Life Goes On -
Half Japanese, or ½ Japanese, released their first cassette album in 1974. In a pre-punk explosion of ideas, with untuned guitars and a scatter gun approach to lyrics that would go on to straddle everything from emotional relationships to comic book sci-fi, zombies, religion, TV shows, everyday inanimate objects and ouija boards; all filled with precise and intimate one liners and a heartfelt optimism.
Later, in 1988 they released Charmed Life, an off beat classic that was re-issued in 2014 with additional tracks that sketched out the sessions in fine detail. Now, we have Guess I'm Living: The Charmed Life Tapes, a suitably unique offering from some tangential universe. Another Charmed Life from a different kitchen; it features mightily different versions of tunes that made the original plus some songs that never made the final cut at all. Confusing, huh?
½ Japanese are plainly a band who mix and match; who approach and infiltrate their own songs in different ways on different days - and probably at different hours of the day. To an intent listener, they seem to be bending and shaping at will, making and doing; re-evaluating the blueprint of a song, this practise taking them on a journey to new vistas; new horizons.
Nothing is right; nothing is wrong; this particular day suggests that it works this way. Tomorrow, who knows?
Make no mistake, it's a complicated thing to create the simplest but most intense and mesmerising sounds. It's hard to be "easy" on the ear. How do they do that? Why do they do that?
Brothers Jad and David Fair and Mark Jickling unpick the past in an effort to explain.
"All the alternative versions are from three days, September 9, 10, and 11, in 1985. They were recorded at Inner Ear studio in Arlington, Virginia" Mark recalls, "We'd recorded many of the same songs with Don Zientara at Inner Ear a year earlier, but we didn't get enough for a whole album. Some of the 1984 versions are on the original Charmed Life, but all of the alternates are from 1985."
The original album had its own sound but given 12 months everything was not the same. The songs had matured; been given a second, third and fourth look; several new coats of paint. And as
Mark explains, the ever-morphing line up of ½ Japanese - a fluid combo at the best of times - added further contrast to the proceedings...
"The personnel shifted over the three days in the studio. The first day, it was Jad and David, Jay Spiegel, Don Fleming, and me. The second day, it was just Jay, Don, and Jad in the morning, and me, Jad, and Jay in the afternoon. The third day, it was Jad, Jay, Don, and me in the AM, and John Dreyfuss and John Moremen (plus Margie and Katie Moremen on back-up vocals on a few tracks) in the PM. So there are really four different line-ups on these sessions, with Jad and Jay being the only constants on all tracks." The original Charmed Life album from 1988 was released on ½ Japanese's
50.000.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Watts Records, a year after the awesome and extensive Music To Strip By had set critics' tongues wagging - what were these guys all about? In retrospect, both The Quietus and AIIMusic remember Charmed Life as being "as accessible as they get." Thoughts?
Jad: "I've never thought of any ½Japanese music as not being accessible."
David: "I don't think that any ½ Japanese album was ever a conscious effort to do anything other than to record the newest songs that we had written. There was never a plan to aim towards any target."
At the time, the charts were filled with Milli Vanilli, Bobby McFerrin, Bon Jovi and pop versions of hip hop, but Charmed Ufe was intent on heading in its own direction as was the way with the band. Did you feel part of any scene, or any sound?
Jad: "We felt some connection to what was happening in DC and Baltimore. Our favorite DC bands were The Chumps and The Velvet Monkeys. We had several shows in DC with those bands, and in Baltimore with The Tinklers."
Mark: "DC had quite a few good bands at the time; have a look at the movie PunkThe Capital! But nobody sounded like us."
David: "We just did things the way that we did them. It wouldn't make sense for us to head in anyone else's direction."
So, who were you making music for?
David: "I don't think that that was anything that we ever thought about. We made it for whoever would like to hear it. It is important to have alternatives so that anyone might discover something that speaks directly to them."
Jad: "We did what felt natural to us. Aiming for or steering away from an audience was not a concern."
David: "Once Alternative Music' became an official category it stopped being a real alternative. It was just another style of music that companies made to sell to consumers. Regular music is already a thing, so Alternative Music' should sound some other way. Let the people decide if they like it or want to buy it, but I think there should be way more actual alternatives."
While the world was gyrating to the mainstream, ½ Japanese made music as they needed to. It was a continuous process; a cathartic release; incredibly prolific. Is making music part of their DNA?
Jad: "Part of our DNA is a good way to put it. It's always there. People have asked me where I get my inspiration. There is no need for inspiration for something which is always there."
It sounds like, from the original album, its bonus tracks on its re-issue and the new alternative takes that the song structures and on any given day were super flexible.
David: "They were always just played the way that they sounded when we played them. There never was a schedule, like, today is country and western day, and tomorrow is heavy metal day. We always just played them without a particular plan."
Mark: 'At that time, we rarely played out more than once a month, so we never had a set that we played the same way every night, like a touring band would do. We had the basic structure of most of these songs down before we recorded, but we never needed precise arrangements. By that time, the core of the band had played together long enough that we could improvise and it would come out sounding like a song. People think of ½ Japanese as a noise band, but it was always noise within a song format."
