Japan - Gentlemen Take Polaroids (Half Speed Remaster)

In 1980 it was hard to know what the actual difference between Japan and Roxy Music was. Musically perhaps Mick Karn's fluttering wobbly bass lines added a dose of originality to Japan's music. Looks-wise Sylvian's bouffant was surely way more appealing to the touch than Ferry's lounge lizard quiff. Otherwise there's not a lot to separate them. Both paved the way for the exact sound that Duran Duran who, with a more rambunctious vocalist and more streamlined pretty boy looks, would take to the masses. Nick Rhodes must thank his lucky stars each day he heard this sound and saw this hair.

So by this point Japan was making elegant sleek pop that was already a mile away from their origins as a kind of glammed up English New York Dolls. The title track is a lovely example of what they were doing which is to take the sound of Roxy Music's stellar 'Same Old Scene' single and run with it. Like the following years 'Tin Drum', 'Gentleman Take Polaroids' is a mixed affair between unhurried clever funk pop and instrumental interludes that hark back to the records Brian Eno was making in the 70s.

Strangely, I'm perhaps thinking that Gentleman Take Polaroids has more to offer than Tin Drum. They are still being clever clogs but they haven't lost the sense of fun that led them to collaborate with Giorgio Moroder. They seem somehow less wankerish. Though I can't explain why they dipped into the Smokey Robinson song book so soon after their relatively successful 'I Second That Emotion'. 'Ain't That Peculiar' is just downright weird. A terrible mismatch. Like 'Tin Drum' there are moments that point forward to Sylvian's solo career. 'Here it's 'Nightporter' a beautiful piano led ballad that is way way above the standard of the rest of the LP.

Japan got better as they started playing fewer instruments and became less cluttery. Their career is like watching a band try to figure things out and by the time they got to where they want to be they'd split up. 'Gentleman Take Polaroids' is a fascinating part of that journey and contains some truly brilliant moments.   

Ripped from the Abbey Road Studios, Double 12” 45rpm Album, Half Speed Mastering Edition, to MP3. The lush, smooth sound of Mick Karn’s fretless bass has to be heard to be believed…Fucking Stunning!

Japan; Gentlemen Take Polaroids

A1.  Gentlemen Take Polariods

A2.  Swing

B1.  Burning Bridges

B2.  My New Career

C1    Methods Of Dance

C2    Ain’t That Peculiar

D1    Nightporter

D2    Taking Islands In Africa