UK "Metro", 10/12/07 - Brief Japan article

[Holmewood]

Not often you get a Japan article in the UK daily/free press but here goes:

METRO, 10/12/07, page 35.

"START HERE - An Essential Taster of New Romanticism

Japan: Tin Drum (1981)

'Ridicule is nothing to be scared of.' So sang Adam Ant, who, as one of the poster boys of New Romanticism, knew what he was talking about. It was almost impossible not to attract derision if you bestrode the drab streets of early 1980's Britain wearing a frilly shirt and foppish make up and singing about Prince Charming.

The narcissistic New Romantics were identifiable by their extravagant, dandyish look, but the sound they made was distinctive, too. The forefathers of the movement were Roxy Music and David Bowie, and much New Romantic Music was, at root, glam rock played with synths instead of guitars. Indeed Sylvian's outfit Japan actually began life as a New York Dolls-style trash-glam outfit. By the time they recorded their 1981 masterpiece, however, the influence of electro-innovators such as Kraftwerk was to the fore.

'Tin Drum' is a landmark recording for so many reasons, not least because of Sylvian (pictured) and his unique, jerky baritone vocals, and the music's oriental fushion of Occidental and Oriental sounds. The album has spawned perhaps the only truly minimalist song ever to have gone Top Ten in Britain, the gorgeously spooky and almost not there 'Ghosts'".

Doesn't say who wrote it but evidently someone who is a fan - and wants to share the news. Good for them too!

[deadbees]

nice piece, except that Japan were never a New Romantic band

[Burnsjed]

yep, strictly speaking there was nothing new romantic about Japan, not at any time in fact.