release date: Dec. 1979
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,55]
producer: John Punter, Simon Napier-Bell, Japan
label: Hansa Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Quiet Life" (4 / 5) - 2. "Fall on Love With Me" - 3. "Despair" - 4. "In Vogue" (live) - 6. "All Tomorrow's Parties" - 8. "The Other Side of Life"
3rd studio album by Japan who has taken another stylistic move. The first two albums are both playing with funk rock and various degrees of glam rock and new wave, but with this album the band focuses on art pop and adds a layer of synths to the sound and by doing so, the album has been recognised as one of the very first albums to introduce and ignite the new romantic era. Another change to the band's sound is the vocal performance of lead vocalist David Sylvian. On the first two albums he seems too much inspired by David Bowie, but here he has taken on a darker, more sincere, and also much more original and contemporary tone.
All tracks except the cover song "All Tomorrow's Parties" (Velvet Underground track written by Lou Reed) are credited David Sylvian.
The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Here Before You Die". Unfortunately, the album didn't gain much success at the time of its release but in retrospect it has become one of the most acclaimed albums of its time.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]
