Adolescent Sex

Japan | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 4, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Blue Plate Caroline
• ASIN: B000000HQP
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #460,018 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Transmission

2. The Unconventional

3. Wish You Were Black

4. Performance

5. Lovers on Main Street

6. Don't Rain on My Parade

7. Suburban Love

8. Adolescent Sex

9. Communist China

10. Television

Editorial Reviews

Digitally remastered and enhanced jewelcased reissue of this 1978 album by David Sylvian and the gang featuring new liner notes, rare artwork, photos and four enhanced bonus videos: 'Don't Rain On My Parade', 'Communist China', 'Adolescent Sex' and 'Adolescent Sex' (Alternate).Arista. 2006. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Seamy Side of Life, August 7, 2001

By 

August Sanders "ladyradiator" (Ann Arbor, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adolescent Sex (Audio CD)

Most people will land on this album by way of researching David Sylvian, Japan, et al. If you are interested in that vein, this is probably not your wisest first shot. If however, you have a craving for long-neglected, trashy, mascara-drippin' rock (guitars that cross Sly Stone with Sticky Fingers-era Stones, sneering heroin vocals, androgyny and alienation) you won't find a better album. This is L.A. gutter rock at its finest.

The contradiction (for this IS the band Japan and the singer IS David Sylvian) is that Japan started out as a bunch of 15-year old south London boys fixated on Bowie, T-Rex and Motown. They recorded two "hard rock" albums (this and "Obscure Alternatives") before discovering Roxy Music and their true, sublime calling with "Quiet Life." They disowned those first two albums as the shady manipulation of producers and managers, but the fact is that "Adolescent Sex" in particular is greasy, sleazy and brimming with furious talent. The album bombed, despite enormous record company hype. It was released just as punk was peaking and nobody had time for this kind of loud, tacky glamour anymore. Nobody namechecks the album, but you can hear it in LA Guns, GunsNRoses, Suede, and others.

The best tracks on the album (the wicked blaxploitation funk of "The Unconventional", the hammy soul of "Wish You Were Black" and the georgous synthesizers on "Television" and "Suburban Love") can make you wish that the 70s never ended, that life should be one long cocaine-fueled sex party. The arrangements are watertight, the playing verges on brilliant, and the whole collection is encased in a humid, throroughly-analog mix. It is a true guilty pleasure for those of us who think we've outgrown such things.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some people should not be remastering audio......, June 19, 2007

By 

Franzi From Mulberry's - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adolescent Sex (Dig) (Audio CD)

While of course this is an increadible album by an increadible group that where and still are ahead of thier time, this is one of those "remastered"
CD's that you wish to God that someone else would have done the job!! It sounds to me like the remastering tech/eng has a case of high frequency burn out as the highs (esp in the area of 4 to 8 khz) are insanely boosted, the stereo image is poor and the much too heavy compression is just plain old WRONG! The drums are non existant. This is one of those Remasters where you would be better off to get either the 1980's CD release or get the CD called "The Other Side of Japan" as it has most of the best tracks from this album. Plus you should get the CD titled Assemblage- that version of the title track Adolescent Sex is the much better version anyways. I only hope that the remastering of Quiet Life and Gentlemen Take Polaroids are much better.....

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Forget the Future, June 8, 2004

By 

Professor Booty (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adolescent Sex (Audio CD)

i worked my way chronologically backwards through the japan catalog in high school and each earlier album i reached i liked better. tin drum is about as fun as a dental cleaning, but adolescent sex rocks. it is what it's called. sexy, adolescent, sleazy and fun. a little glam, a little disco and a healthy dose of teenage attitude. still one of my fave guilty pleasures.