Half Japanese - When Did they Become Accessible?

[Moon Pix]

I was listening to the mp3s at the Half Japnese Myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/halfjapanesefanpage) today and I thought that these songs were really cool. Id previously dismissed them as being a pair of talentless no-hopers making a tuneless racket so I was surprised by how listenable "Gates of Glory" and "Red Dress" are.

Can somebody in the know please tell me when dthey started doing that sort of material?

Thankyou.

[Miss Tasty Princess]

I first remember seeing them do "Red Dress" in '86, when my friend Kenny and I ditched his engagement party (his mom was not pleased) to go see them in Richmond, VA.

I'd say their earliest "accessible" record would be Sing No Evil, which was released in '84 by Irridescence and then reissued on CD by Drag City a few years ago. It's my second favorite album of theirs, after Loud, the greatest album ever recorded.

To be fair, though, I don't consider their early duo material to be "a pair of talentless no-hopers making a tuneless racket" but rather an absolutely brilliant distillation of everything that is essential about r'n'r but without the, uh, technical prowess usually associated with music in general.

[Dave]

Moon Pix
I am def. with HCI on this, but I'd say that the record you should get up close and personal with is Charmed Life

Dave

[Miss Tasty Princess]

Sing No Evil should be much easier to find than Charmed Life but I agree that that one's a good intro.

[Moon Pix]

What happened anyway? Was it just that after a while they became more conventional songwriters or became inluenced by more conventional underground punk rock music or something? It seems given the early stuff Half Japanese becoming accessible would have seemed impossible. "Gates of Glory" even sounds like the Fall.

Thankyou both. Allmusic appears to agree with both of you (s well as suggesting Fire In the Sky) but Im always skeptical of hipper than thou rock critics and I wanted a true fans opinion first.:)

Is their catalogue generally in print?

[TheSadDebaser]

They started working with that guy from the Velvet Monkeys whose name I can't remember now, right? That's what did it?

[Dave]

Well Mr. Fleming, as well as Jay Spiegel from the Velvet Monkeys, started showing up on Half Japanese records w/Sing No Evil and Charmed life is the first record where is he is an official member so I'm sure that a case could be made to support that, but that would be discounting the contributions of the many other talanted members of Half Japanese over the years.

Dave

[Miss Tasty Princess]

I'd say the move towards less chaos/more musicality came with the addition of guitarist Mark Jickling. Live, he always came across to me as the musical director of the band (and when I saw them [and hated them as I was 17 and not ready for their Godliness] around the time of Loud, I thought he was the only one who knew how to play his instrument).

[SirPatrickSpens]

i think Music To Strip By was the turning point, tho' i also recall the Jad Fair & Kramer record was pretty good. it's been a long decline since then, sometimes slight, sometimes terribly steep... i don't remember the early Jad solo sides as being as hot as Half Jap but i wish i'd kept 'em to revisit now anyway.

note: i've not heard the later appearances of David Fair; maybe he brings the brutha' back up to previous glories?

sps

[Moon Pix]

So pretty much anyway you slice it it was the mid '80s when they started becoming listenable to an unhip ear such as mine?

This coming from somebody who found Trout Mask Replica to be a talented artist wasting his time making self indulgent unlistenable shite.

[pizzagratis]

yeahyeahyeah...everyone's speaking love bout the Half Japanese. I love em too. But I got another, sorta thematically related band that I think needs mentioning.

Moonpix, if you come around bout the whole having music be in key thing, I wanna recommend the Icky Boyfriends. Have been listening to the first disc of A Love Obscene for the past couple of days. Yeah, you could say they borrow stuff from Half Japanese, but they also borrow a lot from the Electric Eels too. That makes it okay.

[Moon Pix]

Moonpix, if you come around bout the whole having music be in key thing, I wanna recommend the Icky Boyfriends.

If it ever happens I doubt it'll happen soon. Im not about to go out and get loads of Throbbing Gristle records.

Im just not hip enough to like (or at least pretend I like) that stuff. I need a tune. I don't have to be able to sing it in the bath but I have to find it listenable, wether its Cat Power, Big Black or the Heartless Bastards. :)

[cheshycat]

This thread has turned me on to much goodness.

I started with "Sing no evil" and "Bone Head" and have been moving out from there.

[dwight fry]

I actually started with "Hello", and could tell immediately that this was not the way to judge this band (although the lyrics were brilliant), as it sounded very REM-ish, almost like standard indie rock. I'll have to start with their earlier material, perhaps I'll grab the DVD first.

First post btw, howdy everyone.