Quiet Life

Eighties new wave in the late 1970s. Yep, I can see how this was influential.

Unremarkable and forgettable

What a great discovery. This is just a superb album that I kept listening to on repeat. The fretless bass makes this album even one step better than the songwriting already does. I hear influences of Roxy Music and Bowie, and you'll definitely hear where 80's bands like Duran Duran got their inspiration. Absolutely great album from start to end with no bad songs in between. Even as a big VU & Lou Reed fan, I really could appreciate the cover of All Tomorrow's Parties. Fall In Love With Me & In Vogue are my two favourite tracks 4,5*.

Where is 6 stars? Duran Duran took notes from this album.

Where has this been all my life? Eat your heart out, Spandau Ballet.

"Must hear before you die?" Why?? So I can know what the 362nd best album of 1979 sounds like? Stupid and erroneous. Excited to never listen to this again. 1.5/5

At times, completely forgettable early synth pop. At other times, really compelling well crafted music.

I don't expect to convince people that Japan are one of the greatest bands to emerge from the new wave/post glam scene of the 70s but to my ears they were. This album, their musical breakthrough where they worked out their sound, is the bridge between that scene and the New Romantics. Duran Duran came from the image and the crossover disco/new wave sound of Japan. I mean look at them. Japan would make better albums, and they would break up too soon, but from every waaaa of the fretless bass to Sylvian's new found baritone this is a superb example of a band actually doing things to move music on and looking good and sounding good whilst they did it. I think after listening to over 200 albums in this project, I'm more sure of their greatness. But that's to my ears, maybe not yours.

Not really my kind of music but the album was easy to listen, although nothing really stood out as great.

Crazy that this ain't even Japan's best album. Right in my sweet spot - wonky, eerie New Wave played by a bunch of fey English lads. One of whom who has a voice that sounds like it's from Duran Duran by way of Jupiter. The title track is one of that era's greatest pop songs. No exaggeration, it's near perfect.

A great transitional album marking the shift from the Bowie-esque glam and disco of the 70s to the fully-established new wave of the 80s Favourite tracks: Quiet Life, Fall In Love With Me, In Vogue, Halloween

Duran Duran on downers. Melancholic and angular.

Fabuloso. Una fantasía dirían algunos. Inventan a Duran Duran aquí, pero con mucha más clase, tal vez un poco más introvertido el pedo. Yo noto una influencia recia del Iggy solista berlinés. Y claro, Bowie. No suena a 1978 pero sí. El futuro desdoblado.

Quiet Life ‘It’s certainly crowded, I’d love to go’ I was hoping Life in Tokyo would be on here, but alas it’s not. So we’ll just have to do with a very enjoyable collection of Bowie and Roxy Music influenced Synth Pop. This has that great late 70s early 80s atmosphere, a bit of Kraftwerk and Berlin style detached neon coolness with the above mentioned Bowie and Roxy Music stylings. Duran Duran must have heard Quiet Life. It’s a great track, a super bit of new wave early synth pop. Fall In Love with me is very good too, not quite as immediate as Quiet Life but still a great bit of new wave pop. Despair is fantastic, with its modernist gothic atmosphere, and portentous piano and choir. I can see how this might rub people up the wrong way but I loved it. In Vogue has a lovely string outro, sounds like one of the Bond orchestral motifs, although this and Halloween are slightly less strong than the others, but I admire the consistency of sound and style. All Tomorrow’s Parties is a great cover, I do love the VU original, but I like the moodiness of this a lot, it suits the slightly odd child-like melody of the chorus. Alien is good, it has a creepy vibe to it, with the upbeat and poppy horns and then I love the piano figure in The Other Side of Life, a suitably atmospheric and slightly overwrought finale. This is something I never thought I’d say, but there’s a lot of great fretless bass on here. Overall I thought this was great - I wasn’t sure what to expect but I like the synth, Bowie, Roxy, New Wave mash up, lots of ominous sounds and slightly strangled vocals, and seemingly very smartly constructed arrangements. Was actually tempted to go 5, but I don’t quite think it’s in the top bracket, so I’ll settle on a solid and very enjoyable 4. 🍣🍣🍣🍣🍣 Playlist submission: Quiet Life

