| | Japan Quiet Life CD - Import Japan Discography of CDs
 (2 Customer Reviews)
Over their relatively brief recorded career--five studio albums--Japan made a huge about-face. From a glam-rock band with arty pretenses they became the epitome of the "New Romantics," wearing their classical and world-beat influences on their ruffled sleeves. QUIET LIFE, the third of their five albums, is the first fully removed from traditional rock.
The title track opens the album with hectic drums and percolating synthesizers offsetting the tremendously controlled guitar and rubbery bass. This song, and indeed album, also introduce the style of vocals that David Sylvian would use for the rest of the band's career--a cross between David Bowie and Bryan Ferry that is much more pleasant to listen to than descriptions would indicate. "Despair," with its piano, saxophone, and swelling synthesizer, is clearly modeled after the second half of Bowie's LOW, as well as being the second of Sylvian's compositions paying overt homage to composer Erik Satie. A cover of the Velvet Underground classic "All Tomorrow's Parties" is completely dominated by Mick Karn's bass playing, though the rest of the band does their best to keep up. QUIET LIFE is an essential road sign in the career of a fascinating band.
2004 reissue of their 1979 album. 17-track enhanced CD album (digitally remastered using the first generation tapes) including 8 bonus remixes and live recordings plus 'Quiet Life' CD-Rom video, presented in digipack with rare artwork and photo's plus revised liner notes. BMG.
Remaster adds four songs and a video.
CD contains 4 bonus tracks.
Recorded at Air Studios, London, England.
Japan: David Sylvian (vocals, guitar); Rob Dean (guitar); Richard Barbieri (keyboards, synthesizer); Mick Karn (bass, saxophone, background vocals); Steve Jansen (drums, percussion).
This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.Q (1/02, p.115) - 3 out of 5 stars - "...by the time of 1980's Quiet Life Japan had already spent two albums steadily dropping their initial glam-rock sound....longing for otherness...had charm..." Quiet Life Music | List Price | $23.99 (You save $1.64) | | Category | Rock/Pop Albums, Pop CDs, Art Rock, New Romantic, Rock, Enhanced CD | | Label | Camden | | Orig Year | 1979 | | All Time Sales Rank |  146324  | | CD Universe Part number | 6682662 | | Catalog number | 656695 | | Discs | 1 | | Release Date | May 25, 2004 | | Studio/Live | Studio | | Mono/Stereo | Stereo | | Personnel | Richard Barbieri - keyboards, synthesizer
David Sylvian - vocals, guitar
Mick Karn - bass, saxophone, background vocals
Steve Jansen - drums, percussion
Rob Dean - guitar
| | Additional Info | Enhanced CD |
Purchase Quiet Life CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | U F O No Heavy Petting CD (1976) Japan; Remastered
Quiet Life album
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| | U F O Ain't Misbehavin' CD (1988) (Import)
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| | Chris Stamey Travels In The South CD (2004)
Quiet Life music CDs
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A founding leader of the influential cult band the dB's, Chris Stamey has spent most of last 15 years producing other people's discs (Alejandro Escovedo, Yo La Tengo, Whiskeytown) rather than creating his own. Not counting a 1995 instrumental album, Travels in the South marks his first record since 1991, when he released both the solo Fireworks and Mavericks, a duet disc with his old dB's partner Peter Holsapple. South, however, shows little sign of rustiness. The album kicks off with the glorious "14 Shades of Green," a chimey gem that takes a nostalgic look at a hometown. This leadoff track also establishes the theme of traveling that runs through the disc. Songs like "Insomnia," "Ride," and the title track all touch upon the feeling of life in transit. The sublime "In Spanish Harlem" takes a Paul Simon-esque look at New York City but with a decidedly eased-back Southern tempo. The entire album, in fact, rides along at a leisurely pace, with the majority of songs surpassing the four-minute mark. But Stamey uses his production savvy to build these songs into "mid-life symphonies," to make Brian Wilson's phrase more age-appropriate. A solitary piano and mournful pedal steel help to accentuate the longing in "Insomnia." A Byrds-ian ...
| | Mission Of Burma Gun to the Head CD 2 CD Set
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Taking its cue from late-1970s British art-punks like Wire and Gang of Four, Boston's Mission of Burma developed a unique, angular sound that was at once pre-eminent in and definitive of the burgeoning US post-punk scene. For a band whose initial studio recordings consisted only of one full album and one EP, they were enormously influential, so this compilation comes off like the Dead Sea Scrolls of American indie rock, nearly every song foreshadowing a group that would appear years ...
| | Japan Adolescent Sex CD (1978) Enhanced CD
Quiet Life album
$16.95 
In 1977, the German label Hansa held a contest that elicited entries from over 1000 bands. The eight winners, including Japan (and an unknown group called the Easy Cure who later became the Cure) received recording contracts and, a year later, ADOLESCENT SEX hit the shops. Perhaps because of its glamrock-esque cover art (this at the height of the first wave of English punk rock), it was largely ignored.
The band's vocalist David Sylvian is legendarily unhappy with the record, and it is possible to guess why: it contains some fairly misguided lyrics--especially on "Wish You Were Black." The album probably seemed pretty edgy and hip at the time, however, complete with its truly odd version of a Barbara Streisand standard, "Don't Rain on My Parade," complete with "ooo-eee-ooo" backing vocals. The record does contain at least two lasting classics: the title track, with its growling "Just keep on dancing" lyric, brittle guitar shards, and punchy rhythm section, and "Communist China," featuring several of Sylvian's early vocal experiments. However, as with all of Japan's albums, the unsung star is Mick Karn's stunningly versatile bass playing, and that is more than enough reason to disagree with Sylvian.
