Japan - Were they EVER good?

Bowie's Lodger, Low and Heroes were all coming along nicely and early Roxy Music was probably a help.

In a time when popular music had become so stale and boring, leading to the reactionary evolution of the Sex Pistols and the punk rock revolution, Japan stood out as not conforming to any trend, but sticking to doing something different in the midst of punk rock nihilism, in the same way bands like Magazine did. Incredibly brave or foolish at the time I guess.

They were the first ‘Band’ to use Giorgio Moroder as a producer, beating Blondie too it, and you can defiantly can dance to em. Adolescent Sex is as funky as Chic, with a Glam/Punk sneer (with something nice and immature about it), and Life in Tokyo is classy as hell analogue disco genius – I think they grew up a lot in public, and were lucky the music industry allowed them to do so. I don’t think this could happen to an artist now.

From this teenage glam rock funk thing of the first two (maybe three) albums through european disco they evolve into a very original art house machine of fantastic musicians, releasing objects as bizarre as uk chart topping single ‘Ghosts’ (can you imagine something as odd and abstract as that in the charts today??). For a minute I thought they were going to turn into Can, but it sadly wasn’t to happen. I think they dropped all the rock and roll out of the band, and I kinda missed it.

Not everything they have done is good (a fair bit is dodgy), but some of it is sublime, other bits fun, and they are indeed unique. If your looking for a pop band like a pre-cursor to Duran, then Japan are not it. There albums are not easy listening, and take a while to get into, but I think it’s worth it.

Sylvian’s voice may have borrowed heavily from Ferry and Bowie, but even that took on a tone all of his own, and seemed to carry this deep inner sadness, with a very English reserve, the like of which will never be heard again. Sometimes it still makes me cry when I listen to it, even on the solo stuff.

Steve Jansen managed to produce some of the most breathtaking rhythmic structures, and I think is a totally underrated drummer – more importantly my girlfriend recons he may even be better looking than brother David.

I don’t think Duran wanted to be them, only Nick Rhodes and Stephen Tin Tin Duffy from the original lineup did. Duran had a different agenda (pop starts) compared to Japan’s yearning for artistic credibility. Duran actually begged Japan to produce them at one point, but in retrospect I bet Duran are glad they didn’t.

As for the ‘Romo’ scene Orlando were a terrible hi-nrg stage school pet shop boys band wagon jumpers (previously signed to indie label, got all electronic and make-up when it was trendy) and shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same thread as Japan (or the pet shop boys for that matter), so stop it.

I was too young to like em at the time and got into them in the late 90's through the solo stuff with Can and Fripp.

Nope, don't like Thomas Dolby or Thompson Twins, even in really small doses.

Yep they sounds dated.

That's not quite a fair analysis...compare the Reproduction Is Pollution EP to Passive Soul (the former release was put out under the name "Shelley" on Sarah Records and wasn't quite by the same band, but I assume that that's what you're referring to). Baroque sensibilities tie it together. With the possible exception of Just For A Second (which is admittedly quite Hi-NRG, though I'd say that it's far from terrible), I can't detect a discernable lipgloss/mascera aesthetic any more readily with them than I can in a Scott Walker or Divine Comedy album. And JFAS's B-Side (Something To Write Home About) dispells even the idea that that single was a bandwagon-jumper; it could scarcely be farther removed from the "vapid" RoMo aesthetic.

This has done little to argue that Orlando belongs in a Japan thread, but that was never my assertion anyway. I rarely decline a dismissed soapbox.

I had the Shelley record, which I liked, and just got pissed of when they did this transformation into a bland which sounded like Gary Barlow song writing produced by Stock Aitkin and Waterman. Suddenly they were wearing orange make-up, lip gloss and shinny suits, and the lead singer camping it up like Liza Minelli on helium, with a huge cheesy grin. They had become a vapid pop band, with as much musical integrity as Dollar. I don’t think this was the best move for them creatively.

Live they made me ashamed to have liked them, and almost physically sick. The obvious backing track and mimed guitar were not what I was really after.
I guess when you see your chance for fame money and success sometimes you just have to go for it. I have to respect them for that at least it was a very brave move – they just chose the wrong bandwagon I guess, and should have stuck to indie.

I'm an American, so I never got the chance to see them live, but it wouldn't very much surprise me if they were less than excellent. Dickon, for all his virtues, is a poor guitarist, and Tim's singing is an acquired taste even when glossed with all those production tricks. Then again, it's no secret that I prize vapid pop, so this outpouring of love could likely be evidence of poor taste on my part.

I've still not decided whether that first sentence was meant in earnest, but I quite appreciate your sentiment either way.

I still like them a lot. The later, more atmospheric stuff is good too, but the first two...

www.karmadownload.com/artist/?xavior

I am also selling my soul on ebay (www.ebay.com), but, like the Holy Grail Herself, the item number is top secret, and clues abound regarding its location...

Go Forth Knights...

Xx

Yes, Japan were good.

it's been touched on before on ILM, but i joyously shudder listening to "Quiet Life", It is brillant, sexy, catchy and uncanny: it's Duran Duran's debut album two years earlier!

It's kinda scary. Intended or not.

It's fun to do that but I don't think it's 'right' per se -- for instance, our own Dee, Duran freak extraordinaire, is VERY much a Japan fan too and sees the inspiration clearly while still loving Duran deeply.

Ned, forgive me.

They have one of the tightest, most original rhythm sections. They're "serious" but also quite fun. And they're probably my overall favorite band too.

http://www.musicfolio.com/modernrock/japan_tindrum.jpg

And your mentioning Sylvian's obsession with the hoarier aspects of Ferry's voice illustrates the orientalism point as well. At that juncture in his career, Sylvian was indulging his interest in style as content. And rather than synthesizing conflicting cultures (which is where Polaroids stumbles a bit), on Tin Drum he's pitting them against one another. The result is unmitigated exoticism by way of subtractive process.

Anyway, absent that underlying tension, you had style for its own sake. Or, as noted, Duran Duran, who apparently asked him to produce their debut.

Twee psychedelic pop from 67-68, certainly. Also 70s prog rock

(And wrong in both cases)

I can imagine Dave255's sneer as he typed that.

GREAT!

!!! WHAT'S GOING ON THERE?

You're not the only one who's thought that!

"Tin Drum" is a concept album about China.

anyone else reckon the guy out of my chemical romance is modelling himself on sylvian these days?

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.

uh, no

OH HI BEST SONG EVER, IT IS GOOD TO MEET U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOM7N924Rls

Farrah Fawcett was hot for a while.

I always try to go for early 80s Sylvian when my hair gets longish

hair idol <3

https://jansenphotographyblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/1081.jpg

I thought he'd have a picture of Mao in his kitchen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_370OVHy80

See what I mean?

so handsome <3

you mean like the tin drum album cover? was he actually a Maoist?!?

Items from Mick Karn's personal memorabilia collection currently on eBay, for those who may be interested:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/joseph4jansenphoto/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=