Summary
"Neo Universe/Finale" is the twentieth single by L'Arc-en-Ciel. this Double A-side single was released on January 19, 2000, as the second single from the band's eighth studio album, Real (2000).[1] It debuted at number 1 on the Oricon chart and sold over 1.1 million copies, as certified by the RIAJ.[2] "Finale" was used as the theme song of Ringu 0: Birthday.[3] The third track is an instrumental song called "hole" which also featured in Ringu 0: Birthday during the opening sequence, and the fourth is a remix version of the song "Trick" from the band's seventh studio album Ray.
| "Neo Universe / Finale" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by L'Arc-en-Ciel | ||||
| from the album Real | ||||
| Released | January 19, 2000 | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock, Hard rock, progressive rock, Electropop | |||
| Length | 16:32 | |||
| Label | Ki/oon Records | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Hyde, Ken, Tetsu, Yukihiro | |||
| Producer(s) | L'Arc-en-Ciel, Hajime Okano | |||
| L'Arc-en-Ciel singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music videos | ||||
| "Neo Universe" on YouTube | ||||
| "Finale" on YouTube | ||||
Background edit
This is the band's first single in about 3 months since the band's previous work "Love Flies". This is the band's first double A-side single since their major debut in 1994, and their second in total, including the band's indie releases. It is also the only single that includes songs written or composed by each of the four members.
Writing and composition edit
Neo Universe edit
The first A-side song of this work, "NEO UNIVERSE", is a song with strong electro-pop elements that uses a lot of input, and is finished as a bright pop song, which is unusual for a work composed by Ken at this time. In an interview from Ultra Veat Magazine about the band's 1999 albums "Ark" and "Ray", Ken said, "As soon as I felt like people around me wanted me to write overly upbeat songs, I just couldn't write any more",[4] and says that he consciously wrote a bright song in this production. In an interview from WHAT's IN? Magazine at the time of the release of this singles, Ken revealed that he was decide to "write a cheerful song"[5] and Make a song that starts with a major chord."[6] As the world enter a new millennium in the year 2000, Hyde says, "The lyrics express the "Reality" and "Dreams" of the future."[6]
Finale edit
The second A-side song, "Finale", is a melodious Hard-Power Ballad that incorporates Trip hop unique dark sound and gives off a dark and fleeting impression. The lyrics of "Finale" was written in response to a request by Kadokawa Shoten to provide the music for "Ringu 0", but the original version of the song was said to have been in stock for about two years before the release of the film.[6] Regarding the reason why this song's prototype was presented to the film production team as a candidate song for the theme song, the composer, Tetsuya, said, "I think it would be a good fit because the next song will be a love story of Sadako Yamamura.".[7] As a side note, tetsuya had watched all of the Ring series of movies released before the release of "Ringu 0".[8] The band's was previously attempted to record this song once when they was working on the fifth studio album "HEART" which released two year prior,[9] but Tetsuya wasn't satisfied with the previous arrangement and it ended halfway.,[8] and the song structure and arrangement was massively overhaul when providing it as the official theme song of "Ringu 0".[8] Also, before starting full-scale recording, tetsuya decided on the direction of the arrangement by dubbing the keyboard and other sounds by himself.[10] The arrangement of "Finale" was mainly influenced by the Trip hop's unique dark sound,[11] and Tetsuya has claim that the sound and arrangement of "Finale" was on par with "Portishead."[11] Perhaps with this in mind, the arrangement of this song incorporates the noise of a record stylus, and the vocals use a lot of effects to create a processed sound. in addition to Ryo Yoshimata and the band's co-producer Hajime Okano, Ken and Tetsuya also participated in the string arrangement work. The song time is 6 minutes and 28 seconds, making it the longest-running A-side single song of the band's. The lyrics of "Finale" was completely written in Japanese.[7] Hyde, who was in charge of writing the lyrics, looked back on the songwriting process and said, "Even if I approached it completely differently from the movie, it would still feel like I was waking up from a dream, and on the other hand, if it was exactly the same, I felt like there wouldn't be any synergy with the movie."[7]
hole edit
The first B-side song, "hole", is an ambient song with an impressive ominous sound.[12] It is an instrumental that yukihiro created before he joined the band's, and the sound source was said to have existed for around 7 to 8 years before the release of this single.[7] After Kadokawa Shoten chosen "Finale" to be the official theme song for the "Ringu 0", Kadokawa requested that the band's also do the insert song, which led to this song being used as the insert song for the movie, before it was decided that it would be recorded as a The B-side song for this single. Regarding this song, Yukihiro said, "It was a song I made when I was playing around with various combinations of sampled things [7]", adding, "In addition to this song, there are many other versions, including one with bass.[7]" ultimately, the song used in the movie is, according to Yukihiro, "a version made mainly of orchestral sampling.[7]" The arrangement of this song was done by Yukihiro independently. The song time is 1 minute and 8 seconds, making it the shortest song of all the sound sources released by the band's to date.
