Assemblage [Remastered] [Digipak] [ECD] - Japan

An improvement

Advantages: Still more to come
Disadvantages: Not there yet

In the first part of their career, Japan had struggled to find a fitting style and sound. Their first album, Adolescent Sex, was a mistake and rushed out by an impatient record company before the band were ready. However, after a short, stadium filling tour of Japan, Ariola herded them back into the studio, the result being the 1979 album Obscure Alternatives. The group had seen Talking Heads while they were away on tour and had been impressed with the intelligence of both the group?s music and their audience. It was an example they wanted to follow, and at the same time Japan were becoming attracted to traditional Eastern music. Obscure Alternatives exposed those interests for the first time, and to good effect. An air of Germanic austerity in some of Sylvian?s songs, such as Suburban Berlin and Deviations, provided a further ...

dave27 09.10.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Obscure Alternatives [Remastered] [Digipak] [ECD] - Japan

Tin Drum by Japan

Advantages: Play - When you're turning Japanese.
Disadvantages: Don't Play - At the rugby club disco.

This iconic album from the 1980's could be considered cheesey by many. But I adore these smooth electronic sounds from the post-ska-revival days when it was actually desirable for a man to look effeminate, in fact it was the only sure way to pick up a girl. This must be Japan's masterwork and the album delivers sinuous melodies that are dominated throughout by a gloriously expressive fretless bass and consistently inventive percussion. David Sylvian has a china-like vulnerability but his voice has deep and soft harmonics, he spreads his voice over these songs like a chef pours chocolate over the richest of deserts. There are three stand-out tracks on the album, "Ghosts" was the single and is a tortured and lumbering outpouring of a lover's loss. Contracting with this are the signature sounds of "Canton", a completely irrepressible ...

themaninthejar 03.07.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Tin Drum [Remastered] - Japan

O Superman I Love You

Advantages: Music that is innovative and original and strangely beautiful
Disadvantages: One or two tracks prevent the album from being an all time classic

This is a review of the recently released remastered edition. It contains the same tracks as the original except for a slightly different cover, a booklet containing extra photos and notes from Laurie Anderson and some two bonus tracks: an alternate version of 'O Superman' and 'Walk the Dog', which also featured on the United States box-set and in earlier stage performances. 'Walk the Dog' was the B-Side of the original "O Superman" single. There is also a video clip for 'O Superman' included in the package. Influences and Historical SettingThis album is mostly derived from Anderson's four-hour one-woman stage presentation 'United States I - IV'. Here we are talking about the United States of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Carter and Reagan era. These were released as a box set of live recordings some years after 'Big Science ...

Zmugzy 27.06.2008 (08.07.2009) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Big Science (25th Anniversary Edition/Remastered & Expanded) [Digipak] [ECD] - Laurie Anderson