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As far as record sales are concerned, B'z is by far the most prolific band in Japan, with combined sales of a growing ninety million. They are not just a fad either: Tak's beguiling riffs and Kohshi's intense singing are just as popular now as they were when they started in 1989. The only way to accomplish this in my opinion is to experiment in different styles while staying constant in quality and this is just what they has been doing.
Inaba Kohshi writes and interprets lyrics while Mostumoto Tak writes and interprets music. They both excel in their domain and go extremely well together. Even after experimenting with solo works, the band recently got together again for another chart topping album, Green, proving B'z is at its best as a duo. Without one's charismatic and resonant voice and the other's versatile beats and unchallenged guitar skills, they would not have gone this far. The music is not completely centered on guitar or vocals but includes dozens of other instruments that ensure every song is different. I used to wonder why most of their songs featured so little guitar time with such a great guitarist on board. However, I now realize his low profile and few appearances makes him stand out even more without ruining the general feel of the song (a challenge many hyped musician fail to overcome). I will admit most songs fit in the retro category but any eighties paranoia should be dismissed for the time it takes to sample B'z. One will quickly realize there's no easy way to classify this band's music, full of unexpected instruments, beats, and styles that never get old. Even its members seem to get younger, every passing year, hopefully indicating they have only scratched the surface of their potential.
Fighting against a major slump in the Japanese record industry, the new duo had their first success in 1989. Taiyo no Komachi Angel was their first single to reach number one on the charts, one year later and was followed by every other single and album since then. Fast-forward to seventeen years and t albums later and B'z is as popular as ever. Green, almost reached a million copies sold in a mere week. Both superstars have active solo careers, at the moment. Tak finished his fifth solo album, Hana, last year, while Kohshi is at his third with Peace of Mind. So yeah, these guys never need to catch their breath. The latest album is called Monster. The tour that followed this album was one of the biggest to date counting a total of 450,000 atttendees. A DVD of it was released for the holiday and is called Monster Garage, containing 2 hours of live footage and extras.
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Green
Again with the impossible choices. I preferred Loose, for a while, but their newest album has really grown on me. As for compilations, the first one to buy would be The Best Pleasure; nothing but great songs, including the never compiled single Ai no Mama ni Waga Mama ni Boku to Kimi Dake o Kizutsukenai. Say that 10 times fast. |
Why Negai? A few people I know can't get past the short piano intro but that's their loss; Negai jazzes it up immediately, afterwards. I could listen to Inaba yell "Hey!" with echo all day. I would have preferred a longer guitar solo worthy of Tak Matsumoto but I'll live. Besides, the second piano solo somewhat makes up for it.
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Official Site: http://www.bz-vermillion.com/ Koshi Inaba's Official Site: http://bz-vermillion.com/inaba/ Tak Matsumoto's Official Site: http://bz-vermillion.com/tak/ (Tip: use AltaVista's Babel Fish translator)
English Fan Sites: B'z On-line Music Site: http://keenonbz.cjb.net Love Driver: http://loving_all_night.tripod.com
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Enough of how popular they
are; let us talk about how good they are. I still cannot believe how many
great songs this band has produced in the past decade without losing any
flavour or following various trends. It takes great confidence to
listen to your heart in music. This is exactly what B'z is: nothing
overly profound but music straight from the heart.
