"Canton" is an instrumental song by English new wave band Japan. It was originally released on the album Tin Drum in 1981, and was then released as the only single from the live album Oil on Canvas in May 1983. It peaked at number 42 on the UK Singles Chart.[3]
| "Canton" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Japan | |
| from the album Tin Drum | |
| Released | 13 November 1981 |
| Recorded | 24–28 June 1981[1] |
| Genre | New wave[2] |
| Length | 5:30 |
| Label | Virgin |
| Songwriter(s) | |
| Producer(s) |
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| "Canton" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Japan | ||||
| from the album Oil on Canvas | ||||
| B-side | "Visions of China" | |||
| Released | May 1983 | |||
| Recorded | November 1982 | |||
| Venue | Hammersmith Odeon, London | |||
| Genre | New wave | |||
| Length |
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| Label | Virgin | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) |
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| Japan singles chronology | ||||
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Original recording
edit"Canton" was the first song recorded for Japan's album Tin Drum, along with "Talking Drum" and David Sylvian said the two songs "worked so well we’d arrange the rest of the album around the same ideas. Difficulty with recording arose when Mick Karn had to rub the aluminium neck of his Travis Bean bass guitar quite frantically and the heat generated "was enough to bend the metal out of pitch". Because of this, the guitar had to be cooled down mid-recording and to get around this problem, Karn switched to a local bass manufacture Wal, "which worked perfectly on the first take". The band also found under some tarpaulin an instrument made of bamboo that was several feet in height and width and sound was "produced by rattling peas within the bamboo" and these "duplicate the piece’s main melody".[1]
Reception
editReviewing the single for Record Mirror, Simon Hills wrote "Sounds like the theme music to The Secret Lovers of Chairman Mao", with "more oriental, and totally glib, 'art' on the flip side with 'Visions Of China' in which the group imagine all the royalties they could get by selling a record to the country with the biggest population".[4]
Track listings
edit7"
- "Canton" – 4:05
- "Visions of China" – 3:45
12"
- "Canton" – 5:36
- "Visions of China" – 3:45
Personnel
edit- David Sylvian – keyboards, cover design
- Mick Karn – fretless bass, dida
- Richard Barbieri – keyboards
- Steve Jansen – drums, percussion
- Masami Tsuchiya – keyboards
- Yuka Fujii – photography
- John Punter – engineer, producer
- Nigel Walker – engineer
Charts
edit| Chart (1983) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles (OCC)[3] | 42 |
References
edit- ^ a b anthonyreynoldswork (2018-09-05). "Excerpt from Japan : A Foreign Place. Chapter 8 : "The Tin Drum."". anthonyreynoldswork. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
- ^ Hanson, Amy. Japan - 'Ghosts' (1981) Song Review at AllMusic. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
- ^ a b "Japan: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
- ^ "Singles". Record Mirror: 20. 21 May 1983. Retrieved 10 December 2020 – via flickr.com.