QUIET LIFE

Japan´s third album Quiet Life were the third album from Japan in two years. The band has been through as massive development in sound in that short time and Quiet Life is a much more keyboard dominated album than Adolescent Sex and Obscure Alterneatives. In the same time the music has become a bit darker on Quiet Life than it was on the previous albums which is mainly due to the fact that David Sylvian sings in a much deeper register.

The music still sits between the soft sounds of the seventies and the more modern edgy sounds of the eighties, but this is a very eighties sounding album IMO. The darker edge in the music is examplified by songs like Despair, Quiet Life and Fall in Love with Me while there is also a little light in a song like All Tomorrow's Parties. A band like Talk Talk has surely listened to Japan and I would recommend fans of Talk Talk to take a listen to Quiet Life. The music isn´t very progressive but rather pop/ rock with innovative ideas.

The musicianship is very good on Quiet Life and as usual Mick Karn stands out with his brilliant bass playing. That man is on fire I tell you. Richard Barbieri ( Porcupine Tree) is very dominant here as the music is very keyboard orientated. Richard Barbieri. David Sylvian is of course the center of focus though with his emotional vocals. He is a much better and more diverse singer on Quiet Life than on previous releases.

The production is very good. It´s a pleasant sound which suits the music perfectly. Very polished and well produced.

This is a good album from Japan allthough it hasn´t got much to do with progressive rock IMO. With their continued development in style and sound Japan is well on their way into the eighties. People into early eighties new wave should find something to like about this album. I´ll rate it 3 stars as I find it if not exciting at least good.