If you want to know how ignorant I was (and arguably still am) about music, I'd not heard of Japan until I played Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain a number of years ago, and I always remembered Quiet Life being one of the weaker tracks on that game's soundtrack. To be fair, its hard to discern quality over the sound effects of a guy huffing and puffing, but I basically did not touch this song, and in turn this album, until right now, nearly a decade later. I wasn't NOT looking forward to this though, I mean, Japan is pretty well liked in small circles, and there is no denying that David Sylvian isn't SO HOT DUDE OH MY GOD HUBBA HUBBA AWOOGA HONK HON- Excuse me. So, I had some amount of hope this would be a good time, and I'd say it was! Quiet Life is far more appealing with a good set of headphones, and the whole album gives me Duran Duran vibes, but in a good, more sophisticated way, as if I'm listening to Hungry Like the Wolf for the intellectual. It isn't really like that, its pretty predictable, albeit grand pop music, but I still had a good time listening, and I think this album has its own charm that sets it apart from its contemporaries, such as tHE LEAD SINGER MMM GIVE ME SOME OF THAT B-OING WOO WO- But I seriously think this could be a good time if you go in knowing what to expect. Its a tad dated, and starts to drag near the end, but there's enough here to be a more romantic view of a musical era (new wave) that tends to be overdone in a modern setting. Looking forward to digging into more Japan stuff in the future, I've heard their albums after this one are even better.

This album isn't quite my speed but I'm enjoying "In Vogue". I like the saxophone in the background of the song. The song "Halloween" is pretty fun. We are listening to it on Halloween. Coincidence? The second half of "Alien" had me bumpin' a little. I don't love the vocal style much, and that takes away from the album for me. The music is fun in places, but doesn't keep me engaged. It's like a slightly jazzier and funkier version of The Cure? I lean slightly positive. I didn't have a bad time but wouldn't seek this out again. 6/10

Holy shit, a synth pop record that doesn’t completely suck ass, one that has a little bit of life to it. Hold on… Three tracks in and we are getting weepy and funereal. Let’s see if the boys in Japan, can turn it around… After a couple plodding tunes (Despair and In Vogue) they’re back to more uplifting territory, though the stench of a film noir soundtrack is still lingering a bit on Halloween. They’re covering All Tomorrow’s Parties now, and it’s evolved from a sort of Krautrock-y intro in a more jazzy affair, but it’s still got some nice ethereal instrumentation going on, but it’s a weird combination with that song, smooth jazz…not sure I’m a fan. That that krautrock vibe at the start was *really* working. Although, on second listen, the Can influence is more apparent, but it’s kind of like latter day, post-Damo Suzuki Can. This was better than most of the other synthpop records on the list, but it doesn’t quite rise to the level of a 4 star rating.

So 80’s I almost died.

Kompletter Schrott. Stellenweise auch einfach unerträglich. Diese Platte hat mein Leben für ca. 50 Minuten schlechter gemacht.

The album that revealed what David Sylvian, Mick Karn, Jansen and Barbieri were capable of. Solid guitar work by Dean as well, a fond farewell. This album has a huge warm spot in my heart - was introduced by way of the Velvets cover, and fell in love (awww myyy) immediately.

I kind of forgot about these guys, Such a good listen. Totally in the rotation.

one of the coolest sounding albums but beyond that...so lush and full of life and bursting with love...beyond words...man...10/10

Awesome surprise

Great album, trippy bass lines.

I’m going to be spinning this one regularly. Sounds like if Duran Duran were more artsy and influenced by Berlin era Bowie

Well, what a lovely surprise. I started off thinking Quiet Life is a banger but the rest was kind of meh But something about it drew me in and I ended up listening multiple times and absolutely loving it. Isn’t it funny how that works with som albums? Maybe it’s something to do with being a huge Duran Duran fan back in the day as there is a clear link there. Who knows? Anyhow, thanks generator for another great discovery

This is a great album. The title track is even a bit misleading because the other tracks have more musical ideas and grandeur (for example "Other Side"). It showed that New Wave and Synth Pop could offer more than just a bit of funny dancing.

