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Quiet Life
 
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Quiet Life

~ Japan
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Audio CD (17 Nov 2001)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Camden
  • ASIN: B00005S84M
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 211,098 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.

Samples
Song Title Time Price
Listen  1. Quiet Life (7" Version) 3:35£0.69
Listen  2. Fall In Love With Me 4:29£0.69
Listen  3. Despair 5:54£0.69
Listen  4. In Vogue 6:28£0.69
Listen  5. Halloween 4:22£0.69
Listen  6. All Tomorrow's Parties 5:43£0.69
Listen  7. Alien 4:59£0.69
Listen  8. Other Side Of Life 7:24£0.69
Listen  9. All Tomorrow's Parties (12" Version) 5:15£0.69
Listen10. A Foreign Place 3:10£0.69
Listen11. Quiet Life 4:48£0.69
Listen12. Life In Tokyo (12" Extended Version) 7:05£0.69

Product Description

CD Description

Over their relatively brief recorded career--five studio albums--Japan made a huge about-face. From a glam-rock band with arty pretenses they became the epitome of the "New Romantics", wearing their classical and world-beat influences on their ruffled sleeves. QUIET LIFE, the third of their five albums, is the first fully removed from traditional rock.
The title track opens the album with hectic drums and percolating synthesizers offsetting the tremendously controlled guitar and rubbery bass. This song, and indeed album, also introduce the style of vocals that David Sylvian would use for the rest of the band's career--a cross between David Bowie and Bryan Ferry that is much more pleasant to listen to than descriptions would indicate. "Despair", with its piano, saxophone, and swelling synthesizer, is clearly modelled after the second half of Bowie's LOW, as well as being the second ofSylvian's compositions paying overt homage to composer ErikSatie. A cover of the Velvet Underground classic "All Tomorrow's Parties" is completely dominated by Mick Karn's bass playing, though the rest of the band does their best to keep up. QUIET LIFE is an essential road sign in the career of a fascinating band.

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars David Sylvian takes his first steps to greatness, 8 Jan 2002
By A Customer
When I bought 'QL' on vinyl when it was first released, it quite simply blew my mind. I'd heard nothing like Mick Karn's basslines or Steve Jansen's drumming (Surely the most under-rated rhythm section in Rock?). Although the Japan of 'QL' fused many influences (Roxy, Bowie, Euro synth-disco, jazz sax etc), their overall sound was unique. 'QL' changed my (musical) life forever.
Most of the tracks on this release are already widely available on the plethora of Ariola/Hansa era Japan compilations- but it still becomes an essential purchase. I personally prefer to listen to these tracks as originally intended, i.e in their original sequence and album format (in my opinion pre- and post- 'QL' Japan don't mix too well). Standout tracks are 'Despair', 'Fall in love with me', '(The) Other Side of Life' (definite article strangely missing from the track listing on my copy) and 'Quiet Life' itself. The latter two were licensed by Virgin for the later 'Exorcising Ghosts' compilation. 'Quiet Life' (the album) is where David Sylvian took his first steps to greatness.
Of the four 'bonus' tracks, the 12" versions of 'QL' and 'ATP' add little, but the 12" version of the classic 'Life in Tokyo' and former b-side, 'A Foreign Place' are essential. In fact, this release only lacks 'I second that emotion' and 'European Son' (both inessential in my opinion) to be a comprehensive review of post-guitar, pre-Virgin Japan.
Add to this the faithful reproduction of the orignal LP's photographs on the CD booklet and the absolute bargain price, this becomes an essential purchase for anyone with an interest in 80's music. Steve S.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A Quieter Life suited Sylvian & Co., 5 Jun 2003
By "chrishyams" - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
Quiet Life (originally released in late-1979) was a defining moment in Japan's history. The glam-punk experiements of their two initial albums were thankfully ditched in favour of an entirely new sound, unique to themselves, yet perhaps owing a little to the likes of Roxy Music and the then-fashionable European electro-disco scene.

Quiet Life was recently recompiled (in 2001) to incorporate several 12" versions of several album tracks, including All Tommorrow's Parties and Qiuet Life (superior to the 7" version album-opener), plus the B-side of the Quiet Life single, A Foreign Place. These are fairly needless additions (although they are OK in themselves) and do not improve the album in any way, as the incorporation of the superior 7" single version of Life In Tokyo and perhaps the Motown cover I Second That Emotion would have been a good idea, making the revised album sound like a truly fluidic and completed product (both these tracks in their 7" single versions would've made for a five-star album).

Minor gripes aside, the music speaks for itself, and with the likes of the brilliant 'Other Side of Life' and the breakneck bass/sax/synth-driven 'Halloween' onboard (plus of course the Top 20 hit Quiet Life), these tracks are worth the asking price alone. If only the Other Side of Life could've been shortened by a couple of minutes it would've made a classic single in itself.

The cover imagery is very much of its age, predating the New Romantic movement by a good year or so, although Japan were a relatively publicity-shy band who concentrated on their music rather than the style-conscious vagueries of 'the Movement', prefering the studio to clubland, which was left to the likes of their musically inferior contemporaries Spandau Ballet, Visage and Duran Duran etc (Talk Talk had a similar attitude). Having conquered the UK and much of Europe (and they were unsurprisingly massive in Japan too), they sadly split in late-1982, on the verge of their global breakthrough, with Sylvian wishing to pursue a solo (and far less commercial) career, much to the huge disappointment of Jansen, Karn and Barbieri who were clearly predicting greater things for this magnificently original band.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Skin Deep Music, 24 Oct 2001
This review is from: Quiet Life (Audio CD)
If you are curious about the sound of Japan? This album will satisfy and let you know all you ever needed to know about a band who were ahead of there time. This was the album that spelt the end of Ariola Hansa but what a way to end. The music produced from this album is the defining transition from what Japan were to what Japan became. The pivital Jigsaw piece in the puzzle. Don't hesitate you must buy this album and if your hairs on your neck do not stand up it means you dead!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars An underrated classic
Is he a ponce?Check the cover, la. Dated or what?Yes, horribly so, but the music still sounds fresh and innovative to my ears, and you can't judge an album by its cover. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Lazydrake

3.0 out of 5 stars Where Sylvian began to get it right
Japan of the first two albums is a bit patchy, though I have great affection for 'Suburban Berlin' & 'Adolescent Sex'. Read more
Published on 7 Dec 2001 by Jason Parkes

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfection on Vinyl
Around the time this album was released Japan were suffering from their past - 'Adolescent Sex', 'Obscure Alternatives' etc. Read more
Published on 31 Jul 2001 by Alastair Pocock (infocell@btin...

5.0 out of 5 stars a sweeping sense of emotions from start to finish
This was what Brian Ferrys "The bride stripped bare" should have sounded like. Sweeping orchestral sounds, Sylvian sounding more like Marlene Deitrich but with more... Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2001

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