Rating: 
Summary: X Japan has finally been released on an American label...
Review: Anyone who knows anything about Japanese rock music knows that X Japan is the definitive band of the genre. Composed of the infamous Yoshiki on drums and piano; Toshi on vocals; hide (now deceased) and Pata on guitar; and Taiji (later, Heath) on bass, X Japan took a late-80's Japan by storm and all but singularly commanded the music industry for nearly ten years before finally disbanding in 1997. Being powerful figures of the visual kei movement (a very Japanese expression of generally effeminate gothic dress borrowing heavily from Kabuki theatre and American hair-metal elements), they spawned countless imitators but no equals. Classic, intricate melodies performed flawlessly by amazing musicians encompassed powerful, moving ballads that just as suddenly twisted into frenetic speed metal of unequaled structure and form. NO ROCK GROUP IN JAPAN TODAY can say that they were not somehow influenced by X Japan's vision, which is why it is such a remarkable thing that it has taken this long for any collection of X Japan's music to be reproduced in this country.
This two-disc set as released by Tofu Records is a fair tribute to Japan's greatest rock legends: there are twelve tracks on the CD, and the accompanying DVD showcases eight of their music videos and concert clips. My only complaint is that this set only offers pieces from the days when X Japan was merely "X", before the band attempted to go international and Heath replaced Taiji--it is a raw glimpse of X Japan, of their early visual days when their music was polished and perfect even amidst heavily morbid personal imagery and violent overtones. It is not an X Japan for every member of the family; and while time gradually caused the band to mellow and adopt a more socially-acceptable look, none of that growth can be seen on this DVD. Neither are there any of their softer compositions aside from "ENDLESS RAIN" and "Say Anything"--I think the CD could have been more diverse in that regard. Truly, X Japan is perhaps one of the greatest metal bands of all time, but without their gentle side so beautifully displayed through their ballads, that is all they ever would have been.
So, kudos to Tofu Records for making an attempt to introduce the best of J-Rock to an ignorant American populace! The conversion is slow, and certainly not everyone will appreciate it in this era of watered-down rock music and alternative-metal (which is so pathetically competing with today's sugary pop music), yet no one can listen to X Japan's music and not appreciate the complexity and memorable perfection of their compositions, themselves, as well as the exceptional talent of the men who performed them. We can only hope that perhaps Tofu Records will acquire the rights to other such great J-Rock artists as Luna Sea, L'Arc-en-ciel, Malice Mizer, hide, Sugizo, and others, so that eventually the shelves in America's music stores may actually be filled with talent again.
Rating:
Summary: X Japan has finally been released on an American label...
Review: Anyone who knows anything about Japanese rock music knows that X Japan is the definitive band of the genre. Composed of the infamous Yoshiki on drums and piano; Toshi on vocals; hide (now deceased) and Pata on guitar; and Taiji (later, Heath) on bass, X Japan took a late-80's Japan by storm and all but singularly commanded the music industry for nearly eight years before finally disbanding in 1996. Being powerful figures of the visual kei movement (a very Japanese expression of generally effeminate gothic dress borrowing heavily from Kabuki theatre and American hair-metal elements), they spawned countless imitators but no equals. Classic, intricate melodies performed flawlessly by amazing musicians encompassed powerful, moving ballads that just as suddenly twisted into frenetic speed metal of unequaled structure and form. NO ROCK GROUP IN JAPAN TODAY can say that they were not somehow influenced by X Japan's vision, which is why it is such a remarkable thing that it has taken this long for any collection of X Japan's music to be reproduced in this country.This two-disc set as released by Tofu Records is a fair tribute to Japan's greatest rock legends: there are twelve tracks on the CD, and the accompanying DVD showcases eight of their music videos and concert clips. My only complaint is that this set only offers pieces from the days when X Japan was merely "X", before the band attempted to go international and Heath replaced Taiji--it is a raw glimpse of X Japan, of their early visual days when their music was polished and perfect even amidst heavily morbid personal imagery and violent overtones. It is not an X Japan for every member of the family; and while time gradually caused the band to mellow and adopt a more socially-acceptable look, none of that growth can be seen on this DVD. Neither are there any of their softer compositions aside from "ENDLESS RAIN" and "Say Anything"--I think the CD could have been more diverse in that regard. Truly, X Japan is perhaps one of the greatest metal bands of all time, but without their gentle side so beautifully displayed through their ballads, that is all they ever would have been. So, kudos to Tofu Records for making an attempt to introduce the best of J-Rock to an ignorant American populace! The conversion is slow, and certainly not everyone will appreciate it in this era of watered-down rock music and alternative-metal (which is so pathetically competing with today's sugary pop music), yet no one can listen to X Japan's music and not appreciate the complexity and memorable perfection of their compositions, themselves, as well as the exceptional talent of the men who performed them. We can only hope that perhaps Tofu Records will acquire the rights to other such great J-Rock artists as Luna Sea, L'Arc-en-ciel, Dir en Grey, hide, Sugizo, and others, so that eventually the shelves in America's music stores may actually be filled with talent again.