Well ok. What a fucking record. At times the crossover from Joy Division to synthpop, at times neither, at times both. The influence on Duran Duran is abundantly obvious, this record is so much cooler though. I love it. Never heard it before. By Halloween I was a little bit done with the 'Duran Duran several years before Duran Duran but without the success of Duran Duran' however things take a turn in an interesting direction once again thereafter with an exceptionally Eno/Frippian cover of the Velvets. Yeah nothing to do with United massively unexpectedly beating City in the cup final today, but what a lovely album and what a beautiful day.

Long time Japan listener. Great Album.

Very good

Actually really enjoyed this! Atmospheric synth pop with a very pleasant man voice leading and nice variation in drums and base. Will listen to it again

dark and funky

These guys are too cool for me. Fun covers though!

Great band, I also followed the some of the members in the Rain tree crow and

10/10 perfect album in my eyes even when it gets super cheesy, I’ll still eat this shit up

Never heard of them before but absolutely loved this.

Har gleda meg til detta. Jævlig bra, sjøl om Tin Drum e hakket bedre

From Quiet Life onwards, Japan hit upon an apex that they wouldn't get down from until their breakup in the early 80s. One of the more underrated synthpop groups of their era, Japan always seemed to be more than the sum of its parts and it shows here, with adaptable ease into slinky yet speedy disco, a French language dirge and a Velvet Underground cover to boot all the while crafting their own inimitable path. Great album.

i love synth.

A big surprise, loved it a lot.

Wow this surprised me

Quiet Life, Gentlemen Take Polaroids, Tin Drum definitely belong to the list of best pop albums ever made. Sure, Roxy Music is everywhere, especially on Quiet Life, but they are much more than a slowed-down RM synth-pop clone - the songs and production are incredibly strong, and the whole concept is just perfectly executed.

Loved it, would listen again

Great synth pop / new wave sound. Amazing album, will check out more by this group.

Really good, loved the spooky vibes.

What a beautiful album

охуенно, вторая пятёра подряд. Даже, вероятно, вторая десятка (с этим сомнения, ибо сложно с пары прослушиваний прямо зафанатеть, но вообще очень зашло). Вот тот годный нью-вейв, который не совсем ударен в синтпоп и имеет значимое присутствие других инструментов. Баса в песне In Vogue, например, или гитарных ликов в Alien. По композиторству вообще никаких вопросов, каждая тема пиздец приятно и интересно звучит (и это от глемеров-то!), никаких кринжовых и дурацких моментов, я бы сказал всё очень умно сделано. Единственное, кавер на Вельвет Андеграунд не сильно заинтересовал, ещё и в расширенную версию его в трёх вариантах запихнули, что немного подкашивает. Посему ну 9, наверное, будет, в список прослушиваемого отправляется точно.

Love this album

A harbinger of the coming decade. Sleek, stylish and fun.

So fun and synthy! Very good to vibe with, feels alot like duran duran but more curated

There some really good tunes here! Other where just ok, but overall I enjoyed listening to it a lot.

Can't go wrong with some solid new wave. It's interesting that they started out as a glam rock band. They sound very self-assured here even though they were trying out an entirely new genre.

A band and album completely new to me, and the sound is intriguing. Dare I say neoclassical? Some tracks really drew me in, and I enjoyed the sound overall, though I doubt it will be the most memorable listen of my albumfest. Biggest criticism from me is that Tomorrow's Parties had no need of being made even longer.

Love it.. Japan evolving from wannabe glam-rockers, to defining their own unique art-rock indie sound..

Good new wave

I'm weirdly into this album?

I quite liked this album. Reminded me at times of Duran Duran mixes with Joy Division and other times more of Roxy Music. The lead-off track, Quiet Life is the most memorable and poppiest song on here but all of them are pretty good. I now need to check out the rest of their catalog!

