''Mars'' is the first full-length studio album released by Japanese solo artist
Gackt
, better known as Gackt (stylized in all caps), is a Japanese singer-songwriter, musician, record producer and actor.
Born in Okinawa Prefecture, Okinawa to a Ryukyuan people, Ryukyuan family, Gackt learned the piano at a young age and was rai ...
. It was released on April 26, 2000.
Release
The album was released on April 26, 2000, by
Nippon Crown
is a Japanese record label established as Crown Records on 6 September 1963. It is a spin-off of Nippon Columbia and is owned by karaoke maker Daiichikosho. The record label singles which topped the Oricon Singles Chart are Kaze's "22-Sai no ...
. In the second counting week of May, it reached number three 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, with sales of 153,500 copies. In the upcoming week, it was at the number sixteen, with sales of 23,540 copies. It charted for only five weeks. Since its release, the album has sold more than 200,000 copies. It was certified gold by
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 2000.
Preceding the release of the album was the release of three singles, "
Vanilla
Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia'').
''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...
", "
Mirror
A mirror, also known as a looking glass, is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror forms an image of whatever is in front of it, which is then focused through the lens of the eye or a camera ...
", and "
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment With 248,360 copies sold, it was the 89th best-selling single of the year, and it was certified Gold by
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 ...
. The single was later re-released in 2002. It charted for six weeks, reaching number twelve, with sales of 19,220 copies.
The second single, "Mirror", reached number nine on the third counting week of February 2000, with sales of 76,690 copies. It charted for 6 weeks, and sold over 116,770 copies. The third single, "Oasis", reached number seven on the fourth counting week of February 2000, with sales of 84,690 copies. It charted for 6 weeks, and sold over 126,280 copies.
Promotion
was the first live tour of Gackt. It was released on
VHS
VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s.
Ma ...
on October 4, 2000, and on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
on November 11, 2000. Lawson sold a special backstage report titled ''Mars ~Sora Kara no Hōmon-sha~ Kiseki'' on November 27, 2000. The VHS contained making-of videos for all of the special screens used in the show. The video recording of the final concert was filmed on June 1, 2000, at the
Yokohama Arena
is an indoor arena located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 17,000 and was opened in 1989. The arena was modeled after US sports venue Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is a five-minute walk from the ...
.
Track listing
Notes
* While not sung in any actual language, the album's booklet still provides lyrics for the song "Ares".
*"Asrun Dream" was inspired by the Japanese manga series ''
Banana Fish
''Banana Fish'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akimi Yoshida. It was originally serialized from May 1985 to April 1994 in '' Bessatsu Shōjo Comic'', a manga magazine publishing manga (girls ...
'' by Akimi Yoshida. The song was written from the perspective of the main character Ash (born as Aslan, pronounced ''Asuran'' or ''Asrun'' in Japanese) as he watches his friend Eiji sleep.
* "Emu ~for my dear~" and "U+K" were written in memory of Gackt's friend and
Malice Mizer
Malice Mizer (stylized as MALICE MIZER) was a Japanese visual kei Rock music, rock band active from 1992 to 2001. The band was notable for their music and their live shows, featuring lavish historical costumes and stage sets, with short silent ...
member
Kami
are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...
.
* "Dears" was used as the background music in a " Gundam the Ride" commercial.
* An acoustic re-recording of "Dears" later appeared on the 2005 album ''
Love Letter
A love letter is an expression of love in written form. However delivered, the letter may be anything from a short and simple message of love to a lengthy explanation and description of feelings.
History
One of the oldest references to a l ...
''.
Album credits
; Personnel
*
Vocals
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
,
Piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
: Gackt
*
Guitar
The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
,
Violin
The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
: You
*Guitar: Masa Shinozaki
*Effects, Guitar: Nao Kimura
*
Bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Wood
* Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
Chachamaru
, is a Japanese guitarist, singer-songwriter, arranger and producer. Usually referred to by his stage name Chachamaru, little is known about his early years and personal life. Besides being a member and collaborator with various bands and musi ...
Drums
The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
: Kota Igarashi (by the courtesy of
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...
Cello
The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...
: Masami Horisawa
*”M-9” Chorus:
Junko Hirotani
, better known by her birth name, , was a Japanese singer.
Biography
Junko Hirotani was born in Tokyo on 17 October 1956.Profile ...