RhoDeo 1301 Aetix

Hello,  the musicworld got treated to a surprise release by an assumed retiree celebrating his 66th birthday today. "Where Are We Now" suggests a contemplative song and it is, lyrically it seems it could have been written in his Berlin days as lyrics feature in the videoclip it's rather in your face. Oh well i'm looking forward to his new album to be released the 12th of March.

Meanwhile, it's Aetix time and one of the big names of the early eighties who initially were snubbed at home for being out of touch or too glamrock oriented, they were but they had much more to offer their was some decadance that got picked up in Japan and the Netherlands that gave them enough push to develop further, alas it was over to soon as their fifth album forshadowed big success ahead, another "Yoko" split up the band. The parts have soldiered on and gave us plenty to enjoy in the decades that followed. Here's their 3 Ariola-Hansa starters  .....  N'Joy

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

The band began as a group of friends. Brothers David Sylvian (guitar and vocals) and Steve Jansen (drums), keyboardist Richard Barbieri and bassist Mick Karn studied at the same school. As youngsters they played Sylvian's two-chord numbers mainly as a means of escape; sometimes with Karn as the front man, sometimes with Sylvian at the fore. The band, who were initially nameless, opted to call themselves Japan just before their first live gig in the mid 1970s. The name was intended by Sylvian to be temporary until they could think of something else, but ultimately became permanent.

After winning a label-sponsored talent contest, they were signed to Germany's Ariola-Hansa Records in 1977 and debuted a year later with the 1978 album Adolescent Sex and followed up with their second album, Obscure Alternatives, the same year. Both albums, produced by Ray Singer, sold well in Japan (where the band's name helped them to gain a devoted cult following) and the Netherlands, where the single "Adolescent Sex" was a Top 30 hit. They also gained some popularity in Canada, however, in their native UK those albums failed to garner public attention and did not chart. Though influenced by artists such as the New York Dolls, Roxy Music and David Bowie, both albums were widely dismissed by the UK music press as being distinctly outmoded at a time when punk and New Wave bands were in ascendence.

In 1979, the band briefly worked with the successful Eurodisco producer Giorgio Moroder, who would co-write and produce a one-off single, "Life in Tokyo". The track was a significant change in musical style from their earlier guitar-laden recordings, moving them away from their glam rock roots and into electronic new wave dance music. This style continued on their third album, Quiet Life (1979), which was produced by the band with John Punter and Simon Napier-Bell. It showcased Barbieri's synthesisers, Sylvian's now baritone style of singing, Karn's distinctive fretless bass sound and Steve Jansen's odd-timbred and intricate percussion work, with Dean's guitar playing becoming somewhat sparser and atmospheric. Quiet Life was their last studio album for Hansa-Ariola.

After leaving Hansa-Ariola, the band signed with Virgin Records who released their last studio albums, Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980) and Tin Drum (1981). The albums continued to expand their audience as the band refined its new sound, however the combination of their newer sound and the band's stylised visual appearance led to them unintentionally becoming associated with the early-1980s New Romantic movement. The band had always worn make-up since their inception in the mid 1970s at the tail end of the glam rock era, many years before the New Romantic movement had begun. Regardless, it had a positive effect on the band's record sales in the UK and they slowly began to gain chart success. After a couple of lower charting singles, their first UK Top 40 hit was a re-release of the "Quiet Life" single, which peaked at No. 19 in October 1981. Three of the singles from the Tin Drum album also peaked in the UK Top 40, with its unconventional single "Ghosts" reaching No. 5, becoming Japan's biggest domestic hit. The Tin Drum album itself peaked just outside the UK Top 10, and was the band's first record to be certified by the BPI, reaching Gold status within four months. The album is often seen as one of the most innovative of the 1980s, with its fusion of occidental and oriental sounds.

The group's final UK performances came in November 1982, culminating in a six-night sell-out stint at London's Hammersmith Odeon. During this period, guitarist and keyboardist Masami Tsuchiya performed with the band on stage. Japan's last ever performance was on 16 December 1982 in Nagoya, Japan. The band's final Hammersmith concerts were recorded to produce Oil On Canvas, a live album and video released in June 1983. Ironically, the band decided to split just as they were beginning to experience significant commercial success both in their native UK and internationally, with Oil On Canvas becoming their highest charting UK album, reaching No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart, a rare feat for a live album. By this time, the band's back catalogue had begun to sell steadily.

However, Tin Drum also proved to be Japan's swan song: Long-simmering differences among the bandmembers came to a head when Karn's girlfriend, photographer Yuka Fujii, moved in with Sylvian and the individual members proceeded with their own projects. Rob Dean had already departed after the release of the Gentlemen Take Polaroids album, as his electric guitar work was increasingly regarded as superfluous. Dean subsequently formed Illustrated Man. Karn released his first solo album, Titles, at the same time the band announced their split in late-1982. Sylvian began a successful solo career and also entered into a series of collaborations with performers like Ryuichi Sakamoto, Holger Czukay and Robert Fripp, while Karn  founded the short-lived duo Dali's Car with Bauhaus' Peter Murphy. In 1986, meanwhile, Jansen and Barbieri issued Worlds in a Small Room under their own names before recording together as the Dolphin Brothers.

