Obscure Alternatives

This is a great sounding album better than the first one

Speedy service, CD in great condition. Highly recommended

I have this on Vinyl so I needed the CD.

I love David Sylvian. And listening to Japan music is a real delight. So don't hesitate to purchase this cd if you want to listen to a good new wave cd. This was not one of those cds that everyone used to know in Mexico in the 80's. But it is a good idea to take the risk and purchase it.enjoy...

A blast from the past for me but still IMO the best Japan 'album'...and I had them all! Excellent sound quality with some bonus tracks that add nothing.

This album and their first, "Adolescent Sex" did not reflect what Japan really wanted to do. They recorded the 2 albums in one year and it shows. David Sylvian doesn't show us his natural voice on this album. He does more screaming. However, the songs are unique.

This You got to have!

Japan's debut album was an earnest but fairly weak glam record, showing some personality but lacking in originality and songwriting. One would fear that they'd fall into a sophomore slump from an already low point, particularly considering that their followup was released in the same year as the debut, but what a difference a few months can make. It could be that they had more confidence in what they were doing, it could be that their relative success had given them a bit of levity with the label, or it could be that songwriter/vocalist/guitarist David Sylvian had developed quite a bit. Regardless of what the reason, "Obscure Alternatives" is a much more satisfying listen than their debut album.SO what makes this better? Certainly, the songwriting is improved, with Sylvian tackling everything from the sort of straightahead glam he did on the debut ("Automatic Gun", "Sometimes I Feel So Low") to reggae-inspired new wave ("... Rhodesia") to minimalist, moody instrumentals ("The Tenant"). Certainly the title track, uncategorizable musically, while still a far cry from what was to come, is odd, original, and unique. Or it could be the beginnings of development of the later Japan sound-- drummer Steve Jansen is still a lot busier than he would be in the future, but his work is starting to show a sense of subtlety and taste. Or it could be the emergence of Mick Karn, with his bass mixed way up front and his playing beginning to develop the watery feel he would become renowned for. Honestly, I suspect it's a little of all of these, and while some of the tracks have that sort of lifelessness to them ("Suburban Berlin"), by and large, its a good effort.This reissue includes expanded artwork and finds the CD housed in a digipack with a new liner notes essay by longtime fan Paul Rymer. Additionally, it is augmented by the long out of print "Live in Tokyo" EP. Originally released in 1980, its inclusion here is somewhat curious given that it was released after "Quiet Life", although three of the four tracks are from this record. It's interesting to hear just how far the material has come, in particular "Obscure Alternatives". Additionally, the video for "Sometimes I Feel So Low" is included on the data portion of this release. The material is all remastered and the record sounds superb-- I found the old Japan reissues to be a bit muddy and flat, this is drastically improved-- crisp, clear, and neither overly hot nor overly bright. "The Tenant" in particular benefits, it sounds superb.All in all, a decent package and a reasonable album. Still not nearly the heights the band would scale to in the future, but well worth the investement for fans.

Early days for the group, giving us a look at their more raw side. The covers are entertaining enough,, but Sylvian's writing on the original tracks is superb.

I'd not listened to this album since I was 16 - some 30 years on I'd forgotten just how good it is. Its eclectic, it doesn't know where it's going (as far as style is concerned) but if you take each song on its own merits there really isn't a duff track. Because of its eccentricity it's not the easiest piece of work to get into but worth persisting with. For me Automatic Gun & Suburban Berlin are stand out tracks with an Early Roxy Music feel to them. If like me you haven't listened to this in years - pick it up and give it a play. You won't regret it

I used to have this album on tape. Great to hear it again! I had forgotten just how good this is!

Constantly being played - soundtrack to Autumn 2017!

`Obscure Alternatives' came swiftly on the back of debut LP `Adolescent Sex' , both of which disowned by David Sylvian (who viewed 1980 as a Year Zero), but showcase a band who were the missing link between New York Dolls and John Foxx-era Ultravox! The Ariola-Hansa years were viewed negatively, though live-sets by Japan once they left for Virgin did include tracks like `Automatic Gun' & `Sometimes I Feel So Low.' There is an argument that an expanded `Assemblage' would give us all we need to know about Ariola-Japan, but the generally excellent (if a bit too Roxy) `Quiet Life' and this certainly warrant investigation.This is the tight five-piece Japan that featured Rob Dean alongside the more familiar Richard Barbieri, Steve Jansen, Mick Karn & Sylvian. `Automatic Gun' and `Deviation' continue the mannered Dolls-style of `Adolescent Sex' & `Communist China' - Sylvian's Yankee-drawl is miles away from his later work. `Suburban Berlin' advances on the earlier `Suburban Love' and sketches out a European, Bowie-inflected direction. The title track and `...Rhodesia' come in at just under seven-minutes and show the band developing, though here it is a sort of angular reggae not miles away from Ultravox's `Dangerous Rhythm' . `...Rhodesia' has dated well, sounding like a sleazy glam act veering off dubwards - I suppose it's not far from pub rocking punks The Stranglers' early work, notably `Peaches.' The most interesting track, and a sign of what was to come, remains `The Tenant' - the sole track Sylvian really had responsibility for during the band's tenure at the label of Boney M and (briefly) The Cure (see `Do the Hansa'). Taking its title from a European film by Roman Polanski, it's a minimal instrumental work showcasing an interest in Eric Satie. This would be developed on the next album with the epic `Despair' and further into the 1980s with songs like `Nightporter', `Oil on Canvas', `Laughter & Forgetting' & `September.' Sylvian's trick of nodding to an arthouse movie - `Nostalgia', `The Night Porter', `Despair', `The Blood of a Poet', `Orphee' - began here too!This album is certainly far from brilliant, but may appeal to glam-rocky souls - I'd imagine Hanoi Rocks & Dolls fans would make more of it! It shows that a decent band can take some time to find their way, though by the time of `Quiet Life' and singles like `European Son' & `Life in Tokyo' Japan had found that direction still apparent in Sylvian's most recent work, `Snow Borne Sorrow.' Personally I'd recommend an Ariola-Hansa compilation like `Assemblage' or `A Souvenir...' and the reissue of `Quiet Life' with bonus tracks like the 12" of `Life in Tokyo' and `A Foreign Place' prior to getting everything from 1980 onwards Sylvian was associated with. The sole exception perhaps the flat `First Day' album recorded with Robert Fripp...