Japan - Were they EVER good?

Japan didn't have a particularly great reputation in the UK on their first couple of albums, as it happens. In fact, it took them until Gentlemen Take Polaroids to finally get the recognition they deserved in the UK. They were completely out of step with what was going on at the time in the UK on Adolescent Sex. On the other hand, Quiet Life was a little ahead of its time - it performed poorly on the chart and the title track was only a hit when it was reissued about a year and a half after the album had been out. It sounds like proto-Duran Duran now, but the UK hadn't caught up with what they were doing yet. By the time they'd truly cracked it critically and commercially with 'Ghosts' and Tin Drum, they were finished. To the casual observer in the UK, it must have seemed like they were here today and gone tomorrow, even though they were big in Japan from the beginning. You have to remember, the Quiet Life to Tin Drum period wasn't really that long a period of time, and by the time Japan called it quits, Duran Duran had arrived with a far more accessible (although admittedly not as good - bar Rio) take on what Japan were doing - and they were better looking and more willing to play the fame game.

It's true that Japan's reputation has only increased with time, though - I still remember seeing the video for 'Visions of China' on MTV in the '90s! There was a lot of "the '80s were crap and the music sucked" talk in the '90s, which I basically put down to that natural thing of there being nothing that seems as uncool as things from the previous decade. That kinda perception got readjusted in the '00s, and then further this decade.

I was reading pro-Japan articles in the early '90s, in the throes of my Ferry obsession.

Yup. Japan seemed more immune to the '90s backlash against "'80s music" than most. They'd also got back together to do the Rain Tree Crow album in '91, which I'm really glad didn't come out as a Japan album because it's a different thing.

Bumping this thread to post a link to this recent interview with Rob Dean:

http://www.electricityclub.co.uk/missing-in-action-rob-dean/

Also, there are two types of people in the world: those who think Japan/DS/JBK/all other associated artists are AWESOME and the people who are so wrong they may as well be the mayor of Wrongville.

great interview... thanks for posting it.

Well, yeah.

Some nice insights from Steve Jansen here

https://timstwitterlisteningparty.com/pages/replay/feed_683.html

& a listening party for Gentlemen Take Polaroids on May 1st

I went through Steve Jansen's Tin Drum listening party. I thought it was odd that he had no comments, mentions, namechecks or any callouts whatsoever to David Sylvian, while on the other hand both Richard and Mick were frequently mentioned. Hope that was unintentional.

I'm pretty sure that, despite being brothers, they don't get along. Sylvian made some pointed comments about musicians "who should know better" who try to duplicate the sounds of others to create product that I'm pretty sure were aimed at Jansen.

no comments, mentions, namechecks or any callouts whatsoever to David Sylvian

The same phenomenon can be observed in a recent interview that Jansen and Rob Dean gave to promote the Quiet Life reissue. Someone asked about this in the comments section, and the interviewer replied, "The reality is, David wants nothing to do with his past – not only does he refuse any part in promoting Japan, he won’t even promote his past solo career."
So perhaps Jansen is just respecting his brother's desire to completely disassociate himself from Japan.

I guess Sylvian doesn't want to talk about anything at all, since he's not making any new music to discuss.

Sylvian has been on Twitter a bit, recently. More often than not he's recommending other people's music but he did seem to engage with questions briefly ... but held a fairly hard line of, I dunno, disinterest in old music.

So perhaps Jansen is just respecting his brother's desire to completely disassociate himself from Japan.

David Sylvian often said that he didn't want to dwell on the past or live in nostalgia. During his solo career he already often disassociated himself from Japan (save for Ghosts). I remember he had announced his last tour in 2007 as a final outing of his past work. The performances were really good though, it didn't seem as if he minded playing them once more.
I recall how I briefly spoke to him in 2003 after a concert, which had surprisingly featured Japan's 'The Other Side Of Life'. I thanked him for playing that song and he smiled very proudly in return. I then asked him if the recent reissues of his albums were his choice or the studio, he said it was partly the studio but also partly him, I said that I kinda minded that some remixes closed the first disc of Gone To Earth which disrupted the album flow for me, he said it was the only reissue he also wasn't sure of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99s9hTIELCo

I recall how I briefly spoke to him in 2003 after a concert,

this is an amazing recollection. i know he's a real person, but i guess i've always just imagined david sylvian to be this opaque aura of an existence. i know he's able to speak in a normal conversational voice, but i can't be anything other than intimidated when i try to imagine what that must have been like. he's like a greek god or something to me by this point.

I had exactly the same reaction.

jansen played extensively on all of sylvian's solo work up until dead bees on a cake, played live with him (including on sylvian's final tour in 2007), was part of nine horses with him, and played on the title track on died in the wool which was released in 2011 so if they fell out or anything it must have been relatively recent

have been getting really into sylvian lately, somehow his work never clicked for me last time i'd tried listening to it ages ago but this time it's all incredible to me

The Rain Tree Crow project fell apart when Sylvian had a physical altercation with Jansen, it's said. They're a little more discreet about this sort of thing than the Gallaghers or Davies brothers, though, so who knows.

I interviewed him once, years ago. I was worried it was a mess, but just checked it out and it's ok. He's a smart, thoughtful guy.

xp i never realised things got that bad between them, huh. i guess the most likely story then is that they've fallen out and in over the years - it was 9 years between rain tree crow and their next time working together on dead bees on a cake.

the narrative with tin drum & gentlemen take polaroids has always been that sylvian seized creative control which lead to the band's break-up so i'm sure at the very least jansen wanted to highlight what he & the others brought to the table

http://www.stevejansen.com/news/an_in-depth_interview_with_steve_jansen.html

here's a interview with jansen from sometime in the last few years which is quite a good read. he says his view of those japan albums was that what was good about them was the musicianship of the whole band and the arrangements, which everyone was involved in, with the songwriting itself not being anything special, so he regrets not pushing back against sylvian's narrative of being the main creative force on those albums at the time.

he seems to imply he hasn't really been interested in collaborating with sylvian since sylvian's 2007 tour out of a desire to focus on his own work instead of spending a lot of time backing sylvian (though it's not like sylvian has been doing that much more recently either). he talks fondly of nine horses as a project and seems disappointed they weren't able to do more together as more equal partners though, and also regrets that they ended up doing a sylvian solo tour after the album instead of a nine horses tour. the most he really gets into any tensions with sylvian is frustrations about his label. he talks a lot about his relationships with the other members of japan too.

i know he's able to speak in a normal conversational voice

Maybe not. His voice completely mesmerized me. I remember how I first thanked him for the concert & 'The Other Side Of Life', then asked for an autograph, then meant to ask him about those reissues but there were more people waiting and they asked for autographs before I could ask. I still managed to say that I had a question for him. While he was signing, he said to me "You can ask your question." and the way he said that was like a magic spell. Soft, calm, soothing and caressing but also strong and deep. Guy's a wizard.

His speaking voice was like he's also heard on his later 'Uncommon Deities' record.

YOU MAY ASK YOUR QUESTION, PUPIL

O_O

unreal.

That cleaned up/edited TOTP performance from 1982 is amazing, thanks for sharing Maresn3st!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ07LpCp3jc

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=