I can imagine Dave255's sneer as he typed that.
― donut debonair (donut), Thursday, 2 June 2005 15:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 2 June 2005 15:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 2 June 2005 15:15 (nineteen years ago) link
GREAT!
― donut debonair (donut), Thursday, 2 June 2005 15:18 (nineteen years ago) link
!!! WHAT'S GOING ON THERE?
― donut debonair (donut), Thursday, 2 June 2005 15:19 (nineteen years ago) link
You're not the only one who's thought that!
― Ian Riese-Moraine's all but an ark-lark! (Eastern Mantra), Thursday, 2 June 2005 15:33 (nineteen years ago) link
― donut debonair (donut), Thursday, 2 June 2005 15:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 2 June 2005 15:41 (nineteen years ago) link
"Tin Drum" is a concept album about China.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 2 June 2005 20:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 2 June 2005 21:05 (nineteen years ago) link
― Patrick South (Patrick South), Thursday, 2 June 2005 22:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― wogan lenin (dog latin), Friday, 26 January 2007 02:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― shudder redduhs (shudder), Friday, 26 January 2007 02:41 (seventeen years ago) link
anyone else reckon the guy out of my chemical romance is modelling himself on sylvian these days?
― wogan lenin (dog latin), Friday, 26 January 2007 03:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 26 January 2007 03:28 (seventeen years ago) link
Now John Foxx -- I'm starting to see more and more that HE is probably where former choir boy SLB (whose mom, trivia-seekers, was a former opera singer who turned into a stage mom with her little Simon and had him deeply involved in acting from a very early age) derived quite a bit of influence from. And Nick Rhodes has totally gone on the record as being absolutely wild for Ultravox's first three albums, so there's something worth looking at.
As for the most recent posts, WTG for picking up some Japan love! Please make sure to repeat "Still Life On Mobile Homes" and "Canton" a few times for me, thanks.
― Phoenix Dancing (krushsister), Friday, 26 January 2007 03:55 (seventeen years ago) link
uh, no
― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 26 January 2007 04:00 (seventeen years ago) link
OH HI BEST SONG EVER, IT IS GOOD TO MEET U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOM7N924Rls
― ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor), Thursday, 30 September 2010 21:30 (thirteen years ago) link
Japan were a fantastic band and have not dated at all. Partly because early 80s synth based music hasn't and will never date. But also, Japan were better than most.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Thursday, 30 September 2010 23:09 (thirteen years ago) link
"Ghosts", in particular, has to be one of the dullest Top 10 Hits EVER.
Couldn't disagree more..
― billstevejim, Friday, 1 October 2010 00:17 (thirteen years ago) link
What top 10s are weirder than Ghosts, except O Superman, of course...
― iago g., Friday, 1 October 2010 00:40 (thirteen years ago) link
I marvel at UK pop culture, such a mash of MASSIVE artists and (presumably) inaccessible artists, completely different than the US mainstream. Never change!
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 1 October 2010 00:55 (thirteen years ago) link
"Ghosts", in particular, has to be one of the dullest Top 10 Hits EVER.Couldn't disagree more..
Yeah no kidding, this song is fucking incredible.
― ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor), Friday, 1 October 2010 02:34 (thirteen years ago) link
amazing!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGcteC2_H2c
― Kim, Friday, 1 October 2010 02:54 (thirteen years ago) link
I am so big on Tin Drum, Gentlemen Take Polaroids & Quiet Life...I tried their first two albums over five years ago & they didn't hit me in the same way. I am thinking I should try them again.
― Mormons come out of the sky and they stand there (Abbbottt), Friday, 1 October 2010 02:56 (thirteen years ago) link
I am thinking I should try them again.
Eh, I'm in the same camp as you. Their first two, which I revisited last year, are simply a different band, and not one that I particularly like.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 1 October 2010 03:01 (thirteen years ago) link
You have to approach their first albums as a diff band, basically. "Adolescent Sex" is pretty bratty, but has a few standout moments if you like glam rock. I like a lot of "Obscure Alternatives" - its all over the place, its quite an odd little number.
I'vbe had a Japanese original pressing of AS since I was 16, I feel like I grew up with this band even tho they'd broken up before I ever found out about them.
― cathedral-sized jellyfish in your mind (Trayce), Friday, 1 October 2010 03:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Haha xpost!
― cathedral-sized jellyfish in your mind (Trayce), Friday, 1 October 2010 03:02 (thirteen years ago) link
Yep, that's the right perspective.
Meanwhile, don't forget the reunion-that-wasn't-quite album as Rain Tree Crow. It's haunting.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 1 October 2010 03:27 (thirteen years ago) link
i've never heard a japan song in my life other than "ghosts" but that song more than justifies their existence for me
― teledyldonix, Friday, 1 October 2010 04:09 (thirteen years ago) link
obscure alternatives is a great record. I prefer it at times to gentlemen take polaroids which can sound bland to me, compared to tin drum (which is texturally interesting) and quiet life (which still has some swagger to it). obscure alternatives is weird. I think it's weirder than polaroids.
