2018 marks the 20th anniversary of the death of hide, who became a local legend first as the guitarist of X Japan, then on his own right as a solo artist. His legacy is kept alive ever since by his fans and fellow musicians and there is a new tribute album out this week that features a rather solid and diverse line up. The first hide tribute album, Tribute Spirits was released back in 1999 and mostly featured musician friends and buddies covering his songs and one of that album’s participants Hisahi returns again for another round, but this time not with his band GLAY, but with a special one-off project, teaming up with Gari‘s vocalist Yow-Row. SEXFRiEND, the other one-off project kind of group on the album is also a duo, but instead of veteran rockers, this one features current favorites: UK from rap group Moroha and Aina The End from teeny-girly idol unit BiSH. Besides her the other female participant is singer-songwriter legend Cocco, while the other solo acts included are Miyavi, Takanori Nishikawa (aka. TM.Revolution) and Acid Android (aka. Yukihiro, drummer of L’Arc~en~Ciel). Besides them, the line up includes Breakerz, local rap rock pioneers Dragon Ash, plus FLOW and Granrodeo, two bands mostly known for their anime theme songs.

Besides the ten tracks they cover there is also an additional bonus track, an alternative version of Hurry Go Round, but I am not really sure that is something that should have been included… It was recently discovered in some studio archives and judging from the sample it is clearly just a quickly recorded demo take by hide, that was definitely never ever intended for release. So, it is kind of strange to include something on a tribute album that might be going against the will of the artist. Anyways, check the songs samples and the tracklisting below:

hide Tribute Impulse
2018.06.06
01.Dragon Ash: ROCKET DIVE
02.MIYAVI: Pink Spider
03.FLOW: DOD (DRINK OR DIE)
04.Cocco: GOOD BYE
05.Takashi Nishikawa: ever free
06.HISASHI × YOW-ROW: DOUBT
07.ACID ANDROID: ELECTRIC CUCUMBER
08.BREAKERZ: EYES LOVE YOU
09.SEXFRiEND: Bacteria
10.GRANRODEO: TELL ME
11.hide: HURRY GO ROUND (hide vocal Take 2)