J is for…Japan! ‘Assemblage’

‘Assemblage’ is the first compilation album by the underrated Japan – Five of the ten recordings had never appeared on LP and it remains the only retrospective released by Hansa where band members were consulted regarding the content. Released in September 1981, the album captures the two phases of the band from 1977 to 1980 – Their earlier, grittier, glam sound and subsequent smoother, more dance-based music. Comparisons with Roxy Music spring to mind…

Chris Roberts, music journalist and film critic, describes ‘…their early, much-maligned ‘learning experience’as glam-metal-funk rockers straight outta South London. As the Eighties dawned, so did a new career, fresh methods of dance and a peculiarly relaxed swing.” [2.]

An interview with Sylvian and Jansen in 1981 describes their formation in South London and their first recording contract:
Interviewer: “Now, when the group formed, it was four guys that got together initially at school – Is that correct?
David Sylvian/Steve Jansen: Yeah
Interviewer: “Those four guys, so we read, could not play music and/or had not appeared at this stage. Who’s idea was it to form a group?”
David Sylvian: “It was like a mutual decision, it was the only way we could work together as a group of people…We had a basic interest in music and that’s how it started. We just chose instruments for each other and worked from scratch.”
Interviewer: “Then, 1977 I think it was, when you got your first record contract so, you were very fresh at that time. How did you come across that contract – Did someone see you or?
David Sylvian: “We auditioned for nearly every record company in England and were turned down by every one at the time. It was a German label that sort of picked us up because they saw a video of ours at the time and they purely signed us up on the image.” [5.]

Japan  were:
David Sylvian – vocals, synthesizers. piano, electric guitar
Mick Karn – bass guitar, oboe, saxophone, recorder
Steve Jansen – drums, synthesizer, percussion
Richard Barbieri – synthesizers, sequencer, piano
Rob Dean – guitar, ebow

The fact that none of the band were musicians before they came up with the concept of Japan is probably not unique, given the punk ethic of ‘anyone can do it’ which was prevalent at the time. In any case, self-taught or otherwise, the level of musicianship reached by the players, individually and collectively, progressed to a high level during their career.  Signing to a German, rather than a UK label, is likely to have influenced the music and attitude. Just taking a look at the titles on ‘Assemblage’ evidences the band’s world view: China, Rhodesia, Berlin, Europe and Tokyo are all referenced and two of the songs are from the United States.

Sylvian’s real name is David Batt – He and his brother Steve, the band’s drummer, were fans of the New York Dolls, David taking his ‘stage name’ from Dolls’ guitarist Sylvain Sylvain and Steve allegedly adapting Doll’s singer David Johansen’s surname to Jansen. Their fascination with the New York band and the influence of the likes of Bowie, also explains their image (glam, androgynous) and attitude in their first musical phase. The choppy guitars and vocal inflections in the early music sound similar to other US bands like their contemporaries Television – Check out the choppy guitars and dissonant solo lines on ‘Love Is Infectious’ and ‘Sometimes I Feel So Low’ from ‘Obscure Alternatives’.

Side One
All tracks written by David Sylvian – music and lyrics
‘Adolescent Sex’ is the title song of their first LP, but this is a re-recorded (and, in my opinion, superior) version from spring 1978 and never featured previously on an album
‘Stateline’ was the 1978 B-side of single ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’ and was not included on the first album. It features some interesting intellectual lyrics from Sylvian, who in a 1981 interview stated that :  “…everything we do is based on images and imagery…I normally work from titles and the title of an album will normally come first and I’ll write the music around the titles.” [5.]

“Just you and me and a Marxist gun
Heaven knows you’ve got a lot to learn
Fall in love or take your time
Don’t you know
You’ve gotta take your turn
Son, your ambition’s way too high
Once you’re gone misquoted apathy
You pacify your broken heart
So much better than your you’ll ever be

 I’m heading for a state line
I’m workin’ on love
I’m workin’ on you”

Rough new-wave guitar riffs and snarling vocals from Sylvian power ‘Communist China’, the third track on Side Two of the 1978 ‘Adolescent Sex’ album.
These first three tracks were all recorded at Audio International studios in London.
The slow reggae of ‘…Rhodesia’ and bleak, eerie ‘Suburban Berlin’ are both taken from the second album ‘Obscure Alternatives’, recorded at Morgan Studios in London and released in 1979.