Jad: 'A lot of what we do is improvised. We don't feel a need to play a song the same way each time. It's different each time we do it."
Indeed, Jad is infamous for his detuned guitar and his legendary one liner where he claimed that the only chord he needed was the one to plug into the amp. So, it's not surprising that from the basis of the song idea, no-one knew exactly how a song would turn out. But, with that in mind, how did they know when the song was done, when it's the realisation of the vision?
David: “Some of the songs were worked on and some were done on the first take. Usually when we recorded with Don Zientara we would do four or five takes of a song and then take cassettes home and listen to them for a couple days before going back to mix them. We just went with the version that sounded the best."
Jad: “The selection of which version to use was a band decision. Some of the versions being released now were ones that came close to being chosen for the original release."
The takes on 'I Guess I'm Living' made me think of Jonathan Richman in his early, minimal persona playing the Velvets playing The Stooges, a stripped down take of a much heavier sound.
Jad: “The Modern Lovers, Velvet Underground and Stooges are bands we love. I'm sure it had some influence."
Mark: "I think we had a pretty heavy live sound, always. But on these sessions, some of the stripped-down versions came about because only three people were in the studio at that moment. Those three bands were definitely touchstones.”
David: “We loved The Stooges and we loved Jonathan Richman but we played ½ Japanese songs. When we did cover songs they became ½ Japanese songs. Generally we just used words that we liked and made no attempt to imitate the music.”
Obviously you covered The Stooges' 'Real Cool Time' but it's delivered like a romantic poem, a suggestion of a night in, where the protagonists build small talk into something special. A long way from Iggy...
Mark: “The arrangement of 'Real Cool Time' was all Don Fleming's. I just played three-note bass.”
Jad: “Don did the vocal on that one. It was a good fit for him. David and I grew up in Michigan. Michigan had some of the best bands. We were huge fans of The Stooges, MC5, Destroy All Monsters, and ? And The Mysterians. We also loved Motown.”
You also cover the magnificent and somewhat underrated Jimmy Reed, how did you come across his songs?
Jad: “Jimmy Reed is great. I listen to a lot of blues. In the early '80s I had several albums by Jimmy Reed and by Howling Wolf."
David: “Jimmy Reed is one of those guys who had a great song so we did it. We all listened to a lot of music. I will listen to almost anything. Classical and operas don't particularly speak to me, but I've even gone there before. There are hundreds and thousands of great songs in the world.”
But what was so special about Jimmy Reed for you? You cover two of his songs here...
Mark: "Jimmy Reed had that slow, swampy shuffle thing that drove me crazy. But neither of the Charmed Life covers are in that vein..."
Jad: “I like his timing. It has a very natural feel to it.”
And, on I Guess I'm Living: The Charmed Life Tapes you also rewrite Dylan's 'Please Crawl Out Your Window, what's your relationship with the Nobel prize winner? And why that particular song?
Jad: “I listen a lot to Bob Dylan. I don't recall why we did that song, but I'm glad we did.”
Mark: "I don't remember why we did 'Crawl Out Your Window' either, except that I think Jad picked it out. I must have practiced it quite a bit to learn the chords, but we never played it live, that I recall."
You also take on the standard ‘T For Texas' another romantic interlude alluding to a more patriotic view, how did you hear that song, via Jimmie Rodgers, or Waylon Jennings, or Lynyrd Skynyrd?
Jad: “I haven't heard it by Lynyrd Skynyrd or Waylon Jennings. I had recordings of it by Jimmie Rodgers and by Bob Dylan And Johnny Cash. It's a great song."
David: "I'd probably heard about 25 versions of 'T For Texas' before we recorded it. It's one of those songs where you can plug in simple rhymes and sing about anything in the verses. I never heard Waylon Jennings or Lynyrd Skynyrd's versions. In fact I have never said Lynyrd Skynyrd out loud, and this is the first time I ever typed it. I would've had no idea how to spell it."
There are half a dozen songs that didn't make it to the original album or as bonus tracks on the re-issue, but they seem to fit right in, why have they stayed unheard till now?
Jad: “There's a limit to how much time you can have on an LP. It would have been difficult to add more to the original album. We have several hours of unreleased ½ Japanese recordings. I'm sure more recordings will be released at some point in the future.”
Mark: “There are in fact 98 complete takes on the cassette tapes from the sessions."
David: “And, I'm sure there are plenty more songs over the years that have never been released. I personally have a couple of hundred that have been written but not even recorded."
Jad: “Yeah, we have a lot more."
Looking back what do you see in those recordings from your younger selves?
Jad: “It holds up well. We were able to record so many songs in a short amount of time. It still sounds fresh to me."
Mark: “When I went back and listened to these tapes, a couple years ago, I was just floored by how energetic they sounded. We knew what we were doing! I immediately thought we had to put them out, and I'm really excited about the new LP.”
And, so, there we have it, another Charmed Life; including a homage to Madonna, Angie, Juanita in her red dress, fun, love, the ashes of love, Dylan, Jimmy Reed and 30 seconds in heaven. Nineteen songs in 39 minutes; no hanging around. On another day it might have all sounded completely different again and that's the beauty of ½ Japanese.
Dave Henderson, MOJO magazine, 2021