Eternal Melody is the first classical studio album by Japanese musician Yoshiki. 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 is a Japanese Rock music, rock band from Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, formed in 1982 by drummer and pianist Yoshiki (musician), Yoshiki and lead vocalist Toshi (musician), Toshi. Starting as a predominantly power metal, power/speed metal band with ...

. In 1992, inspired by

Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd (jazz musician), Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also be ...

's album ''

The Köln Concert ''The Concert'' (TKC) is a live solo double album by pianist Keith Jarrett recorded at the Cologne Opera#The opera house, Opera House in Cologne, Köln, West Germany, on 24 January 1975 and released on ECM Records later that year. It is the bes ...

'', he began learning about jazz improvisation and

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

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

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, 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 Beatle ...

, and mastered at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

. The music was written by Yoshiki, produced by George Martin, co-arranged with Gavin Greenaway and Graham Preskett, and performed by the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

. 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'' 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. Wh ...

. 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 Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

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, 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 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