Oil on Canvas [Live]

Japan | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 24, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Blue Plate Caroline
• ASIN: B000000I01
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #483,882 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Oil on Canvas

2. Sons of Pioneers

3. Gentlemen Take Polaroids

4. Swing

5. Cantonese Boy

6. Visions of China

7. Ghosts

8. Voices Raised in Welcome, Hands Held in Prayer

9. Nightporter

10. Still Life in Mobile Homes

11. Methods of Dance

12. Quiet Life

13. The Art of Parties

14. Canton

15. Temple of Dawn

Editorial Reviews

Limited edition remastered Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. EMI. 2008. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars is it live or is it..., August 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Oil on Canvas (Audio CD)

on account of those cheekbones, david sylvian was allegedly offered the job of being in the maxwell tape ads (you might remember if you're of a certain age, a guy on a couch being blown away by the speakers)...unfortunately no live album he's done comes close to the impact the image conveys. sylvian was a perfectionist not a performer, and if you ever caught japan live you couldn't help noticing how the other guys seemed to be having a blast while he seemed almost disdainful. The last tour in particular (from which this album was compiled) was a fairly harrowing episode during which the band essentially split. it's a pity you don't hear this tension in the album but take it for what it is, which is an almost greatest hits thing with a few instrumental nuggets thrown in. the title track ups sylvian's satie-fixation up one notch, voices raised..is a slice of ethno-percussion mixed with the chipmunks, and temple of dawn is what it sounds like, an eno composition by someone else. songwise, the one bum note is a refashioned "quiet life" which is given an excruciating, pimple-proud guitar solo. nightporter was apparently re-recorded in the studio and replaces some of the paris-at-dawn polish with synths, which generally reduces the grandeur of the song. otherwise the songs are carbon copies of the album tracks, with some extra reverb and sometimes backbeat thrown in. It would probably have made a better album if they'd left off the slower, instrumental numbers in favor of other live favorites at the time; in other words it would be nice to see Virgin raid the vaults for a full setlist sometime.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The soundtrack of my childhood!, September 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Oil on Canvas (Audio CD)

I discovered this band when I was a freshman in high school (1984) and couldn't get enough of thier unusual, often meloncholy, haunting sound. David Sylvian's voice became among my favorites. I hadn't listened to this album in years and dug out my old LPs. With the first note I realized not only was this the soundtrack of my childhood, but it didn't sound dated. Everything they did was with such vision and precision that it stands today as some of the most innovative, infectious music you will ever hear. I had to order CDs of all of my favorite Japan albums that night. This is my favorite- a terrific compilation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than other reviews may make it sound., August 5, 2003

By 

CapHappy (Can I have another bite of your sandwich?) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Oil on Canvas (Audio CD)

This was the first Japan Album I had ever heard and I still think it is possibly their best (second is Exorcising Ghosts). This band who was effectively robbed of success by Duran Duran, Started as a semi punk mostly New Romantic rock band transformed into one of the great unknown bands of the 1980's. This album is a heavily processed live album that covers most of their better known songs. If you are a David Sylvian fan, you will find a lot of the melodies and progressions that led him towards Gone to Earth (his best album in my opinion). Japan as a group and the influence they put into the English music scene helped to form a lot of the what came out of 4AD records in the later 80's. I can easily imagine members of the Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance grooving to this and deciding to form bands.
While their instrumental pieces borrow heavily from Eno and the Pre-New Age Electronic movement that came before them.
Long story short; if you like Eno and you like Duran Duran (well maybe like some of their stuff but not their hits), you will love Japan. I recommend this as a great starter album for the Japan newbie as well as a fantastic greatest hits album for the Japan Groupie.