Buck-Tick 30th Anniversary Best

At last, the votes are in, and the track list for Buck-Tick's 30th Anniversary Best album has been released! The good thing is, whether it's thanks to Blog-Tickers or not, this track list contains some impressively rare songs we never expected to make it on there. The less than good thing is, these songs don't really hang together at all as a collection, so this album is going to make for a weird listen: a whole bunch of moody recent numbers interspersed by profoundly silly old songs which the band members themselves are reportedly embarrassed to have written (not gonna name names, "Hearts.") Also, it's disappointing that the only two Hide songs on the fan-voted collection aside from the childish (if severely under-appreciated) "Under the Moonlight" are "Dress" and "Jupiter," which were already present on the other best-of collections. Come on guys. Hide's written a lot of other great songs. We even wrote an entire post on it once. "Jupiter" may still be the song that pays most of his rent, but he still deserves to be appreciated for more than his soccer player tan, rugged beard, and ultra-sexy mole, if you ask us.

Anyhow, here's the track list. Songs highlighted in red were songs we recommended on Blog-Tick (though we'd like to point out that while we included "Dress" and "Nocturne" on our best-of lists, we didn't recommend you vote for them, since they were already included on previous anniversary best-of albums.) Songs marked with an asterisk are songs which already appeared on previous anniversary best-of albums, while songs marked with two asterisks appeared on both previous anniversary best-of albums. Fangirls, it seems, still lack imagination - though it's heartening to see that Section 2 doesn't include any repeat songs, even if not all songs on there are ones we would have chosen. But THANK YOU for not voting for "Muma" or "Aku no Hana"! I guess there's still hope for Buck-Tickistan after all.

Section 1 (Singles Top 10)

01. Nocturne -Rain Song-*

02. Miss Take ~Boku wa Miss Take~

03. Kyokutou Yori Ai wo Komete**

04. Under the Moonlight

05. Diabolo*

06. Dress**

07. New World

08. Love Parade

09. Jupiter**

10. Angelic Conversation*

Section 2 (Albums Top 10)

01. Sapphire

02. Coyote

03. Hearts

04. Moon Light

05. Cuba Libre

06. Baudelaire de Nemurenai

07. My Eyes and Your Eyes

08. Ai no Souretsu

09. Mudai

10. Machine

But wait, there's more! It's the 30th anniversary, so shouldn't there be 30 tracks? That's what we thought when we made our own best-of lists, and apparently Victor thinks like us, because they included a third disc, this time of songs selected by the band members themselves. The upside: many of these songs (we're going to go with seven of them) are clearly and obviously Mr. Sakurai's favorites, so good on him for insisting they go on the best-of album even though they didn't make the top 10. The downside: there's only one song on this album by Hide (that's "Shanikusai," folks). Since Hide's written more than 10% of Buck-Tick's music, that's a little sad. 

Three significant things about these selections:

1) All of these songs were released in 1996 or later, which is proof of what we already knew - the band members consider their later work to be stronger than their earlier work. 

2) Three of these songs ("Boy," "The Seaside Story," and "Sane -Type II") didn't even make it into the top 30. I guess that means Imai is especially proud of them.

3) There are more songs recommended by Cayce in this section than in any of the others :P Anyhow, here's the track list:

Section 3 (Band Member Selections)

01. Cosmos*

02. Shanikusai -Carnival-

03. Serenade -Itoshi no Umbrella-

04. Romance**

05. SANE -Type II-

06. BOY Septem Peccata Mortalia

07. The Seaside Story

08. Zekkai

09. Keijijou Ryuusei

10. Yasou

What we didn't expect: the album cover is better than the track list! Check it out, guys. Maybe it's just us, but we think there's maybe a teeny tiny bit of fangirl mockery in here. Check out that bedroom! Do you wish you had that much Buck-Tick stuff in your room? Do you have more Buck-Tick stuff than that in your room and think the band need to up their game? Let us know in the comments. Bonus points to the people who can identify the source of the life-sized cardboard cutout of Imai. Further bonus points to any fans who are willing to share photos of their own life-sized cardboard cutouts of the band members. We will post the pictures, so please, share!

