Hurry Up Mode

Hurry Up Mode is the debut studio album by Japanese rock band Buck-Tick. It was released on both vinyl and CD on April 4, 1987 through Taiyo Records with the catalog number LEO 009. The CD version merges "Prologue" into "Plastic Syndrome Type II" as one track, and had two bonus tracks, "Vacuum Dream" and "No No Boy". The entire album was later remixed and re-released in 1990, excluding the two bonus tracks (see Hurry Up Mode (1990 Mix)). "Moonlight" was later re-recorded again for the band's 1992 self-cover album Koroshi no Shirabe: This Is Not Greatest Hits.

Background
Through their drummer Toll Yagami's contacts, Buck-Tick began recording material at Yamaha Hiyoshi Center Studio in 1986. In July, they attracted the attention of Sawaki Kazuo, head of the independent label Taiyo Records. He had seen the band perform at a live house called Shinjuku Attic, and had been very impressed. Buck-Tick signed to Taiyo immediately and released their debut single, "To-Search", on October 21 of the same year.

With Sawaki's help they began promoting themselves very actively, playing the live house circuit in Tokyo. On April 1, 1987, the band released Hurry Up Mode as their first album. The album is subtitled "Koroshi no Shirabe" (殺シノ調ベ), which the band would later reuse as the title of their 1992 self-cover album Koroshi no Shirabe: This Is Not Greatest Hits. In conjunction with its release, they played a concert titled Buck-Tick Phenomenon at Toshima Public Hall in Ikebukuro that same day. The band used an advertising strategy that involved pasting thousands of eye-catching, black-and-white sticker advertisements all over Tokyo's hip youth districts that read simply "Buck-Tick Phenomenon April 1st Toshima Public Hall". The strategy worked, as Buck-Tick sold 400 tickets in advance, and another 400 on the day of the show. After this success, major labels began to be interested in the band. Junichi Tanaka, who attended the concert, signed Buck-Tick to Victor Invitation Records and released their second album, Sexual XXXXX!, that November.

Reception
Hurry Up Mode topped the Japanese Indie Albums chart. Reviewing the album for Allmusic, Alexey Eremenko wrote that on Hurry Up Mode Buck-Tick "rip through a set of speedy, sunny, and energetic tunes, riding the power of reverb guitars and those unforgettable '80s big drumbeats," but with a punk vigor. Although noting it to be a "musical artifact" of its time, Eremenko praised the album's catchiness, particularly the "addictive" chorus of the title track."

Personnel

 * Atsushi Sakurai - lead vocals
 * Hisashi Imai - lead guitar, backing vocals
 * Hidehiko Hoshino - rhythm guitar, backing vocals
 * Yutaka Higuchi - bass
 * Toll Yagami - drums

Additional performers
 * Kosuzu Yokomachi; Mariko Ohhira - backing vocals
 * Hiromi Kokubu - piano

Production
 * Sawaki; Buck-Tick - producers
 * Masayuki Minato; Nishimura - engineers, mixing
 * Tomoyo Tanaka - cover art
 * Mamoru Tsukada - photography