I recently had a listen to this very successful early eighties album by the group Japan. I don’t think it stands up too well, due in part to the full-blown eighties’ production techniques. Also, most of the songs are not brilliant apart from the big hit Ghosts. My favourite Japan track is the even more haunting Night Porter. It’s not on this album but see the link below.
The Tin Drum that I would recommend is the book that inspired the album’s name. This is the story of a dwarf called Oskar and his family. It is set against the backdrop of events in Danzig (Gdansk, Poland) in the first half of the twentieth century. Some years have passed since I read this but at the time that it was right up there with the best books I’d read. The Tin Drum remains to my mind one of the great historical novels.
For more info on the plot: http://www.bookrags.com/notes/ttd/SUM.html
Listen to Night Porter: http://youtube.com/watch?v=-CeZVwZay7Q
