Kind of Love

Kind of Love
Studio album by Mr. Children
Released	December 1, 1992
Recorded	Sound Sky Studio, Power House, Victor Studio
Genre	Pop rock, power pop
Length	52:16
Label	Toy's Factory
Producer	Takeshi Kobayashi
Mr. Children chronology
Everything (1992) Kind of Love (1992) Versus (1993) Singles from Kind of Love "Dakishimetai" Released: December 1, 1992

Kind of Love is the first long-play record by Japanese rock band Mr. Children The album was issued in December 1992, only 7 months after the release of their debut EP entitled Everything. It has commonly been regarded as the band's second studio album.

Basic tracks for Kind of Love were recorded in the suite of Hilton Tokyo Hotel, and later additional instruments and backing vocals were overdubbed in the studios.The album consists of 11 songs mostly composed by the band's primary singer-songwriter Kazutoshi Sakurai, including some of which co-written by the producer Takeshi Kobayashi or the Jun Sky Walker(s)' bassist Yohito Teraoka. Drummer Hideya Suzuki also contributed one track "Shishunki no Natsu" featuring his lead vocals. It has been one of the only two released songs not sung by a frontman of the group.

Along with the album, "Dakishimetai" was simultaneously released as a single. The lead-off track of the album, "Niji no Kanata e" was later featured as the theme song for the original animated video Shonan Bakusozoku 9: Omae to ore no Good Luck!^[1]

Like their first EP, Kind of Love sold steadily after the band's commercial breakthrough, peaking at #13 on the Japanese Oricon albums chart in February 1995. During the 1990s, It had entered the top-100 for 159 non-consecutive weeks, with estimated sales of approximately 1.2 million copies during its chart run.^[2] In 2000, the album was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, for shipments of over 1.6 million units.^[3]

Track listing

All songs arranged by Takeshi Kobayashi and Mr.Children

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Niji no kanata e (虹の彼方へ)"	Kazutoshi Sakurai	Kazutoshi Sakurai	3:35
2.	"All by Myself"	Sakurai, Takeshi Kobayashi	Sakurai, Takeshi Kobayashi	4:34
3.	"Blue"	Sakurai	Sakurai, Kobayashi	4:56
4.	"Dakishimetai (抱きしめたい)"	Sakurai	Sakurai	5:27
5.	"Good-Bye My Gloomy Days (グッバイ・マイ・グルーミーデイズ)"	Sakurai	Sakurai, Kobayashi	4:14
6.	"Distance"	Sakurai	Sakurai, Kobayashi	5:12
7.	"Kuruma no Naka de Kakurete Kiss wo Shiyou (車の中でかくれてキスをしよう)"	Sakurai	Sakurai	5:21
8.	"Shishunki no Natsu ~Kimi to no Koi ga Ima mo Makiba ni~ (思春期の夏～君との恋が今も牧場に～)"	Kobayashi, Sakurai	Hideya Suzuki, Kobayashi	3:39
9.	"Hoshi ni Naretara (星になれたら)"			5:03
10.	"Teenage Dream (I~II) (ティーンエイジ・ドリーム（I～II）)"	Sakurai	Sakurai	6:08
11.	"Itsu no Hi ni ka Futari de (いつの日にか二人で）)"	Sakurai	Sakurai	4:13

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes of the album^[4]

Mr. Children

• Kazutoshi Sakurai – lead vocals, guitar
• Kenichi Tahara – guitar
• Keisuke Nakagawa – bass guitar
• Hideya Suzuki – drums, backing vocals

Guest musicians

• Takuo Yamamoto – baritone, soprano, and tenor saxophones
• Yoichi Murata – trombone
• Toshio Araki – trumpet, flügelhorn
• Hirokazu Ogura – guitar
• Shozo Kimura – guitar
• Shoko Suzuki – backing vocals
• Tomoko – backing vocals
• Hijiri Kuwano Group – string arrangement

Production

• Takeshi Kobayashi – producer
• Takamitsu Ide, Mitsunori Kadoike – executive producer
• Kunihiko Imai, Hiroshi Hiranuma, and Tsuyoshi Inoue – recording and mixing engineer
• Koichi Inaba – A&R producer
• Makoto Nakanishi – director
• Ken Matsumoto – computer programming
• Sound Sky Studio, Power House, Victor Studio, others^{[lower-alpha 1]} – recording
• West Side Studio, Studio Somewhere – mixing
• Hiroshi Tanigawa, Hideyuki Arima, Kenichi Hayashi, Tatsuya Kawakami, and Masatatsu Tsubuki – assistant engineer
• Masterdisk – mastering
• Bob Ludwig – mastering engineer
• Hero Associates Inc. – U.S. production supervisor
• Hiroe Takeshima – recording co-coordination
• Naoki Imoto – promotion
• Masayuki Nakagawa – sales promotion
• Isao Tanuma, Kazushiro Miura – artist management
• Tomoko Okada – desk management
• Tetsuhiko /nono – production management
• Harumi Oshima – production co-ordination
• Chikane Kumagai – P.R. management
• Mitsuo Shindo – art director
• Kumiko Tezuka – designer
• Hiroyuki Ishiee – photographer
• Hiroko Umeyama – stylist
• Akemi Nakano – hair and make-up

Notes

1. The album booklet names Sound Sky Studio, Power House, and Victor Studio as studios in which the album was recorded in addition to adding and more to the list, but does not state other studio locations.

Charts

Peak positions Chart Position Japanese Oricon Albums Chart[5] 13

Year-end charts Year Chart Position 1994 Japanese Albums Chart[6][7] 52 1995 37

Certifications

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
Japan (RIAJ)[3]	4× Platinum	1,179,780[8]
^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. The distance to "HOME". 別冊カドカワ総力特集 Mr.Children (Separate volume Kadokawa special issue Mr.Children) (in Japanese). Kadokawa television. 2007. pp. 167–170. ISBN 978-4-04-894488-5.
2. "ミスチル、ニューアルバム完成！(Mr.Children complete their new album!)". oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2007-06-17.
3. "RIAJ > The Record > March 2000 > Certified Awards (January 2000)" (PDF). Recording Industry Association of Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 2014-01-01.
4. Kind of Love (CD booklet). Mr. Children. Toy's Factory. 1992.
5. "Kind of Love／Mr.Children-リリース-ORICON STYLE-ミュージック" [Highest position and charting weeks for Kind of Love by Mr.Children]. oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Original Confidence. Retrieved 2014-03-11.
6. "1994年 アルバム年間TOP100" [Oricon Year-end Albums Chart of 1994] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-01-01.
7. "1995年 アルバム年間TOP100" [Oricon Year-end Albums Chart of 1995] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-01-01.
8. Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.