Hide Your Face
Studio album by
hide
ReleasedFebruary 23, 1994
Recorded1993
GenreAlternative rock, hard rock
Length68:18
LabelMCA Victor
Producerhide
Hide chronology
Hide Your Face
(1994) 		Psyence
(1996)
Singles from Hide Your Face
  1. "Eyes Love You"
    Released: August 5, 1993
  2. "50% & 50%"
    Released: August 5, 1993
  3. "Dice"
    Released: January 21, 1994
  4. "Tell Me"
    Released: March 24, 1994

Hide Your Face is the debut album by Japanese musician hide, released on February 23, 1994. It reached number 1 on the Oricon Albums Chart and was certified Double Platinum by the RIAJ for sales over 500,000 copies. It was named one of the top albums from 1989-1998 in a 2004 issue of the music magazine Band Yarouze.

Overview

hide embarked on a solo career in 1993 due to the downtime in X Japan. Initially wanting to hire several different vocalists because he was unsure of his own voice, he eventually began taking vocal lessons from Toshi's coach and sang the material himself.[1]

The song "Frozen Bug '93 (Diggers Version)" is a remixed version of "Frozen Bug", a song that hide wrote and performed with Luna Sea members J and Inoran, under the band name M*A*S*S, for the 1993 compilation Dance 2 Noise 004.[2] Wanting to contrast something unusual with a pop background, hide hired Yukinojo Mori to pen the lyrics to his first two A-side singles. As a kid, hide was fond of Bow Wow's 1982 album Warning from Stardust, where the A-side songs had lyrics in English and the B-side in Japanese. Liking the Japanese lyrics better, hide only realized Mori was their author afterwards.[1] Together with the music for "Frozen Bug", "Eyes Love You" and "50% & 50%" are the only songs hide released for his solo career that he did not write himself.

The album's cover art features a reproduction of a mask, originally created by H. R. Giger, by Screaming Mad George and Joanne Bloomfield.[3]

Hide Your Face was re-released on the Japan only format SHM-CD on December 3, 2008.

Reception

Hide Your Face reached number 1 on the Oricon Albums Chart.[4] The 2008 re-release reached number 223.[4] The album was certified Gold by the RIAJ in March 1994, Platinum in January 1995, and Double Platinum in February 2020 for sales over 500,000.[5]

The album was named one of the top albums from 1989-1998 in a 2004 issue of the music magazine Band Yarouze.[6]

Track listing

All tracks are written by hide, except tracks 4 and 15 lyrics by Yukinojo Mori, and track 9 music by M*A*S*S

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Psychommunity"  4:04
2."Dice"  3:03
3."Scanner"  3:23
4."Eyes Love You (T.T. Version)"Yukinojo Morihide5:57
5."D.O.D. (Drink Or Die)"  2:17
6."Crime of Breen St."  1:17
7."Doubt (Remix Version)"  4:42
8."A Story"  3:13
9."Frozen Bug '93 (Diggers Version)"hideM*A*S*S4:44
10."T.T. Groove"  0:31
11."Blue Sky Complex"  5:35
12."Oblaat (Remix Version)"  4:47
13."Tell Me"  4:44
14."Honey Blade"  4:31
15."50% & 50% (Crystal Lake Version)"Yukinojo Morihide5:33
16."Psychommunity Exit"  19:57

Personnel

Main artist

Musicians and production

Personnel per the album's liner notes.[7]

Cover versions

Yoshiki composed a piece based on "Psychommunity Exit" as the intro for the 1999 hide tribute album Tribute Spirits.[8] American bassist T.M. Stevens, who plays on the album, recorded a cover of "Blue Sky Complex" for his 1999 album Radioactive. Nightmare guitarist Hitsuji covered "D.O.D. (Drink Or Die)" for Tribute II -Visual Spirits-, while Dezert covered it for Tribute III -Visual Spirits-. Both albums were released on July 3, 2013.[9] The Cherry Coke$ also recorded a version of the same song for Tribute VII -Rock Spirits-, released on December 18, 2013.[10] "D.O.D. (Drink Or Die)" was covered by Flow firstly at Mixed Lemoned Jelly 2016 in Maihama Amphitheater then recorded the studio version for June 6, 2018 Tribute Impulse album.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b Ichikawa, Tetsushi (December 1993). "Interview with hide". 音楽と人 [Ongaku to Hito]. Shinko Music Entertainment Co., Ltd.
  2. ^ "Various – Dance 2 Noise 004". Discogs. Retrieved 2015-07-19.
  3. ^ "H.R. Giger's official website". giger.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-05-21.
  4. ^ a b "hideのアルバム売り上げランキング" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
  5. ^ "Japanese album certifications" (Enter Hide into the アーティスト then select 検索) (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  6. ^ "Top 44 Albums from 1989 - 1998". jame-world.com. 2004-05-09. Retrieved 2013-03-08.
  7. ^ Hide Your Face liner notes, 1994-02-23. Retrieved 2013-05-12
  8. ^ "hide TRIBUTE SPIRITS". amazon.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-07-07.
  9. ^ "Two hide Tribute Albums to be Released Simultaneously!". musicjapanplus.jp. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
  10. ^ "hide Tribute VII -Rock SPIRITS-". cdjapan.jp. Retrieved 2013-12-15.
  11. ^ "hide最新トリビュート盤にHISASHI × YOW-ROW、西川貴教、MIYAVI、GRANRODEOら" (in Japanese). Barks. 2018-04-14. Retrieved 2018-04-14.
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