GENTLEMEN TAKE POLAROIDS

With this atrocious fourth album, Japan dips very low into the new wave electro-pop that was so hateful of those early 80's. Sounding like a cross of Roxy Music (at best and mostly due to the vocals) and Human League (yup, I puked too!!). With a puffed-up tart-like look on the album cover, Sylvain is clearly taking the artsy-fartsy road but unfortunately forgetting the artsy part. This album is loaded with disgusting instruments such as programmable drums, keyboards and other loatheable inventions of that shameful 80's decade. I believe by now, Japan wanted to be included in the new romatics caste that MTV had created for the sole purpose of their own self-importance. And That Japan sounded like Spandau Ballet was indeed making things worst. Let's forget that Adam Ant and pretend the whole thing never happened!

Worse, not only are some of the works insufferably bad and even offensive, the group takes the option of lengthening them to disgraceful lengths: the 7-min title track and Methods Of Dancing, both overstay their respective welcome (by 6 minutes, and I wish it wasn't a joke ;-), and in the same frame of mind so are the ugly Swing (well over 6-mins) and the ambient Burning Bridges & Nightporter (well over the 5 and under 7 minutes, respectively), where less than nothing happens. Not that in any way, the shorter tracks are any better (as clearly shown by the loathsome My New Career), but the lowest point of the album is the reprise of Ain't That Peculiar, even if its percussive back track holds a bit of interest. The awful closer is another track aiming at those early-80's new wave audiences enjoying the Non-Human-League or the equally ugly Duran Duran.

A truly excruciatingly bad album, that deserves the old (and retired) 0-star rating, along with its equally horrible two follow-up albums. Best carefully-avoided.

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