Muzai Moratorium

Muzai Moratorium (無罪モラトリアム), also known as Innocence Moratorium, is the debut studio album by Japanese singer and songwriter Ringo Sheena, released on February 24, 1999, by Toshiba EMI. The album debuted at #2 and has sold over 1,433,000 copies. The album was certified triple platinum by the RIAJ for 1,200,000 copies shipped.^[1]^[2] The album was named number 3 on Bounce's 2009 list of 54 Standard Japanese Rock Albums.^[3]

Background

Ringo Sheena composed nearly all the songs on this album in her teenage years, prior to her major label debut. The album combines multiple genres of music from both the East and the West, including J-Pop and grunge. Both the album and song titles combine Kanji and English, and the lyrics are written using English and Historical kana usage.

The songs "When It Begins to Get Dark...," "Caution," "A View of Happiness (Joy Ver.)" and "Queen of Kabuki-cho" were used in TV commercials for Suntory's The Cocktail Bar range of drinks.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Ringo Sheena and arranged by Seiji Kameda

Credits and personnel

Sheena used different bands throughout the album. She was also joined by guests Neko Saito (who continues working with her) and Chieko Kinbara (who works with Björk).

Zetsurin Hectopascal (絶倫ヘクトパスカル, Matchless Hectopascal) (#1,2,4,6,8,10)

Ringo Sheena - vocals, drums (#2), handclap, whistle
Susumu Nishikawa - electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Seiji Kameda - bass guitar, handclap
Noriyasu Kawamura - drums, backing vocal, handclap

Zekkyō Solfeggio (絶叫ソルフェージュ, Scream Solfeggio) (#3)

Ringo Sheena - vocals, acoustic piano, melodica, handclap, footsteps
Seiji Kameda - bass guitar, backing vocal
Noriyasu Kawamura - drums, backing vocal, handclap, footsteps

Momoiro Spanner (桃色スパナ, Pink Spanner) (#5,7,9,11)

Ringo Sheena - vocal, fake koto (Synthesizer), whistle
Akihito Suzuki - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocal guidance
Seiji Kameda - bass guitar
Noriyasu Kawamura - drums, conga

Guest Players

Toshiyuki Mori - electronic organ (#1,10), acoustic piano (#5)
Neko Saito - acoustic violin (#9)
Chieko Kinbara Strings - string section (#1,5)
Tsunehiko Yashiro - electric organ (#8)

Notes

^ "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 2000年3月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. March 2000 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese). 486. Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan: 8. May 10, 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 22, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
^ "GOLD ALBUM 他認定作品 2000年1月度" [Gold Albums, and other certified works. January 2000 Edition] (PDF). The Record (Bulletin) (in Japanese). 484. Chūō, Tokyo: Recording Industry Association of Japan: 8. March 10, 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
^ "日本のロック・スタンダード・アルバム54(7)". Tower Records. 2009-06-03. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
^ The literal translation is "The crimson sun still shines on my way back, but…", which parodies Kakinomoto no Hitomaro’s waka, "茜さす日は照らせれどぬばたまの夜渡る月の隠らく惜しも".