Obscure Alternatives

by Japan

Obscure Alternatives cover art
  • Type: Album
  • Released: 27 October 1978
  • Label: Hansa
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Length: 1:00:35
  • Community rating: 3.28/5 from 2 ratings

Artists on this release: Anna & Claudine, Steve Jansen, Mick Karn, David Sylvian

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Released the very same year as their debut, 'Obscure Alternatives' finds Japan rapidly pivoting away from glam-punk toward a more sophisticated, reggae and funk-inflected new wave sound. The dense closing track, "The Tenant", strongly signals the synthesizer-heavy, atmospheric direction the band would ultimately master.

Genres

Descriptors: melodic, rhythmic

Tracklist

  1. Automatic Gun (4:02)
  2. ...Rhodesia (6:46)
  3. Love Is Infectious (4:09)
  4. Sometimes I Feel So Low (3:44)
  5. Obscure Alternatives (6:42)
  6. Deviation - Live (3:22)
  7. Suburban Berlin (4:58)
  8. The Tenant (7:10)
  9. Deviation - Live in Tokyo (3:19)
  10. Obscure Alternatives - Live in Tokyo (6:03)
  11. In Vogue - Live in Tokyo (6:10)
  12. Sometimes I Feel So Low - Live in Tokyo (4:04)

Credits

  • Mick Karn - bass, saxophone, vocals
  • Steve Jansen - drums, percussion, vocals
  • Rob Dean - guitar [guitars], vocals
  • Pounda - lacquer cut by
  • David Sylvian - music by, lyrics by, vocals, guitar, written-by, composed by
  • Richard Barbieri - synthesizer [synthesizers], keyboards
  • Michael J. Dutton - tape op [tape operators]
  • PeeWee - tape op [tape operators]

More from Japan: full discography