Quiet Life [Enhanced, Extra tracks, Original recording remastered, Import]

Japan | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 25, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Extra tracks, Original recording remastered, Import
• Label: Sony Bmg Europe
• ASIN: B000G1SZM8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,213 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Quiet Life

2. Fall In Love With Me

3. Despair

4. In Vogue

5. Halloween

6. All Tomorrow’S Parties

7. Alien

8. Other Side Of Life

9. All Tomorrow’S Parties (12" Version) (1983 Remix) (Bonus Track)

10. All Tomorrow’S Parties (7" Version) (Bonus Track)

11. Foreign Place (B-Side Of Quiet Life) (Bonus Track)

12. Quiet Life (7" Version) (Bonus Track)

13. Quiet Life (Video)

Editorial Reviews

Limited edition First 1000 copies are pressed on red vinyl --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smooth New-Romantic with loads of atmosphere, January 15, 2007

By 

Mark A. Carter (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quiet Life (Audio CD)

In 1980 at the height of the New Wave explosion Japan managed to secure themselves a unique foothold on the music scene. After the very interesting Metallic Reggae stylings of `Obscure Alternatives' they came out with this all ultra-smooth outing. With the beautifully played Synths of `Richard Barbieri' who acknowledged his Eno-influences and the fabulously assured & powerful bass playing of `Mick Carn', the music beyond what most bands were able to accomplish in this genre. With big nods to Roxy Music, Brian Eno & David Bowie and the distinctive vocal stylings of David Sylvian they garnered themselves a big following in the U.K. although aside from `Ghosts' from their following album they never really hit the charts in a big way. This album has a very unique sound and was pretty advanced for the time - 1980. It's fabulously well produced and starts off with the super bouncy `Quiet Life' track which has great synth playing accompanied by the catchiest chorus line on the album. After this though the mood pretty much mellows out and everything is either mid-tempo (In Vogue) or slow (All Tomorrow's Parties). However this played to their strengths in creating atmospheric soundscapes. All in all a very unique album and a good reason why some albums need to be listened to as a whole rather than distilled into some of the numerous greatest hits packages `Japan' has out there right now which lose the feeling their individual albums had. For fans of New Wave/New-Romantic or just good Electronic Music from the early 80's.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Guilty for Life, March 1, 2005

By 

Diddly Rose - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quiet Life (Audio CD)

I won't pretend to be objective. I loved this album when it was released for four quid and I picked it out on a whim from the rack at my local record dump. It has everything a young, inhibited teen longing for big-city sophistication and a maybe just a hint of the disco life could want: pristine songs about alienation set to clean guitar riffs and rhythms that quietly echo a nice ride through Knightsbridge in a Bentley. Pretentious, in other words, a bit mysterious; worth a return journey. It even has a song in awful French! And a Velvet Underground cover. It snarls in a couple of places: Alien, Fall In Love With Me, Halloween..they sort of rock, but ultimately they are really well written, catchy pop songs that neither Roxy Music nor Bowie could muster at the time. And the title track is just kind of amazing in the way that it takes the ridiculous satin and sequins of these influences and turns into a sublime, intoxicating ride. With the benefit of hindsight, remastering and extra tracks: the album is a lot of fun, the sound is sparkling and propulsive and, beneath all that mascara, complex. The extras are a bit superfluous, except maybe A Foreign Place which presaged the uber-classic Tin Drum album, but really nice for fans and collectors.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting!, October 23, 2002

By 

mwreview "mwreview" (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Quiet Life (Audio CD)

If you like early 80s New Wave music like the Human League and Duran Duran yet have not checked out Japan, this may be the best album to start you off. Quiet Life, to me, is much more accesssible than their more innovative and experimental Gentlemen Take Polaroids and their ambitious Tin Drum. "Quiet Life" is an energetic, synthesizer-driven ride. "Fall in Love with Me" may be their most rockin' number. "Despair" is one of my favorites, a beautiful slow track that takes you away with its simple yet wonderful piano and sax melody along with Sylvian's French lyrics. "In Vogue" is driven by its sharp bass with the saxophone emerging at the chorus. The hard-rockin' "Halloween" is another one of my favorties. The chorus really kicks! They do a fun, folksy version of "All Tomorrow's Parties" and follows it up with the jazzy "Alien." The album ends with the slow, beautiful 7:29 masterpiece "The Other Side of Life". One can tell this album came out just after the disco era, when dance music was still the rage. Still, tracks like "Despair" show that Japan was very innovative musically as is very evident on Gentlemen and Tin Drum with the many instrumentals.