| features in: Album Chart of 1978 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1970s |
The debut album from this young guitar-funk 5-piece arrived in April '78, the South Londoners lining-up: David Sylvian (20, vocals, rhythm guitar), Rob Dean (22, lead guitar, backing vocals), Richard Barbieri (20, keyboards, backing vocals), Mick Karn (19, bass, backing vocals) and Steve Jansen (18, drums, percussion, backing vocals). They're signed to the German disco label, Ariola Hansa, which almost lowers expectation before a note is heard; sure enough it's a poor derivative of the “Young Americans” / “Station To Station” long players of '75 and '76. Three singles were lifted from the album (“Don't Rain On My Parade”, “Adolescent Sex” and “The Unconventional”) but failed to leave a mark in home territories, as did the album itself. They weren't entirely without a loving fanbase - though they'd have to 6,000 miles to receive it in person from the Japanese! Sylvian would later reflect: “I regret the first album, 'Adolescent Sex', in the sense that we were too young, too naive to make it. The people around us should have realised that and not had it released. The second album is okay as a first album.” That David Bowie feller's got a lot to answer for.
The Jukebox Rebel
23–Jul–2016
| Tracklist |
| A1 | [04:46]  Japan - Transmission (David Sylvian) New Wave |
| A2 | [03:02]  Japan - The Unconventional (David Sylvian) Disco / Funk |
| A3 | [04:49]  Japan - Wish You Were Black (David Sylvian) New Wave |
| A4 | [04:36]  Japan - Performance (David Sylvian) Pop |
| A5 | [04:09]  Japan - Lovers On Main Street (David Sylvian) Pop |
| A6 | [02:54]  Japan - Don’t Rain On My Parade (Jule Styne, Bob Merrill) New Wave |
| B1 | [07:27] Japan - Suburban Love (David Sylvian) Cerebral Pop |
| B2 | [03:46]  Japan - Adolescent Sex (David Sylvian) New Wave |
| B3 | [02:44]  Japan - Communist China (David Sylvian) New Wave |
| B4 | [09:15]  Japan - Television (David Sylvian) Cerebral Pop |
