''Vanishing Vision'' is the debut studio album by Japanese heavy metal 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 ...

, then known as simply X. It was released on April 14, 1988 by

Extasy Records Extasy Records is a Japanese record label founded in April 1986 by Yoshiki Hayashi, co-founder of the heavy metal band X Japan. The label's first release was X's 1986 single "Orgasm". Over the next few years, the label signed several then-li ...

, topped 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 ...

indies chart and reached number 19 on the main chart.

Overview

''Vanishing Vision'' was released on

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, ...

on April 14, 1988 on Yoshiki's own label

. Despite being an

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

, it sold more than ten thousand copies, topping Oricon's indie music chart. But it also reached number 19 on the main

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon A ...

, making them the first indie band to enter the main chart. A limited pressing of five thousand

picture disc Picture discs are gramophone record, gramophone (phonograph) records that show images on their playing surface, rather than being of plain black or colored vinyl. Collectors traditionally reserve the term picture disc for records with graphics ...

s was also made, that included a separate

flexi disc The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable. ...

of "Stab Me in the Back". This version of the song was originally included on the February 1987

Victor Records The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer, incorporated in 1901. Victor was an independent enterprise until 1929 when it was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and became ...

sampler ''Skull Thrash Zone Volume I'', was recorded with Pata as a support guitar player, and is different from the one that would later appear on their third album ''

Jealousy Jealousy generally refers to the thoughts or feelings of Emotional insecurity, insecurity, fear, and concern over a relative lack of possessions or safety. Jealousy can consist of one or more emotions such as anger, resentment, inadequacy, he ...

'' in 1991. The band toured extensively in support of the record, beginning with Vanishing Tour '88 Spring throughout March and into early April. Vanishing Tour Vol.2 took them to 20 locations for 24 shows from June to July, while the Burn Out Tour '88 Oct. had 12 performances throughout October. A September 4 show at Kyoto Sports Valley, is a popular

bootleg recording A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. Making and distributing such recordings is known as ''bootlegging''. Recordings may be copied and traded ...

of the tour, however, only audio of "Stab Me in the Back" from it was officially released, being included on the 1999 '' Perfect Best'' compilation. ''Vanishing Vision'' was re-released on CD on October 15, 1989. This was after the release of the band's second album '' Blue Blood'' on the major label

CBS/Sony , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is operat ...

. In 1990, with 158,220 copies sold ''Vanishing Vision'' was the 78th best-selling album of the year, and stayed on the charts for 47 weeks. By 1997, it had sold over 800,000 copies. A digitally remastered CD version was released on September 13, 2000 by

Warner Music Japan Warner Music Group (WMG) owns, has a joint share, or is associated with the record labels listed here. Flagship labels *Atlantic Records *Elektra Records *Parlophone Records *Warner Records Atlantic Music Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * A ...

Composition and analysis

The album's title, ''Vanishing Vision'', was chosen to mean the band was shedding the shameless image they had acquired for a fresh start. Its cover art drawn by Shiro Nishiguchi was inspired by the track "Sadistic Desire", with input from each band member. Yoshiki said that "Vanishing Love," which has roughly half Japanese and half English lyrics, represents human weakness. The other members pointed out that despite being a fast song, the twin guitars and melody are more important. "Phantom of Guilt" has a 16-beat rhythm with lyrics, according to Toshi, about conflict within the human spirit. "Sadistic Desire" is a song from hide's previous band Saver Tiger, originally called "Sadistic Emotion." Yoshiki rewrote the lyrics about violent sex, inspired by the 1986 film '' Blue Velvet''. Unusually, Taiji played the bass with his fingers for the track and it contains something of a bass solo. An alternate version of the song would later appear on X's 1991 single "

Silent Jealousy "Silent Jealousy" is a single released by X Japan (then named X) on September 11, 1991. Summary The song's structure is comparable to " Kurenai", opening with a calm intro, performed on a single instrument, followed by a speed metal composition ...

". Taiji wrote the 16-beat rhythm,

slap bass Slapping and popping are ways to produce percussive sounds on a stringed instrument. They are primarily used on the double bass or bass guitar. Slapping on bass guitar involves using the edge of one's knuckle, where it is particularly bony ...

song "Give Me the Pleasure" after watching a news report on a murder. The piece is unusual for X in that it uses

minor seventh chord In music, a minor seventh chord is a seventh chord composed of a root note, a minor third, a perfect fifth, and a minor seventh (1, 3, 5, 7). In other words, one could think of it as a minor triad with a minor seventh attached to ...

s and has an ethnic drum beat that also used instruments such as the

timbales Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfic ...

and

cow bell A cowbell (or cow bell) is a bell worn around the neck of free-roaming livestock so herders can keep track of an animal via the sound of the bell when the animal is grazing out of view in hilly landscapes or vast plains. Although they are t ...

. " I'll Kill You" is a reworked version of their 1985 debut single. Yoshiki explained that the song is not about killing people as the title would suggest, but is a love song in the vein of a disgruntled married couple. Yoshiki wrote the lyrics to "Alive" to be about human life and life or death in a dream. The intro contains an excerpt of the first movement of

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

Moonlight Sonata The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked ''Quasi una fantasia'', Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven, completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi. Although known throu ...

. hide stated that the guitar solos in this song contrast with the others on the album because they are more melodic; "a crying guitar." The lyrics for this version of " Kurenai" are entirely in English, it would later appear mostly in Japanese on ''Blue Blood'' and be released as their major debut single, becoming one of their signature songs. While seemingly a love song, Yoshiki stated that "Kurenai" is actually about the struggle of one's heart. hide revealed that it was his favorite X song before he joined the band and was disappointed that they did not perform it when he did, so he had to nag to get them to play it. Both Toshi and Taiji felt that it has a very Japanese feel to it, with Taiji stressing that each member helped arrange it. Just as its title suggests, "Un-finished..." is a short incomplete ballad that suddenly cuts off. Yoshiki came up with the song after the album was completed feeling it needed an ending theme. It would also later be reworked and "finished" for the band's second album.

Track listing

Personnel

X * Toshi –

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 ...

* Pata –

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 ...

, vocals * hide –

, vocals * Taiji –

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 ...

, vocals * Yoshiki –

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 ...

, vocals,

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 ...

, keyboards Production *Kinya Maekawa – director *Seiji Komura – director *Masanori Chinzei – recording engineer, mixing engineer *Hikaru Sawamura – mixing engineer *Akinori Yoshino – assistant engineer *Norio Kaziki – photography *Shiro Nishiguchi – sleeve design *NOBU – art direction & design (on CD only) *Mitsukazu "Quincy" Tanaka – digital mastering engineer (on CD only)

References

{{Authority control X Japan albums 1988 debut albums 1980s Japanese-language albums Extasy Records albums