Rain Tree Crow

Rain Tree Crow
Studio album by Rain Tree Crow
Released	8 April 1991
Recorded	September 1989 – April 1990
Studio	Miravel Studios, Le Val, France Condulmer Studio Zerman di Mogliano, Italy Marcus Studios and Air Studios, London The Wool Hall, Bath Ropewalk Studio, Dublin, Ireland Mega Studios, Paris, France Eel Pie Studios, London, England
Genre	Experimental rock ambient
Length	45:53
Label	Virgin
Producer	Rain Tree Crow
Rain Tree Crow chronology
Oil on Canvas (1983) Rain Tree Crow (1991)
David Sylvian chronology
Weatherbox (1989) Rain Tree Crow (1991) Ember Glance: The Permanence of Memory (1991)
Singles from Rain Tree Crow
"Blackwater" Released: March 1991

Rain Tree Crow is the sole album released by English band Rain Tree Crow, a reunion project by the members of the new wave band Japan. Recorded in 1989 and 1990 and released in April 1991, it was the first time that members David Sylvian, Mick Karn, Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri had collaborated as a four-piece since 1982. The album peaked at number 24 on the UK Albums Chart.^[1]

Background and content[]

The name Rain Tree Crow was chosen to mark a break from Japan's past, with the intention of creating a new long-term project. As the music turned out to be less commercial than originally envisaged, all members of the band aside from Sylvian became amenable to the idea of retaining the Japan moniker, in order to gain maximum exposure.^[2] Virgin records pressured the musicians to let them market the album under the name Japan; however, Sylvian was adamant that this would not take place. Sylvian’s opinion prevailed and the album was released as by Rain Tree Crow.

It was decided early on that the project would involve only group compositions, as opposed to the group's earlier modus operandi where songs were largely based on Sylvian's ideas.

The two main studios used for recording were Miraval in the South of France, chosen particularly for its ambient live rooms and Condulmer near Venice. Four to five weeks recording at each location produced the bulk of the material. The principle notion behind the project was to leave the tape rolling and see what transpired in the extempore sessions. This concept of impromptu performances represented a sharp contrast to the ways in which the group had originally worked. It was the last time all four group members collaborated, but it laid the groundwork for other related projects. In particular, Jansen Barbieri Karn, also known as JBK, emerged afterwards.

Sylvian said about the album in 2009:^[3]

"Although much of the finished work incorporates seeds of the original improvisations from which it grew, there was a lot of re-recording and polishing of the material. I don’t remember there being too much of a struggle regarding the different directions the material took although I do remember I’d frequently be forced to justify my decisions whereby one piece or approach might be deemed out of context and another not. ‘Blackwater’ might be the exception here. I think I fought harder for that track than any other. Not because it was of the greatest interest but it was a strong piece that worked well in the body of the remainder of the album."

In 2000 Sylvian said:

"I really respected the individuals as musicians and I wanted to see what could be drawn out of them in working in this particular process. They were very much up for it and it was a very exciting time working on that project. But the personalities ultimately clashed toward the end of the project and although we were initially talking about doing a second or third album, and possibly touring, it just wasn’t to be. Mainly due to external pressures. But I don’t regret undertaking the project. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I learned quite a lot in the process."

Steve Jansen said about the project in 2019:^[4]

"It started out pretty idyllic, and musically we touched on a couple of good things there; if I had to pick a body of work that says the most about us as people it’s probably that album, because we’d matured more and were able to make statements musically without it being a little bit immature."

Jansen said 2003: ^[5]

"It set out initially as an improvised work – rolling the tape and just playing anything that felt appropriate. Interesting events were then captured and followed through with many months of overdubbing work to develop the pieces. In hindsight I think that after so many years of working together as a four piece, although the intention was to create a new work ethic between us, ultimately it resorted to the same set of conditions."

Mick Karn said 1996: ^[6]

"The whole concept and direction of that album was that it was going to be very pop-oriented. We really wanted to surprise people by doing the unexpected—by coming back into a market which we'd left behind a very long time ago. So, we decided that we would have a new name— Rain Tree Crow. The more obscure the name, the better. We believed that it would be a long-term project and that the name Rain Tree Crow would become more important than the name Japan. So, it would be a killing off by outdoing what we had done before in the same field—the pop market. Due to the tension and the long time it took us to record that album—it took two years—it became very evident that there was not going to be a follow-up album. There was only going to be one. It also became evident that we hadn't quite made it as poppy as we had hoped it was going to be. So, the concept changed into "If we really want people to hear this album, the only thing we've got going is the name Japan. Otherwise, people are just not going to hear about it at all." That’s why the rest of us came around to allowing Virgin to use that name. Also, it was the only way we could possibly see being able to finish the album because we'd run out of money for mixing."

