Ja, Zoo

It is his best-selling album, reaching number 2 on the Oricon Albums Chart and being certified Triple Platinum by the RIAJ for sales over 1.2 million. It was also named "Rock Album of the Year" at the 13th Japan Gold Disc Awards, while its single "Pink Spider" was named "Song of the Year". Ja, Zoo is the only full-length record to be released under the hide with Spread Beaver name; hide had retitled his solo project to formally include his live band. It was completed without him, due to his death on May 2, 1998. Although all songs are credited to hide, his ultimate level of involvement in the finished product is not entirely clear. In June 1998, Zilch bassist Paul Raven said in an interview: "He was under a lot of pressure to finish his solo record. He had three songs completed the day before he died, and now mysteriously a full album is coming out nine days before ours." However, hide's brother and manager Hiroshi wrote in his 2010 book Brothers: Recollections of hide that at the time of his death hide had six out of ten songs finished for Ja, Zoo.