The second Japan album followed their debut by a mere ...
| | Japan Assemblage CD (1981) (Import) Enhanced CD
Quiet Life CD music
$22.35 
Digitally remastered from tapes of the band's anthology album, this edition boasts four bonus tracks, two enhanced videos, specially written sleevenotes and rare artwork.
Amid the English punk scene, Japan's exotic variant of glam rock had seemed wildly out of step. By the time punk's first wave faded, though, Japan had built up enough of a following that a best-of compilation, 1981's ASSEMBLAGE, was released to highlight material from their first three records and a few rarities. Collectors should note that ASSEMBLAGE exists in a number of different versions, each with different bonus tracks. Bonus material aside, the tracks here--two from each album, and four from various vinyl-only singles--constitute what is, without question, the strongest record from the first phase of Japan's career.
The record opens with the brittle guitar and growling lyrics of "Adolescent Sex" and continues with the quartet of "Communist China" through "Life In ...
| | Carole King Her Greatest Hits: Songs Of Long Ago CD (1978) Remastered
Quiet Life music CDs
$6.85
This 1999 reissue contains two bonus tracks previously issued on THE CARNEGIE HALL CONCERT (EK 64942).
Originally released on Ode (JE 34967) and Epic (EK 64942). Includes liner notes by Graham Nash.
Digitally remastered by Vic Anesini (Sony Music Studios, New York, New York).
This expanded CD reissue of a popular vinyl best-of is a succinct 14-track summation of Carole King's eight years at Ode Records. Although the piano-playing singer-songwriter recorded several albums during this period, 1971's TAPESTRY, of course, stands out from the rest. One of the biggest-selling albums of all time, TAPESTRY is also an unqualified artistic success, one of those rare albums whose sales match its quality. Unfortunately, HER GREATEST HITS is rather unfairly skewed towards that towering album, with five of the 14 tracks, counting a live take of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," ...
| | Big Rhythm Combo Too Small To Dance CD (1997)
Quiet Life songs
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| | Fleetwood Mac Chain: Selections From 25 Years CDs (1992) (Import) Import; Argentina
Quiet Life album
$32.85
This 4-CD/cassette box set contains tracks from each phase of Fleetwood Mac's development, from their earliest days as a roots blues band (featuring the great guitar soloist Peter Green), to their emergence as the preeminent hitmakers in all of pop (with the arrival of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks) through to their latest incarnation. It includes previously unreleased material, rare B-sides, live tracks, alternate takes, 4 new songs, and a 68-page booklet with notes, photos and a complete discography.
Their personal histories may be notoriously difficult, but Fleetwood Mac has risen to become one of the biggest bands on the planet. CHAIN-SELECTIONS offers a career-spanning 37-track retrospective of the group.
Here are two discs culled from the original four-disc box on Warner documenting Fleetwood Mac's first 25 years. While there is plenty of room for argument about which tracks to include -- and exclude -- here, the notion to include new songs was plainly a bad idea when a band has as rich a history as this one did at the time. Perhaps the thinking here was that they wanted to be known as a going concern despite the fact that their singles potential had all but worn utterly through by this point(in 1992). The set includes the rarity "Silver Spring," which had been only released as a B-side, and remains an eternal fave of fans. There are some alternate mixes and edits in the set, but disc one is made up of huge hits and new songs (none of which measure up, by the way). Disc two, which kicks off with the Tusk material -- "Sara" being the big single from the period -- also includes the original mono version of "Oh Well, Part 1," which is not as great as the single or album version. Bob Welch's "Bermuda Triangle" is the only tune by the him on the set, which makes no sense, and the early Peter Green/Jeremy Spencer blues material makes up less than a third of the collection. It's a mixed bag to be sure, but there was no way to win. Fans of the early to middle period Mac tend not to like the blissed-out '70s pop, and fans of the later material will blanch at the sheer raw ugly beauty of the electric British blues. ~ Thom Jurek
Overall, Fleetwood Mac's four-CD box set, 25 Years: The Chain, contains a lot of great music, with plenty of the 1970s hits that made them one of the biggest bands in the world. It fails as a complete chronicle; not enough weight is given to the early, blues-based Mac with Peter Green, and there are too many songs (nearly a whole disc's worth) from the lightweight 1980s albums. Also, the haphazard song sequencing doesn't help matters -- it doesn't make the case for Fleetwood Mac's music as a body of work, and it doesn't trace the evolution, which should be apparent from the diversity of the music. If nothing else, 25 Years: The Chain offers evidence that Lindsey Buckingham was a brilliant pop composer and that the band's '70s success was well deserved. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Two CD set. For four decades, Fleetwood Mac have survived numerous personnel changes and continue ...
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| | Los Iracundos Discografia Completa V.9: Instrumental/Tango Joven CD (2003) (Import) Argentina
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| | Church Priest = Aura CDs (1992) Australia; Remastered; Deluxe Edition
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After the brief misstep of GOLD AFTERNOON FIX (which still managed to feature some pretty dandy tracks) and the replacement of long-time drummer Richard Ploog, the Church returned with the epic (in every sense of the word) PRIEST=AURA. Though a couple of the songs fall a little short of the band's standard, PRIEST is a solid, instantly accessible album.
The seven-minute-long album opener, "Aura," is half ...
| | Topate Con Topa CD (2006) (Import)
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The Weakerthans never broke up, but simply took ...
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