GENTLEMEN TAKE POLAROIDS

"Gentlemen Take Polaroids" is the fourth full-length studio album by UK pop/rock act Japan. The album was released through Virgin Records in November 1980. It´s the successor to "Quiet Life" from December 1979 and the first Japan album released through Virgin Records after leaving Hansa Records.

Stylistically Japan continue the synth-pop style they introduced on "Quiet Life", just in a more polished, melodic, and mature format. "Gentlemen Take Polaroids" would be the last Japan album to feature lead guitarist Rob Dean, and it´s understandable that Dean wasn´t interested in being a part of the band anymore, as "Gentlemen Take Polaroids" features next to no guitars, and definitely no guitar riffs and leads as were featured on especially the first two albums by Japan. In reality Dean´s involvement in recording "Gentlemen Take Polaroids" was very limited and during the recording sessions he was only seldom called to the studio to record anything.

The more slick and at times commercial direction of the material works well for Japan, although they don´t go overboard and create a hit single commercial release. Main composer/lead vocalist/guitarist David Sylvian was always mindfull of artistic integrity, and although "Gentlemen Take Polaroids" certainly belongs in the synth-pop pool of artists like New Order, Depeche Mode, O.M.D., and Talk Talk, their credibility remains intact, and they are certainly one of the more interesting artists in the genre (not that any of the mentioned artists are bad...in fact many of them are brillant too).

One of the features of Japan´s music where they stand out from most other synth-pop artists of the ear is their highly organic and quite busy rhythm section. This is not just a drum machine playing simple electronic beats, but instead a very skilled and challenging drummer/bassist duo continuously making the songs interesting with sharp organic grooves (which sometimes reminds me of a more technical appoach to playing krautrock rhythms) and loads of adventurous bass playing (bassist Mick Karn also plays some nice melancholic saxophone parts). I could listen to Japan´s rhythm section play everyday and find new details, that´s how intriguing and relatively complex their playing is. Sylvian now almost exclusively sings using his warm baritone voice and the snarling punk attitude of the past has been replaced by a reflective melancholy. Keyboardist Richard Barbieri is featured right, left, and center, making this his most dominant performance on any Japan album up until then. His performance on this album is brilliant (take a listen to a track like "Methods of Dance" for an example of how great Barbieri is on this album). The point is that Japan were an incredibly well playing band with some unique features in their music as well as being skilled composers.

If a few minor issues should be brought up it would be that a couple of the songs on the album are slightly unremarkable ("Ain't That Peculiar" is one of them), but "Gentlemen Take Polaroids" is overall a high quality synth-pop release from Japan and the next step up in quality since "Quiet Life". Featuring a detailed, clear, and organic sounding production job, it´s through and through a great album and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.