Japan
 

What do you think about them? I've been listening to Japan quite a bit lately and I really love their last three albums- Quiet Life, Gentlemen Take Polaroids, and Tin Drum- probably Gentlemen.. is my favorite of the three. Their first two are ok, kind of slightly embarrassing glam rock albums, nothing amazing but not too horrible either. I just don't think they really found their own sound until Quiet Life came out. Their live LP, oil on canvas is great as well. Really severely underrated and I think a big influence on early duran duran (Nick Rhodes looks like a clone of David Sylvian) and a number of their early songs seem to sound slightly similar. Japan never went the whole commercial route they quickly did of course. I'm not too much of a fan of Sylvian's solo work but I can appreciate some of it.

Re: Japan
 

excellent band. first few albums were generic and glam, but "tin drum" is one of my top ten albums of all time. i wish more people were aware of them, and just how damn good they were.

Re: Japan
 

I'm not crazy about Sylvain's voice, but I love Lewis Taylor's cover of Ghosts. Just a great song.

Re: Japan
 

Huge fan. I think Adolescent Sex is a fantastic debut album. Obscure Alternatives feels like a retread, but other than that one album I think they were pretty consistently brilliant. Tin Drum is an absolutely amazing album.

Also, David Sylvian has had a really interesting solo career. Some of his solo albums are mesmerizing.

Re: Japan
 

rain tree crow is really great. not as catchy as japan's work, but some really beautiful music.

also, Masami Tsuchiya's "Rice Music" is a great complimentary album to japan's tin drum/oil on canvas. that is... if you can find it anywhere!