Forever (Spring 2023)

[Lux Aeterna]

The latest newsletter from Libera Records states a few elements, mostly known, but there is a new info about digital version of the Forever album.

- The Japanese version will be released on May 17 (we already knew it)
- The new song written by Takatsugu Muramatsu is included in the Japanese edition only
- The overseas version will be released in June (the 23 June has it was posted above)
- the digital release will be distributed at the same time as the overseas version release (June 23 June).

Meaning that from May 17th to June 23rd the new album Forever can only be listened from the physical version of the Japanese CD.

Great! I hope that at least the Japanese version will be available for streaming or download outside Japan.

[Lux Aeterna]

This is the tracklist of the Western edition.
Beati Quorum
God Only Knows
Far Away
Ave Verum
The Lighthouse
O Beata
Anima Christi
Come My Way
At Sea
Sing Forever
Be Still My Soul
A Greatful Heart
Love Shine a Light

[theriverflowson]

This is the tracklist of the Western edition.

Great, thanks! Glad it's indeed called "Far Away" and not "Faraway Light".

A few small surprises for me:
- it's "THE Lighthouse" and not just "Lighthouse"
- it's "Beati QUORUM" instead of just "Beati"
- the song called "O Beata" is what was announced/translated as "Trinity", I guess?
- "Eternal Bonds" is not on this album at all? I thought it was only the piano solo which was the exclusive song for the Japanese edition

[fan_de_LoK]

Great! I hope that at least the Japanese version will be available for streaming or download outside Japan.

It seems we will have to wait the release of the Western CD on June 23 before any digital is released, even in Japan.

The newsletter says:
また海外盤は6月以降の発売予定、デジタルリリースも海外盤リリースと同時配信になりますので、5月17日以降しばらくは、日本盤CDのみにて、ニューアルバム『絆～Forever』をお聴きいただける、ということになります!

Which can be translated to:
The international release will be available from June onwards, and the digital release will be distributed at the same time as the international release, So for a while after 17 May, you will only be able to listen to the new album 'Kizuna - Forever' on the Japanese CD!

[fan_de_LoK]

 "Eternal Bonds" is not on this album at all? I thought it was only the piano solo which was the exclusive song for the Japanese edition

The Western edition has 13 tracks
image from Amazon

The Japanese edition has 15 tracks
Libera Records (In Japanese)

The additional tracks on the Japanese version are #01 and #15, marked with 【日本盤のみ収録】meaning [Included only on the Japanese version]

Track 1 is:
Eternal Bonds (Takatsugu Muramatsu/Sam Coates)

Track 15 is:
Eternal Bonds Piano solo version (composed and performed by Takatsugu Muramatsu)

[Lux Aeterna]

Great! I hope that at least the Japanese version will be available for streaming or download outside Japan.

It seems we will have to wait the release of the Western CD on June 23 before any digital is released, even in Japan.
.

I'm just hoping there is way to listen Eternal Bond

[Yorkie]

 "Eternal Bonds" is not on this album at all? I thought it was only the piano solo which was the exclusive song for the Japanese edition

The Western edition has 13 tracks
image from Amazon

The Japanese edition has 15 tracks
Libera Records (In Japanese)

The additional tracks on the Japanese version are #01 and #15, marked with 【日本盤のみ収録】meaning [Included only on the Japanese version]

Track 1 is:
Eternal Bonds (Takatsugu Muramatsu/Sam Coates)

Track 15 is:
Eternal Bonds Piano solo version (composed and performed by Takatsugu Muramatsu)

Hmmh, seems like it will be necessary to buy an album from Japan then. That is very expensive. The last time I did that I had to pay as much in import duties as I paid for the album & postage

[Lux Aeterna]

This is the tracklist of the Western edition.

Great, thanks! Glad it's indeed called "Far Away" and not "Faraway Light".

A few small surprises for me:
- it's "THE Lighthouse" and not just "Lighthouse"
- it's "Beati QUORUM" instead of just "Beati"
- the song called "O Beata" is what was announced/translated as "Trinity", I guess?
- "Eternal Bonds" is not on this album at all? I thought it was only the piano solo which was the exclusive song for the Japanese edition

And "Guidance of the Sea" is simply "At Sea". I don't understand how " O beata " became " Trinity", unless the song' lyrics are inspired by "O lux Beata Trinitas" . Time will tell.

[Lux Aeterna]

 "Eternal Bonds" is not on this album at all? I thought it was only the piano solo which was the exclusive song for the Japanese edition

Hmmh, seems like it will be necessary to buy an album from Japan then. That is very expensive. The last time I did that I had to pay as much in import duties as I paid for the album & postage

I just found out that the Japanese version of Beyond is on Itunes, so maybe there is a chance to also have the Japanese version of Forever and buy Eternal Bond from there. Better than nothing i guess.