Trick -new wave of japanese heavy metal mix- edit
The second B-side song, "Trick -new wave of japanese heavy metal mix", is a remix version of the song "Trick" from the band's seventh studio album "Ray". Regarding how he chose "trick" for the remix, Yukihiro said, "I originally had a guitar riff that I made from a sample, and I was wondering if there was a song I could use for it, and then I got hooked."[7] Regarding the remix process, Yukihiro said, "There were many types of kick sounds, and it was difficult to figure out which one should be played."[13] The subtitle of this song is taken from NWOBHM, a nationwide musical movement that started in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Regarding the reason for choosing this word as a subtitle, Yukihiro said, "I thought it would be a cool word for this mix."[13]
Music video edit
Neo Universe edit
The music video of "Neo Universe" was directed by Fumihide Anami. The concept of the music video is the world of the 25th century, and is set in a bar in a Neo-futurism City.
Finale edit
The music video of "Finale" was directed by Wataru Takeishi, who previously directed many music video for the band including Winter Fall, Dive to Blue and Driver's High. Unlike many music video from the songs were a part of a movie soundtrack or featured in a film at that time (such as I Disappear by Metallica and Take a Look Around by Limp Bizkit, both from Mission: Impossible 2), The music video of "Finale" was developed as an independent L'Arc-en-Ciel clip devoid of any footage from "Ringu 0", since the music video of "Finale" was entirely filmed in various locations in the island of Hawaiʻi, including South Point Complex, Kīlauea and Mauna Kea Observatories. Despite the video doesn't features clips from the movie, it could not be included on any of the DVD releases of Ringu 0: Birthday, since Sony Music Entertainment Japan and Ki/oon didn't involved as the main production companies for the film. although it was included in the band second video compilation Chronicle 2 in 2001.[14]
Track listing edit
| # | Title | Lyrics | Music |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Neo Universe" | Hyde | Ken |
| 2 | "Finale" | Hyde | Tetsu |
| 3 | "hole" | ‐ | Yukihiro |
| 4 | "Trick - (New Wave of Japanese Heavy Metal Mix) | Yukihiro | Yukihiro* |
* Remix by Yukihiro.
References edit
- ^ L'Arc〜en〜Cielのアルバム売り上げランキング Retrieved May 18, 2011
- ^ "RIAJ CERTIFIED MILLION SELLER ALBUMS". ocn.ne.jp. Archived from the original on August 5, 2012. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
- ^ "L'Arc〜en〜Ciel『結成15周年を記念した東京ドーム公演ライブレポート！！』". Oricon Style (in Japanese). Oricon. 2006-12-13. Retrieved 2010-09-17.
- ^ L'Arc〜en〜Ciel Box Set of The 15th anniversary in formation CHRONICLE of TEXT 03 (Originally from ultra veat Vol.44 (July 1999)). Sony Magazines. 2006. p. 73.
- ^ L'Arc〜en〜Ciel Box Set of The 15th anniversary in formation CHRONICLE of TEXT 03 (Originally from February 2000 issue of WHAT's IN?). Sony Magazines. 2006. p. 100.
- ^ a b c L'Arc〜en〜Ciel - ダブル・A・サイド・マキシ・シングル「NEO UNIVERSE/finale」発売. CD Data Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 12, no. 2. Kadokawa Corporation. January 21, 2000. p. 18.
- ^ a b c d e f g h L'Arc〜en〜Ciel - ダブル・A・サイド・マキシ・シングル「NEO UNIVERSE/finale」発売. CD Data Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 12, no. 2. Kadokawa Corporation. January 21, 2000. p. 19.
- ^ a b c L'Arc〜en〜Ciel Box Set of The 15th anniversary in formation CHRONICLE of TEXT 03 (Originally from February 2000 issue of PATi PATi). Sony Magazines. 2006. p. 98.
- ^ L'Arc〜en〜Ciel Box Set of The 15th anniversary in formation CHRONICLE of TEXT 03 (Originally from February 2000 issue of PATi PATi). Sony Magazines. 2006. p. 97.
- ^ L'Arc〜en〜Ciel Box Set of The 15th anniversary in formation CHRONICLE of TEXT 03 (Originally from ultra veat Vol.51 (February 2000)). Sony Magazines. 2006. p. 105.
- ^ a b L'Arc〜en〜Ciel Box Set of The 15th anniversary in formation CHRONICLE of TEXT 03 (Originally from ultra veat Vol.58 (September 2000)). Sony Magazines. 2006. p. 151.
- ^ 別冊宝島1399 音楽誌が書かないＪポップ批評47 L’Arc-en-Cielの奇跡 (in Japanese). Takarajimasha. March 19, 2007. p. 89.
- ^ a b L'Arc〜en〜Ciel カバー・スペシャル. WHAT's IN? (in Japanese). No. 146. Sony Magazines. July 2000. p. 42.
- ^ "L'Arc-en-ciel Official Website (Discography Section - Chronicle 2: DVD Edition)" (in Japanese). Retrieved March 7, 2024.