Kurenai (song)

"Kurenai" (紅^?, literally "crimson") is the major label debut single released by X Japan (then named X) on September 1, 1989.^[1] Originally featured on the band's debut album Vanishing Vision, this version is more similar to the re-recording for the album Blue Blood, but is still slightly different. The song exemplifies the band's trademark mix of speed metal, ballad and symphonic elements.

"Kurenai" is one of X Japan's signature songs, being played at most of their concerts, often accompanied by the stage being lit in red light and the band pausing during the last third in order to let the audience sing the chorus on their own. This single edit features that specific bit of a live performance added after the studio recording, hence the title being written as "紅 Kurenai + Your Voice" on the back of the single's case.^[1] The b-side is a live recording of the song "20th Century Boy", originally by British rock band T. Rex. The live material was recorded on June 10, 1989 at Hibiya Yaon.^[1]

The title song was covered by Brazilian power metal band Shaman, on the Japanese edition of their 2010 album Origins.^[2] It was also covered by Matenrou Opera on the compilation Crush! -90's V-Rock Best Hit Cover Songs-, which was released on January 26, 2011 and features current visual kei bands covering songs from bands that were important to the '90s visual kei movement.^[3] It is also a playable song in the music video games Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Do Don to 2 Daime and Taiko no Tatsujin: Portable DX.

Track listing

References