Chris Roberts paints the picture of Japan’s second phase:
‘Life In Tokyo’, recorded with Giorgio Moroder, was avant-disco; 1980’s ‘Quiet Life’ album saw Sylvian embracing a more suave, laconic vocal delivery. Mick Karn’s bass slithered and shone seductively across Richard Barbieri’s warm keyboard washes and Steve Jansen’s inventive, probing rhythms. The loping, implicit funk was – magically – both pristine and erect, singing in the rain, arch pop songs for Papa Ooh Mao-Mao. But from here on, Japan’s music ached and throbbed with regret, yearning, nostalgia for an imagined future. Sparse but telling in texture and imagery. It was soft-spoken but carried a big thunderclap, its heart as cool as a lightning stab. It flowed with what Keats once called ‘huge cloudy symbols of a high romance.’

Side Two
Introducing the second phase of the band’s musical story, ‘Life In Tokyo‘ was written by David Sylvian and electronic disco guru Giorgio Moroder, with lyrical commentary on the Japanese capital by Sylvian:

“Somewhere there’s a sound of distant living
Welcome in high society
It seems so artificial
Why should I care?

Oh ho ho life can be cruel
Life in Tokyo
Oh ho ho, life can be cruel
Life in Tokyo”

A single A-side released in 1979, recorded at Rusk Sound Studios, Los Angeles, it had never featured previously on an album.

‘European Son’ was the B-side of the ‘Life In Tokyo’ single, recorded at DJM Studios in London and this was the song’s debut on an album.

‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’ was written by Lou Reed and originally performed by The Velvet Underground on their debut album ‘The Velvet Underground and Nico’ aka ‘The Banana album’. This excellent, sultry, cover was recorded at DJM Studios and is taken from the ‘Quiet Life’ album. released in 1979.

Another cool, dance-oriented single, ‘Quiet Life’ was recorded at Air Studios, London, in 1979 and is the title track from the ‘Quiet Life’ album.
Written by Smokey Robinson and Al Cleveland and originally a single by Smoke Robinson & The Miracles in 1967 on the Tamla/Motown label, this smooth cover of ‘I Second That Emotion’ recorded at Air Studios 1980 had been released as a single but had never featured previously on an album. It could be considered a somewhat bizarre cover choice for an art-rock band like Japan, but they stamp their own sound on it.

“…there is a steely certainty about Japan which freezes the jibes of the fashionable world and insists upon attention. ‘Ignore us if you like,’ the stares seem to say, ‘but you will be missing something.’…
…it has taken a long time, partly because the band’s music is totally bafflingly at odds with the visual image and partly because it reveals its extraordinary qualities only after repeated hearings. It is serious music, not solemn or self-important, but serious in the sense that rigour and craftsmanship and commitment have gone into its creation. It doesn’t sound like anyone else; it is unique’ it is Japan’s music…”
Dave Gelly – the Observer Music Critic. (from the sleeve of the vinyl LP)

In a 1981 interview with Sylvian and Jansen, the interviewer picks up on the band’s success in the country that they are named after:
Interviewer: It’s really strange that you call yourselves Japan and that is probably the most successful country that you appear in, correct?
David Sylvian/Steve Jansen: “Yeah, that’s true.”
Interviewer: “Do you think that came from the name, the look of the band, the music…Why do you think you became so successful there?”
David Sylvian: “All those reasons you just said – The name, the look of the band and, eventually, the music, but it’s the music that sustains the success over there.”
Interviewer: “What sort of audiences would you play to in Japan?”
David Sylvian: “It used to be a very teen-oriented audience but the it’s grown and the audience is getting more mixed every time we go over there, and getting much older now.”
[5.]

