Charming dance-pop/white soul release from a band who managed to have a very solid career troughout the 80's - and many of you must remeber that this is no small achievement...
Martin Fry is one of the best male voices in pop music, and Dave Bascombe's production is noteworthy.
Spellbound is the perfect track for a fashion show.

Cold wave didn't get much better than this. How can a record sound cold, danceable, clever and deep all at once? I know it's a tough question, but the answer is right here.
Being Boiled still fits perfectly in any decent DJ-set nowadays - and you don't even have to adjust the pitch. Black Hit of Space is tantalizing and disturbing. Dreams of Leaving is quasi-epic. There is not a bad track on this record, and all in all, Travelogue is heaven for analog synths' fans.

One of the most inteligent pop albums of the 80's. Bill Nelson was already big as a guitar player, but also had credits as a producer (A Flock of Seaguls best track ever, "Telecommunicatiions", had Bill as producer). In this album, he blends guitar and synths with great results, both in instrumental small pieces and in some beautiful songs: just listen to "Private View" and "Flaming Desire".

"Quiet LIfe" was the turning point for Japan. Putting aside the glam-rockish attitude and sound of their first two albums, and choosing John Punter to produce it, Japan's sound on Quiet Life became distinct, modern, still soul-funk-glam influenced but it became Japan's sound, a sound all their own.
David Sylvian stoped singing like an arty Mick Jaeger, and found it's own voice - and what a voice it is! Gentle, deep, legant and warm, just like it still is today.
Mick Karn's bass playing found much more room to breathe; Barbieri's atmospherics take the songs to another dimension; Rob Dean was an hell of a guitar player; and Steve Jansen teamed up perfectly with Mick Karn to keep the groove as solid as concrete.
If you listen to songs like Quiet Life, Life in Tokyo,In Vogue, or Halloween, you'll understand which were the roots for many of the electronic/new-romantic/sophisticated pop that made the 80's such a special decade.
"Quiet Life" is definetely a must-have, but just as a warning, their sound got better and better on "Gentlemen take Polaroids" and "Tin Drum".

This was a great debut, indeed. It had the magical touch of Carlos Maria Trindade, Heróis do Mar' keyboard player, and the video for "Sonhos" was a perfect example of new-romantic kitsch: imagine those guys in the cover in an impoverished amusement park, playing one-finger melodies in analog synths...
Later on, they issued a 7" called "Mexico". Luís Beethoven, the former singer (the closest thing to Billy MacKenzie to be found in POrtugal, but without the same ability for the high notes) was replaced by someone called Braunyno Fonseca, and there was only one of the musicians remaining. "Mexico" is a low budget production, kind of Depeche Mode meets Tijuana Brass, but it has a nice chorus (if you forget the lyrics...). The B-side, "Western", is quite poor.