Exorcising Ghosts

Product Information

As to fit the album onto a single disc, the original CD release omitted five of the sixteen tracks; "Swing", "A Foreign Place", "Taking Islands in Africa", "Sons of Pioneers" and "Voices Raised in Welcome, Hands Held in Prayer". This career spanning ‘Best of’ features three recordings from the band’s early career on the Hansa Records label (including 1979’s “Quiet Life”) but mainly focuses on material from their two seminal studio albums on Virgin Records; Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980) and Tin Drum (1981).

If you are expecting to hear a comprehensive collection of all the band's chart singles then I'm afraid you will be disappointed; similarly, because this is a truncated version of the original vinyl LP which featured 16 titles, other devoted fans of the group will be annoyed. It must be mentioned that the selection of tracks was most definitely geared towards the Japanese market, with a large proportion of tracks previously unavailable on an album in that country.

The LPs are housed in a gatefold sleeve with printed inner bags, a print of the band, the all important Abbey Road half-speed master certificate, and a cover-empathetic obi strip. Unfortunately, what was true in Japan was not true in the UK; therefore, the album's promotion, mentioning 'unreleased tracks', was incorrect for the domestic market, attracting criticism at the time. It features three recordings from the band's early career on the Hansa Records label (such as 1979's Quiet Life) but mainly focuses on material from their two studio albums on Virgin Records; Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980) and Tin Drum (1981). Not sure if this just applies to later batches as couldn't find anyone else commenting about warped vinyl.

Limited edition print of the complete mixed media painting made for use on the gatefold album cover of Japan’s compilation double album Exorcising Ghosts (1984). Exorcising Ghosts' represents an interesting cross-section of much of the best material released by Japan in their all too brief career in the early 1980s.

Exorcising Ghosts was compiled and produced in consultation with lead singer David Sylvian two years after Japan dissolved.

You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Exorcising Ghosts is a compilation album by the British band Japan, released in November 1984 by record label Virgin. The album was compiled and produced in consultation with lead singer David Sylvian, two years after Japan dissolved. It also gives a good idea of what the band were about by including a couple of interesting instrumentals - A Foreign Place the Quiet Life b-side in particular sounds really good here. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.It’s notable for a few song variations, including the 1981 remix of ‘Taking Islands in Africa’ and the extended version of ‘The Art of Parties’. I used to have this on vinyl and it includes all their best known material from 'Quiet Life', 'Ghosts' and 'Night Porter' to the less familiar but equally brilliant 'Other Side of Life'. Seven years after the release of Exorcising Ghosts, Japan recorded a new studio album, but under the new moniker Rain Tree Crow.