“Blackwater” by Rain Tree Crow

"Blackwater" comes from the only Rain Tree Crow album, released in April 1991, and the new name on the sleeve hides a reunion of the new wave band Japan: David Sylvian, Mick Karn, Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri, working as a four-piece for the first time since 1982. Everything was to be a group composition, so all four share the music credit, with Sylvian writing the words and singing. Karn plays bass, Jansen percussion, Barbieri synthesizer, Sylvian guitar and extra synths, and Bill Nelson sits in on guitar.

The band produced, Pat McCarthy engineered, and Sylvian mixed it with Steve Nye. The name was meant as a clean break with the past, and when the music came out less commercial than planned, Virgin pushed to sell it as a Japan record. The other three were willing; Sylvian dug in, and he won.

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