This is an album that I played a lot ‘back in the day’ and, as such, it reminds me of a particular time. The music is arty, ethereal and other-wordly at times, an uplifting escape from the ‘humdrum’. Friends and I used to pronounce the title as you would ‘fuselage’ or ‘collage’, with a French inflection – Whether that was the intention of Japan or not, it definitely suits the vibe. Part of the attraction of ‘Assemblage’ is how compact the album is – clocking in just under the forty-four minute mark. Later ‘remastered’ and ‘reissued’ digital versions included ‘bonus’ tracks which detract from the whole premise of the original package.

On the ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’ (1980) and ‘Tin Drum’ (1981) albums, the band further developed their sound and had a big hit with their song ‘Ghosts’, which reached the UK top 5. This period was represented by ‘Exorcising Ghosts’, a collection compiled with David Sylvian after the band split up in 1982.

“Success came too late for the band,” David Sylvian said. “We’d been together so long, trying to find our way in the world. Then, with greater pressure came friction. I was already drawn to melancholy pieces of music; my heart was calling me as a writer to strip things away, conceal myself less. With ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’ I was just beginning to get there. With Tin Drum, a door opened and I saw a path ahead which resonated…” [2.]

Japan reformed in 1989 as Rain Tree Crow to record the album also titled ‘Rain Tree Crow’ in 1991.

Chris Roberts penned a poetic look back on the band’s music:
“In black and white terms, Japan were trading peacock colours for kites and flames, blonde for blue, glamour for guile: the Eastern promise of their visions of China thrilled the veins of their own experimental mini-orchestra, their arch flecks of soul. Ahead of fashion, staunchly behind their beliefs, lonely in a crowd, they were a charmed, unlucky band. They preferred to leave the party, for art’s sake, in search of fresh fruit. “Outside, there’s a world waiting…” Their beautiful legacy breathes again here, still falling in love with lanterns, sunsets and otherness, still smouldering like evening fires, still living on the edge of its nerves, still somehow winning and deathless.” [2.]

‘Assemblage’ tracklisting:

Side One
Adolescent Sex
Stateline
Communist China
…Rhodesia
Suburban Berlin

Side Two

Life In Tokyo (David Sylvian/Giorgio Moroder)
European Son
All Tomorrow’s Parties (Lou Reed)
Quiet Life
I Second That Emotion (Smokey Robinson/Al Cleveland)

Music and lyrics for all tracks by David Sylvian unless otherwise noted

References and quotes:

1. ‘Assemblage’ vinyl LP
2. ‘The Very Best Of Japan’ CD
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assemblage_%28album%29
4. http://nightporter.co.uk/
5. Interview with David Sylvian and Steve Jansen 1981 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UUi3ogp164

Lyrics and music:
‘Assemblage’ vinyl LP

Photographs:
‘Assemblage’ vinyl LP

I is for…Iron Maiden! ‘Iron Maiden’

Iron Maiden are a household name in heavy metal circles worldwide but it wasn’t always so. They were born at a time when punk and new wave crashed on to the UK music scene, a reaction to what was seen by some as a stale, over-indulgent ‘old guard’, particularly the likes of ‘progressive rock’ dominated by bands like Genesis, Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Successful ‘heavy rock’ or ‘heavy metal’ bands like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath were struggling at this point –  Purple split in 1976 after several line-up changes and singer Ozzy Osbourne left Black Sabbath in 1979. Australians AC/DC were going from strength to strength but singer Bon Scott died suddenly in London in 1980, forcing the band to reinvent themselves. John Bonham, Led Zeppelin’s powerhouse drummer, also died unexpectedly in 1980. Judas Priest, fronted by flamboyant singer Rob Halford, were riding high on their high-octane brand of metal and Lemmy Kilminster’s Motörhead went a long way to reinventing the genre, outside of the so called ‘New Wave Of British Heavy Metal’ movement which Maiden were considered to be a part of.

