Shine (Luna Sea album)

Overview

To promote Shine Luna Sea went on the Shining Brightly tour, which ended with two sold out shows at the Tokyo Dome on December 23 and 24, 1998. The band then performed their first overseas shows in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Shanghai in January 1999. This move garnered press attention and criticism with questions on whether or not it would be successful, as the band's international fanbase was unknown; even one day before the shows, the number of tickets sold was unknown. The Shanghai concert was particularly notable as their music was not licensed for release in mainland China.

Two tracks feature additional performers aside from the band; "I for You" features Sugizo's mother playing cello, and "Another" has Mai Yamane performing background vocals. A different version of "Breathe", which includes the addition of strings, was used for the Japanese edition of the soundtrack to the Disney movie Mulan.

"Storm" was used as the April 1998 theme song for NHK's music television show Pop Jam, while "I for You" was used as the theme song for the Japanese TV drama God, Please Give Me More Time (神様、もう少しだけ, Kamisama, mō Sukoshi Dake), which also aired overseas in Asia. "Shine" was used in a Toyota commercial, and "Unlikelihood" in a Kirin beverage commercial that starred Ryuichi.

Shine was remastered and re-released by Universal Music Group on December 19, 2007, it came with a DVD of the promotional videos for "Storm", "Shine" and "I for You".

Reception

Shine is Luna Sea's best-selling studio album; it reached number one on the Oricon chart, sold over 1 million copies and was certified Million by the RIAJ. It was also named "Rock Album of the Year" at the 13th Japan Gold Disc Awards.

Alexey Eremenko of AllMusic called the album one of the band's best, along with 1994's Mother, and referred to it as "hard rock without the machismo, sentimentality without the sappiness, and melody without the one-dimensional attitude of pop music." The songs vary from "speedy numbers to power ballads and midtempo marches" but all are equally convincing. They finished with "Shine has the unmistakable vibe of a band in control of their sound, and it's a small wonder that Luna Sea had an impact on literally hundreds of bands that followed in their wake in the next decade."

Legacy

"Storm" was covered by Nami Tamaki for the 2007 Luna Sea Memorial Cover Album -Re:birth-. It was also covered by Lolita23q on the 2011 compilation Crush! -90's V-Rock Best Hit Cover Songs-.

"I for You" was covered by Juichi Morishige of Ziggy for 2007's Luna Sea Memorial Cover Album -Re:birth-. Inzargi, vocalist of Megamasso, also covered it for his 2012 cover album.

"Shine" was covered by Marty Friedman, Legend and Shinichiro Suzuki for the 2007 Luna Sea Memorial Cover Album -Re:birth-, and by Amber Girls on the 2011 compilation Crush! 2 -90's V-Rock Best Hit Cover Songs-.

Track listing

All tracks written by Luna Sea.