Rating: 
Summary: Some more info about this release
Review: For the price, you can't beat the amount of music and video you get in this set. The DVD is worth it just for the pure visual craziness this band provides. These guys use every heavy metal cliche imaginable, right down to the clear plexiglass piano! i had first heard of this band as "that japanese band where the lead singer mysteriously died." the rumors were that he had either accidentally choked himself while "pleasuring himself" on a doorknob (yeah, i'm not sure how that works either) or he had just plain committed suicide. that story in and of itself was enough to get me interested in the band, and after watching their live performances on this dvd, i must say that i was not disappointed. CD Tracks:
Kurenai
Joker (live)
BLUE BLOOD
ENDLESS RAIN
Miscast
Celebration
Love Replica
XCLAMATION
WEEKEND (live)
Silent Jealousy
X(Live)
Say Anything DVD Tracks:
X
Kurenai
ENDLESS RAIN
WEEK END
Celebration
Silent Jealousy
Joker
Say Anything
Rating: 
Summary: In responce to the other guy,
Review: Heres the deal, Marilyn Manson sounds nothing like X, the guy who compared them shouldnt have done so. Dont worry, if you dont like Marilyn Manson, you will still like X. Also, Dont get this album and DVD. Instead, buy their first album, Vanishing Vision, one of the most amazing albums ever made. Everything else they did was ham and cheese, adding boring ballads to their albums. The album Jealousy was really good too if you like the band buy that, but trust me on this, Vanishing Vision will definitly impress you, and is a good introduction to the band. Yoshiki is an amazing drummer, but the guitarist Hide is equally impressive. Last, i have to add in that I dont like japanese music. Most of its pretty dull, but for some reason i've become a big fan of this band.
Rating:
Summary: mail of the japanes guy
Review: hey,
it's not really a review, i just wanted the mail from the japanese from tokyo who did the previous review.can you give it to me i got an important question
Rating:
Summary: want to know truth X, should watch DVD&video.
Review: If you have listened to X Japan's cd, I will not need to teach about X sound's wonderful things. Yoshiki's unbeliewable druming, Toshi's high tone voice, Hide&Pata's melodiouse sound and high speed guitars, Heath's technical bass line. And not only heavy rock(X.Kurenai.Silent Jelousy.Dalia..) but also the beautiful classical ballades(Endless Rain.Say Anything.Longing.Tears..) is X's wonderful things. And the character that X have is based on Yoshiki mainly, that is, Yoshiki's character is to have never-give up mind, to chase upper level without his compromise. His principle is perfect. The character is expressed by CD. X's cd reliese except of best and live albums is 4~5 only, neverthless the band's activity period is more than 10 years. In other words, Yoshiki did not have his compromise to make his sound.