Geoff Barton, rock journalist and former editor of ‘Sounds’ penned these notes about these times in Iron Maiden’s 1980 tour programme. Barton made a career out of the heavy metal scene, going on to found the successful ‘Kerrang!’ magazine:

“Up until 1980, HM (Heavy Metal) had always been ‘underground’. Even in the early Seventies, when bands like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath emerged long-haired, blinking and Morlock-like from the depths to taste singles chart success, it was very much a momentary aberration, an impolite hiccup between courses of standard TOTP (Top Of The Pops) fare. The groups were soon banished back down below the surface of the earth where they belonged and your average hitpick punter considered them missing, presumed dead, gave thanks and prayed to God that they would never return.

But they reckoned without the (ahem) New Wave of British heavy metal, a rip-roaring revitalisation that acted as a mercy-killer to the malingering punk movement, made new musik a non-event, put worried looks on the faces of the 2 Tone tribe and generally made the whole of the nation fasten seat belts and prepare for an impending head-on, hard rock collision. Clunk-click-ker-anng! You could say.

Godawful NWOBHM phrase back in May 1979, probably a good year ago by the time you read this. It was coined to encompass a double page spread of a gig at London’s Music Machine, a gig involving three bands: Angel Witch, Iron Maiden and Samson.

Time moves so fast. Although, like I say, only having taken place a trifling 12 months ago, this bill stuck out of the capital’s concert listings like Arthur Mullard at a meeting of Mensa and was definitely an oddity.

Why? Because it was an all, 100 per cent, genuine, authentic, true-bred heavy metal presentation, that’s why, and in the climate of the time it seemed an outlandish invention, a power package conceived by a madman, an idea doomed to failure. Big-time promoters murmured, “What does the Music Machine think its playing at? HM is dead. Everyone in the business knows that.” And laughed up their sleeves.

But that was the trouble. The ‘business’ knew that metal was mortified; but somewhere along the line it’d been forgotten to mention this to the ‘kids’.

An so it was that the ‘Witch, the Maiden and Thunderstick and co. played to a respectable crowd, someone said ‘If you want blood (and dry ice and flashbombs and confetti) you got it’ and suddenly music was off on a dynamic (almost) new heavy duty direction.”

When I was at school in Aberdeen, Scotland, in the late seventies and early eighties, I recall one of the other pupils asking me “Are ye a punk or a mod or fit?” At the time, you had to be seen to identify with one particular tribe, even if that wasn’t how you saw things. Was it okay to like The Clash, The Pistols, The Specials, The Selecter, The Jam, Simple Minds and Ultravox, as well as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin? (i.e. be a punk, a mod, a new romantic and a rocker) Well, no, it wasn’t really! Not to my peers in any case…I definitely identified more with the rock canon though and was enthused when NWOBHM, the likes of Motörhead and albums like ‘Scream Dream’ by Ted Nugent appeared, breathing new life into the whole music scene…

Bassist Steve Harris allegedly formed the original Iron Maiden on Christmas Day 1975, apparently named after the 1939 film ‘The Man In The Iron Mask’, not the legendary medieval torture and execution device. The band spent the next couple of years going through several line-up changes before coming across vocalist Paul Di’Anno in 1978, going on to record a demo which became ‘The Soundhouse Tapes’, officially released in November 1979, but championed by DJ Neal Kay, who back then ran a club called ‘Bandwagon Heavy Metal Soundhouse’ in London. Iron Maiden first appeared on an LP when versions of two of their tracks, ‘Sanctuary’ and ‘Wrathchild’, appeared on the laughably-titled ‘Metal For Muthas’ album, released in February 1980. I remember when this came out, fellow music fans pronounced the title ‘Moothas’, as if it was some mystical Tolkienesque land!