― akm, Friday, 1 October 2010 07:04 (thirteen years ago) link
Its quite weird! It has this strange harsh vibe to it. "Communist China" is such a Roxy rip, but it's great for it.
― cathedral-sized jellyfish in your mind (Trayce), Friday, 1 October 2010 08:06 (thirteen years ago) link
early 80s synth based music hasn't and will never date
I love 80s synth-pop but this is a crazy statement. Certain voguish sounds were already dated a couple of years later.
― Haunted Clocks For Sale (Dorianlynskey), Friday, 1 October 2010 08:10 (thirteen years ago) link
The sound of the 80s was intermediately dated during the 90s, but has been reinstated during the 00s. The 90s was a very different decade that will remain different forever and have little relevance on music beyond the 90s.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Friday, 1 October 2010 08:52 (thirteen years ago) link
Amazing.
― Haunted Clocks For Sale (Dorianlynskey), Friday, 1 October 2010 08:53 (thirteen years ago) link
Some of the sampling/FM based synths of the late 80s sound dated now though, and always will. The trademark bass sound of the DX7 will never ever be trendy again.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Friday, 1 October 2010 08:53 (thirteen years ago) link
wow i agree with Geir, whats the world coming too
On sounding dated i think its to do with digital synths in the 80s and cheap sampling in the late 80s/early 90s
― X-101, Friday, 1 October 2010 09:48 (thirteen years ago) link
Yes, it is. But also some of those DX7 sounds that were being used way too often.
The DX7 (and the FM synths that followed) was a strange creature. Technically, it was a synth and not a sampler. But the sounds it made sounded more like badly sampled samples than like synth sounds. Avoiding the most cliche-liked sounds (also the el piano sound) FM synths can still work nicely together with analogue synths to create more varied sounds though.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Friday, 1 October 2010 09:50 (thirteen years ago) link
But, well.... Better keep to Japan here. And they did not use DX7 or samples. :)
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Friday, 1 October 2010 09:51 (thirteen years ago) link
I have to agree with Geir here about early 80s synth before everything got all poopy. However Japan are so depressing! Were then and are now! Am happy to be reminded of this.
― Party with Your Poodle (u s steel), Friday, 1 October 2010 10:04 (thirteen years ago) link
It's Sylvian's Ferryesque croon on the Japan records that I have a hard time coming to terms with. Thankfully he mostly dropped that affectation when he went solo. I love "Ghosts" and (even more) "Nightporter" but he should have redone the vox on those songs later.
― margana (anagram), Friday, 1 October 2010 12:16 (thirteen years ago) link
I always thought "Burning Bridges" felt like a sort of practice run for what they wanted to do on "Ghosts," except with a saxophone instead of some crushingly bleak lyrics.
― Mormons come out of the sky and they stand there (Abbbottt), Friday, 1 October 2010 17:15 (thirteen years ago) link
Sylvian re-recorded the vocals for "Ghosts" on the "Everything & Nothing" compilation.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 1 October 2010 19:03 (thirteen years ago) link
Is that worth checking out? FWIW I *love* the vocals on original flavor Ghosts.
― Mormons come out of the sky and they stand there (Abbbottt), Friday, 1 October 2010 19:04 (thirteen years ago) link
it's a good compilation that criminally doesn't include any version of forbidden colors. the re-recordings and remixing isn't super noticable unless you are the sort who a/b tests versions of songs obsessively. I'm not sure why he did it.
― akm, Friday, 1 October 2010 22:32 (thirteen years ago) link
Partly because early 80s synth based music hasn't and will never date.
"I still like it" doesn't mean it hasn't dated. I like a lot of music played on the harpsichord but guess what it's dated. I know it is useless to argue w/you but I feel it is my duty to tell you you're wrong.
― aerosmith: live at gunpoint (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Friday, 1 October 2010 22:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Except for the drum machines being more advanced these days, current chartpop sounds like early 80s synth based music.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Saturday, 2 October 2010 20:47 (thirteen years ago) link
(And, well, today's chart pop is dominated by female singers whereas male ones dominated in the 80s - but it would be a bit weird to claim that the idea of a male lead singer is dated)
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Saturday, 2 October 2010 20:48 (thirteen years ago) link
Oh man akm thank you for reminding me of "Forbidden Colors"! I had been trying to figure out what it was for the past couple months, playing "Every Color You Are" and getting sad when it wasn't the song I was thinking of.
― Mormons come out of the sky and they stand there (Abbbottt), Saturday, 2 October 2010 21:54 (thirteen years ago) link
People who dislike Japan just have no...taste.
― Ain't Gonna Play Sim City (King Boy Pato), Saturday, 2 October 2010 21:57 (thirteen years ago) link