Japan - Adolescent Sex

Japan were initially formed in 1974, but they only got to recording music after winning a talent contest, netting them a contract with Hansa Records. In 1978, they released two albums that were successful in Japan (the group's name probably helped), but which were basically over looked in the UK, because of the increasing popularity of the punk and new wave scenes. Initially, Japan weren't a new wave group (there are small tinges of the genre in their pre Quiet Life records, but that's more in the production and sound than the performance); they were a glam rock band with one hell of an attitude. I mean, this world is hardly as prude as it was in the 60's or 70's, but would you consider releasing an album titled Adolescent Sex now?

When it comes to the sound and scale of the music, Adolescent Sex is a glam rock album through and through, but what's interesting is how pissed off the group sounds. This is very well evidenced in David Sylvian's vocals, to be precise, he often seems to strain himself so as to deliver as much vocal raw power as any glam rock singer who has a lot of presence on stage, but he instead ends up in the zone between "subdued" and "powerful" that, in the case of this album, is actually more satisfying than if he actually crossed over into the latter.

In case I don't sound enthusiastic enough, I am seriously recommending you pick up Adolescent Sex. It (and its successor Obscure Alternatives) is a criminally overlooked piece of late-70's glam rock that undeservedly got swept up in the punk undercurrent. It's an outstandingly unique record, and 1978 definitely wasn't an uneventful year. OK, so I suppose the name could turn someone off… either that or the fact that it's the same group that released Gentlemen Take Polaroid’s... nah, you don't have any excuse not to pick this up.

Ripped to MP3

Japan; Adolescence Sex

1.      Transmission

2.      The Unconventional

3.      Wish You Were Black

4.      Performance

5.      Lovers On Main Street

6.      Don’t Rain On My Parade

7.      Suburban Love

8.      Adolescent Sex

9.      Communist China

10.   Television