Iron Maiden researching the roots of their name in London Dungeon, 1980

Geoff Barton, in his notes on the 1980 tour programme, takes up the tale of the band paying their dues and their determination to make it, flying in the face of fashion:

“…the Maiden found it difficult to gig in a Capital where the in-the-know opinion was that ‘New Wave is the only thing that’s happening, man.’ Resisting the temptation to chop the locks and strike for spikey top success, the band eventually found a pocket of resistance close to home, at the Ruskin Arms East End metal rendezvous, and weathered the storm with ultra-frequent gigs at the venue. In December 1978 it was judged to be safe enough to trek down to Cambridge and record a demo at Spaceward Studios. The group laid down three songs, ‘Prowler’, ‘Invasion’ and ‘Iron Maiden’ itself and suddenly…KA-BLANNING! The nation exploded with renewed m*t*l m*y**m fervour. The bandwagon picked up on the tracks, the Sounds HM chart made its debut and people were suddenly frothing at the mouth and begging for more. Much more…And although their ‘Running Free’ 45 was snapped at the heels of the singles chart, although valuable nationwide exposure was gained with ‘Metal For Muthas’ and (especially) Judas Priest date schedules, who could possibly have foreseen their debut LP crashing in at number four in the listings as it did a few weeks back?….I was awestruck, staggered, delighted…never in my wildest dreams did I consider that the New Wave of British heavy metal, as epitomised by Iron Maiden, would grow from the grassroots into such a towering redwood of a movement, dwarfing any other half-assed and business-conceived trends with its multi-storey magnificence.”

‘Prowler’ opens the album, with its seedy lyrics which appear to be about a ‘flasher’! The intro is great, two guitar parts, one-soaked in wah-wah, backed up by intermittent drum and bass. The musical ideas are what would become Maiden trademarks – twin-guitar harmony parts, complex sections within one song, varying tempos and lead guitar played over galloping rhythm work. Di’Anno’s vocals suit the mood, full of attitude and energy, enhanced by backing vocals by Harris and Stratton. On the later CD issue, ‘Sanctuary’ is next, its repetitive riff and catchy refrain driving the memorable song about a fugitive on the run. ‘Remember Tomorrow’ introduces a welcome change in tempo, a dark atmospheric ballad. “I shall return, from out of the…”, the word ‘fire’ becoming a plaintive wail over the heavier part which takes the song to its close. The lyrics to debut single, the sing-along ‘Running Free’ refer to a North-American lifestyle, rather than the band’s roots in the East End of London, but Di’Anno has since said that the spirit of the song is autobiographical, despite the dearth of pickup trucks and L.A. jails in England’s capital!

“Just sixteen, a pickup truck, out of money, out of luck.
I’ve got nowhere to call my own, hit the gas, and here I go.

 I’m running free yeah, I’m running free.
I’m running free yeah, Oh I’m running free.

Spent the night in an L. A. jail, and listened to the sirens wail.
They ain’t got a thing on me, I’m running wild, I’m running free.”

The majestic ‘Phantom Of The Opera’ closes Side One of the vinyl record, with its vocal parts following the challenging guitar riffs and complex structure, a blueprint for future Maiden classics like ‘The Trooper’ and ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’.

‘Side Two’ starts with guitar-driven syncopatic instrumental ‘Transylvania’. Ballad ‘Strange World’ takes the pace down again, Di’Anno interpreting Harris’ spaced out lyrics about a fantasy world over the atmospheric musical backing – Who knows what ‘plasma wine’ is or how ‘stalks of light grow from the ground’?! ‘Charlotte The Harlot’ is the only song solely attributed to guitarist Dave Murray and is, in my opinion, the weakest on the record, the lyrics pretty cheesy and the chorus quite irritating! Fortunately, the taste of that is washed away by album closer, the band’s signature song, the eponymously-titled ‘Iron Maiden’:

“Won’t you come into my room, I wanna show you all my wares.
I just want to see your blood, I just want to stand and stare.
See the blood begin to flow as it falls upon the floor.
Iron Maiden can’t be fought, Iron Maiden can’t be sought.

