Aku no Hana (悪の華, "Flowers of Evil") is the fifth studio album by the Japanese rock band Buck-Tick. It was released on cassette and CD on February 1, 1990, through Victor Entertainment.[1] It peaked at number one on the Oricon charts and is the group's best-selling album to date.[2] It was certified gold in the month of its release,[3] and sold 435,080 copies in the first year of its release.[4][5] The title comes from Charles Baudelaire's volume of poetry, Les Fleurs du mal.[6]
| Aku no Hana | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 1, 1990 September 19, 2002 (digital remaster) September 5, 2007 (remaster) | |||
| Recorded | October–December 1989 at Victor Aoyama Studio in Tokyo | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 45:09 | |||
| Language | Japanese, English | |||
| Label | Victor | |||
| Producer | Tsutomu Nakayama and Buck-Tick | |||
| Buck-Tick chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Aku no Hana | ||||
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Releases
editThe album was digitally remastered and re-released on September 19, 2002, with two bonus tracks. It was remastered and re-released again on September 5, 2007. "Aku no Hana" and "Love Me" were later re-recorded for the group's compilation album Koroshi no Shirabe: This Is Not Greatest Hits (1992).
On February 1, 2014, Aku no Hana was re-released again as a digital remaster to celebrate 25 years since its release, giving the songs the sound they imagined and would like them to originally have but couldn't due to limits of the equipment. It was released in three editions: a regular edition remastered album, a video album of the music videos, and a remastered limited edition collector's set format called 惡の華 -Completeworks-. The last contained the album as a vinyl LP, photo cards, remasters of the music videos from the album on DVD and Blu-ray, the 2015 Re-mix album as a Platinum SHM CD, and the 惡の華/Under The Moonlight 2015 Re-mix single also as a Platinum SHM CD.[7][8][9]
Track listing
editAll lyrics are written by Atsushi Sakurai, except where noted; all music is composed by Hisashi Imai, except where noted
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "National Media Boys" (lyrics written by Imai) | 4:26 |
| 2. | "Maboroshi no Miyako" (幻の都) | 3:59 |
| 3. | "Love Me" | 3:15 |
| 4. | "Pleasure Land" (lyrics and music written by Hidehiko Hoshino) | 5:00 |
| 5. | "Misty Blue" | 4:23 |
| 6. | "Dizzy Moon" (lyrics written by Toll Yagami; music written by Hoshino) | 3:25 |
| 7. | "Sabbat" (music written by Hoshino) | 5:08 |
| 8. | "The World Is Yours" | 4:52 |
| 9. | "Aku no Hana" (悪の華) | 4:18 |
| 10. | "Kiss Me Good-Bye" | 6:17 |
| Total length: | 45:09 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 11. | "Aku no Hana" (single version) | 4:10 |
| 12. | "Under the Moonlight" (lyrics written by Yutaka Higuchi) | 3:41 |
Personnel
edit- Atsushi Sakurai – lead vocals
- Hisashi Imai – lead guitar, backing vocals
- Hidehiko Hoshino – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
- Yutaka Higuchi – bass
- Toll Yagami – drums
Additional performers
- Tsutomu Nakayama – keyboards
Production
References
edit- ^ "Aku no Hana". jame-world.com. Retrieved 2011-04-12.
- ^ "BUCK-TICKのアルバム売り上げランキング". oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 2011-04-27.
- ^ "月次認定作品 認定年月：1990年 2月 (Dropdown menu: 1990年 2月)" (in Japanese). RIAJ. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
- ^ "1990年 アルバム年間TOP100" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2016-03-03.
- ^ "Buck-Tickの主な記録 『悪の華』など5作でオリコン週間アルバムランキング1位獲得" [Buck-Tick's main records: Achieved 1st place in the Oricon weekly album rankings with 5 albums including "Aku no Hana"]. Oricon (in Japanese). 24 October 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
- ^ Shweta Basu (2017). "Flowers of Evil to Aku no Hana: Baudelaire's Transculturation across Space and Time" (PDF). Spring Magazine on English Literature. III (I). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-03-05. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
- ^ "BUCK-TICK: "Aku no Hana" Special Items!". CDJapan. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
- ^ "BUCK-TICK「惡の華」25周年ボックス登場" (in Japanese). Natalie. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
- ^ "BUCK-TICK、『惡の華』四半世紀の時を経て新ミックスで登場！" (in Japanese). Excite. November 2014. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
- ^ "Aku no Hana". Buck-Tick Zone.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-19. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
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