Japan
Adolescent Sex

THE REVIEW

I have a fondness for this LP. It was the first record I ever purchased by mail order from a well-known (once upon a time) store in Bologna.

I heard the title track Adolescent Sex for the first time one evening at a disco in the summer of '79 or '80, if I recall correctly. Incredibly enough, it's quite a dance song; I went to the DJ to make the famous "request" to hear it again and, even though I was still very young, I "stayed up late" to listen to it again. At 13/14 years old, I didn’t understand the rhythms of Japan; I later dusted off the record and greatly re-evaluated it.

One of the peculiarities of this album is undoubtedly the shrill voice of David Sylvian, which reaches its peak in the magnificent closing track Television; the vocals merge with the keyboards of Richard Barbieri and the riffs of Rob Dean and Sylvian himself, the undisputed leader of the band and a great exponent of the new wave movement.

A curious and, all in all, not unpleasant imperfection I found is in the melodies that are a bit too similar in the majority of the songs. In short, even after years, I find it difficult, despite repeated listens, to recognize the titles of beautiful tracks like Performance, Transmission, The Unconventional, and Suburban Love.

Returning to the song Adolescent Sex, I find it really fun and never predictable, with a great use of "dreamy" keyboards that have set a trend in the years to come, and really overwhelming "raspy" vocals.

The Japan represent a "mythical" band that deserved more success and a longer career, even though Sylvian as a solo artist created great works; the late bassist Mick Karn became a session musician and also released a solo album that was not very successful (I think I'm one of the few to have that vinyl); Jensen (Sylvian's brother) and Barbieri with the Dolphin Brothers released an amazing album... but that is another story.

An excellent debut album, no doubt about it.