Oh Well, wherever, wherever you are,
Iron Maiden’s gonna get you, no matter how far.
See the blood flow watching it shed up above my head.
Iron Maiden wants you for dead.”

Steve Harris’ lyrics perhaps inspired by ‘The Man In The Iron Mask’ and/or the medieval torture/execution device?

The album cover features band mascot ‘Eddie’, also known as ‘Eddie The Head’, artwork developed by British artist Derek Riggs. ‘Eddie’ was originally a papier-mâché head which was used in the live backdrop but has since appeared in all their concerts as a real person in costume. ‘Eddie’ went on to appear in cover art produced by Riggs for a number of the band’s albums.

I was fortunate to see this incarnation of Iron Maiden twice, supporting metal gods Judas Priest at the Capitol, Aberdeen on 19^th March 1980 and headlining at The Music Hall in Aberdeen on 19^th May 1980, supported by Praying Mantis and DJ Neal Kay ‘H.M. Soundhouse’. The whole of the first album was showcased at the Music Hall gig, along with the excellent ‘Wrathchild’ and material from the forthcoming ‘Killers’ album – ‘Another Life’, ‘Killers’ and ‘Drifter’.

If you mention Iron Maiden, I would guess most people would think of the band fronted by Bruce Dickinson with his operatic singing style, but it was Paul Di’Anno who was the vocalist on their first recordings and at the time when they ‘set out their stall’ musically – on ‘The Soundhouse Tapes’, ‘Iron Maiden’ and second album ‘Killers’. Unfortunately, Di’Anno became a heavy user of cocaine and was dismissed from the band in 1981, after a world tour and much self-destructive behaviour.

Dickinson replaced Di’Anno and Iron Maiden went on to achieve worldwide success, having recorded sixteen studio albums to date. Hit songs like ‘The Number Of The Beast’, ‘Run To The Hills’, ‘Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter’ and ‘The Trooper’ are now classics in the metal canon. Drummer Clive Burr and guitarist Dennis Stratton, who both played on the first album, were replaced by Nicko McBrain (in 1982) and Adrian Smith (in 1980) respectively. For a time, During the 90s, Bruce Dickinson left to pursue a solo career and Wolfsbane singer Blaze Bayley fronted the band, Dickinson rejoining in 1999. After forty years in the business, Iron Maiden continue to tour.

‘Iron Maiden’ – band personnel:

Steve Harris – bass and vocals
Dave Murray – guitar
Paul Di’Anno – lead vocals
Clive Burr – drums
Dennis Stratton – guitar and vocals

Iron Maiden’ tracklisting:

1. Prowler (Harris)
2. Sanctuary (Harris/Murray/Di’Anno)
3. Remember Tomorrow (Harris/Di’Anno)
4. Running Free (Harris/Di’Anno)
5. Phantom Of The Opera (Harris)
6. Transylvania (Harris)
7. Strange World (Harris)
8. Charlotte The Harlot (Murray)
9. Iron Maiden (Harris)

Setlist, Capitol Theatre, Aberdeen, 18^th March 1980 (supporting Judas Priest):
Sanctuary
Wrathchild
Prowler
Remember Tomorrow
Running Free
Transylvania
Phantom of the Opera
Iron Maiden

Encore:
Drifter

Setlist, The Music Hall, Aberdeen, 19^th May 1980:
Sanctuary
Wrathchild
Prowler
Remember Tomorrow
Killers
Running Free
Another Life
Drum Solo (Clive Burr)
Transylvania
Strange World
Charlotte the Harlot
Phantom of the Opera
Iron Maiden

Encore:
Drifter

References and quotes:
1. ‘Iron Maiden’ CD
2. Iron Maiden tour programme 1980
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Maiden_(album)
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Maiden

Lyrics and music:
‘Iron Maiden’ CD

Photographs:
‘Iron Maiden’ CD
‘Best Of The Beast’ CD
Iron Maiden tour programme 1980
Iron Maiden concert ticket 1980