Japan - Life In Tokyo

'Life in Tokyo' was Japan's 5th single.

Released originally in 1979, on the Hansa Record Label, the single failed to make any impact on the UK Singles Charts.

Fast forward to 1981 and Japan are having some success on the Virgin Record Label. Due to this Hansa decided to cash in and release the single for a 2nd time. Unfortunatly this didn't pay off as the single failed to reach the charts.

We move again to 1982 and Japan are making it big now. Hansa decide to re-mix the single and try releasing it again this time with the bands approval. With Sylvian co-ordinating the Sleeve design, this time the relase pays off as the single made it to number 28 in the UK Singles Chart.

A classic Japan song with a big Giorgio Moroder production.

Click the link below to download the following:
Video
Single Version
Original 12 inch Version - 1979
Part 2 - 1979 B-Side
'Souvenir From Japan' Mix - 1981
Assemblage Cassette Bonus Remix - 1981
Steve Nye - 7 inch Remix - 1982
Steve Nye - 12 inch Remix - 1982

European Son - 1981 B-Side
European son - John Punter 12 inch Mix - 1981 12 inch B-Side
Theme - 1982 B-Side

http://www.mediafire.com/?i373g21fz10gl

Japan - Quite Life - Single

Japan released their tenth single entitled 'Quiet Life' in 1981. The single had already appeared on their third album 'Quite Life' released in 1979.

Due to the bands popularity their previous label Hansa had decided to cash in and release the single to the UK market.

Previously in 1979 the single had been released in Japan. Backed with the B-Side entitled 'Halloween' this was also taken from the album of the same name.

In 1981 the B-side was changed to 'a Forbidden Place' with a further track entitled 'Fall In Love With Me' appearing on the 12inch.

This single released proved popular as it managed to reach number 19 in the UK singles charts.

Click the link below to download the following:
Single Version
Extended Version
A Forbidden Place - 1981 B-Side
Fall In Love With Me - 1981 12 inch Extra Track
Halloween - Japanese 1979 B-Side

http://www.mediafire.com/?qmvc44f9jamyz

Japan - Oil On Canvas - Album

'Oil on Canvas' is a live album by the British band Japan, released in 1983 by Virgin Records.

Although it is a live recording of their established material, the album also contains three new studio tracks, 'Oil on Canvas', 'Voices Raised in Welcome, Hands Held in Prayer' and 'Temple of Dawn', recorded separately by Sylvian, Sylvian/Jansen and Barbieri respectively. (The name of Barbieri's track is taken from the novel The Temple of Dawn by the acclaimed Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima.)

Although the album was released some months following the band's much publicised split in late 1982, it was ironically Japan's highest charting album in the UK, where it reached number 5 in the Album charts. The album was certified "Gold" by the BPI in 1988 for 100,000 copies sold.

The live tracks on the double-album were taken from Japan's performances in November 1982, during their final live concert tour. Since guitarist Rob Dean had left the band two years previously, Japanese session musician Masami Tsuchiya was added to the line up to play guitar and additional keyboards. The band also used backing tracks to supply additional instrumental parts (for example, in contrast to some previous tours where a guest saxophonist was recruited, many of Karn's saxophone lines were played from tape.

A video version of Oil On Canvas was also available from Virgin Records. This was re-released on DVD in 2006 as "The Very Best of Japan", which also features many of the band's promotional videos.

Tracklisting:
01 - Oil on Canvas
02 - Sons of Pioneers
03 - Gentlemen Take Polaroids
04 - Swing
05 - Cantonese Boy
06 - Visions of China
07 - Ghosts
08 - Voices Raised in Welcome, Hands Held in Prayer
09 - Nightporter
10 - Still Life in Mobile Homes
11 - Methods of Dance
12 - Quiet Life
13 - The Art of Parties
14 - Canton
15 - Temple of Dawn

Click the link below to download the album

http://www.mediafire.com/?bd4awzxdiz9h8

Japan - Nightporter

October 1982 saw the release of Japan's 18th single entitled 'Nightporter'.

Released on the Virgin Label the single managed to make it to number 29 on the UK Singles Chart.

The 7 inch single had a different B-Side to that of the 12 inch making collecting Japan all the more fun.

This has to be one of my favs even though David Sylvian does not rate that highly any more I still love this single after all these years.

