THE BLUE HEARTS by THE BLUE HEARTS

The Blue Hearts (ザ・ブルーハーツ, Za Burū Hātsu) is the self-produced and self-titled first album released by the Japanese band The Blue Hearts. They had put together albums as an independent band, but this was their first official release. It has a different track listing from their self-titled EP, which was released in the U.S. in 1990. This album was the most energetic of all The Blue Hearts' albums and over half of the songs were included on the bands "best of" compilation album. Though the single "Hito ni Yasashiku" was written and recorded during their time as an independent band, it was not included on their first album. In September 2007, Rolling Stone Japan rated The Blue Hearts #3 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time". It was named number 2 on Bounce's 2009 list of "54 Standard Japanese Rock Albums".