1979 album remastered and expanded for new deluxe box set

BMG reissued Japan‘s third album, Quiet Life, across a number of formats, including a deluxe box set.

The 1979 album (issued a few weeks late, in January 1980, in the UK) was the final album on Hansa Records and became a forerunner for the alternative/new wave sound of the new decade.

The single ‘Quiet Life’ reached number 19 in the UK, but almost two years after the album (having originally been a B-side for non-album single ‘I Second That Emotion’). The Quiet Life album was a creative, rather than commercial success and Japan singles only started to chart once Gentlemen Take Polaroids and Tin Drum (both issued on Virgin in 1981 and 1982 respectively) raised the band’s profile.

The Quiet Life box features  three CDs and a 180g half-speed mastered vinyl LP

Quiet Life is being reissued as 3CD+LP box set that features a new 2020 remaster of the album on CD and vinyl (the vinyl is half-speed mastered at Abbey Road) along with a disc of alternate mixes, remixes, singles and rarities. This same disc also includes the four-track EP Live in Japan (taken from the March 1980 Budokan show) which had a limited vinyl release in Europe in July of that same year. The third CD in the box set is that same Budokan gig, in full.

In addition to the box set, there are standalone 2020 remasters of the album available on black vinyl, red vinyl (both half-speed) and CD.

These reissues have been personally supervised by Alphaville founding members Marian Gold and Bernhard Lloyd and for the two-CD deluxe edition of Afternoons in Utopia, the 13-track album is remastered on CD 1, while CD 2 offers 14 remastered B-sides, 12-inch and seven-inch remixes, demos and a rare live version of the single ‘Dance With Me’. It comes with a 20-page booklet.

While the gatefold vinyl edition offers just the remastered album, it’s worth pointing out that this does come with a 24-page large format booklet. This features archive photos and a new interview with Bernhard Lloyd and producer Peter Walsh.

The band’s third studio album, The Breathtaking Blue was co-produced by Klaus Schulze (briefly a member of Tangerine Dream in the late 1960s) and released in 1989. It features the singles ‘Romeos’, ‘Summer Rain’ and ‘Mysteries of Love’.

Rather like Eurythmics’ 1987 album Savage, Alphaville produced a video album, Songlines, which saw them commission short films from nine directors for each of the album tracks. The video for the song ‘Middle of the Riddle’ actually won an Oscar (!) for Best Animated Short Film in 1990 (it was renamed as ‘Balance’). Unlike Eurythmics, Alphaville have included this longform video as part of the album reissue. Even better, it was shot on 35mm film, so it now looks fantastic. The audio for the film is remastered as well, with the correct edits (where used) in place. Songlines has only ever been available commercially in Germany, on VHS or laserdisc.

This means that the deluxe CD edition for The Breathtaking Blue is a 2CD+DVD set, with disc two featuring remixes, B-sides and demos and the third disc features the Songlines film. As a bonus the DVD also includes the CD-Graphics which came with the original CD (The Breathtaking Blue was one of the first albums to include this on CD).

Vinyl fans don’t miss out on the visuals, since the remastered vinyl version of The Breathtaking Blue comes with the DVD as well. Like Afternoons in Utopia, the vinyl is a gatefold and comes with a large format 24-page booklet. Both vinyl reissues are 180g pressings.

The Afternoons in Utopia and The Breathtaking Blue reissues will be released on 7 May 2021, via Rhino. 

10CD box set • Albums, B-sides, remixes and more

Cherry Red will issue The Complete Polydor Years 1980-1984, a ten-CD Level 42 box set that brings together the first five albums alongside an extraordinary amount of bonus material.

This new package features the albums Level 42 (1981), The Early Tapes (1982), The Pursuit of Accidents (1982), Standing in the Light (1983) and True Colours (1984). But that’s only half the story because five further CDs offer a wealth of seven-inch remixes (some new to CD), B-sides, 12-inch mixes and bonus tracks including early performances at the Regal Theatre in Hitchin (in Hertfordshire, England).

The set has been compiled in conjunction with Level 42 and band experts Paul Wallace, Paul Waller and Simon Carson. Tony Dixon at Masterpeice Masters has handled the remastering process.

Daryl Easlea has spoken to band members current and past and provides sleeve notes for this set and the good news is there will be a ‘part two’ which will continue the Polydor story and cover when the band become commercially very successful.

The Complete Polydor Years 1980-1984 will be released on 26 March 2021.