Click the link below to download the folloing:
Video
Single Version
12 inch Version
Ain't That Peculiar - Single B-Side
Methods Of Dance - 12 inch B-Side

http://www.mediafire.com/?g39andn531gl7

Japan - the Art of Parties

When the ads for Japan's 'The Art of Parties' appeared in the Spring of 1981, every New Romantic worth his or her eyeliner took notice.

The single featured the band's most richly sumptuous dance track to date, wildly syncopated rhythm guitars and horns bursting across Steve Jansen's cascading drums, and Sylvian offering one his most irresistible choruses. Add in Mick Karn's increasingly baroque fretless bass, Richard Barberi's shimmering oriental synth textures and this produces one of the iconic singles of the year promising more to come.

In Canada the single was released as an EP, which is features here. It included the B-Side but added in another 2 tracks to flesh out the release. This proved valuable to the Japan collector as this was the better release than the UK version.

'The Art of Parties' reached number 48 in the UK singles Chart

Click the link below to download the following:
The Old Grey whistle Test Performance
Single Version
Extended Version
Album Version
Life Without Buildings - - B-side
The Width Of A Room - EP Extra Track
The Experieince Of Swimming - EP Extra Track

http://www.mediafire.com/?cxajvam4k7p3x

Japan - the Art of Parties - The Old Grey whistle Test Perrormance

Mick Karn - Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters - Album

Mick Karn released his second solo album in 1987 entitled 'Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters'. The album provided Karn with a platform to collaborate once again with his Japan band members.

The album made its debut on the UK Album Charts on the 28th February 1987 at number 89 before falling out of the charts the following week.

Tracklisting:

01 - First Impression
02 - Language of Ritual
03 - Buoy
04 - Land
05 - The Three Fates
06 - When Love Walks In
07 - Dreams Of Reason08 - Answer

Click the link below to download the album:

http://www.mediafire.com/?o2r0ew8bio2nj

Mick Karn featuring David Sylvian - Buoy

The break up of the band Japan was manily, but not exclusivly, due to the continued anamosity between David Sylvian and Mick Karn.

However this had cooled down by 1986 when Mick was working on his new album 'Dreams of Reasons Produce Monsters'. David Sylvian had been asked to collaborate on the album.

Sylvian had written the lyrics and provided the voculs to two songs, 'When Loves Walks In' and Buoy'.

'Buoy', released as the single from the album, entered the charts at number 63 on the 17th January 1987. This was to be it's highest position as it left the charts 2 weeks later.

Click the link below to download the following:
Single Version
Dreams of Reason - B-Side 1
Language of Ritual - B-Side 2

http://www.mediafire.com/?sm06t65tsrh7a

Dalis Car - The Judgment is the Mirror

Mick Karn and Pete Murphy only made one album entitled 'The Waking Hour' and from that album there was just the one single called ' The Judgement is the Mirror'.

Released in 1984 the single only made it to number 66 in the UK Singles Chart. The band then dispanded.

In 2010 Pete Murphey anounced that he was going to be again working with Mick Karn on a follow up project. Some work was completed on this but the project was not completed before the death of Mick earlier this month.

Click below to download the following:

Video
The Tube Interview
Single Version
Hi Places - B-Side 1
Lifelong Moment - B-Side 2

http://www.mediafire.com/?6kvb69ceem86b

Dalis Car - The Judgment is the Mirror - Video

Dalis Car - The Waking Hour - Album

Dalis Car was a musical group formed in 1984 by Peter Murphy - vocalist, Mick Karn -bassist, keyboardist, guitarist, saxophonist and Paul Vincent Lawford - rhythm construction.

The band was formed shortly after Murphy and Karn left their former bands - Bauhaus and Japan, respectively. They recorded one album, 'The Waking Hour', and released one single, 'The Judgement is the Mirror'. The cover of the album features a detail from Maxfield Parrish's seminal painting Daybreak.

The recording of the album took place in unusual circumstances, as neither Karn nor Murphy spent much time together in the recording studio, preferring to send tapes back and forth between each another, to work on alone.

The album, a collection of keyboard and bass-driven songs, was a commercial failure as the album made 84 on the UK Album Chart, and the duo soon disbanded.

Tracklisting:
01 - Dalis Car
02 - His Box
03 - Cornwall Stone
04 - Artemis
05 - Create and Melt
06 - Moonlife
07 - The Judgement Is the Mirror

Click the link below to download the album:

http://www.mediafire.com/?o9l74lblur73r

Midge Ure and Mick Karn - After A Fashion

'After A Fashion' was a one-off single released by Ultravox lead singer Midge Ure and Mick Karn bassist for the art rock band Japan, from 1974 to 1982.

