Dahlia

Dahlia is the fifth studio album by Japanese rock band X Japan, released on November 4, 1996, by Atlantic Records. It is the band's last album before breaking up the following year, and the last to feature new work by guitarist hide, due to his death two years later. The album is composed largely of ballads, with only a few tracks retaining the band's heavier musical traits seen on previous releases. It topped the Oricon chart and stayed on the chart for only 15 weeks, but managed to sell over half a million copies. Seven, nearly all, of the album's songs were released as singles, most of which also topped the singles chart and sold well. Overview Only a few months after the release of Art of Life in 1993, X Japan began recording and releasing singles that would appear on their next studio album Dahlia, which released in 1996 turned out to be their last. 1994 held few performances for the band as the members were focusing on their solo and side projects, but they did play two consecutive New Year's Eve concerts at the Tokyo Dome, titled and respectively. These concerts were released on DVDs in 2007 as Aoi Yoru and Shiroi Yoru. The following year was also slow, until November 19 when the band began the tour for their next album, Dahlia Tour 1995-1996. Around this time, is when the group dropped most of its original visual kei aesthetics in favor of a more casual look. Dahlia was recorded from July 1993 to July 1996 entirely at One on One Recording Studios (later named Extasy Recording Studios) in North Hollywood, California, which Yoshiki bought in 1992. The cover of the album was taken on the street of Broadway in New York City. The Dahlia Tour continued from 1995 into 1996 with quite a few dates cancelled after the March 13 show, because of Yoshiki's neck injury. They returned to the stage for the tour's final concerts and , once again two New Year's concerts at the Tokyo Dome. The latter was recorded and partially released as the Live Live Live Extra album, and later in its entirety as the Dahlia Tour Final 1996 DVD.