BLUE BLOOD by X JAPAN

Blue Blood is the second studio album by Japanese rock band X Japan, then known as simply X. It was released on April 21, 1989, by CBS/Sony as the band's major label debut. Blue Blood sold more than 700,000 copies, reached number 6 on the Oricon chart and stayed on the chart for more than 100 weeks. The album's singles would also reach the top five on the chart. In 2007, Rolling Stone Japan ranked Blue Blood number 15 on their list of the "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time". Blue Blood contains re-recordings of their second single "Orgasm" and its b-side "X", as well as "Kurenai" and "Unfinished" from their debut album Vanishing Vision, all with alternate/expanded lyrics. "Easy Fight Rambling" is a glam metal song, while "Kurenai" exemplifies the band's trademark mix of speed metal, ballad and symphonic elements. The intro track "Prologue (~ World Anthem)" is a re-working of the 1977 Mahogany Rush song "The World Anthem" originally written by Frank Marino, hence its title and Marino being credited as composer. Blue Blood leans more towards symphonic metal than its predecessor, with "Rose of Pain" including portions from Johann Sebastian Bach's "Fugue in G Minor". "Endless Rain", a power ballad, also features classical piano and strings in the background. The songs "X" and "Orgasm" have many of X's friends, fellow musicians and members of bands on Extasy Records providing backing vocals, namely Baki from Gastunk, Tusk, Ken and Seiichi from Zi:Kill, Haruhiko Ash (The Zolge, Eve of Destiny), and members of Ladies Room. ℗ 1989 Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.