Review Summary: A well done album that set the bar for 80's Japanese rock.
In the 1980's, Japanese rock was undergoing a humongous transition. Throughout the decade, the use of enka (traditional Japanese pop) became less popular, and westernized influences became supreme. Bands like The Alfee, whom initially followed a more folky-enka fronted style, underwent a major 180-degree turn in terms of style, as did other bands like RC Succession and Southern All Stars, who experienced similar dramatic changes. One band in particular, along Boowy, was responsible for the humongous new wave explosion in Japan in the 1980's. That band would be the ever-influential group, TM Network. TM Network formed in 1983, from the ashes of a previous band the members were a part of, Speedway. The group were signed to Epic/Sony Records just a year after their formation, although their first few releases ("Rainbow Rainbow" & "Childhood's End", respectively) sold very lukewarmly, with "Childhood's End" peaking at number 40 on the Oricon charts. However, as the band went on, their popularity soared, right up to 1987's "Self Control", which brought the band to super-stardom, breaking the Oricon top 5 charts at number 3. Critically speaking, the album is a minor step down in quality, since the band's previous works showed ambition and cleverly laced the tracks together in an addictive new wave styling. With 1987's "Self Control", TM Network slightly erased a bit of the cleverness of their earlier works for a more mainstream, easily approachable style. However, with the addictive licks in most of the tracks, as well as maintaining some of the slick mechanical elements from their earlier days, "Self Control" winds up being not so much of a disappointing ordeal. Rather, quite enjoyable, especially considering the quality that a mainstream pop album has to uphold.
The album kicks off with "Maria Club", which starts off with a dramatic, pounding style, before breaking off into slightly cheesy mid 80's new wave pop. The charming croons of frontman Takashi Utsunomiya might be the only thing that saves the track's potential. Otherwise, the track is pretty much a definitive Japanese guilty pleasure from the mid-80's. "Don't Let Me Cry" is a much better track which follows a hypnotic new wave beat, alongside Takashi's bouncy vocals. Together, these two elements make "Don't Let Me Cry" a memorable track on the album. Certainly nothing to ride home about, but it's still a damn catchy song for what its worth. "Self Control" is one of the band's signature songs, and it follows a bubbly-dreamy pattern, with Takashi frantically singing alongside. A damn good song, and definitely one of the album's best songs. "All-Right All-Night (No Tears No Blood)" is another damn good song on the album, and it follows a funk-centered style with various elements thrown all over the place within the song's duration. This experimentation makes the track another one of the album's brightest moments.
"Fighting" keeps the album's golden age going strong, as it follows a mellow, thick rhythm with Takashi crooning alongside the track's romantic sound. The song shows the band's impressive potential at writing ballad-esqued tracks, without being incredibly sappy and dull. "Time Passed Me By" dulls the album back down with its acoustic styling (which has been done practically to death by the aforementioned bands RC Succession & The Alfee), and the track is basically an empty vessel of a... well, sappy ballad track (a level that "Fighting" managed to avoid). A ballad that's not crappy, but definitely nothing special. "Spanish Blue" brings the album back up from the mediocrity of "Time Passed Me By" with a creative, varied mixture of sounds and styles (akin to "All-Right All-Night", only slightly more varied). A track that brings the album to a respectable light. "Fool on the Planet" is yet another creative track with explores a spacey, ballad-like sound, while maintaining a respectable amount of musical talent. The aura that is created with the song is impressive in itself, with the amount of emotion and sheer musical development within the track. Needless to say, yet another one of the album's brightest moments. The album then closes off with "Here, There & Everywhere", which, essentially, emulated a sound that many bands of their day were trying to accomplish. Full of brief keyboard stabs, a bubbly bassline and a bareboned drum sample, "Here, There & Everywhere" is a song which brilliantly captures the Japanese new wave movement of the mid-late 1980's, which TM Network happened to be the poster-boys of. A well done track, and a satisfying close to the album.
In short, "Self Control" manages to tackle and break down various barriers (as did their other earlier spectacles), but got dulled down with the sheer amount of mainstream friendliness which can kill any promising album. Despite "Self Control" not being their best work by any means, it still ends up being a worthy listen, as it captures the style of Japanese new wave at its peak. A great album, just not their best.