Quite enjoyable

Ok, this shit slaps! Vooral de Life in Tokyo extended versie vind ik fucking vet! De muziek klinkt gewoon best wel funky, er zitten dikke synths in. Ik ken niet echt New Wave muziek, maar ben hier best wel enthousiast over geworden. Eerlijk, als band was dit gewoon een stuk leuker en ik denk dat dit weer een leuke ontdekking is. Ook het feit dat dit uit 1979 is, maar genoeg nummers nog fris klinken! Is het dan een perfect album? Nee zeker niet, het kakt heel hard in voor me van Despair tot en met Alien. Het is niet slecht, maar gewoon een beetje nietsig. Dan pakt het aan het einde weer echt op en eigenlijk, als ik heel eerlijk bent, haalt het de relatief hoge score door de fantastische opener en sluiter van deze plaat. Die vind ik beiden namelijk echt fantastisch en halen het album van een prima naar een echt goed album. FAVO: Quiet Life, Other Sife of Life, A Foreign Place, Life in Tokyo

It was a pretty good album. Everyone is right on the money, very artsy Duran Duran. It honestly also reminded me a bit of Type O Negative

New Wave, Synthesizer Pop Ist ein wirklich gelungenes Album. Japan kannte ich vorher nicht. Werde ich mir mehr anhören

I took an early morning walk then drove to work in the fog while listening to this, which may have influenced my rating, but it fit the atmosphere just right and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

You give me a Velvet Underground cover and you win me over. Also, if you worked with Giorgio Moroder and shifted your style into a synth-pop style, you win me over too. And then if it's foggy and drizzly and you sing about Quiet Life and Despair, yeah, you did it.

Surprisingly, I liked it. Something positively mystical and light, yet energetic and upbeat at the same time

The sound of 1983. In 1979. This is actually quite good. Atmospheric and easy to listen to. That’s a good thing. 3.5

I unexpectedly like this. It promises, and delivers, synthesisers fake drums and moody stylish avante-garde artists from 1979. And I read of glam to synth pop shifts. First track passes muster, unexpectedly. They have that stylish 80s feel. Then I find they develop and become even more interesting, with experimental things (and their later albums keep getting better) Conclusion: stylish and interesting and more accomplished than I expected. a taste fo some of the better 80s elements, at time have quite a grand sound. ( I like from other albums alkso the tracks Burning Bridges, On Gentlemen take Polaroids). They benefit from an extra point for surpising me. And experimentation with eastern /arabic instruments - so unexpectedly cool overall. I will be curious to find out if they are as completely unknown in Australia as I suspect

I first heard David Sylvian in a year 8 music class, when Mr Glassop played 'Red Guitar ' for us. I think he was a bit obsessed with the song, and I was heavily influenced by that and became similarly obsessed with the 'Brilliant Trees' album it came from, when I eventually tracked down a copy a few years later. It was so much harder to find things in the 80s, especially if you were a teenager without much money to spend. I also totally got into his 'The First Day ' album with Robert Fripp a few years later. But I never really got into Japan, but I can hear the foundations of those albums in 'Quiet Life '. This record really is a missing link between glam and New Romantics. Clearly heavily influenced by Lou Reed, VU, Roxy Music (using their producer) and Berlin-era Bowie, but leaning into a softer, more spacious sound that they became known for in the early 80s. Funny to hear how much Sylvian changed his vocal style from the first two albums - this softer baritone is what he settled into for his subsequent career. Love Mick Karn's bass playing; it is weird and distinctive and strangely funky, and always adds a fresh surprise. While there is a lot of Roxy Music and Bowie influences all over this record, you can also hear how much it influenced music that came (shortly) after. Songs like 'Quiet Life's or 'Halloween' could easily be Duran Duran songs (if you turned up the colour saturation a bit), and 'Vogue' could totally be a Cure track. A bit of a forgotten band, but this was clearly a bit ahead of its time.

Not a name that I had heard of when it comes to big New Wave type bands, but I really enjoyed this record!

dang. so calm and upbeat at the same time. want to listen to all their stuff now.

