Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Quite The Best of Japan.... again, 24 May 2006
Well, here we are again, happy as can be..... well, not quite as it happens.
For the umpteenth time since 1984, we witness the arrival of yet another Japan compilation, or should we say the best of their Virgin Records years. Quite simply, this compilation takes us, in recording terms, from late-1979 to late-1981. It almost completely ignores the band's Hansa material from 1977-1979, including classic cuts from their two 1978 albums such as the reggae-infused Rhodesia, the post-punk sounding Communist China, the moody pop of Adolescent Sex, the edgy Stateline and the epic Suburban Berlin. Sure, their earlier years were patchy, but there were some masterful highlights which have been purposely ignored here.
Other notable exclusions include the brilliant synth-pop of Halloween, the 'Bond-theme that never was' which was The Other Side of Life, the swooning Swing and the sublime alt-pop of Still Life In Mobile Homes. The inclusion of the gorgeous Rain Tree Crow track, Blackwater, (Japan reformed under this moniker in 1990-1991) would also have been a nice touch with which to close this collection. Alas.....the compilers chose to include the stodgy album track The Art of Parties, the repetitive instrumental track Canton, the band's cover version of Lou Reed's All Tomorrow's Parties and for some reason, two versions of Ghosts.... err, why ?
Another (sorry) gripe is the non-chronological track listing which seems like the songs have been randomly shuffled from the Gentlemen Take Polaroids and Tin Drum albums and then deposited nonchalantly onto this CD. Thus it is difficult to chart the development of this highly original band from their glam-esque punk art beginnings to being the 1980's first truly innovative new wave band.
On the positive side (yes, there is one), this is actually a neatly packaged compilation and does contain some outstanding tracks, which of course we can't ignore. However, if you are looking to 'get into' Japan, I would recommend purchasing the band's 1981 Assemblage compilation of their earlier work, followed by their three subsequent albums, Quiet Life, 'Polaroids and Tin Drum.
One day this band will receive a worthy compilation that truly reflects their best material from across their whole recording career. We wait and wonder........
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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another Japan-compilation..., 31 Mar 2006
At one point in time there were two Japan-compilations - 1981's 'Assemblage' (which gatherered together the years on Ariola-Hansa, cashing in on their success in 1980 & 81 on Virgin) and 1984's 'Exorcising Ghosts'- which was originally a double LP that focused on the Virgin years with a few concessions to before ('Quiet Life', 'A Foreign Place', 'The Other Side of Life')- bizarrely that ignored 'Oil On Canvas.' This unimaginatively titled compilation takes in 15 tracks (their biggest hit 'Ghosts' features twice...)and works as a fairly ideal primer to the band for those who don't want the reissues and might find the full-length 'Exorcising Ghosts' (never on CD) a bit too much. By taking the Ariola-hits (when reissued) 'I Second That Emotion','Quiet Life', 'European Son' & 'Life in Tokyo' a more cohesive selection of Japan's career is there. It could be subtitled 'the most obvious Japan album in the world, ever!'The key singles are here - 'Cantonese Boy', 'Ghosts', 'The Art of Parties', 'Visions of China' and two firm favourites 'Gentlemen Take Polaroids' and 'Methods of Dance.' This is perfect avant-pop advancing on the climes of Roxy Music, Eno, Bowie & Yellow Magic Orchestra. This compilation offers a few more adventerous moments - the instrumental 'Canton' (which predicts a lot of Sylvian's later world music/intrumental directions) and another 'GTP'-double whammy in the form of 'Nightporter' and 'Taking Islands in Africa.' 'Nightporter', like 'Ghosts', dispenses with the band - Sylvian crooning like a blend of Ferry'n'Walker over a Satie-styled piano (directions confirmed by earlier tracks 'The Tenant' & 'Despair'). 'Taking Islands...' meanwhile is a sublime electronic pop song featuring Sylvian's long-time collaborator Ryuichi Sakamoto - a lush ambient blissed out moment of electronic heaven and a very welcome inclusion! 'Quiet Life' remains a great pop song, though it isn't too far from Roxy Music's 'Angel Eyes' and Bowie's 'Boy's Keep Swinging'!; while Sylvian's collaboration with Giorgio Moroder 'Life in Tokyo' might be electronic bubblegum, but it's very fine at that! 'European Son' hasn't aged that well, reminding me of similarly patchy work by Ultravox and I don't see why the dull cover of the Velvets' 'All Tomorrow's Parties' needed to be included. Think of the songs that could have been picked instead - 'The Other Side of Life', 'Fall In Love with Me', 'Adolescent Sex', 'Despair', '...Rhodesia','Sons of Pioneers' (live), 'Swing', or 'Voices Raised in Welcome, Hands Held in Prayer' - which brings me back to 'Exorcising Ghosts' - why not issue that on cd properly? The accompanying DVD will probably be of more interest - 'The Very Best of Japan' contains lots of great music, but at the end of the day it's just another Japan-compilation. Part of Sylvian's brilliant career, but as great/greater work remained ahead, another 15 tracks might include 'Forbidden Colours', 'Red Guitar', 'The Ink in the Well', 'Before the Bullfight', 'Buoy', 'Orpheus', 'Every Colour You Are', 'Earthbound','Damage','I Surrender','Some Kind of Fool','The Heart Knows Better','World Citizen','a fire in the forest' & 'a history of holes'...
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
japan, the very fair to middling of, 4 May 2006
This isn't a bad introduction to this wonderful band but with a little thought could have been so much better. Some of their most beautiful tracks are inexplicably missing: the brief Satie-esque Oil On Canvas, the sprawling ballad The Other Side of Life (the only Japan song Sylvian played on his last tour), the Bowie-esque Alien, the svelte Swing...What we do get is 2(?why?) versions of Ghosts, and on songs where the album versions were better eg Quiet Life they give a single version, and for those where the shorter mix would have been better (Polaroids, Canton live, Life In Tokyo) they've chosen the long version - also live versions of Art of Parties and Cantonese Boy have more life to them than the studio mixes here. All a bit if a shame really (and as for the credits, typos and lack of any photos of any band members aside from David...) Best bet is still to buy the Exocising Ghosts compilation and either Quiet Life of Assemblage, or better still to invest in David Sylvian/Steve Jansen's brilliant new Nine Horses album 'Snow Borne Sorrow'
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