Japan Very Best of: Amazon.ca: Japan: DVD

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Amazon.com: 4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for New Romantic completists, Mar 4 2008

By Bitter Almonds - Published on Amazon.com

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: NEW Very Best Of (pal/region 0) (DVD) (DVD)

Just be very aware that this dvd title is not all-regions NTSC, but all-regions PAL (it says so on the dvd case as well), so, if your dvd player doesn't play PAL, the signal will be totally distorted. The bulk of the dvd includes the live concert footage from Oil On Canvas. The rest of the videos are for Life In Tokyo, Quiet Life, I Second That Emotion, Swing, Gentlemen Take Polaroids, Visions Of China. These are all from Virgin releases, which means nothing before Quiet Life (which is a shame). The video quality ranges from crappy old vhs source (nothing at all like the Universal Visage dvd quality) to okay. Still, I highly recommend it for any music video library. Watching David Sylvian and co. from back in the day, I couldn't help thinking I was watching underestimated genius.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and Rare DVD, Sep 18 2010

By Douglas Harr ""rock music aficionado"" - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: NEW Very Best Of (pal/region 0) (DVD) (DVD)

For this fan of late 1970's, early 1980's New Romantic and New Wave music, Japan represent one of the most original and compelling acts that remain relevant to this time. As evidence of their pedigree check out followup solo work by the superb multi-instrumentalist, composer, and vocalist David Sylvian, recent work by bassist Mick Karn (whose fretless bass work stands up to the masters), organic drummer Steve Jansen, or keyboard player Richard Barbieri who has been part of Porcupine Tree since 1993. Arguably, their last release as Japan, "Tin Drum" stands as one of the best albums of the period in it's fusion of electronic and acoustic compositions into a danceable mix.

I have the NTSC version of this video, and as the other reviewers mention, be sure to get the right one, because it is a rare and important document of this underrated band who were clearly ahead of their time. The video clips sport excellent sound and picture quality, and represent a nice cross section of their later work. But the prize of this set is the live footage previously released on CD, VHS and laserdisc called "Oil On Canvas". What a wonderful stroke of luck it was that the band was captured live on their "Tin Drum" tour before disbanding to follow their various pursuits. The only gripe I have about this live document is the excessive use of photos and graphics which are rendered over the top of the live footage too often blocking the performance itself. The footage has always been a bit dark and grainy, but is well preserved here given those limitations.

Increasing the rarity of the "Oil on Canvas" footage is the fact that if you want to see any document of David Sylvian live after this, all I have found is a similarly rare video on laserdisc of "David Sylvian and Robert Fripp" on tour circa 1993. This lack of footage is a shame given the number of very special tours and performances David's undertaken before and after that show.

In summary this DVD comes highly recommended to any fan of 1970's-1980's New Romantic, New Wave or electronic music and live performance video.

4.0 out of 5 stars Ahead of Their Time, July 23 2010

By Mark Larsen - Published on Amazon.com

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: NEW Very Best Of (pal/region 0) (DVD) (DVD)

As the other reviewer pointed out, there are two versions of this dvd: PAL or NTSC encoded, so be aware of which one you are purchasing. There is some confusion even among sellers here on Amazon about this, and there are two separate listings.

As for the dvd itself, the video quality IS bad on the first video, but then improves for the rest of the content. Some background, interviews, or behind-the-scenes info/footage would have been nice as extras, since the disc is fairly short at 84 minutes. These two reasons influenced me to give the disc 4 stars instead of five.

Having said that, the chance to view this time-capsule of a band like Japan was enjoyable. Certainly they were ahead of their time, intimating the shift from post-punk and glam to new wave/new romantic before most, if not everyone else, even though they don't associate themselves with that movement. Sylvian's baritone and mystery, up front with Mick Karn's beautiful fretless bass work, backed closely by Jansen's tight and increasingly complex percussion, and Barbieri's atmospheric synths and keyboards - it all added up to something very different and probably more challenging than anyone was really ready for. By the time of this 'Oil on Canvas' concert, the world was catching on, just as the band itself was disintegrating. And so, that is good enough reason to value this release as one of very few glimpses of this group at their best.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 3 reviews 4.7 out of 5 stars

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