Even more bonus points for anyone who can forcefully unman Mr. Sakurai of that jacket, and send it our way. We want to wear it. Yes, it isn't our usual style to advocate robbery, but that jacket is so stylish we'll be willing to part from our usual style for its sake. The fan who sends Cayce that jacket gets a life-sized cardboard cutout of his/her favorite band member, handmade by us. And that's a promise.

Kurumi isn't the first of Mr. Sakurai's cats to star in a Buck-Tick CD jacket photoshoot (that honor goes to the dearly departed Boo, who appeared in the booklet for the Alice in Wonder Underground single.) However, we'll hazard that she's the most mischievous, and the most likely to destroy Buck-Tickistan government property. Burning candles, Bengals, and Buck-Tick goods don't mix!

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This cover shoot is good enough that if you decided to buy the album just for the cover art, we'd forgive you. Still, for us, the two-disc best-of set is nowhere near enough to convince us to part with our money. We already have all these songs on CD anyway, so what's the point?

Here's where things get interesting, my friends. Despite all their past failures, this time, Victor has actually made it worth our money to buy this release, by including three extra discs in the limited edition: two discs of live tracks from various tours for which official live albums were never released, and one video disc of rare live footage of the band performing at various rock festivals over the past two decades or so. The only thing we're sorry about is that they didn't include the clip of the band's performance of "Rendezvous" at the Rising Sun Rock Festival, during which a drunken Mr. Sakurai reportedly fell off the stage. But you can't have everything in life. Here are the track lists for the bonus discs. Songs marked with an asterisk are songs which were voted into the top 30 by fans. Songs highlighted in red are songs which were recommended by Cayce (to be fair, we would have recommended "Heroin" and "Yuuwaku," too, but there wasn't enough space.) Total count of Hide songs for both discs: 4/20, one of which is "Jupiter." They still need to up their Hoshino Hidehiko game.

Disc 3 (Live Tracks, Part I)

01. Physical Neurose

(Jan. 20th, 1989, Nippon Budoukan)

02. Jupiter

(Climax Together, Sept. 10th, 1992, Yokohama Arena)*

03. D-T-D

(July 29th, 1993, Darker Than Darkness Tour, Omiya Sonic City)*

04. Ao no Sekai

(July 28th, 1993, Darker Than Darkness Tour, Omiya Sonic City)

05. Heroin

(May 8th, 1998, Sextream Tour, Nippon Budoukan)

06. Glamorous

(The Day in Question 2000, Nippon Budoukan)

07. Cyborg Dolly: Sora-Mimi: Phantom

(The Day in Question 2000, Nippon Budoukan)

08. Zangai

(Mona Lisa Overdrive Xanadu, June 28th, 2003, Hibiya Yagai Ongakudo)*

09. Yuuwaku

(July 3rd, 2005, 13th Floor With Diana Tour, Osaka Kosei Nenkin Kaikan)

10. Doll

(July 3rd, 2005, 13th Floor With Diana Tour, Osaka Kosei Nenkin Kaikan)

11. Mienai Mono wo Miyou to Suru to Gokai Subete Gokai da 

(The Day in Question 2005, Nippon Budoukan)*

12. Memento Mori 

(July 1st, 2009, Memento Mori Tour, NHK Hall)

13. Django!!! -Genwaku no Django- 

(Dec. 16th, 2010, Go on the Razzle Dazzle Tour, NHK Osaka Hall)

14. Alice in Wonder Underground

(The Day in Question 2011, Nippon Budoukan)*

15. Muma -The Nightmare- 

(The Day in Question 2011, Nippon Budoukan)*

Disc 4 (Live Tracks, Part II)

01. Love Me 

(Sept. 22nd, 2012, 25th Anniversary Festival, Chiba Port Park)