In 1987, Karn released Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters, a solo LP which featured contributions from Sylvian and Jansen, spurring rumors of a reunion which came to fruition in 1989 when the four principal members re-teamed under the name Rain Tree Crow. By the time an eponymously-titled album appeared in 1991, however, relations had again dissolved in acrimony, and the musicians went their separate ways; while Sylvian continued working independently, as the decade wore on Karn, Jansen and Barbieri occasionally reunited in various projects while also maintaining solo careers. Sadly Mick Karn died of cancer July 2011.

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Although Japan later became one of new romantics' poster children, their 1978 Adolescent Sex LP predated the movement by two years. A remarkable debut, the set snarls with leftover punk intent, a few glam rock riffs, and a wealth of electronics that not only reach back to the band's youth, but also predate much of what would explode out of the next wave of British underground. The quintet snarls across the opener "Transmission," all snotty lads and frazzled hair, setting the stage for what follows. Except, rather than toeing that line, the band pull some remarkable tricks out of their admittedly tight sleeves. The "wow factor" of an incredibly funky bass and guitar on "The Unconventional," repeated again on "Wish You Were Black," is not only a surprise but leaves one wondering if the band were closet Chic fans -- especially in light of the seven-minute jam "Suburban Love" that follows a little later on. Elsewhere, though, the band play closer to their roots while defining their own style, which includes David Sylvian's wonderfully sexy, tousled vocals -- most notably on the epic, and sexy, post-punker "Television" and a cover of the vintage showstopper "Don't Rain on My Parade." A more exciting album than just about anything else they'd ever record, Japan were young, hungry, and more than a little rough around the edges. Despite the slick R&B work twined in, it's important to remember that this band were in the sonic foothold of an early edgy era, groundbreakers at their own inception. The sound, that look it fit them well.

Japan ‎- Adolescent Sex (flac 307mb)

01 Transmission 4:46
02 The Unconventional 3:03
03 Wish You Were Black 4:50
04 Performance 4:37
05 Lovers On Main Street 4:09
06 Don't Rain On My Parade 2:54
07 Suburban Love 7:28
08 Adolescent Sex 3:45
09 Communist China 2:44
10 Television 9:15

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Their second album to hit the shelves in 1978, Japan's sophomore effort, Obscure Alternatives, found the band dropping most of their debut's funk fringe in favor of guitar-oriented fuzz and quirk.  Although the set isn't quite up to par with its predecessor, Obscure Alternatives is still a challenging listen. David Sylvian is snotty, snotty on "Automatic Gun" -- a spit-shined punk shocker backed by bright pop guitar -- and ironically playing into all the guises they eschewed. Both the wonderfully atmospheric and slightly menacing title track and "Love Is Infectious" put the band completely into discordant post-punk art house-dom, the latter including a twisted piano solo in the middle of the guitar crunch. "....Rhodesia," on the other hand, brought the funk back and infused it with a Caribbean essence. While there is no doubt that Obscure Alternatives paled in the shadow of Adolescent Sex, Japan had obviously, in their eyes, broken through to find their style, their groove.

Japan - Obscure Alternatives   ( flac 388mb)

01 Automatic Gun 4:07
02 . . . . Rhodesia 6:49
03 Love Is Infectious 4:10
04 Sometimes I Feel So Low 3:48
05 Obscure Alternatives 6:46
06 Deviation 3:23
07 Suburban Berlin 5:00
08 The Tenant 7:15
Bonus Tracks
09 Deviation (Live In Tokyo) 3:20
10 Obscure Alternatives (Live In Tokyo) 6:05
11 In Vogue (Live In Tokyo) 6:12
12 Sometimes I Feel So Low (Live In Tokyo) 4:06

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Quiet Life is the album that transformed Japan from past-tense glam rockers into futuristic synth popsters, though they'd been leaning in that direction for a while. It's also a solid proto-New Romantic synthesizer record, enhanced by Mick Karn's superb fretless bass work and the album is also notable for being the first album where singer David Sylvian used his newfound baritone vocal style with understated melancholy, which later became one of the band's most distinctive hallmarks. Initially unsuccessful, the title track and lead single "Quiet Life" would later be re-released and make the UK top 20 in 1981. Three other prominent tracks were also recorded and released by the band during this era and would later be re-released and become UK top 40 hits for the band in 1982, but were not included on the album ("Life In Tokyo", "European Son", and a cover of the Motown hit "I Second That Emotion" which would make the UK Top 10). The album appears in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Japan - Quiet Life  (  flac 387mb)

01 Quiet Life 4:49
02 Fall In Love With Me 4:31
03 Despair 5:53
04 In Vogue 6:29
05 Halloween 4:23
06 All Tomorrow's Parties 5:42
07 Alien 4:57
08 The Other Side Of Life 7:23
Bonus Tracks
09 All Tomorrow's Parties (12" Version) (5:17)
10 A Foreign Place (3:12)
11 Quiet Life (12" Version) (4:50)
12 Life in Tokyo (12" Version) (7:04)

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
now in flac too

Japan - Gentlemen Take Polaroids (339mb)

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx