Reviews (page 7 of 7)
2.5
Rollazo.
this just felt like 80s noise like I was in a grocery store, to be fair I didn't listen very close but I didn't really feel a desire to
Een beetje zeurderige 13 in een dozijn New Wave. Geen fan van de blazers die her en der tevoorschijn komen. Lelijke albumhoes. Een beetje meh allemaal. 2,5 afgerond naar 2.
Not 4 me..
It's like Duran Duran, but worse!
For 1979, sounded like a 1986 Duran Duran. Interesting album with some sharp mood swings (Despair). Didn’t have real staying power with me.
Not good. No need to revisit.
boffff
Are we sure this isn't Duran Duran? Meh, didn't do anything for me.
Meh...
I did not enjoy the singing on most of the album
2.75
Did I just listen to Duran Duran? A more gothic, dark Duran Duran? I was surprised to see these guys came before Duran so now I know where Duran stole their sound. Speaking of stealing, tell me you didn't hear the sounds of Policy of Truth, by Depeche Mode in song #2? I really thought it was going to be a cover of that song when I first heard. I can say this isn't for me, but holy shit, when you cover Velvet Underground's All Tomorrow's Parties 3 times, I'm not going to rip them too bad. By the time you get to quiet life, you do realize Duran Duran ripped these guys off. Don't know too much about Duran, but the riffs in Quiet Life are exactly like some Duran song.... Anyway, not for me except for the Velvet cover. BTW, that song off the Banana album. And now I own a concert shirt form that very same album. I'm going to score a 2.5 for the Velvet song. Otherwise probably much lower for me. 2.5 Will score as 2
Pretty standard 70's New Wave album. Well executed and didn't actively piss me off which is nice. Outside of that not much to say. Totally unmemorable. 2
2 I didn’t realize the entire nation put out an album, but good on them. The 1979 release date surprised me, as it sounds like something that would have come out within the new wave scene in the mid 1980s. Considering the nation is responsible for things like the Walkman and Super Nintendo, I guess it makes sense Japan was ahead of their time here as well. Anyway, while it seems they were pioneers for a sound that would define the decade ahead, they’re a lot less remarkable than any of the groups that would follow. The title track was decent enough, but I really couldn’t find anything to note beyond that. No real versatility across the board in any area, with most songs blending in with the next. When it was finished, I didn’t even realize I had listened to a deluxe version of the album and had heard some form of the song All Tomorrow’s Parties three times (which I guess is a Velvet Underground cover… oops, sorry Dad). While there’s not a bad sound anywhere to be found, I can see why Japan isn’t talked about more within the context of new wave… or even really music as a whole. Definitely one of those groups where it seems their influence was much more impactful than their output.
Rollazo
This album is fine, but I am just getting really tired of British bands from the 80s. This is not for me.
Something went very wrong with the concept of singing in the 70s. I did actually quite like some of the first few tracks.
The first song isn’t bad but it’s also not good enough for me to listen to the whole thing
Not quite talking to me is this. All tomorrow's party's is still great though.
Uit de tijd dat bands zich ineens gingen vernoemen naar steden en landen. Aardige jaren tachtig-muziek, best aan te horen, en daarna ben je het meteen weer vergeten. Het heeft allemaal te weinig attentiewaarde, dus geen drie sterren.
Direct na 'Frankie Goes To Hollywood' is dit ineens wel heel lege muziek. Heb halverwege twee uur pauze genomen voordat ik doorluisterde. Ik nam de muziek niet meer in mij op...
Ik luister deze direct na Frankie Goes To Hollywood, maar dan is het toch wel wat veel van het goede met al dat wazige 80s new wave gedoe. Wat ik wel een mooie docu vond over de tijd van de New Romantics (dit soort muziek rond 1980) was Blitzed! Muziekdocus, fan van! Deze muziek, wat minder.
Quiet Life- groovy quite laidback track. Wish the vocals were a little more prominent 👍 Fall in love with me- lyrics a lot of nothing, but sufficiently atmospheric👍 Despair- boring piano track In vogue- this wasnt a standout at all Halloween- Bit more bombastic👍 All tomorrows parties- Feel there is a bit too much going on in the instrumental for what is essentially a folk track Alien- standard synthpop track The other side of life- bit of a dirge This was a mediocre new wave album 2/5
Kinda cool dream-like trance album. Gives me some David Bowie vibes.
Geht.
This wasn’t for me.
Meh
Meh
Never heard of the band Japan before today, and for good reason. Just some typical run of the mill synthpop. Sure it may have been ahead of its time, having been released in the late 70s, and sounding like music from the 80s, but David Sylvian's voice is terrible. He moans most of the time. By times, you can hear a lot of Duran Duran in their sound, and Mick Karn's bass playing is great, especially on the songs Alien, Other Side of Life, and Life in Tokyo! All in all, I could have gone without listening to this album. I am realizing through this exercise that I hate synthpop new wave music. Favourite songs : Alien, Halloween, Life in Tokyo Least favourite songs : Despair, Other Side of Life, All Tomorrow's Parties, In Vogue, Fall in Love With Me 2/5 (a point added just because of Mick's phenomenal bass playing)
Niemendalletje
Not much to say here, the album felt bland. Although there were some groovy moments, the mixing and vocals make it sound like a karaoke track - weirdly amateurish.
Never heard of this band before and certainly never heard any of the songs. I love the song, Despair. So haunting. At times during the album I almost thought I was listening to a early Duran Duran album. I think the album would have been better to get to know back in 1979, but listening to it now for the first time I can only appreciate how it might have been a new and different sound for its time. I think if I hear it more it is something I would definitely like. I would definitely like to keep this one around and listen to it again and again. 2.5/5
it’s naht good
It was okayyy. There are a lot of new wave albums on this list that are better
David Sylvian's hair.
Oh, the power of retrospection and perspective. Had I been introduced to this album a long time ago, I would've quickly dismissed it as "electronic music" like the closed-minded fool I was. Now, I hear so much more in it than I would've found back then. This is a very talented band in so many ways, and this is a good album with some solid tracks on it. If I heard this music randomly somewhere with no information about it, I would not have guessed this is a 70s band. After several of the songs in a row, I definitely got a little tired of the same New Wave/electronic/synth-pop sound to the music, but a lot of albums in any genre tend to feel that way because these days I almost always listen to streaming services on random or shuffle, so other than this project, I don't typically listen to albums or a single artist.
Ok sound - ominous mellow 60s rock vibes - cool vibe but wasn’t in the right mood for parts of the album
hm
no!
Fog rolls into a wasteland with an arcade ruled by a B-level Tina Turner. Spandex and vibrantly colored leather is all the locals have to wear. Suddenly, an average suburban white boy is ripped through a portal by an obnoxious sidekick puppet character. He’s on a mission to set the people free with his Walkman only he doesn’t know it yet. To slow him down, the witch-like Fake Turner replaces his hair-band rock tape with this album by manipulating the puppet. In a moment of desperation, a young punk scrambles out of the underground sewer world, crashes into him, destroying the tape. The under-dweller takes off their helmet with a hair sweep to reveal an Elizabeth Shue knock-off. The quest for the ultimate powered mixed tape begins.
No thank you. Drums were all right.
This is not great music to listen to while fighting the fire giant in elden ring but honestly it didn’t even sound that great in general
I didn’t really like it. The songs felt kinda similar and didn’t really move me
ehh. not particularly impressed.
Not much interesting about this one. Kinda glam pop synth pop feel from the 80s. Very subtle lyrically and the album feels like it drifts along. Pretty mediocre. 3.7/10
I was expecting worse, but at its best Japan deliver synthish sounds with an unconventional palette. Fall In Love With Me was the peak of said sound, but things dropped off pretty hard after that: Some experiments with form at the end weren't enough to justify the song lengths.
Terrible version of All Tomorrow's parties. Never have liked Kahn's fretless bass playing. Sylvian's voice is very wearing over the course of a whole album. Not really stood the test of time
Didn't like...in my opinion the worst part of 80s music
2.5
Ever notice how generally bands named after places and locations suck? Think about it: Europe? Sucks. Chicago? Sucks. Japan? Sucks. The theory is sound. Too bad this band isn't.
Dit zijn de te-saai-bevonden b-kantjes van Duran Duran toch?
This is quite bad. Unimaginative lyrics and singing, nothing really special about it really. 4/10.
Japan had an interesting following in the Eighties, but it has not aged well.
pretty tuneless synth pop
more background fare. Quite liked Despair. Generally, not my thing. Doesn't annoy me, and not rushing to switch it off. Not a huge fan of the vocalist though.
Not my favourite this. Think it makes the list by virtue of being seminal in doing something first (or almost first) in 1979, but a lot of people did similar stuff better. A couple of decent tracks (the opener grew on me after the first listen and Fall In Love With Me is good, very Duran Duran-y), but nothing else grabbed me.
80s af, and that's not a good thing.
80s oversincere
This album was FINE, and by that I mean "adequate." It just sounded like the back end of a second tier Duran Duran album. When do we get to see Duran Duran on this list? "All Tomorrow's Parties" just made me wonder when we're going to get to get to see the Velvet Underground on this list. I needed to know why this album is on the list, because I couldn't hear it. It was completely listenable, mind you, just not very memorable or distinctive to me.
I dunno, I have enjoyed some of the eletropoppy stuff on the list, but this is a bit boring. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood
recht fad, hab mir nix gemerkt
Den Gesang halt ich kaum aus...ansonsten so gar nichts Besonderes. Aber für nebenbei ok
A band I know very little about. The opening song 'Quiet Life' is giving me Duran Duran vibes - upon reading the wiki on this album, the band dismiss being of the genre New Romantic. Crazy to learn that this band was once a Glam Rock band, moving onto being synth pop with a one-off single made with Giorgio Moroder. It's a shame they didn't continue working with Giorgio on this album. The star rating is absent for me on this album, ✰✰ from me. Not an album I need to listen to again. I would rather listen to Duran Duran (or Sparks or INXS) - this album predates Duran Duran's debut album, maybe they heard this album by Japan and bettered it.
Not really my thing
This seems like a hipster wanker's choice. Plenty of 80s pop out there that's way more interesting than this. Points for production values but that's about it.
There's no way this isn't going to be new wave. Yeah, it is. I actually fell asleep. 2/5.
Not bad, not great.
A little taste of synth pop new wave, which I wish they'd taken further. I guess it was early days for that genre - I think bands like Duran Duran probably took this vibe and ran with it much better. I did like the title track and 'FalIing Love With Me' though. This is more of a 2.5 really but it falls into the 'ok but forgettable' category.
Other than the name David Sylvian, it doesn’t sound like this album has much to offer. Yes, it’s ok background music, but it never takes off and all the songs sound the same.
Not a bad album, but didn't stick with me that much
Nothing special, at best, and I'm starting to suspect some heavy British favoritism in this list...
Dull.
80's cheese but very bland
Kuuntelin kolmessa osassa eri päivinä niin vaikea muodostaa mielipidettä kokonaisuudesta, mutta ihan vekkulista äänimaailmasta huolimatta tylsä levy.
Muutama ihan toimiva biisi/hetki levyllä auttoi saattelee levyn loppuun, mut loppupuolen japaniskeida ei toiminu
Pretty weird for my liking
Not very fond of this one
Meh
I was quite enjoying it then he murdered and buried the body of all tomorrows parties and i was too annoyed to hear anything else than nico gasping for air. I think there is a lot of interesting proto-synth pop development here and its probably a very important record, so fair play to it but my longlasting impression im afraid is nico silently crying.
the first couple of songs are ok but the rest is legit bad
Really not my thing at all. Found it quite boring. Couple of ok tracks. 2 stars
Gosh, I've listened to some Japan before but never this album. It's so whiny and I've had enough of this style. Maybe if I'd heard this first I would've liked it, but now I was just skipping songs when I couldn't stand them anymore.
seems like bad david bowie, esp since it's the same time
Asian video game music. Not terrible.
Nothing stood out about this album.
These guys need a cup of coffee before recording an influential album
Agh, just not very good. Pretty forgettable. Feel like their sound is quite close to The Police's but without being as iconic.
As much as I love synthpop today, this early 80s synthpop is just not it for me. I think a lot of it has to do with the style of voice/singing that was popular at the time. It also all just feels very repetitive and like the songs don't have a lot of momentum. Not trying to knock it for someone else- it's just not for me.
Very 80s
Only listened to two or three tracks because I was pulled away but it didn't grab me to be honest.
It was ok, it fell flat in too many places for me to consider it any better than that. 2*
Kind of thing Dave would rate as 5 stars.
I thought it was alright, but nothing too special. I found the singing to be very monotonous, and not in an interesting way.
This is pretty sleepy, boring music. Alien and A Foreign Place were highlights, but this is at best driving music
au lieu du café il ya du nescafé du lait en poudre au lieu du lait ect. au lieu de bowie il y a japan
"Despair" has a cool melody
The only memorable and interesting thing about this album and band, is their band name.
Pas vraiment d’interet. Je ne sais pas trop quoi penser de ca .. je n’ai pas de souvenir le lendemain sauf peut etre la 1ere toune qui annoncait quelque chose de bien, mais apres rien du tout. 2.75
This was... fine. I was disappointed in the Velvet Underground cover.
didn’t like it that much
Synth-pop rock, fængende hooks, melankolsk
neet
Nope
Closest thing to an Asian album on this list is a white band named Japan.
Love the title track but most of the rest is pretentious forgetful dross. HATE the farty bass tones, are they meant to be ironic?
This was really boring. The songs were really long. I didn’t enjoy this.
yay. synth pop. woo. hoo.
Another laboured album of different songs that might as well be one long moan.
1.2/5 I've never really enjoyed 80s music like this and this was pretty average to my ears
Modern romantic 80’s rubbish
No gusto
Meh
Temu Duran Duran. And never cover Velvet Underground songs if you are a Temu band.
quiet life: tiene onda, peor no es tanto mi estilo fall in love with me: tiene onda, peor no es tanto mi estilo despair: malarda in vogue: la voz del tipo me transmite trsiteza halloween: no se no me copa all tomorrow's parties: meh, son todas iguales alien:los mismo que todas las anteriores the other side of life: same shit a forgein place: nada en conclusion, malardo.
Couldn't get into this at all unfortunately. Guess it's an early example of this kind of 80s sound synth pop (new romantic? I don't know where the lines are at all). I'm not mad keen on a lot of that music and this falls short of even that for me so far. Whenever I was trying to think of it as possibly pioneering, I reminded myself it's after Stevie's whole golden period.
I know the title of the book isn’t meant to be taken literally but I think I could’ve lived my life quite comfortably having not heard this before I died. It came and went with nothing of interest and I more than likely will have forgotten all about by the week’s end.
1. quiet - 2 2. fall - 0 3. dezpair - 2 4. vogue - 1 5. hallouueen - 1 6. partiez - 1 7. alien - 0 8. life - 1 9. place - 2 10. tokyo - 2
Just not good.
Boring
Bored pretty quickly
I liked the 2nd song. Everything else an absolute drag. Japan is a great country though
Did not enjoy. I don’t mind rock but didn’t enjoy this band.
Je me suis ennuyé. C'est terrible. Il y a eu plein d'albums que j'aimais pas trop et même des albums que je trouvais assez médiocre, mais je crois que c'est la première fois que je m'ennuie vraiment. C'est de la synthpop, peut-être un peu avant-gardiste, puisqu'on est en 1979 ? Mais franchement, je ne comprends pas l'intérêt de cet album. C'est terrible, mais je crois que ça sera mon premier 1. Parce que même ceux que j'ai notés 2 jusque-là (et il y en a peu), je me suis pas totalement ennuyé, j'ai toujours trouvé un petit quelque chose de pas inintéressant. Ici ? Rien. Donc bah ça sera mon premier 1. Il m'aura fallu 58 albums pour en donner un. J'espère que demain, ça sera mieux.
Lame...
Hard to hear
A 60min new wave album? What could go wrong? Why do 80s artists sing in such an annoying way? It maybe sounded cool back then, but it aged so poorly. You can sort of hear it in Tears for Fears, Bowie, etc. It irks me to a similar level as country singers adding that extra twang in their voice.
1+ Stars (3/15)
No
No se si el nombre se ideo por tener un integrante asiatico en el grupo, pero bueno, el album no me ha gustado.
What a boring pile of shit.
No. Just no.
1.5 A flock of pigeons.
this album did nothing for me, not overly into that experimental (if that’s what it is) type 70’s music
Not really my thing. Though on a surface level it seems like the type of music i’d really vibe with and I bet this influenced artists I love, but man I just find this to be such a bore.
En hård start
I'd rather listen to Rio. middle and end of the album is a chore
I like the album cover. The music, on the other hand, I could barely make it through...
As I continue to catch up on all the 1001 albums to hear before I die recommendations I have piled up, I stumbled across Quiet Life by Japan. While I do very much appreciate the very 80s sounding New Wave this project embodies, a whole month before that decade would take off, I do also feel it holds this project back as a product of its' time. This project tries to be challenging but just comes off as subpar after all these years of aging. The songwriting is pretty unremarkable outside of Quiet Life, which also happens to be the only song from here I enjoyed. It is pretty fine and doesn't do a whole lot for me other than fill in 44 minutes of my time. I can see why others would enjoy this but I just couldn't care a single bit about this album after the first 5 minutes. Glad I checked it out but I won't be back anytime soon.
HORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIBLE!
I don't see the value of this record at all and have no idea why it's on the 1001 albums you must hear before you die.
Quiet Life All Tomorrow's Parties
1/5. Yup, that's British synth. I don't think I enjoyed this one fully as I came down with a cold or something and this kind of just pushed along. It just didn't really stand out to me and I was left kind of wanting more. I actually enjoyed the instrumental track Despair, as it kept the aesthetic while sacrificing the vocals. It's not that they were bad, just very uninteresting. Best Song: Despair, Quiet Life
Stanby
cba listening looks like a pissy poo poo album, it’s just Duran Duran with more guy liner not fussed/5 FTW Japan have one good tune. It is not present on this record. 2/5
Not quite mi taste
The reviewer who called this *Duran Duran on valium" Nailed it. Unrelentingly dull. Zero sauce. Bloody hell, how was this worse than The Doves..? And it's still going. How is it still going? Make it stoppppppp!
