japan, the band

You could try Jansen/Barbieri's Stone to Flesh, Bark Psychosis' Hex or Codename Dustsucker, Pluramon's Render Bandits, Hood's Cycles of Days and Seasons, or Headphone's Work in Progress. Maybe No-Man's Together We're Stranger as well.

Jansen and Barbieri's 'Stories Across Borders', from the same year, is also quite good.
Def my fave of the releases they did as a duo.
Karn pops up on a couple of tracks, too, so you pretty much have most of yr RTC right there.

Stone to Flesh, Stories Across Borders and Work In Progress are new to me. Thanks! The Hood and No Man albums have been in my to listen pile for awhile. Bad me. Hex, to me, is v good but lacks that kind of 16rpm world music aspect. I haven't listened to pluramon in forever and I should revisit that.

> certain Orang tracks, Talk Talk B-sides

Which ones in particular?

"It's Getting Late In The Evening"
"For What It's Worth"
"Little Brother"
"All Change"
"Anaon The Oasis"

The Orang debut is a must-own btw

never clicked with me and I'm a huge fan of all this stuff

(orang that is)

this rain tree crow shit is pretty middling and doesnt really go anywhere. great use of space I GUESS.

and wow I missed that book entirely. looking forward to a softcover. I slept on the Spirit of Talk Talk book too but I see they did reprint that.

I've always counted Avalon as one of the most important albums of my life -- it sounded / sounds like nothing else. After years of only knowing David Sylvian's work in relation to People I Pay More Attention To (Fripp et al), I finally discovered Japan several years ago and they blew my thirtysomething brain the way Avalon blew my twentysomething brain (and isn't it great that such epiphanies can still occur?). It's probably an obvious and maybe even superficial comparison at this point but the only songs I've heard that approach the sort of flawless, sophisticated New Romanticism of Avalon are things like "Despair," "In Vogue," and "Ghosts." Eager to check out some of the things mentioned upthread (have never heard any post-Talk Talk bands). Also, I've still only heard Tin Drum and Quiet Life (and bits and pieces of GTP). I guess I've always been terrified of spoiling how much I love those two albums by hearing lesser albums (I like a lot of Roxy, but Avalon is the only one I love).

Roxy's 'Same Old Scene' could have fitted snugly on Quiet Life to the point where I wouldn't have batted an eyelid. Just replace Ferry's voice with Sylvian's.

> they blew my thirtysomething brain

Nice! You're never too old to find something amazing. Your next step should be hearing "Oil On Canvas", the stellar live album. After that it's on to Rain Tree Crow and Sylvian's 80s albums. Then circle back and we'll see what you think, Sylvian went in some interesting directions in the last 20 years.

The last time I listened to Brilliant Trees, I was struck my how well engineered and beautifully recorded it was. Steve Nye worked some absolute magic on that record.

he's skipped "gentlemen take polaroids' though. jimmywine should check that out.

the only 'lesser' japan albums are 'adolescent sex' and 'obscure alternatives' and those are only 'lesser' to the extent that they are more influenced by early glam than new romantic.

Jansen and Barbieri's 'Stories Across Borders', from the same year, is also quite good.
Def my fave of the releases they did as a duo.
Karn pops up on a couple of tracks, too, so you pretty much have most of yr RTC right there.

Learning a lot here - thanks!

Context for Jansen and Barbieri? Who are these guys? New name(s) to me.

they are half of Japan!

I wanted to stop by today and mention that Howard Shore's film score to Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars kinda scratches that rain tree crow instros/ECM-y fourth world itch. Fidgety upright bass + tablas + ominous synths.

Learning a lot here - thanks!

Context for Jansen and Barbieri? Who are these guys? New name(s) to me.

they are half of Japan!

The drummer and the keyboard player to be precise. Responsible for a lot of the sound on RTC.

+ steve jansen is also sylvian's brother fyi

sorry that fyi was meant w/o snark

sometimes stage names really puzzle me. Why change your surname from Batt to Jansen? Sylvian I get.

Listening to GTP and Best of Japan a lot lately. And Yukihiro Takahashi's Neuromantic. Something's going on with my brain for sure.

Why change your surname from Batt to Jansen?

HUH

whoa

Yeah who’d a thunk

https://e.snmc.io/lk/l/a/8a3eaee17f6fca632639174f46e1cb19/2803623.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/dd/4e/db/dd4edb60a05602a84733ba32f5962bd7.jpg

bowie - drive in saturday

Cursing at the Astronette 8
Who stands in steel
by his cabinet
He's crashing out with Sylvian
The Bureau Supply
for ageing men

Sylvian (Sylvain) and Jansen (Johansen) were both NY Dolls tributes.

Mick Karn/Arthur Kane too I guess.

Quiet Life getting the deluxe reissue treatment:
https://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/japan-quiet-life-box-set/