Assemblage [Limited Edition, Original recording remastered, Import]

Having got the original Japanese dble (and also the UK double-play cassette) you can guess buying this reissue on top of those indicates I rate this compilation highly, even if the 'record of two halves' is slightly lost on continuous play. "Suburban Berlin" is an interesting transition track though, relying a lot more on synths and oddly paving the way for the increased BPM 'disco' era. Even "Adolescent Sex" and "Rhodesia" sound quite good, though a far far cry from their Virgin era material.

However there are some gripes with this release, and also two different track 14's, depending upon whether you buy the digi-pack remaster or this later standard jewel case release (still remastered). Firstly, from the liner notes, and the CDr promo that popped up, this should've been a 15 track release, featuring 3 (yes 3) remixes of "Life In Tokyo" in the bonus audio tracks. However for some reason Virgin decided to scrap the rarer 6.15 mix (previously only available on the cassette or Old Gold 12"/compilation CD for us in the UK) and keep Part 1 plus the cool 1982 Extended Remix (comes in at 7.05 and is similar to 1979 12" but with bass-line revamped, sequencers lowered and solo female BVs during the break) on the digi-pack release. So what about the later 'standard' jewel case release? Hmmm, track 14 is now the 6.15 mix, albeit with about 5 seconds of the outro completely cut off (very sloppy). As this is the rarer mix this may be a bonus for some, but the track change is inexplicable in terms of a simple repackage.

Then we come onto some remastering (or maybe CD manufacturing) problems that effect the first half of Track 1, and Track 13 even worse after the break. Brief drop-outs/mistracks are clearly audible through headphones, and to be honest several other tracks only just hold onto their sonic integrity, even though they sound bright and punchy. Ofcourse this could be the source masters, but wait, "Best Of Japan" also has "Life In Tokyo - Special mix part 1", and that has no such problems, nor did "Adolescent Sex" on the mid 90s Japanese release. And ofcourse there is a full fadeout to the 6.15 remix of "Life In Tokyo", as confirmed on Old Gold's "Best of 12" Synth" compilation CD from early 90's, even if the sound there now sounds really fuzzy compared to this remaster.

Whether this change in tracklisting, and audio problems on 2 tracks, are limited to batches of the jewel case 2006 reissue is anyone's guess, but potential buyers may find this info of some help.

Still an essential album though, and generally the tracks have remastered pretty well, including the John Punter 12" version of "European Son".

Japan never quite seemed to fit into a particular market. Too stylish and sophisticated for punk, too raucous in their early days for synth pop, they fall somewhere into the "new wave plus" category that's reserved for the likes of Ultravox and Talking Heads.

It's well worth investing in this album just to hear how different the band sounded on their first three ( and particularly their first two ) albums compared to their later and higher-regarded works, "Gentlemen..." and "Tin Drum". Sylvian's voice is an unrecognisable squawk, a cross between Bowie, John Foxx and David Johanssen of the N.Y. Dolls, and sleazy guitars bounce out of the speakers. Standouts are the intense opener, "Adolescent Sex", the reggae-styled "...Rhodesia", the Bowie-esque "Suburban Berlin", the restained hit, "Quiet Life" ( for many the greatest moment for the band ) and the otherwise difficult to find disco pleasure of "European Son" ( here in 2 different versions ).

The original digipack includes the Life in Tokyo original 12" Disco Version, but labeled it as the 1982 Remix. This is a fortunate mistake, for the original 12" is far superior to the 1982 remix, which kept the disco feel, but introduced an annoying Mick Karn fretless bassline. The original is produced by Giorgio Morodor. The non-digipacks replaced the 12" version with the aforementioned annoying 1982 remix (ughh). The rest of the album is an excellent version of Assemblage with all of the key 12" remixes added to the original album. A fine reissue!