The Moroder-sequencer-bolstered title track is a standout, as is Halloween, but I have never been quite convinced by the VU cover (or their covers in general). The rest of the album is still tied somewhat to their earlier glam output, certainly more so than Gentlemen or Tin Drum. In parts an amazing album for its time, and the start on the road to creating some extraordinary and unique work.

ooh I quite dig this one. Certainly a nice discovery, some of the tracks remind me of INXS and some obviously feel like new wave. Faves: Alien, All Tomorrow's Parties or Quiet Life if we're not counting cover songs :)

This was decent enough on first listen, and then I spotted it came out in 1979 on my second listen! 😳 Sounds great for coming that early in the synth pop trend! Very polished. Fave tracks - "Fall In Love With Me" is a mood. Their cover of "All Tomorrow's Parties" didn't land for me on first listen, but really grew on me second time around!

I really enjoyed this album. I am unfamiliar with the band and it is always nice to be directed to new old stock new wave.

I'm not very familiar with Japan, but as a fan of a lot of New Wave and post-punk music, I quite like them. This may have been a pivotal album in their catalog, but I think the subsequent album, Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980) is a measure better. What I like about this late 70s-early 80s era of Japan is that they are bringing the compositional experimentation of prog forward with the cutting edge of synths and electronic drums. As another review said, some of this is utterly forgettable, but the parts that really click /really/ click. This is an excellent example of the moment--synth pop before the cocaine frenzy that folded into the genre in just a few short years.

Liked it!

Good. Catchy and eerie

Japan is one of those bands I’ve always been aware of but never took the time to explore their music. While it features a few upbeat tracks, the overall vibe is more laid-back and atmospheric. The standout element for me was the bass guitar, particularly in the second track, “Fall In Love With Me.” The bass in this track had a playful and quirky feel, adding a unique texture to the music.

Pleasantly surprised by this one. Don't know much about them but I am guessing this was an early trendsetter for the new wave movement. This album has some really great instrumentation and production, especially the synths and bass. The singing could be a little better, but it is fine. This album isn't straight synth pop either, it has some really good dark moments, which are a great mood setter and adds a lot diversity

4.0

Really enjoying the spooky new wave vibe of this album. It's keeping my interested, and the lyrics are good and haunting. Some interesting instrumentation on Halloween. Really good album overall. I liked multiple songs. The final instrumental song with interesting, with some Asian influence possibly. And some queer coded songs like Quiet Life, and Alien. Liked it very much overall!

Very late 70s techno-ish

I had never heard of them before, some good synth pop

Nascent New Romantic art-pop that feels oddly essential as a forbearer of synth-based popular music's meteoric rise in the years following its release.

This band helped pave the way for others that followed, specifically Duran Duran. Nick Rhodes & DD has been accused over the years for stealing David Sylvian's look (I can see that), but Japan still has a following of their own. They were never a big 80s band, but that's probably because they were the bridge from 70s glam rock to 80s New Romantic/New Wave. Japan is like a mellow Roxy Music, and there's definitely room on the musical spectrum for them. I know Japan isn't for everyone, but I enjoy them.

Despair reminded me of Western World theme song.. maybe there was some influence there. I’m very unfamiliar this album and band, and I enjoyed listening and am now a “fan”.

avant gardiste, succulent

Some songs overstay their welcome now but still a great album

This is an album that I wish I would have found sooner, when it was new. But I wasn'teven old enough for kindergarten when it was released. Over all, enjoyed this; can really see their lasting influence especially on Duran Duran & that era.

A lovely romp through the 80s vibes

Skön platta.

Listened to this in the Artists preferred order. Should go back and listen to it as released. In any case, pretty enjoyable.

The best New Wave/Synth-Pop band you’ve never heard of! 4.5/5

great synth album loved the atmospheric soud

Day120 - you can hear their influence on the new wave that was coming

Pretty cool to hear this kind of synth pop from 1979. Ahead of its time.

More interesting than most so-called "synth pop". And more than just "synth pop".

I like this. I already knew I enjoyed bold 80s sounds, but this has a surprising amount of musical interest beyond that. Don't remember which song it was but there were some really cool bass riffs in the mix.

Amazing "80s" sound in 1979.

Very much of its time

Great synth-pop/post-punk with some hints of Sylvian’s later eccentricity while still being danceable