RAIN TREE CROW

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Japan reformed for this one off collaboration of stunningly beautiful tunes created from studio improvisations, full of slow, groove inflected pieces with sensual vocals by David Sylvian, a plethora of percussive instruments by Steve Jansen, synth ambience courtesy of Richard Barbieri and the slippery slide fretless bass playing of Mick Karn. A concoction reminiscent of Sylvian's solo music, but with more experimentation and mood.

Sylvian's voice is in the "love it, or hate it" category. Personally, I find his voice soothing, yet dreamy and seductive. This is music to get laid to. Subtle and suggestive. Songs of love lost and dying, pain and ache. No new territory, just music done well. Karn and Sylvian also add a bit of multi-instrumental flavor with sax, clarinet, harmonium and other devices. A unique mix.

Stand out tracks include the opener "Big Wheels in Shanty Town" with it's swirling percussive mix and African backing vocals and pulse bass. Hypnotic. "Blackcrow Hits Show Shine City" with Bill Nelson (Be-Bop Deluxe) playing a wonderful bluesy solo. "Blackwater" is a radio-friendly tune that is achingly plaintive and emotive.

Porcupine Tree fans may be interested to hear pre-PT music from Richard Barbieri, as well as aspiring bass players who should check out fretless master, Mick Karn and those who enjoy more ambient fare would find plenty to muse over with Rain Tree Crow.

Made BY Japan

Multi-talented David Sylvian leads this apparently one time only project, in which he is reunited with former band mates from JAPAN. The album comes across as primarily a Sylvian solo project, the sound often being sparse. At times there are suggestions of jazz/fusion on other occasions Jeff Buckley comes to mind, perhaps even a bit of the mellower end of Dire Straits.

The opening track, "Big wheels in shanty town" is slightly misleading, as Sylvan is less to the fore than on the remainder of the album. "Pocketful of change" is one of the more accessible tracks, with hints of Nick Cave, and Porcupine Tree (who would later gain Richard Barbieri). "Blackwater" would have made (and may have been) a good single, it is not pop as such, but certainly has more instant appeal than most of the tracks.

I found little true prog here, but the music is undoubtedly atmospheric. Sylvian has always been an acquired taste, and while this album is not simply another JAPAN release, it is still demanding and can be "difficult".

Many will get great pleasure from "Rain tree crow", many others will find it all rather dull.

I'm writing this review just as a way to pass on something I read at the time this came out. I believe it was in Tower Records' magazine Pulse!, and it reported that David Sylvian had gone back in the studio after the album was supposedly finished, and drastically altered the final mix. He apparently took the other Japan members' parts, deleting or heavily processing them, without their knowledge. According to the article, which was very short, the other three were very upset, and no longer wanted to have anything to do with Sylvian. Of course, that was over 10 years ago, so things may have changed. When I listen to "New Moon at Red Deer Wallow", it seems obvious that the track was radically altered. As it happens, I really love that track, and played it for my fellow Electroacoustic Music composers a few years ago. Of course, XTC did something similar in the early 80's with their dub experiments. Other songs on the album were left alone, apparently. Anyway, it's as good as a lot of Sylvian's solo work, but you probably already know that.

This album just does not click for me, Maybe there was a lot of angst between David Sylvian and the other members at the time as people have said. It falls way short of what Japan had to offer and David Sylvian's classics like Brilliant Trees.' New Moon at Red Deer Wallow' and ' Big Wheels in Shanty Town' are the best of a pretty poor lot.

This is stunningly beautiful album from the band once known as JAPAN, although not much different in style from David Sylvian's solo works. Slow-paced, ambient and sometimes jazz instrumentation may sound monotonous or too softy to the uninitiated, but it's pretty much how I would describe a sort of art/experimental rock music. Perhaps not a groundbreaking release, post-rock lovers may wish to check it out. If you like Sylvian's style, you have to have this item in you collection. But, further to that, I would like to recommend RTC even to general prog audience.

My first introduction to Sylvian's music, RAIN TREE CROW were recommended to me as something related to late TALK TALK. Unfortunately, they're nothing close, but fortunately they're quite enjoyable on their own. Take 80s CRIMSON, through away cranky Fripp solos (at least, it's imaginary possible!) and install nice low male vocals (David himself). Mix of ambient, proto-post-rock, experimental electronica and singer-songwriter attitude makes RAIN TREE CROW accessible but still progressive. Not that much essential in my book, but if you're fan of above-mentioned stuff, you may hunt for this album (it's really quite rare, as much as I know). Recommended.

File under Japan. Or wait no, don't file it there at all!

In the 10 years that separate this album from Tin Drum, each of the Japan members had been involved in solo careers and the fields of music they engaged in during those years made entirely different musicians from them. So when they teamed up again to create this record something entirely new emerged from it. No wonder they decided not to go under the Japan banner any more.

Gone is everything that linked Japan to the art-rock and new wave of the early 80's. Sylvian's vocals have dropped another octave and the music has become much more atmospheric, jazzy, free and exploratory. This album contains a kind of musical soundscapes, with a slowly creeping intensity that gets under your skin right when you expected to doze off. There still are some Japan traits, especially the Cantonese influences that pop up in tracks like New Moon and Blackcrow still remind us of Tin Drum. But the grown musical confidence of the band makes these pieces work better for me then on the somewhat contrived Tin Drum album.

After a very strong start, the quality sinks in a bit after track 8 and it doesn't fully recover again. The material becomes more experimental and almost entirely instrumental, as if Sylvian had already turned his back on his colleagues again. On tracks 10,11 and 12, his soulful breathy croon is surely missed.

File under latter day Talk Talk, sung by Sylvian, and played by Japan. Beautiful piece of work.