It is a great album. I bought it (again) on vinyl last year. I guess I can thank my elder brother for selling all my vinyl when I moved to USA. Anyhoo….it’s hilariously pretentious but some amazing musicianship (Karn esp): clearly their target market was pale and interesting young men from the ‘burbs while Duran were all about world domination. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…Rio is a classic
Wow - I think I vaguely have heard of the band, but certainly did not go deep into them. The music, style, and even song titles are very Duran Duran (so much so that I wonder how much they influenced Duran...) David Sylvian sounds like Simon Le Bon a bit -- and if the maitre d' said "Table for Nick Rhodes" he'd be able to steal it. But his voice also bridges with other bands like Haircut 100 and Simple Minds -- though I never would have connected the similarities with those other three without hearing Japan.
Funny how Duran Duran took off and Japan didn't. Was it the ambition? Cohesiveness of the two bands? The music? Their promoters?
I'm sure there must have been some kind of influence between Japan & Duran Duran - and I assume, given the dates, that way round. I always used to maintain that Duran's first album was just a track-for-track remake of Japan's Quiet Life, but that's unfair (and I'm partisan, of course). They obviously had a lot of influences in common: Glam, Disco, New Wave - and also tools in common: a whole new set of more easily available synthesisers, that all made pretty much the same sounds, so all the bands using them have a bunch of sounds in common.
I suspect Duran Duran took off because they were a little more mainstream and, more importantly, they wanted it, which I'm not sure Japan did. The fact that bassist Mick Karn's girlfriend left him for David Sylvian probably didn't help, either.
Yes, the bands who seem to have more equality tend to last longer. The Tragically Hip are a great example - all five guys got equal songwriting credit, which eliminated a lot of the problems of inequality other bands face when they find out the songwriters are making more...
Duran Duran had their issues, but those didn't crop up until after they were well established -- and I don't think anything to that extreme.
On the other hand, you look at a comparatively incestuous Fleetwood Mac and wonder how they even made it out of the 70s... lol
Don't know whether Tobias will agree with you about DD, but when he was writing this and 'Gentlemen Take Polaroids' was drifting out of Tobias's writing shed, all I could think was how much it sounded like 'Planet Earth'! The bass and some of the keyboard effects are so similar.
Yeah - the bass is really key, you're right - the only other bassist it reminds me of is David J in Bauhaus, who also often takes a melodic lead with the rest of the band filling in around him
It is a great album. I bought it (again) on vinyl last year. I guess I can thank my elder brother for selling all my vinyl when I moved to USA. Anyhoo….it’s hilariously pretentious but some amazing musicianship (Karn esp): clearly their target market was pale and interesting young men from the ‘burbs while Duran were all about world domination. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…Rio is a classic
Wow - I think I vaguely have heard of the band, but certainly did not go deep into them. The music, style, and even song titles are very Duran Duran (so much so that I wonder how much they influenced Duran...) David Sylvian sounds like Simon Le Bon a bit -- and if the maitre d' said "Table for Nick Rhodes" he'd be able to steal it. But his voice also bridges with other bands like Haircut 100 and Simple Minds -- though I never would have connected the similarities with those other three without hearing Japan.
Funny how Duran Duran took off and Japan didn't. Was it the ambition? Cohesiveness of the two bands? The music? Their promoters?
Do you have a take on that?
Off to give Japan another listen...
I'm sure there must have been some kind of influence between Japan & Duran Duran - and I assume, given the dates, that way round. I always used to maintain that Duran's first album was just a track-for-track remake of Japan's Quiet Life, but that's unfair (and I'm partisan, of course). They obviously had a lot of influences in common: Glam, Disco, New Wave - and also tools in common: a whole new set of more easily available synthesisers, that all made pretty much the same sounds, so all the bands using them have a bunch of sounds in common.
I suspect Duran Duran took off because they were a little more mainstream and, more importantly, they wanted it, which I'm not sure Japan did. The fact that bassist Mick Karn's girlfriend left him for David Sylvian probably didn't help, either.
Yes, the bands who seem to have more equality tend to last longer. The Tragically Hip are a great example - all five guys got equal songwriting credit, which eliminated a lot of the problems of inequality other bands face when they find out the songwriters are making more...
Duran Duran had their issues, but those didn't crop up until after they were well established -- and I don't think anything to that extreme.
On the other hand, you look at a comparatively incestuous Fleetwood Mac and wonder how they even made it out of the 70s... lol
Don't know whether Tobias will agree with you about DD, but when he was writing this and 'Gentlemen Take Polaroids' was drifting out of Tobias's writing shed, all I could think was how much it sounded like 'Planet Earth'! The bass and some of the keyboard effects are so similar.
Ah yes, meant to mention the bass, too! I know a lot of bassists do that slide effect, but it seems to be a cornerstone of both Japan and DD.
Yeah - the bass is really key, you're right - the only other bassist it reminds me of is David J in Bauhaus, who also often takes a melodic lead with the rest of the band filling in around him