701 Goodbye Japan* - Blackwater

( * as  Rain  Tree  Crow )

Chart  entered : 30  March  1991

Chart  peak : 62

Japan  had  a  fairly  unique  chart  career. As  they  only  became  popular  when  they  were  on  the  point  of  breaking  up, half  their  hits  were  re-releases. Guitarist  Rob  Dean  was   let  go  in  the  summer  of  1981  as  their  new  music  did  not  require  him  and  so  the  band  appeared  on  Top  of  the  Pops  a  few  months  later  to  perform  their  breakthrough  hit, a  re-release  of  "Quiet  Life",  without  anyone  to  mime  his  guitar  parts. They  then  released  their  highly-acclaimed  "Tin  Drum"   album  which  yielded  the  Top  5  hit  "Ghosts"  in  April  1982. However  tension  in  the  band  reached  a  breaking  point  when  singer David  Sylvian  relieved  bassist  Mick  Karn  of  his  girlfriend. Both  men  had  already  released  solo  material  when  the  band  announced  their  split  in  1982. Since  then  David's  profile  had  shrunk  to  being  a  cult  concern, Mick  had  joined  up  with  ex-Bauhaus  front  man  Pete  Murphy  in  Dali's  Car, a  project  that  became  a  byword  for  arty  pretension  though  their  album  is  not  as  bad  as  their  reputation  would  suggest  and  drummer  Steve  Jansen  and  keyboard  player  Richard  Barbieri   put  out  an  ignored  album  as  The  Dolphin  Brothers  in  1987.

That  same  year  Mick  and  David  had  a  minor  hit  together  with  "Buoy"  and  with  the  main  antagonists  now  talking  a  reunion  of  the  "Tin  Drum"  line  up  was  agreed  and   they  commenced  work  on  an  album  in  September  1989. The  idea  was  to  make  a  commercial  record  under  a  new  name  Rain  Tree  Crow  to  lose  the  baggage  of  the  past. As  the  work  veered  off  in  a  less  commercial  direction  and  went  over  budget,  Virgin  pressed  them  to  re-adopt  the  name  Japan. Mick, Steve  and  Richard  were  comfortable  with  the  suggestion  but  David  dug  his  heels  in  and  they  remained  Rain  Tree  Crow.

They  finally  re-emerged  with  this  single. It  is  recognisable  as  a  continuation  of  Japan's  latter-day  work  although  without  the  overtly  Oriental  influences  on  "Tin  Drum". "Blackwater"  is  a  mournful  ballad  although  not  as  funereal  as  "Ghosts"  with  David  indulging  his  usual  penchant  for  travel  metaphors. It  might  be  about  death  or  just  his  own  personal  restlessness. It  rests  on  Steve's  chattering  percussion  with  understated  bass  and   Bill  Nelson  contributing  some  atonal  guitar  howls  for  extra  colour. It  has  a  decent  chorus  but  it  probably  was  too  diffuse  to  make  a  big  impact  after  so  long  away  and  handicapped  by  their  disguise.

The  eponymous  album  followed  a  month  later  and  reached  number  24  in  the  UK. It's  an  impressive  piece  of  work   treading  in  the  same  moody  territory  as  Talk  Talk  and  Peter  Gabriel   although  it  largely   moves  at  the  same  stately  pace  throughout  and  one  or  two  of  the  instrumental  tracks  disappear  up  their  own  backside. "Every  Colour  You  Are"  and  "Pocket  Full  of  Change"  would  have  made  reasonable  candidates  for  a  follow  up  single  but  the  rest  of  the  band  were  angered  when  they  realised  that  David  had  unilaterally  tweaked  what  they  had  thought  to  be  the  final  mix   and  didn't  want  to  prolong  the band's  existence  by  releasing  further  material.

We'll  come  back  to  David  in  due  course.

Mick  kept  the  wolf  from  the  door  with  session  work  and  released  a  string  of  esoteric  solo  albums  often  featuring  Steve, Richard  and  his  guitarist  friend  David  Torn. The  four  of  them  toured  Japan  in  the  early  nineties  playing  instrumental  sets. In   1997  they  set  up  the  Medium  Productions  label  to  release  their  work  in  various  combinations. After  2005  his  work  was  released  on  his  own  label  MK. With  his  fretless  bass  style  out  of  fashion  for  session  work  he  moved  to  Cyprus  and  began  to  struggle  financially. He  published  an  autobiography  in  2009. He   reunited  with  Murphy  for  another  Dali's  Car  album  in  2010  but  was  overtaken  by  cancer  and  could  only  complete  enough  material  for  an  EP "In GladAloneness" , produced  by  Steve  who  also  drummed  on  the  sessions , released  after  his  death  in  August  2010. Its  edgy    art  rock  wasn't   going  to  set  the  charts  alight  in  2011.

Richard's  main  employment  was  in  the  prog  rock  band  Porcupine  Tree  from  1993  to  2010  who  started  becoming  popular  with  their  last  couple  of  albums  although  never  scoring  a  hit  in  the  singles  chart. The  band  has  been  on  hiatus  since  2010  with  singer  Steve  Wilson  pursuing  a  solo  career. Since  then  Richard  has  released  a  couple  of  albums  with  Marillion's  Steve  Hogarth  and  released  his  third  solo  album  of  abstract  electronica   "Planets +  Persona"  earlier  this  year .

Unlike  his  other  band  mates  Steve  has  worked  with  David  ( his  brother  of  course )  since  Rain  Tree  Crow  and   the  first  of  three  experimental  solo  albums," Slope"  in  2007  was  released  on  David's  label  Samadhi  Sounds. He  is  still  in  high  demand  as  a  producer  and  session  drummer. He  also  continues  to  dabble  in  photography.

Rob  became  a  session  guitarist  and  worked  with  Gary  Numan, Sinead  O'  Connor  and  on  some  of  the  albums  released  by  the  ex-Japan  trio. He  was  also  briefly  involved  with  two  flop  bands  in  the  eighties, Vivabeat  and  Illustrated  Man.  He  seems  to  have  left  the  music  business  around  the  turn  of  the  millennium  and  now  lives  in  Costa  Rica  where  he  illustrates  bird  guides.