Atomic Heart (album)

Atomic Heart is the fourth studio album by Japanese rock band Mr. Children, released in September 1994. The album features two successful lead singles "Cross Road" and "Innocent World".

Atomic Heart
Studio album by
Mr. Children
ReleasedSeptember 1, 1994
RecordedTokyufun, Tokyo Hilton Hotel, Oorong-soh, Sound Village Studio, Victor Yamanakako Studio, Free Studio, and Baybridge Studio
GenrePop rock, power pop, progressive rock
Length54:11
LabelToy's Factory
ProducerTakeshi Kobayahi
Mr. Children chronology
Versus
(1993)		 Atomic Heart
(1994)		 Shinkai
(1996)
Singles from Atomic Heart
  1. "Cross Road"
    Released: November 10, 1993
  2. "Innocent World"
    Released: June 1, 1994

Background

In November 1993, the band released their fourth single "Cross Road". It provided the band with their first top-10 hit (peaked at #6) on the Japanese Oricon singles chart, and remained on the chart for about one year. Success of a single brought the band into prominence by 1994. Their follow-up single "Innocent World", which was featured in the TV advertisement for Coca-Cola's sports drink Aquarius, came out in June 1994 and immediately went straight to the top on the chart. It stayed 2 weeks at #1 and remained the chart for 41 weeks, selling over 1.9 million copies and becoming that year's top-selling single in Japan. Popularity of the band had soared before the album was released.

Reception

Stimulated by those smash hit singles, Atomic Heart debuted at #1 on the Japanese albums chart with first-week sales of over 852,000 copies.[1] On the 1994 year-end charts published by the Oricon, it is ranked at the third best-selling album of that year with sales of 1.7 million copies. It continuously sold well in the following year, selling further 1.5 million units and reaching number-six on that year's top-selling list. The album eventually spent 96 weeks on the Oricon top-100, with cumulative sales of over 3.4 million copies during its chart run. In November 1995, the album was certified triple million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, for shipments of over 3 million units.[2] Atomic Heart was once the top-selling album in Japan, until outsold by Globe's eponymous first album in 1996.

Along with its lead single "Innocent World", Atomic Heart won the 36th Japan Record Awards on New Year's Eve of 1994.[3] The artist, who had flown to Australia for preparation of their forthcoming concert tour, did not attend the ceremony. There was a convention that the award's winners had been supposed to attend the ceremony absolutely, therefore their absence caused little controversy.[4]

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Printing"  0:24
2."Dance dance dance"Kazutoshi SakuraiSakurai, Takeshi Kobayashi4:57
3."Love connection (ラヴ コネクション)"SakuraiSakurai, Kobayashi4:57
4."Innocent World"SakuraiSakurai5:45
5."Classmate (クラスメイト)"SakuraiSakurai5:27
6."Cross Road"SakuraiSakurai4:33
7."Jealousy (ジェラシー)"KobayashiSakurai, Kobayashi6:41
8."Asia (Asia) (Asia (エイジア))"SakuraiHideya Suzuki5:22
9."Rain"  0:20
10."Ame nochi hare (雨のち晴れ)"SakuraiSakurai, Kobayashi5:34
11."Round About ~Kodoku no Shōzō~ (Round About 〜孤独の肖像〜)"SakuraiSakurai5:25
12."Over"SakuraiSakurai4:27

Personnel

Production

Production credits for album:[5]

  • Producer - Takeshi Kobayashi
  • Arrangement - Mr. Children and Takeshi Kobyashi
  • Executive producer - Takamitsu Ide, Akira Yasukawa
  • Co-producer - Hiroshi Hiranuma
  • Recording - Hiroshi Hiranuma
  • Mixing - Hiroshi Hiranuma
  • A&R - Koichi Inaba
  • Director - Katsumi Shinohara
  • Computer programming - Rentaro Takayasu, Yoshinori Kadoya, and Ken Matsumoto
  • Assistant engineering - Yoshiki Fukushima, Shigeki Kashii, Kezo Awano, Naoaki Nemoto, and Takeshi Okano
  • Recorded at - Tokyufun, Tokyo Hilton Hotel, Oorong-soh, Sound Village Studio, Victor Yamanakako Studio, Free Studio Tsukiji, and Baybridge Studio
  • Mixed at - Tokyufun, Free Stuio Tsukiji
  • Mastering - Sterling Studio NY
  • Mastered by - George Marino
  • U.S production supervision - Ami Matsumura
  • Public Relations - Masayuki Nakagawa
  • Promotion staff - Tomohiro Okada, Tetsuya Yamamura, Michiharu Sato, Junichi Ashikawa
  • Art Direction - Mitsuo Shindo
  • Designer - Ryoji Ohya
  • Photographer - Itaru Hirama
  • Stylist - Hiroko Umeyama
  • Hair and make-up - Miyuki Watanabe

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Japan (RIAJ)[2] 3× Million 3,429,650[9]

^shipments figures based on certification alone

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References
  1. "20周年で初！ Mr.Childrenアルバム年内3作で初週売上げ50万枚突破!!" [Mr.Children's Albums Marked 500K First-Week Sales Three Times in One Year]. oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Original Confidence. 2012-12-04. Archived from the original on 2014-03-12. Retrieved 2014-03-11.
  2. "RIAJ > The Record > January 1996 > Certified Awards (November 1995)" (PDF). Recording Industry Association of Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 2014-03-05.
  3. 第36回日本レコード大賞 [The 36th Record Awards Winners]. jacompa.jp (in Japanese). Japanese Composers Association. Archived from the original on 2008-06-15. Retrieved 2012-03-03.
  4. "芸能 > ３６５日　あの頃ヒット曲ランキング　> 1994年6月 > innocent world／Mr.Children　36年目にして前代未聞だったミスチル". Sports Nippon; sponichi.co.jp (in Japanese). 2011-06-13. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
  5. "Atomic Heart" album booklet, Toy's Factory (1994)
  6. "Atomic Heart／Mr.Children-リリース-ORICON STYLE-ミュージック" [Highest position and charting weeks for Atomic Heart by Mr.Children]. oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Original Confidence. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
  7. "1994年 アルバム年間TOP100" [Oricon Year-end Albums Chart of 1994] (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2014-01-16. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  8. "1995年 アルバム年間TOP100" [Oricon Year-end Albums Chart of 1995] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  9. Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
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