Packaging
Clamshell Box containing 6 panel digipak, 24 page booklet and extra gatefold 'single'.
Clamshell box will have a completely different Fin Costello front cover and back cover photo. The main digipak will have original front and back cover of 'Tin Drum'. The booklet will have alternative front and back cover from original 'Tin Drum' photo session plus 22 pages of photos by Fin Costello, Yuka Fujii and Steve Jansen.
Gatefold single will have photos from 'The Art of Parties' single session.
Clamshell box, booklet cover and main CD body will use 5 colour silver with non-standard grey gloss CD tray. This edition will be an absolute photographic treat for Japan fans.
Tracklisting
1. The Art Of Parties
2. Talking Drum
3. Ghosts
4. Canton
5. Still Life In Mobile Homes
6. Visions Of China
7. Sons Of Pioneers
8. Cantonese Boy
*EXTRA GATEFOLD SINGLE - New extra disc
1. The Art Of Parties (Single Version) *
2. Life Without Buildings *(B-side to The Art Of Parties)
3. The Art Of Parties (Live) *(B-side to Ghosts)
4. Ghosts (Single Version) *
IF Polaroids broke down the wall of popular and critical antipathy, it was 1981's seminal album TIN DRUM which surged into the freshly-disclosed open spaces, colouring and utilising them with tremendous aesthetic dignity and grace. In November '81 it reached number twelve and stayed on the chart for no less than fifty weeks. More importantly, it did so not by diluting or bolting down the band's sound and vision, but by testing and stretching these out on an entirely unforeseen limb.
Barbieri's synth dreamscapes were now the tapestry onto which Sylvian projected his visions of China and of the Far East in general. The cover photograph's monochrome shot of the bespectacled singer eating rice with chopsticks under a peeling picture of Mao (and the back sleeve shot of the four Japan members sitting in a similarly minimalist environment) seemed a wilful denial of the prevailing New Romantic exuberance and gaiety. Sylvian in particular was getting tired of being talked about for his looks, one tabloid's description of him as "The World's Most Beautiful Man" having irritated him immensely. The group now sought to gain respect as serious, earnest musicians. In so doing, they risked fanning the flames of scepticism. That they pulled it off convincingly with this piece de resistance is testament to its elegance and emotional range. Their least obviously commercial record to date was to be their biggest seller. "The Art Of Parties", "Visions Of China" and "Cantonese Boy" were moderate hits; "Ghosts" - the least likely Top Of The Pops contender of all, arguably of all time - made number five.
The arrangements were Feng Shui sparse and accurate, with Karn's bass providing pinpoint melodies and Jansen's clever, complex drumming propelling the structures of the songs. Sylvian again seemed to be singing of lost innocence: "once I was young, once I was smart, now I'm living on the edge of my nerves", it begins. If "The Art Of Parties" both tipped its hat to and twisted the living daylights out of the white-boy funk of the period, "Sons Of Pioneers" was a neo-jazz gem of restraint which rendered time elastic. "Still Life In Mobile Homes" proved the group still knew a good hook when it hit on one; the preoccupation with the Far East engaged most of the other titles. "Ghosts", however, became its own beautiful beast.
You could argue that Japan were peaking to such an extent that whichever single had been released at that moment in time would've been their biggest. You could argue that so many girls - and for that matter boys - were in love with the group's not-well-enough-disguised good looks that a breakthrough hit was inevitable. Nevertheless the forlorn, soul-broken "Ghosts", with its eccentric synth burbles, barely-there backing and serene yet gutwrenching vocal tale of a cycle of despair, remains one of the bravest, most breathtaking "hits" of the pop era. To hear it on the radio between the generic snap and crackle, to see it performed on Top Of The Pops to a bemused audience of party people, was to witness the world shift, just a little bit, on its axis. Live shows at this time saw scenes of wanton worship from fans, with Karn's unique style (tagged as "slippery" by the press) prompting his own army of followers and Sylvian trying both not to disappoint the screaming devoted and not to sell himself short. In truth, just as Japan became one of the country's biggest and most revered bands, they realised they wanted something else. To them, now, the music was all. It's an often-told story, but the pressures of stardom contributed to their splitting and moving in separate directions.
'Tin Drum' your next album was very successful, what was it like living through those times of 'Tin Drum'?
DS: Strange, because soon after 'Tin Drum' was completed we undertook a tour, I think it was the end of '81 and it was during that tour that we decided it wasn't working anymore that we were gonna break-up. We had one more year of commitments to undertake and it was during that final year that we achieved our greatest success but it was already over for us. It was a strange place to find yourself in, you never really celebrated the success of the band because it was already over for us. We didn't announce it until the end of '82 but, you know, we were living the fact that it was no longer a reality.
Was that never a temptation on the view of the success to
DS: To keep it going?
Yeah
DS: No. It wouldn't have worked, it wouldn't have worked.
Why?
DS: Just the personalities we were sort of pulling in different directions. We'd been together for a while by that time success came kind of late to us. There were other forces pulling us in different directions and you know we were all listening to different voices. Personally I decided it was time, I didn't want to go on with this. And also just being in that centre spotlight, there were so many pressures even at that level of success. There's a certain amount of pressure because there are so many people dependent on their livelihood. Their livelihood depends on your staying where you are and so they're going to try and persuade you to do what they think is best for you in that position. It isn't necessarily what is best for me artistically, creatively even psychologically, it's just what's best to keep the money machine moving forward and I didn't want that, I just didn't want to deal with it.
Are you proud of that fact that you sort of kept it totally as it should be?
DS: Um there's an integrity there I suppose. But I'm not proud of the fact that I broke up the band when I did; I had no choice, we all had different priorities in life and mine was really that I wanted to believe in what I was doing.