The song peaked at number 39 on the UK singles chart in 1983.

The cover for the single was taken by Linda McCartney.

I have included the video that was taken from the Timmy Mallet Saturday program as this is the only version that has surfaced on You Tube (to my knowledge). The quality is not great. If any one has a much better quality that does not have the programe info at the end then please let me know. Thank you in advance.

Click the link below to download the following:
Video
Single Version
Extended Version
Textures - B-side

http://www.mediafire.com/?13s6pyvszgud1

Midge Ure and Mick Karn - After A Fashion - Video

Mick Karn - Sensitive

'Sensitive' was the only single released from Mick Karn's first solo album entitled 'Titles'. The single features an ex Japan member - Steve Jansen - on percussion. This marked the first in many colloberations between the two over the following years.

The single, like the album it came from, did not do very well on the charts, only making number 98 in the UK singles Charts.

Click the link below to download the following:
Single Version
The Sound Of Waves - B-side

http://www.mediafire.com/?hd95bca0k4499

Mick Karn - Titles - Album

Antony Michaelides (24 July 1958 – 4 January 2011), better known as Mick Karn, was born into a Greek Cypriot family, in Nicosia, Cyprus. In late October, of 1961, the family emigrated to London, England, when Andonis was three years old.

Mick Karn helped form the the band Japan, whose other members included David Sylvian, keyboardist Richard Barbieri and Sylvian's brother Steve Jansen as drummer. The band began as a group of friends, who all studied at the same school. As youngsters they played music as a means of escape, playing Sylvian's two-chord numbers – sometimes with Karn as the front man, sometimes with Sylvian at the fore, guitarist Rob Dean joined the band later.

Following Japan's split in 1982 Karn persued various solo projects. One of those projects included his first solo album entitled 'Titles', released in 1982.

Karn recorded the album in London, during July and August 1982. The album made number 74 in the UK Album charts.

The only single released entitled 'Sensitive' is a reworking of the Roberto Carlos song La Distancia

Tracklisting:
01 - Tribal Dawn
02 - Lost Affections in a Room
03 - Passion in Moisture
04 - Weather the Windmill
05 - Saviour, Are You With Me?
06 - Trust Me
07 - Sensitive
08 - Piper Blue

In June 2010, Mick Karn announced on his website that he had been diagnosed with advanced-stage cancer. After a long battle Mick Karn died at home at 4.30pm on 4th January 2011.

Mick was a great musician, producing music that was both interesting and thought provoking. I had continued to follow Mick's music, as well as other members of Japan, and have to say that it came as a shoke that he had passed away. Mick Karn will be sadly missed and my thoughts go to his family, friends and many fans out there that loved his music and will continue to do so for many more years to come. RIP.

Click the link below to download the album

http://www.mediafire.com/?dhljqxjxmvlgc

Japan - I Second That Emotion

'I Second That Emotion' is a 1967 hit single released originally by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles for the Motown label. The song was the group's first Top 5 hit on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart. Less than two years later, the single was covered by Motown labelmates Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations, reaching the top 20 in the UK.

The single was released by the UK group Japan as a single in 1980 in Japan. The following year the single was released in Europe while the UK single was eventually released in 1982 following a remix by Steve Nye.

'I Second That Emotion' became the groups second biggest hit eventually reaching number 9 in the UK Singles Chart.

Click the link below to download the following:
Video
Single Version
Halloween - B-Side

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=2ccb7d0cd98a6267aaca48175a79d1c3e3649dd2c53ac4fd5621d66e282a0ee8

Japan - I Second That Emotion - Video

Japan - The Pop Years 1982

'Pop Years' was a short-lived music show that reviewed music from a certain year, it was first shown on Sky 1, with repeats later shown on Sky 3. It featured famous people from that year and famous people that enjoyed that year in music. This one featured the band 'Japan' and was broadcast on 19th August 2003.

Click the link below to download the file.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=2ccb7d0cd98a6267aaca48175a79d1c305d6356ac5bfe8715621d66e282a0ee8

Japan - Top Ten New Romantics Number 9

Here is a short retropective look at the band Japan on the Top Ten New Romantics Programe. This includes some short interviews with some band mambers and others that were involved in the band. The band made number 9 in this chart.

Click on the link below to download the AVI Video.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=2ccb7d0cd98a6267aaca48175a79d1c309088a12d678eb01b8eada0a1ae8665a