The first live cut on the list. Japan’s Oil on Canvas album, recorded in London in 1983, makes me wish I had seen them at the time. But I’m lucky to even know of the album.
At the time I lived in Sacramento, and when CDs became the music technology option, a store in the area started renting out CDs for $2 for 2 days, knowing that many of us just would tape them and bring them back. They did this for a few years in the mid 1980s until they were told to cease and desist. In the meantime, I probably taped nearly 100 albums, and it was a great way to discover bands you hadn’t listened to. Many of those bands and albums will show up on this list, including this one.
Visions of China grabbed me the first time I listened to it, the drums, the funky bass, overarching keyboards, David Sylvain’s vocals, just really are perfect. The rest of the album is good, but this version of this song is fantastic.