As the early work of
Gackt (ガクト) has already been extensively discussed, this writeup will cover his work from the
Rebirth album until his latest release,
Crescent.
With his 2001 Rebirth album, the theme was one of rebirth from his earlier solo work and Malice Mizer days to his own style. Rebirth's prominent single was "Kimi no tame ni dekiru koto," a song which surprised a lot of his fans because of its definite pop sound. However, this was a wise marketing move on Gackt's part because the song had wider appeal to the mainstream music listener. Increasingly, as Gackt's career progressed, his fans were drawn to his music from two different directions. Either they liked his work in Malice Mizer and were drawn to his darker songs and earlier work, or they heard his major singles and came to his music expecting more of a pop-rock sound. Rebirth was followed later in the year by the Requiem et Réminiscence tour.
In 2002, his third album, MOON was released. This album was the beginning of Gackt's much-publicized and, by everyone but Gackt, little-understood Moon Project. This album was published without lyrics, with only a note from Gackt that he wanted his listeners to discover the continuing story of MOON through sound, not words. The musical style of the album continued the trends begun in Rebirth with the major album singles, "wa.su.re.na.i.ka.ra" and "Another World" being poppier songs. However, many of the other songs on the album are more along the lines of rock, very dramatic, with intense vocals and lots of epic guitar.
Also in 2002 was the release of the "12gatsu no Love Song" single, a song which has become something of a continuing side project. It was released as Gackt's holiday present to his fans and included a b-side with an English version of the song. In 2003, he again released a single of the song, this time with a Cantonese b-side. Then in 2004, he rerecorded the song and released a Korean b-side. There has been some speculation as to if he plans to try recording the song in a different language each year and much speculation as to which language.
In 2003, the Moon Project continued with the spring release of the movie Moon Child, starring Gackt and Hyde from L'Arc~en~Ciel. The movie was both a Hong Kong action-style gangster film and a vampire movie and, as improbable as the combination sounds, was actually fairly good.
In December of 2003, Gackt released his latest album, Crescent. The album continues the moon theme and some of the liner art is taken from Moon Child. Along with the Crescent lyrics booklet, the album also came with the long-awaited lyrics booklet for MOON. In this latest album, Gackt has definitely taken his music in more of a rock direction, interspersed with a few ballads. Dramatic orchestral accompaniments can be found on many of the songs, as well as a harder guitar sound, much different from the more echoey guitar found on MARS. Notable songs on the album are the strange album opener, "Dybbuk" a surreal rap piece and the ending song, "Orange no taiyou," the full length version of a a duet with Hyde, recorded for Moon Child.
There were two tours for MOON. The first, Kagen no Tsuki, took place prior to the release of Moon Child. The second, Jyogen no Tsuki, took place after Moon Child and featured some cameos by members of the Moon Child cast. 2003 also saw the release of Gackt's autobiography, Jihaku.
In February of 2004, Gackt rerecorded and rearranged his previously released singles and released them as an album, The Sixth Day. This was followed in May by The Seventh Night, acoustic versions of his songs. The 2004 tour, The Sixth Day and the Seventh Night, will center on these albums and will feature older material.
As a final note, something should be said regarding Gackt's backup band, GacktJOB. Often referred to in liner notes and by Gackt himself as his "family," they appear to be his closest friends as well as his band. As of 2004, GacktJOB is You (lead guitar, violin), Yukihiro "chachamaru" Fujimura (guitar), Ju-ken (bass), Toshiyuki Sugino (drums), and Ryuichi Nishida (drums). Masa (guitar) was also a member up through the MOON album, after which he left to pursue his own solo work in the band Spiky. Recently, Ren (bass) has also left, to play in his own band, Lin Clover.
Gackt's website can be found at http://www.crownrecord.co.jp/gackt.htm But the website of his fanclub, Dears, at http://www.dears.co.jp/ is much more informative.
Discography (excluding singles)
- Mizerable, 99.5.12 (CRCP-20220)
- 1. Mizerable
- 2. Story
- 3. Leeca
- 4. Lapis ~Prologue~
- MARS, 00.4.26 (CRCP-20239)
- 1. Ares
- 2. Asrun Dream
- 3. emu-for my dear
- 4. U+K
- 5. Vanilla (MARS Version)
- 6. freesia-op.1
- 7. freesia-op.2
- 8. Illness Illusion
- 9. Mirror (MARS Version)
- 10. dears
- 11. OASIS (MARS Version)
- 12. Kono dare mo inai heya de
- Rebirth, 01.4.18 (CRCP-40001)
- 1. 4th . . .
- 2. Secret Garden
- 3. Maria
- 4. uncontrol
- 5. Sekirei ~seki-ray~(RR ver.)
- 6. Kalmia
- 7. Sayonara
- 8. marmalade
- 9. Papa lapped a pap lopped
- 10. seven
- 11. Kimi no tame ni dekiru koto(RR ver.)
- MOON, 02.6.19 (CRCP-40009)
- 1. Noah
- 2. Lu:na
- 3. wa.su.re.na.i.ka.ra
- 4. Soleil
- 5. Speed Master
- 6. Fragrance
- 7. death wish
- 8. Doomsday
- 9. Missing
- 10. rain
- 11. ANOTHER WORLD
- 12. memories
- Crescent, 03.12.3 (CRCP-40046)
- 1. Dybbuk
- 2. mind forest
- 3. Tsuki no uta
- 4. Kimi ga matte iru kara
- 5. Solitary
- 6. Hoshi no suna
- 7. Lust for blood
- 8. white eyes
- 9. Kimi ga oikaketa yume
- 10. Last Song
- 11. Birdcage
- 12. Orenji no taiyou
- The Sixth Day - Single Collection, 04.02.25 (CRCP-40055)
- 1. OASIS
- 2. Seki-rey
- 3. Secret Garden
- 4. Kimi ga oikaketa yume
- 5. wa.su.re.na.i.ka.ra
- 6. Tsuki no uta
- 7. Mirror
- 8. Vanilla
- 9. Mizerable
- 10. Luna
- 11. Last song
- 12. Another world
- 13. Kimi no tame dekiru koto
- 14. Saikai - story
- The Seventh Night - unplugged, 04.05.26 (CRCP-40067)
- 1. Kimi no tame ni dekiru koto
- 2. mind forest
- 3. Kimi ga matteiru kara
- 4. Hoshi no suna
- 5. Kono dare mo inai heya de
- 6. U+K
- 7. Papa lapped a pap lopped
- 8. Mirror
- 9. Uncertain Memory
- 10. Kimi ga oikaketa yume
- 11. Last song