Richard Barbieri said 2017: ^[7]

"I think we all have good things to say about this album. Rain Tree Crow was released 10 years on from Tin Drum and had a completely different approach and feel. Everything was more organic and earthy sounding. The arrangements were opened up and quite experimental. Nearly all aspects were improvised in the studio. It was very enjoyable and fun to make, believe it or not. It was only towards the end of the recording that problems started to arise. David Sylvian became more remote, leaving the country to record his vocals alone. There was disagreement as to the title of the album and the name of the band. At this point, David took control and being the only one able to afford the mixing, went ahead with that without us. To be fair to him, he had said from the start that he wouldn't use the name Japan. And from our perspective, we thought that a majority vote on an alternate band name would carry some weight. Since Virgin were willing to fund the mixing if we used the name Japan, we reconsidered it. It seemed reasonable to us because it was exactly the same personnel as the last Japan album. And we had made drastic changes in musical direction before under that name.In retrospect, one could make an argument for both points of view, but the important thing in the end is the work itself and I have to say that David and Steve Nye did a really good job with the mixes. "

Release and reception[]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Trouser Press	positive[9]

"Blackwater" was released as the album's only single and reached number 62 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1991. The album reached number 24 in the UK Albums Chart.^[10]

The album was remastered and reissued on CD in 2003. The B-side track from the "Blackwater" single, "I Drink To Forget", was included on this reissue, but omitted on the later vinyl reissue of March 2019.

Track listing[]

All tracks are written by Rain Tree Crow.

Personnel[]

Rain Tree Crow

• David Sylvian – vocals (1–3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12), electric guitar (1, 2, 5–8, 10–12), organ (1, 5, 9, 10), electric piano (1, 2, 10), shortwave radio (1, 2), horn arrangement (1), treatments (2, 10, 12), percussion (3, 9, 13), slide guitar (4), synthesizers (4, 8–10, 13), Indian drum (4), bass (7), banjo (11), marimba (11), harmonium (11), prepared piano (13)
• Mick Karn – bass (1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12), brass (1, 5), horn arrangement (1), saxophone (2, 10), pipes (3), tabla (4), bass clarinet (7, 9, 11), percussion (9), wine glasses (13)
• Steve Jansen – drums (1, 2, 5, 8, 10), percussion (2–5, 8–10, 12, 13), ceramic drums (4), additional organ (5), tambourine (6), Moroccan clay drums (7), fan drums (7), marimba (9, 11), piano (11), wine glasses (13)
• Richard Barbieri – synthesizers (1–13), piano (9), water wheel (11)

Additional musicians

• Bill Nelson – electric guitar (1, 8, 10)
• Djene Doumbouya – vocals (1)
• Djanka Djabate – vocals (1)
• The Phantom Horns:
  • Johnny Thirkell – trumpet/flugelhorn (1)
  • Gary Barnacle – saxophones (1)
• Phil Palmer – slide guitar (2), acoustic guitar (4)
• Michael Brook – bass conga (4), treatments (5, 11), percussion (9), Infinite Guitar (10)
• Brian Gascoigne – orchestration (4)

Technical

• David Sylvian – art director, mixing (1–13)
• Pat McCarthy – engineering, mixing (2, 3, 6, 7, 11)
• Steve Nye – mixing (1, 4, 5, 8–10, 12)
• Al Stone – assistant mixing (1, 4, 5, 8–10, 12)
• Shinya Fujiwara – cover photography
• Russell Mills – design
• Yuka Fujii – art director
• Tim Martin – additional engineering
• Paolo Carrer – assistant
• Rupert Coulson – assistant
• Louise McCormick – assistant
• Bruce Davies – assistant
• Paul Stevens – assistant
• Richard Chadwick – co-ordinator
• Tony Cousins – reissue remastering

Charts[]

References[]

External links[]

• Rain Tree Crow at Discogs (list of releases)