# Dream "A" Live

Dream "A"live is the eighth studio album by Japanese boy band, Arashi. The album was released on April 23, 2008, in Japan under their record label J Storm in two editions: a limited 2CD version and a regular CD version. Dream "A"live is the 30th best-selling album of 2008 in Japan. As of July 2010, the album is the group's third highest-selling album after their tenth anniversary album All the Best! 1999–2009 and debut album Arashi No.1 Ichigou: Arashi wa Arashi o Yobu!. It was released digitally on February 7, 2020.

## Album information

The album contains the singles "Happiness", which was used as the theme song for the drama Yamada Tarō Monogatari, and "Step and Go". Although production of the album began during the release of "Happiness", word of the new album did not surface until March 2008 when the album available for pre-order on online stores, with the two editions even reaching as high as the top two spots on CDJapan's Pre-Order Ranking.

### Title

During Sho Sakurai's radio show Sho Beat on March 2, 2008, it was revealed that the Dream "A" Live title was created by Sakurai and Jun Matsumoto. The original title was "Alive", but was then purposely divided into "A live" to indicate the group's name and the live performance. Matsumoto also added "Dream" to the title to signify how "dreams can turn into reality" because the coincided Arashi Marks 2008 Dream-A-Live tour was considered a major achievement, as only two other Johnny's groups had previously performed a five-dome tour.

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
Adam Greenberg on AllMusic gave Dream "A"live three out of five stars, calling it a "decent album throughout, well-crafted and well-performed".
Aside from topping the sales rankings, Oricon also reported that the album was a hit with male buyers. Even men in the 40-year-old age bracket had planned to buy the album, compared to the interest with the group's previous album. The music statistics group attributed the group's increasing fan base to their primetime variety program Himitsu no Arashi-chan (ひみつの嵐ちゃん!, Arashi's Secrets) and the various dramas and commercials that the members have appeared in. It was considered quite a development, since many promotions and releases of Johnny's artists are geared towards female teens and young adults.

## Commercial performance

The album debuted at the number one on the Oricon singles daily chart upon its release with the sales index number of 57,795 (about 101,000 copies). By the end of its first week, the album sold a total of 220,722 copies. The album ranked as the 30th best-selling album of 2008 in Japan, selling 303,727 by the end of the year.
On January 1, 2009, the album was placed at number 38 on Billboard Japan's 2008 Top Albums Year-End list.

## Personnel
### Musicians

* Arashi
** Masaki Aiba – vocals
** Jun Matsumoto – vocals
** Kazunari Ninomiya – vocals
** Satoshi Ohno – vocals
** Sho Sakurai – vocals
* Masayuki Iwata - arrangement, keyboard, electric guitar, chorus
* Jun Abe – piano, keyboard
* Akira – choir, chorus
* Tanakam Ayuko – choir, chorus
* Melvin Lee Davis – electric bass
* Naoki Hayashibe – acoustic guitar
* Masato Ishinari – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric sitar
* Gen Strings Ittetsu – strings
* Ikuo Kakehashi – percussion
* Daisuke Kawai – organ
* Takahiro Miyazaki – alto saxophone
* Susumu Nishikawa – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
* Hideaki Sakai – percussion
* Satoshi Sano – trombone, chromatic harmonica
* Shiro Sasaki – trumpet
* Yasushi Sasamoto – keyboard
* Hiroomi Shitara – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
* Masanori Suzuki – trumpet
* Tetsuya Takahashi – keyboard, choir, chorus
* Takeshi Taneda – electric bass
* Tomohiko Tsuya – choir, chorus
* Jun Usuba – tenor saxophone
* Ryoji Yamashiki – electric bass

### Production

* Jun Abe – programming
* Takeshi Hanzawa – photography
* Gen Strings Ittetsu – string arrangements
* Julie K. – producer
* Hiroshi Kawasaki – mastering
* Mike Rose
* Yasushi Sasamoto – programming
* Tsutomu Satomi – coordination
* Tetsuya Takahashi – programming
* Akitomo Takakuwa – engineer, mixing
* Takao – stylist
* Shigeru Tanida – engineer, mixing
* Noboru Tomizawa – make-up, hair stylist
* Asuka Tozawa – coordination
* Alfred Tuohey
* Carl Utbult
* Youth Case – lyricist, composer

## Release history

Release history and formats for Dream "A" Live :
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
| Japan | April 23, 2008 | J Storm | CD | JACA-5091 |
| Japan | April 23, 2008 | J Storm | 2CD | JACA-5089-5090 |
| Taiwan | May 9, 2008 | Avex Taiwan | CD | JAJCD26004 |
| Taiwan | May 9, 2008 | Avex Taiwan | 2CD | JAJCD26004/A |
| Hong Kong | May 14, 2008 | Avex Asia | CD | |
| Hong Kong | May 14, 2008 | Avex Asia | 2CD | |
| Korea | August 19, 2008 | SM Entertainment | CD | SMJTCD271 |
| Korea | August 19, 2008 | SM Entertainment | 2CD | SMJTCD270 |