years. History Canyon was founded in 1951 by Ray and Mary Boley, who had opened the first recording studio in Phoenix, Arizon ...

. It reached #6 on the Oricon charts, and has been repackaged and rereleased twice. It contains six original songs and four which had previously been released as singles.

History

''Axia'' was released on LP and

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette (format) (or ''cassette tape''), a format that contains magnetic tape for audio, video, and data storage and playback * Compact Cassette, a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ...

on June 21, 1985, by

. The album was released two weeks later on CD on July 5, 1985. The album collects four songs released previously as singles as well as six additional songs. It reached #3 on the Oricon charts and sold 287,000 copies. , released as a single with , reached #6 on the Oricon charts, and #6 on

The Best Ten , was a Japanese music chart television program broadcast on TBS Television (Japan), TBS Television from 1978 to 1989. The weekly shows were broadcast live on Thursdays. During its broadcast history, the air time and day changed only once. Each e ...

chart. "Sotsugyō" was composed by

Kyōhei Tsutsumi (born Eikichi Watanabe, 28 May 1940 - 7 October 2020), was a Japanese composer, record producer and arranger. Tsutsumi began his career as a songwriter about 1966, and he came to prominence as a composer of Ayumi Ishida's chart-topping hit "Blu ...

, arranged by

Satoshi Takebe is a Japanese musician, keyboard player, arranger, music director and producer from Tokyo. Music career He is the composer, keyboardist, arranger, and musical producer for artists such as Yo Hitoto, Miki Imai, Tomomi Kahara, JUJU, Yuzu, and ...

, with lyrics by Takashi Matsumoto. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, , was composed by Tsutsumi, arranged by

Masataka Matsutoya is a Japanese arranger, composer, music producer, and motor journalist. He currently resides in Setagaya, Tokyo. He is a graduate of Keio Senior High School and Keio University (literature department). His wife is singer-songwriter, composer, and ...

, with lyrics by Matsumoto.These individuals are all listed on the album cover as well as the label on the vinyl EP itself. "Seishun" was used in commercials for the home video release of the

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

1985 drama series in which Saito starred. was released as a single with , reaching #5 on the Oricon charts and #10 on The Best Ten chart. "Shiroi Honō" had lyrics by

Yukinojō Mori , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese lyricist, composer and poet who is affiliated with Amuse, Inc. He has written over 2,500 songs for numerous artists such as Kyosuke Himuro, Takuro Yoshida and Junichi Inagaki and theme songs ...

, with the music composed by

Kōji Tamaki is a Japanese singer-songwriter and actor. He has been well known as frontman of the rock band Anzen Chitai that debuted in 1982 and enjoyed a successful career, particularly during the 1980s. In the 1990s, he also began his career as a solo a ...

and arranged by Takebe. "Shabon-iro no Natsu" also has lyrics by Mori, and was composed by Toshio Kamei and arranged by Takebe. It was used as the theme song for the first ''

Sukeban Deka is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shinji Wada. It was serialized in ''Hana to Yume'' from 1975 to 1982 and collected into 22 volumes. has been adapted into three live-action television series, an original video ...

'' television drama series, in which Saito also starred as the main character, Saki. was used in commercials for the Axia brand of

cassette tapes Cassette, also known as cassette tape, refers to a small plastic unit containing a length of magnetic tape on two reels. The design was created to replicate the way a reel-to-reel machine works with tape moving from one reel to another while bein ...

from

Fujifilm , trading as , or simply Fuji, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the areas of photography, optics, Office supplies, office and Biomedical engine ...

in Japan. Natsuo Giniro composed the song and wrote the lyrics, and Takebe arranged the music. ''Axia'' has been rereleased twice since the original release in 1985. It was released as a "Gold CD" on March 21, 1989 (catalog #D35A-0476), and in a special paper jacket packaging and remastered high quality (or "HQ") CD on August 5, 2009 (catalog #PCCA-50132).

Chart history

Track listing

LP (catalog #C28A0416, released June 21, 1985)
Cassette (catalog #28P6438, released June 21, 1985) CD (catalog #D32A-0096, released July 5, 1985)
Gold CD (catalog #D35A-0476, released March 21, 1989)
HQ CD (catalog #PCCA-50132, released August 5, 2009)

Notes

References

{{Authority control 1985 debut albums Pony Canyon albums Yuki Saito (actress) albums