Description
Triple vinyl set
The seemingly purposeful eccentricity of Jad Fair’s melodic sense, lyrical outlook, and willful ignorance about the guitar (he’s never made a secret of the fact he doesn’t really know how to play and doesn’t want to learn) would seem to be the key to the chaotic tone of much of Half Japanese’s recorded work. Or at least that’s how it seemed before David Fair, the co-founder of the band and Jad’s brother, left the group in the mid-’80s, making Jad the uncontested leader of Half Japanese. With their first album after David’s departure, 1987’s Music to Strip By, Half Japanese slipped into a period of relative coherence, with Jad’s world-view pretty much intact but the music taking on a new focus that was a distinct change from the cacophony of their first albums. Volume Two: 1987-1989 collects three Half Japanese albums from the late ’80s — Music to Strip By, 1988’s Charmed Life, and 1898’s The Band That Would Be King — and this music is far more accessible and conventionally melodic than anything on Volume One: 1981-1985, the first installment in Fire Records’ reissue series. Of course, the performances are still sloppy and spontaneous, even if the accompanists are more traditionally capable of working their instruments, and Fair’s obsessions remain constant on these albums — horror movies, wrestling, odd stories he found in the newspaper, and women above all. (Though his small level of fame seems to have brightened his hopes about the fair sex; the almost-funky “Sex at your Parent’s House” suggests he has no problem setting up a scenario, and when he threatens Sean Penn to a fight for the Material Girl’s hand in “Madonna Nude,” it’s not hard to imagine he might actually land a punch.) But there’s more joy and less meandering on these albums — the jazzy polish of “Silver and Katherine” would have been unthinkable on Loud or Our Solar System — and Fair’s stream-of-consciousness lyrics speak of a growing confidence and sense of purpose, even if his themes still present themselves in short, somewhat frantic bursts. (Keep in mind these three albums deliver a total of 109 songs.) For longtime fans, Volume Two: 1987-1989 is an impressive and well-assembled study of one of this band’s more interesting periods, and if you’re looking for a way into Half Japanese’s catalog, this a good place to start despite the heft of this collection.
Track list:
1. Stripping For Cash
2. Thick And Thin
3. Diary
4. Big Mistake
5. Hot Dog And Hot Damn
6. The Price Was Right But The Door Was Wrong
7. Blue Monday
8. U.S. Teens Are Spoiled Bums
9. Point / Counterpoint
10. Sex At Your Parent’s House
11. The Last Straw
12. Gator Bait
13. La Bamba
14. Colleen
15. Ouija Board Summons Satan
16. You Must Obey Me
17. Salt And Pepper
18. Ancient Life
19. Silver And Katherine
20. Money To Burn
21. Hidden Charms
22. My Sordid Past
23. Said And Done
24. Penny In The Fountain
25. Evidence
26. Vietnam
27. Roman Candles
28. Love At First Sight
29. Snake Line
30. Bright Lights, Big City
31. Face Rake
32. Later In A Magazine
33. Red Dress
34. Trouble In The Water
35. Charmed Life
36. Day And Night
37. 1,000,000,000,000 Kisses
38. Miracles Happen Every Day
39. Terminator
40. I’ll Change My Style
41. Fortunate
42. Real Cool Time
43. Poetic License
44. Open Your Eyes / Close Your Eyes
45. Daytona Beach
46. Lucky Star
47. Some Things Last A Long Time
48. My Most Embarrassing Moment
49. Buried Treasure
50. Open Book
51. Little Records
52. Deadly Alien Spawn
53. Postcard From Far Away
54. Ventriloquism Made Easy
55. Something In The Wind
56. Bingo’s Not His Name-O
57. Put Some Sugar On It
58. What More Can I Do?
59. Brand New Moon
60. Another World
61. Every Word Is True
62. I Live For Love
63. Werewolf
64. Ride Ride Ride
65. Sugarcane
66. I Wish I May
67. Ashes On The Ground
68. Curse Of The Doll People
69. Horseshoes
70. Bluebirds