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Japan was a British pop/rock group, formed in 1974 in Lewisham, southeast London.
The band debuted on record with 1978's Adolescent Sex and subsequently Obscure Alternatives, which both sold well in Japan and the Netherlands (where the single "Adolescent Sex" was a Top 30 hit), they also gained some popularity in Canada, but nowhere else. Though influenced by artists such as The New York Dolls, Roxy Music and David Bowie, both albums were widely dismissed by the British music press as being distinctly outmoded at a time when punk and New Wave bands were in ascendence. However, tracks such as "Suburban Berlin", "State Line" and "Rhodesia" suggested a creative depth and sense of melody to the band's output which would hint at their future direction.
Their third album, 1979's Quiet Life, heralded a significant change in musical style from the earlier largely guitar-based music to a more electronic sound, with more emphasis on Barbieri's synthesisers, Sylvian's svelte baritone style of singing, Karn's distinctive fretless bass sound and Steve Jansen's odd-timbered and intricate percussion work with Dean's guitar playing becoming increasingly sparse and atmospheric. Quiet Life was their last studio album for Hansa-Ariola, though the label would later issue a compilation album ("Assemblage") featuring highlights from the band's tenure on the label.
Their final two studio albums, Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980) and Tin Drum (1981) were released on the Virgin label, and continued to expand their audience as the band refined its new sound and, somewhat unintentionally, became associated with the early-1980s New Romantic movement. Tin Drum in particular is critically regarded as one of the most innovative albums of the 1980s, with its startlingly original fusion of occidental and oriental sounds, and was a UK Top 12 album. Its unconventional single "Ghosts" reached #5 on the UK charts, becoming Japan's biggest domestic hit and one of only a very few such 'minimalist' songs to achieve such heights. Tin Drum was to be the band's final studio album as personality conflicts led to rising tensions between band members. Rob Dean had already departed towards the end of the "Gentlemen Take Polaroids" sessions, as his electric guitar work was increasingly regarded as surplus to requirements. During this period, Japanese multi-instrumentalist and experimental keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto was briefly implanted into the band's set-up to work directly alongside Sylvian on tracks such as Taking Islands In Africa.
The group's final UK performance came in November 1982 culminating in a six-night sell-out stint at London's Hammersmith Apollo. Japan's last ever performance was on 16th 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 obtain long-overdue commercial success both in their native UK and internationally, with Oil On Canvas becoming their highest charting British album, reaching #5.
All of the band members went on to work on other projects, with varying degrees of success. By far the most successful is David Sylvian, who has recorded numerous solo albums and collaborations with noted performers including Holger Czukay, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Robert Fripp. A reformation of the band members in 1990 (under the name Rain Tree Crow) was short-lived and produced only one eponymously-titled album which was released in 1991. Once again, the band dissolved following frictions between Sylvian and the other members. The project was nevertheless a critical success. Jansen and Barbieri released the 1987 synth-pop album "Catch the Fall" under the name The Dolphin Brothers recalling much of Japan's sound, and worked together releasing electronic instrumentals under that moniker in the late nineties and early noughties both for Virgin and for their own label Medium Records. In 2005 and 2006 Steve Jansen and David Sylvian worked together again, releasing recordings under the name Nine Horses. Richard Barbieri went on to become a member of the British progressive band Porcupine Tree, who have just signed to Roadrunner Records (a major) and are enjoying critical success.
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Discography:
* Adolescent Sex, April 1978
* Obscure Alternatives, November 1978
* Quiet Life, February 1980 (UK #53)
* Gentlemen Take Polaroids, November 1980 (UK #45)
* Tin Drum, November 1981 (UK #12)
* Rain Tree Crow, April 1991 (UK #24) (released under the group moniker "Rain Tree Crow")
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