02. My Eyes & Your Eyes 

(Sept. 23rd, 2012, 25th Anniversary Festival, Chiba Port Park)*

03. Elise no Tame ni 

(The Day in Question 2012, Nippon Budoukan)

04. Miss Take 

(The Day in Question 2012, Nippon Budoukan)*

05. Miu 

(Dec. 23rd, 2013, The Day in Question 2013, Kooriyama Shimin Bunka Center)*

06. Rhapsody 

(Dec. 23rd, 2013, The Day in Question 2013, Kooriyama Shimin Bunka Center)*

07. National Media Boys 

(July 31st, 2014, Arui wa Anarchy Tour, Shibuya Kokaido)

08. Keijijou Ryuusei 

(July 31st, 2014, Arui wa Anarchy Tour, Shibuya Kokaido)*

09. Dokudanjou Beauty 

(Dec. 14th, 2014, Metaform Nights Tour, Zepp Tokyo)

10. Devil'N Angel 

(The Day in Question 2014, Nippon Budoukan)

11. Iconoclasm 

(The Day in Question 2014, Nippon Budoukan)

12. Speed 

(Sept. 11th, 2016, Climax Together 3rd, Yokohama Arena)

13. Machine -Remodel- 

(Sept. 11th, 2016, Climax Together 3rd, Yokohama Arena)*

14. Melancholia -Electria- 

(Nov. 10th, 2016, Atom Miraiha Tour, Nakano Sun Plaza)*

15. Mudai 

(The Day in Question 2016, Nippon Budoukan)*

Disc 5 (Live Videos)

01. Iconoclasm 

(Summer Sonic 2003, Aug. 3rd, 2003)

02. Baby, I want you 

(Rising Sun Rock Festival 2007, August 17th, 2007)

03. Kyokutou Yori Ai wo Komete 

(Inazuma Rock Festival, 2009, Sept. 20, 2009)*

04. Yasou 

(Countdown Japan 12/13, Dec. 28th, 2012)*

05. Dokudanjou Beauty 

(Countdown Japan 12/13, Dec. 28th, 2012)

06. Yumemiru Uchuu 

(Dedicate to... ~gang 451~, February 11th, 2013)

07. Elise no Tame ni 

(Kishidan Banpaku 2013, Sept. 14th, 2013)

08. Climax Together 

(Kishidan Banpaku 2013, Sept. 14th, 2013)

09. Melancholia -Electria- 

(Lunatic Fest 2015, June 28th, 2015)*

10. Mudai 

(Lunatic Fest 2015, June 28th, 2015)*

It would have been nice if there were fewer double songs on these extra discs. It would have been even nicer if the songs on these extra discs weren't mostly crowd-pleasers that the band play all the time. But let's focus on the good stuff: they included "Ao no Sekai" and "Yuuwaki," despite the fact that they were written by Hide and they were nowhere in the fan rankings. Maybe Hide asked them to do it. That's great, Hide. Start standing up for yourself more often. You might find that you get used to it after a while!

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Fans who reserve the limited edition of the best-of album by August 20th will receive a special bonus calendar, and let's hope it includes more of that photoshoot of the Buck-Tick members invading that Buck-Tick superfan bedroom, because it's the most humorous photoshoot they've done since that sexy birthday card photoshoot a few years ago and we want to see more of it. Blog-Tickers who wish to reserve the album through Cayce, please contact us as soon as possible. The prices are as follows:

Limited Edition A (special package, 5 discs with Blu-Ray)
12960 yen, incl. tax

Limited Edition B (special package, 5 discs with DVD)
11880 yen, incl. tax

Regular Edition (2 discs)
3240 yen, incl. tax

Also, if you are interested in asking our help to purchase tour tickets, please contact us as soon as possible, and please specify how many tickets you wish to buy per show! If you don't give us all the information up front, and then don't answer your email in a timely fashion, there is little we can do to help you.

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