Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666

Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 is the debut album by Finnish band, HIM. It was produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa and guest vocals were provided by Sanna-June Hyde and Asta Hannula on "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and "For You", respectively. In keeping with the theme of 666, the album is 66 minutes and 6 seconds long, contains 66 tracks and fills up 666 megabytes. Although sometimes perceived to have Satan-worshiping references, Valo has stated that the album was not to be perceived as such; these references are meant to symbolize the 'darker' side of love.^[2]

Original Finnish & US Tracklist

All songs are composed by Ville Valo.

1. "For You (Intro)" - 4:00
2. "Your Sweet Six Six Six" - 4:11
3. "Wicked Game" (Chris Isaak cover) - 3:54
4. "The Heartless" - 4:01
5. "Our Diabolikal Rapture" - 5:20
6. "It's All Tears (Drown in This Love)" - 3:42
7. "When Love and Death Embrace" - 6:08
8. "The Beginning of the End" - 4:07
9. "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (Blue Öyster Cult cover) - 6:23

International Tracklist

1. "Your Sweet Six Six Six" (Ville Valo) – 4:12
2. "Wicked Game" (Chris Isaak) – 3:54
3. "The Heartless" (Ville Valo) – 4:02
4. "Our Diabolikal Rapture" (Mikko Lindström/Ville Valo) – 5:20
5. "It's All Tears (Drown in This Love)" (Ville Valo) – 3:43
6. "When Love and Death Embrace" (Ville Valo) – 6:08
7. "The Beginning of the End" (Ville Valo) – 4:07
8. "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (Donald Roeser, Sandy Pearlmann) – 6:24 (Blue Öyster Cult cover)
9. "For You" (Mikko Lindström/Ville Valo) – 3:58
10. "Stigmata Diaboli" - 2:55 (On German special edition only)

After track 9, on both versions of the album, there is a series of untitled hidden tracks (numbers 10 - 66) that fill 666 megabytes, although only track 66 contains music: the outro from the version of The Heartless released on the 666 Ways to Love EP (which, naturally, starts 6 minutes into the track). On the US re-issue (due to Jimmy Franks Recording Company's extensive editing) the disc ended up being 664 megabytes in size and 66:04 in length.

In the second verse of "It's All Tears (Drown In This Love)" the woman heard screaming at the beginning of the EP version of The Heartless can be heard on the left channel.

The cover of Don't Fear The Reaper is actually a demo recording. When HIM first put the album together, they found the material that they'd recorded for it only came to 32 minutes. They then remembered that the demo of this song was good, so they put it on the end of the record (on the Finnish release). As the song is 6 and a half minutes long, this resulted in the album being as long as was originally planned.

B-Sides

1. "The Beginning of the End" (Tandeberg B 74 Mix) – 3:17
2. "The Beginning of the End" (Satanik Love Mix) [Sad Damn Version] – 3:58
3. "Wicked Game" (666 Remix) – 3:58
4. "The Heartless" (Club Remix) – 3:58
5. "When Love and Death Embrace" (Radio-Edit) – 3:36
6. "When Love and Death Embrace" (AOR-Radio Mix) – 3:49
7. "When Love and Death Embrace" (Original Single Edit) – 4:17
8. "When Love and Death Embrace" (Album Version) – 6:11

Personnel

HIM

• Ville Hermanni Valo — lead vocals
• Mikko Viljami "Linde" Lindström — lead guitar
• Mikko Henrik Julius "Migé" Paananen — bass guitar
• Antto Melasniemi — keyboards
• Juhana Tuomas "Pätkä" Rantala — drums

Session Members

• Sanna-June Hyde — female vocals on "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
• Asta Hannula — female vocals on "For You"

References