× The Beach Boys The Beatles David Bowie BUCK-TICK The Cure Fleetwood Mac HYDE Janne Da Arc Laputa L'Arc~en~Ciel LUNA SEA MALICE MIZER MUSE The Police Porno Graffitti Rayflower S.O.A.P. Sting SURFACE TETSU69 Brian Wilson X (JAPAN) ZIGZO
HYDE

HYDE

At least as of this writing, HYDE's solo career was pretty short. He surprised everyone with his very soft and jazzy debut, the album ROENTGEN, then showed us his hard rock side with 666, and finally produced a darker, more serious rock album called FAITH. This last album seemed to lead right into his work with K.A.Z, who played and co-wrote songs on the album, and the two ended up forming the band VAMPS. Oddly enough, although I think I like FAITH the best, I am completely turned off by VAMPS. His music with VAMPS has basically become his non-L'Arc career, and he no longer creates any solo works.

Album Reviews

ROENTGEN is a very interesting album from the perspective that this is an artist doing something very out of their normal work, and trying to make an album out of it. We've seen hints of it in L'Arc's music (Singin' in the Rain and Sell my Soul, for instance), but now HYDE is going for a very artistic and unified adult contemporary album. The results are spottier than a leopard. Some of it is really good, such as the very soft acoustic ballad ANGEL'S TALE, and the poetic orchestral WHITE SONG. Then there are songs like evergreen... or NEW DAY'S DAWN... or, worst of all, OASIS. It's too easy for this genre of music to just be boring, and several of the tracks fall into that trap. While this album provides a unique listening experience for many fans of HYDE's other work, it has room for improvement.

Best tracks:
1. ANGEL'S TALE
2. SHALLOW SLEEP
3. A DROP OF COLOR


HYDE now shows us his other musical taste: hard rock. The musical direction is totally different from his previous effort, but the results are stunningly similar: some great, some good, and some dreadful. I cannot see the appeal in FRUITS OF CHAOS or HIDEAWAY, the last two songs of the album, so I just stop after the pleasant and dramatic ballad SHINING OVER YOU. Most of the rest is fine, with the catchy HELLO (in the same vein as HONEY and HEAVEN'S DRIVE) and the dark and plodding PRAYER standing out as the best. There's a couple of lighter moments - the aforementioned SHINING OVER YOU and the fine single HORIZON - but otherwise this is an album for rocking out.

Best tracks:
1. HELLO
2. PRAYER
3. HORIZON

HYDE turns up the volume and gravity on this record. From the opening crashes of the dramatic JESUS CHRIST, it's clear that this is going to be a heavy listen. There's nothing upbeat on this record until MISSION towards the end, and that one ends up sounding flaccid and fake next to all the other songs as a result. FAITH is another album meant to be unified and cohesive, like ROENTGEN, which always scores points in my book. The difference is that there is only one lousy song and a ton of great songs. Maybe having a songwriting partner (K.A.Z) helped the quality on this one.

Best tracks:
1. SEASON'S CALL
2. JESUS CHRIST
3. I CAN FEEL

Top 10 Songs

  1. SEASON'S CALL
  2. HELLO
  3. PRAYER
  4. JESUS CHRIST
  5. ANGEL'S TALE
  6. I CAN FEEL
  7. SHALLOW SLEEP
  8. COUNTDOWN
  9. A DROP OF COLOR
  10. FAITH