And in the middle of X activity, they changed the band's name(X) to(X JAPAN). Do you know about why he did so? Because they would to have debuted in USA. But they gave up the debut because their English songing skill is inferior a little. Yoshiki had not his compromise's minds. But for that, if you watch the DVD including X playing, you must be shocked. In Japan, X was said to[the band that exist for live performance]. Their technique is incredible. Especially Yoshiki's druming technique is God's level. Not to say about high speed druming, in addition to them, to his ad-lib druming in intermezzo, I have not the words that want to express for that well, that is, incredible. When you watch the movie, you will not stop being excited.
And will lose your control. Thank you for reading my poor English.
Rating:
Summary: want to know truth X, should watch DVD&video.
Review: If you have listened to X Japan's cd, I will not need to teach about X sound's wonderful things. Yoshiki's unbeliewable druming, Toshi's high tone voice, Hide&Pata's melodiouse sound and high speed guitars, Heath's technical bass line. And not only heavy rock(X.Kurenai.Silent Jelousy.Dalia..) but also the beautiful classical ballades(Endless Rain.Say Anything.Longing.Tears..) is X's wonderful things. And the character that X have is based on Yoshiki mainly, that is, Yoshiki's character is to have never-give up mind, to chase upper level without his compromise. His principle is perfect. The character is expressed by CD. X's cd reliese except of best and live albums is 4~5 only, neverthless the band's activity period is more than 10 years. In other words, Yoshiki did not have his compromise to make his sound.
And in the middle of X activity, they changed the band's name(X) to(X JAPAN). Do you know about why he did so? Because they would to have debuted in USA. But they gave up the debut because their English songing skill is inferior a little. Yoshiki had not his compromise's minds. But for that, if you watch the DVD including X playing, you must be shocked. In Japan, X was said to[the band that exist for live performance]. Their technique is incredible. Especially Yoshiki's druming technique is God's level. Not to say about high speed druming, in addition to them, to his ad-lib druming in intermezzo, I have not the words that want to express for that well, that is, incredible. When you watch the movie, you will not stop being excited.
And will lose your control. Thank you for reading my poor English.
Rating:
Summary: The best thing for an X-fan.
Review: Okay, every X fan should know about the famous best of X box, right? I still remember the first time I saw it, it was in a used CD store in Japan, and I was attracted to this HUGE box, if only by it's massive side. This DVD set is BASICALLY the best of X, at a considerably reasonable price (the X box sells for about 150 in Japan). The only difference is that this set does not contain a karaoke CD, or a t-shirt. But for the price, you're getting one hell of a set. I'd reccommend it, unless you own the best of X, then it might be kind of useless. Except for the subtitles on the DVD, which rock. Yeah. So buy it, you squares!
Rating:
Summary: X-Japan's "Best" is the Best!!
Review: This is the best DVD and CD I have bought since Marilyn Manson's AnitChristSvperstar so it's a great buy!!
I recommend this to anybody!!
Even though the group does speak Japanese in parts of the songs, you can feel the energy of the lyrics and I'm not Japanese, nor do I know the language.
So, go out and get it because great music is great music no matter the language spoken.
Rating:
Summary: X Japan, The Japanese Led Zeppelin!
Review: X Japan is finally here, it is so sad that now that they have been disbanded for six years they are gaining so many fans in America, the one place that never recognized their greatness. X Japan is of course much more talented than Led Zep, but they did affect Japan's music in the same revolutionary way.
Well, I call them the best because they actually seem like the fathers of everyone else I love in Japanese music. They inspired and helped so many bands that even though those bands don't have the same image or sound, you can feel X in the air. I also call them the best because to be honest, they were made of the best. I am a guitarist myself and have seen many bands and listened to so much music, old and new, but I have never never come across any other guitarists with the same skill and flair as Hide and Pata!!!! And absolutely NO drummer can ever hold a candle to the mad drumming of Yoshiki. There are also few compostitions as great as Yoshiki's and Hide's songs done for X. I hope this band will continue to gain popularity in the west. It is never too late to appreciate music. I also do recommend this DVD. I have it and it has good clips and the CD has good songs. It is also cheap for those not used to paying import prices.
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