[Surpinto]

The latest newsletter from Libera Records states a few elements, mostly known, but there is a new info about digital version of the Forever album.

- The Japanese version will be released on May 17 (we already knew it)
- The new song written by Takatsugu Muramatsu is included in the Japanese edition only
- The overseas version will be released in June (the 23 June has it was posted above)
- the digital release will be distributed at the same time as the overseas version release (June 23 June).

Meaning that from May 17th to June 23rd the new album Forever can only be listened from the physical version of the Japanese CD.

Thank you so much for this summary. Since information on this album has come out sporadically over many months, I sometimes lose track of where things are.

As Yorkie said, it seems that the Japanese version will also have to be purchased. The shipping is more than the CD itself and the total cost with shipping is over $50 from some Japanese sellers, and closer to $60 for others I ordered from HMV as I have done business with them before without issue

Here are the links (as provided by the Libera-Records website) for those interested in buying the Japanese album:

• Tower Records
• Rakuten
• HMV

And an additional purchase link: CD Vinyl Japan (change the "en-us" portion of the URL if you're outside the US)

[bachmahlerfan]

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[bachmahlerfan]

Thank you so much for this summary. Since information on this album has come out sporadically over many months, I sometimes lose track of where things are.

As Yorkie said, it seems that the Japanese version will also have to be purchased. The shipping is more than the CD itself and the total cost with shipping is over $50 from some Japanese sellers, and closer to $60 for others I ordered from HMV as I have done business with them before without issue

Here are the links (as provided by the Libera-Records website) for those interested in buying the Japanese album:

• Tower Records
• Rakuten
• HMV

And an additional purchase link: CD Vinyl Japan (change the "en-us" portion of the URL if you're outside the US)

The CDJapan website has some cheaper options. You can try the "Shipping Charge Calculator" on the album page and it will give you a number of options: https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/LIBE-15

[Surpinto]

Thank you so much for this summary. Since information on this album has come out sporadically over many months, I sometimes lose track of where things are.

As Yorkie said, it seems that the Japanese version will also have to be purchased. The shipping is more than the CD itself and the total cost with shipping is over $50 from some Japanese sellers, and closer to $60 for others I ordered from HMV as I have done business with them before without issue

Here are the links (as provided by the Libera-Records website) for those interested in buying the Japanese album:

• Tower Records
• Rakuten
• HMV

And an additional purchase link: CD Vinyl Japan (change the "en-us" portion of the URL if you're outside the US)

The CDJapan website has some cheaper options. You can try the "Shipping Charge Calculator" on the album page and it will give you a number of options: https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/LIBE-15

Cool! Wasn't aware of this option. The CD appears to be the exact same price across all sellers, but the shipping (to the US) seems to vary. I looked at several sellers shipping both via FedEx and EMS, and they generated different numbers - very strange. This seller has far more options than usual.

Hopefully everyone is aware of these issues and chooses the company accordingly. I'm not sure if some sellers are more prompt with shipping than others, as I have only ever done business with HMV the small handful of times I've ordered a Libera CD from Japan.

[bachmahlerfan]

Well, considering the June 23 release outside of Japan, I can understand why they didn't release the "Ave Verum Corpus" song during Lent. I suppose they're banking on the fact that the song is based on a very famous piece of music, so the timing of its release is less important. Also, while the text is featured a lot during Lent/Holy Week in music, it's also generally appropriate for the Eucharistic/Communion part of church services.

[bachmahlerfan]

Thank you so much for this summary. Since information on this album has come out sporadically over many months, I sometimes lose track of where things are.

As Yorkie said, it seems that the Japanese version will also have to be purchased. The shipping is more than the CD itself and the total cost with shipping is over $50 from some Japanese sellers, and closer to $60 for others I ordered from HMV as I have done business with them before without issue

Here are the links (as provided by the Libera-Records website) for those interested in buying the Japanese album:

• Tower Records
• Rakuten
• HMV

And an additional purchase link: CD Vinyl Japan (change the "en-us" portion of the URL if you're outside the US)

The CDJapan website has some cheaper options. You can try the "Shipping Charge Calculator" on the album page and it will give you a number of options: https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/LIBE-15

Cool! Wasn't aware of this option. The CD appears to be the exact same price across all sellers, but the shipping (to the US) seems to vary. I looked at several sellers shipping both via FedEx and EMS, and they generated different numbers - very strange. This seller has far more options than usual.

Hopefully everyone is aware of these issues and chooses the company accordingly. I'm not sure if some sellers are more prompt with shipping than others, as I have only ever done business with HMV the small handful of times I've ordered a Libera CD from Japan.

The cheapest shipping option, Air Mail, is temporarily suspended for some reason and it didn't say when it would resume. So, I selected DHL shipping, and the total comes to $45.18 (to Minnesota). I opted out of bonus items, so I don't know whether the shipping would increase with those.