''Break Through'' is the third studio album by the Japanese rock duo

B'z is a Japanese rock duo consisting of guitarist, composer and producer Takahiro "Tak" Matsumoto and vocalist and lyricist Koshi Inaba,佐伯明『B'z ウルトラクロニクル』ソニー・マガジンズ、2003年。新型光�B'zはなぜ� ...

. The album debuted at number 3 on the Oricon Weekly Albums Chart, being their last studio album not to reach number 1. It sold 41,700 copies in its first week and sold a total of 724,640 copies during its chart run. It was eventually certified Million by the

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include prom ...

in January 1994. Both ''Break Through'' and its follow-up, '' Risky'', are considered the band's most synth-heavy albums. These albums also mark the only time that two albums from the band were released in the same year. "Lady-Go-Round" was the only single released from the album.

Style

Some of the songs on the album, most notably "B.U.M" and "Hey Brother", incorporate elements of hip-hop and rap alongside the pop rock sound of their previous albums, styles which the band would seldom, if ever, use again. As for the lyrics, vocalist

Koshi Inaba is a Japanese singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock duo B'z, the best-selling music act in their native Japan. He also has a successful solo career, with six studio albums and ...

stated that, in order to develop his own lyrical style, he incorporated language and tones that normally wouldn't fit rock music.

Reception

CDJournal described the sound of the album as "a danceable one that makes full use of digital beats", while also praising the band for "inject ngtheir own pop sensibility into it, creating an emotional presence."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes."Break Through" liner notes. Air Records. 1990 B'z *

– vocals *

Tak Matsumoto is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist and main composer of the Rock music, rock duo B'z, the List of best-selling music artists in Japan, best-selling music act in their native Japan by certif ...

– guitars,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

Additional Musicians * Jun Aoyama – drums on tracks 4–5, 9, 11 * Takanobu Masuda – keyboard on "Stardust Train" * Yuiko Tsubokura – backing vocals on "Lady-Go-Round" and "Love & Chain" * Kaoru Abe – backing vocals *

Masao Akashi was a Japanese music arranger in distributors Being Inc., mainly in their label B-Gram Records. In 1988, he debuted as arranger in debut single '' Dakara Sono Te wo Hanashite'' by Japanese hard-rock band B'z. By 1998, his arrangement work had ...

– backing vocals * Yoko Hiromoto – backing vocals Production *

– production, arrangement * Masayuki Nomura – mixing, recording engineer * Masahiro Shimada – recording engineer * Takayuki Ichikawa – recording, assistant engineer * Machiko Suzue – mastering engineer * Yasuo Sasaki – assistant engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

B'z albums at the official site
1990 albums B'z albums 1990s Japanese-language albums {{1990s-hard-rock-album-stub