“Gentlemen Take Polaroids” by Japan - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1980 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1980s

Their deal with the German Hansa label at an end, Japan began the decade with a switch to Virgin Records, with the new single “Gentlemen Take Polaroids” (#60) released in October, 1980, just a couple of weeks before the album of the same name (51) was in the shops. They've been getting stronger and more interesting with each release and this LP continues the trend. The biggest highlight is the fantastic “Methods Of Dance” which picks up where “Quiet Life” left off, the wonderfully complex dance rhythms being subtly bolstered with female vocals and brass. A stately-but-haunting piano-based waltz accompanies David Sylvian's sombre-but-cultured croon on “Nightporter”. Just what does that worker see in the dead of night? The album closes with “Taking Islands In Africa”, co-written in collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto of the Yellow Magic Orchestra. That ought to shift a few extra units in Japan. Cynical, moi?

The Jukebox Rebel
19–Nov–2016

Tracklist

A1	[07:08] Japan - Gentlemen Take Polaroids (David Sylvian) New Wave
A2	[06:23] Japan - Swing (David Sylvian) New Wave
A3	[05:23] Japan - Burning Bridges (David Sylvian) Electronica
A4	[03:52] Japan - My New Career (David Sylvian) New Wave
B1	[06:53] Japan - Methods Of Dance (David Sylvian) New Wave
B2	[04:40] Japan - Ain’t That Peculiar (Warren Moore, William Robinson, Bobby Rogers, Marvin Tarplin) New Wave
B3	[06:57] Japan - Nightporter (David Sylvian) Songwriter
B4	[05:12] Japan - Taking Islands In Africa (David Sylvian, Ryuichi Sakamoto) Electronica

ratings by TJR