"Assemblage (Hansa)" as has been mentioned, plus it contains a re/recorded/better version of "Adolescent Sex".
Best you can do for compilations is to get "Assemblage" and "Exorcising Ghosts" - you only get one duplicated track, "Quiet Life" and a fair overview of the whole group career. Ideally get both on vinyl - some tracks are missing from most CD versions of "Exorcising Ghosts". Avoid "In Vogue" at all costs!
Other people are doing very good ½ speed masters: Alchemy did the Ultravox 'Vienna' box and it is excellent (though I'm biased).
I'm interested in the other formats previously mentioned. Off the top of my head I have a Japanese white label promo, UK Original Ariola, mid 90s European CD, digipack remaster and Fame cassette. A CD combining the better mastering of the 90s CD with the detail of the remaster would be nice.
The only "Quiet Life" CDs to avoid are the 2001 Japanese card sleeve which is really loud, and the 2001 Camden UK/Australia which has one of the single versions as track 1 and the album version / 12" as a bonus. It sounds better than the Japanese 2001 though, by far.
Yeah the 2001 versions are awful but I'd like to think that the new version will be more to @Justin Case's expectations with a sympathetic new master. One day soon I'm sure we will find out.....
This seems a good compilation (I don't have it): The Very Best of Japan - Wikipedia Otherwise I second Exorcising Ghosts (vinyl version). But I am in the camp that don't really care much about their first two albums, which are not represented on these compilations. Assemblage is ok though.
That's the one I suggested. TBH, it's se easy to get the Japan albums cheap on CD or record that you may as well buy them all.
Assemblage has all the early Japan I need or want, though I have multiple versions of the first 2 albums. The most interesting thing on them is the instrumental The Tenant which gives a hint into their new direction but if i were new to Japan I wouldn't bother with Adolescent Sex or Obscure Alternatives, treat with caution or curios at best.
I was into Japan around the time of the Visions of China single release and the rerelease of Quiet Life single. I was about 11-12. When I heard the first two albums it blew my mind! In a good way.
I think it's a matter of personal taste and agree that it isn't to everybody's. That said, there are a lot of Japan fans out there that like the earlier stuff, plenty that like the later stuff and a fair few that like it all. Unfortunately billions of people that don't give a damn!
Quiet Life Super Deluxe Edition Release date: 1/22/2021 Description: That Japan’s breakthrough record Quiet Life was released in both 1979 and 1980 is uniquely fitting for a band who were about to step out of the glam rock, post punk shadows of the late 70s and deliver an as yet genre-less record that would come to define the '80s. Quiet Life was the third, final and most successful release on the Hansa Records label. A forerunner for the alternative/new wave sound of the new decade, the album would become one of the great classic British albums. The record is now the subject of a major new reissue featuring a brand new half-speed remaster of the original album, alt mixes, b-sides, singles, rarities and live material – including the sought after ‘lost’ Live at Budokan show from March 1980 previously only available as the 4 track EP ‘Live in Japan’. The release features newly restored original album artwork, exclusive new liner notes with foreword by original producer, John Punter, rare and unseen photography and memorabilia. Tracklist: [LP: Original Album Remastered] 1. Quiet Life 2. Fall In Love With Me 3. Despair 4. In Vogue 5. Halloween 6. All Tomorrow's Parties 7. Alien 8. The Other Side Of Life [CD: Original Album Remastered] 1. Quiet Life 2. Fall In Love With Me 3. Despair 4. In Vogue 5. Halloween 6. All Tomorrow's Parties 7. Alien 8. The Other Side Of Life [CD2: Alt Mixes, B-Sides, Singles, Rarities And Live Material] 1. European Son (Steve Nye 7" Remix) 2. Life In Tokyo (Steve Nye 7" Special Remix) 3. Quiet Life (European 7" Single) 4. I Second That Emotion (7" Remix Single) 5. All Tomorrow's Parties (Steve Nye 7" Remix Version) 6. European Son (John Punter 12" Mix) 7. Life In Tokyo (12" Extended Version) 8. I Second That Emotion (Steve Nye 12" Remix Version) 9. All Tomorrow's Parties (12" Version) 10. European Son (Extended Remix) 11. Quiet Life (Japanese 7'' Version) 12. A Foreign Place 13. All Tomorrow's Parties 14. Life In Tokyo (Theme) (Giorgio Moroder Version) 15. Deviation (Live In Tokyo) 16. Obscure Alternatives (Live In Tokyo) 17. In Vogue (Live In Tokyo) 18. Sometimes I Feel So Low (Live In Tokyo) [CD4: Live At The Budokan 27/03/1980] 1. Intro 2. Alien 3. ...Rhodesia 4. Quiet Life 5. Fall In Love With Me 6. Deviation 7. All Tomorrow's Parties 8. Obscure Alternatives 9. In Vogue 10. Life In Tokyo 11. Halloween 12. Sometimes I Feel So Low 13. Communist China 14. Adolescent Sex 15. I Second That Emotion 16. Automatic Gun
What a confusing press release/article. Is it one boxset with one LP and 4 CDs or two separate releases? I assume where it says CD2 it's actually CD2 and CD3 i.e. two CDs of remixes. If not, what's the content of CD3?
These are apparently order links from Amazon, although they aren’t live yet. They hype sticker on the front says a 24 page ‘book’ so I hope for a hardback. 1LP/3CD Super Deluxe Edition US - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NYFRR5X/?tag=imwan-20 CA - Available for pre-order soon:https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08NYFRR5X/?tag=imwanca-20 UK - Available for pre-order soon:https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08NYFRR5X/?tag=imwan-21 1CD Standard Edition US - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NYGCL4M/?tag=imwan-20 CA - Available for pre-order soon:https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08NYGCL4M/?tag=imwanca-20 UK - Available for pre-order soon:https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08NYGCL4M/?tag=imwan-21
The track listing is nicely comprehensive. And the full Budokan gig is a great surprise. It looks like 3 (or 4) CDs and the LP in one set. Which will likely be silly money and as I don’t have a turntable I have no interest in the vinyl. (And yes I know that’s an offence punishable by death round these parts ...) Why can’t they simply issue the cd set on its own? And the vinyl on its own? Unless I’ve misunderstood, as it stands it looks more like a money making exercise than a musical one.
