Japan - Live Hammersmith Odeon 1981

Rebooted...
Originally posted November 13, 2011

Japan - Live Hammersmith Odeon 

  February 7, 1981

London, UK

Excellent FM Source @320

Following the 1982 dissolution of Japan, the group's onetime frontman David Sylvian staked out a far-ranging and esoteric career that encompassed not only solo projects but also a series of fascinating collaborative efforts and forays into filmmaking, photography, and modern art. Born David Batt in Kent, England, on February 23, 1958, Sylvian formed Japan in 1974 and served as primary singer/songwriter throughout the group's eight-year existence. Just prior to Japan's breakup, Sylvian began working with composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, with whom he released the single "Bamboo Houses" in 1982, marking the beginning of a longstanding musical relationship.

Brilliant Trees
After 1983's "Forbidden Colours," another joint effort with Sakamoto composed for the film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Sylvian released his 1984 solo debut, Brilliant Trees. The first step in his music's evolution from Japan's post-glam synth pop into richly textured, poetic ambience, the album featured contributions from Sakamoto as well as Jon Hassell and Can alumnus Holger Czukay. That year, Sylvian also published his first book of photographs, Perspectives: Polaroids 82/84; in 1985, he released Preparations for the Journey, a documentary filmed in and around Tokyo, as well as the EP Words with the Shaman. -More at All Music

Track List:
01. Swing
02. Gentlemen Take Polaroids
03. Alien
04. …Rhodesia
05. Quiet Life
06. My New Career
07. Taking Islands In Africa
08. Methods of Dance
09. Ain’t That Peculiar
10. Halloween
11. European Son

 

 

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