DNF
Why. No thanks.
Not for me.
Best Song: Quiet Life Holy New Wave Batman! This has pretty much everything I don't like about new wave including some saxophone. I would NEVER listen to this again.
just boring and uninspired, in my opinion. also, why is the band called Japan if they have nothing to do with Japan?
Still don't like British rock, and I'm a little offended that a group called Japan sounds nothing like japanese music. At least have some songs sound like city pop 💀 1
Слишком мрачный и томный нью вейв, растянутый и тягучий. Минус
Meh. Uninspired and uninspiring. Doing very little for me.
Not great
Dramatycznie mdły i niczym się nie wyróżniający. Nie dałem rady do końca.
Did not enjoy at all
Nämä kumeat kasarilaiset haahuilevat tekemättä varsinaisesti mitään kokeellista (mikä tuskin sekään olisi ollut hyvä ratkaisu). Homma junnaa paikallaan, paitsi ehkä ekassa ja vikassa biisissä, joissa on jotain ytyä (mutta joita en usko kuuntelevani jatkossa). 1,5
Gave a few songs a chance but.... pass
Unimpressed
I don’t care for new wave. 1
I couldn't finish this
Not my cup of tea
This album is ahead of its time in the worst way possible. It came out in 1979, and yet it sounds like the most annoying and cheesy 80s album you've ever heard.
Pop uusiaaltl alkaa nii kivasti mutta kuulokkeet irtoaa ja puhelin täysillä ja soittaa JAHA JAHA
A bit too funky for me. Just didn't really catch me and wouldn't listen to the album again. And who makes most of their songs over 4min? 7:23 min? come on...
Qualidade evidente do instrumental não conseguiu diminuir a chatura dos vocais arrastados e melodias entendiantes.
I dont love this. I am a big fan of new wave, but this isnt really anything special.
Not worth listening to the whole album
Not liking this at all
Generic
Was glad when this one ended. Quiet Life was an alright song, the rest of the album very boring and not my kind of music at all.
booooooooring also fire whoever did the mixing on this
Didn't I just hear this record? But it was called something else?
Boring instrumentals, flaccid bass, out-of-tune vocals recorded on a pumpkin. NNN
Poor mans David Bowie + Depeche Mode + The Cure? Don't love it.
I’d rather listen to raffi on repeat
A lot of early emo pop stuff. One track was somewhat enjoyable.
More uninteresting UK trash from the 70s
1.5
Terrible.
boring and mundane. not at all worth a listen
Nichts für mich.
Boring and out of tune. Unpleasant listen
06/1001 I liked the beginning but it became repetitive and boring. There were only 3 songs that I would genuinely listen to. The recording didn't seem like a thing to me
No bueno. Why does New Wave mostly suck?
Snooze fest
Boring
no
Sounds like Duran Duran, but not as fun.
Very bland, each song feels the same as the last. Doesn't feel too original or groundbreaking.
Not quiet enough for me
ups no oi
1/5 What a boring forgettable album.
Niet geluisterd staat me gewoon niet aan
Snooze fest. And a horrendous cover of Lou Reed’s All Tomorrows Parties. Kindly delete yourself from musical history.
1001 hardly
Did not like
Thought it might be interesting. I was wrong.
Just terrible
not my kind of music. too soft rock for me
Meh. Felt like it just kept going and going.
Not my vibe
Pretty bad
I made it through about 45 seconds before turning this tripe off.
Only listened to a couple of tracks.
Crap
No.
I don't think I'd even heard of Japan let alone heard any of their stuff. The first two tracks were decent enough, the second probably better than the first. The third track changed the mood a lot. It was kind of jarring. Not that it's a bad song, it was just a big change from the first two. Very atmospheric. And then track four puts us back to where we were. The rest of the album isn't great. Track six is probably the worst. I wouldn't have guessed this was released in 1979. I would have gone much more recent than that, I think. Another 2/5 for me, and another album I'll probably never listen to again.
Pop music that simply brings one to a dead end.
Terrible.
Not good, sounds like the same song over and over
Late 70s but sounds 80s. Hated this. The Velvet Underground cover was excruciating
Meh Some vague Duran Duran vibes in the middle...
Boring.
Don't like it, David Bowie did it better.
Nah not for me
Horrible
Niet mijn kopje thee.
They wanted to be Bowie so bad.