Tokio Yeah! (Tarantura TCDP-2)
Nanko Sun-Plaza, Tokyo, Japan – February 15th, 1980
Next to You, So Lonely, Walking On The Moon, Message In A Bottle, Roxanne, Can’t Stand Losing You, Landlord, Born In The 50’s, Interview with Stewart Copeland
The source for this show was an FM broadcast of the second concert The Police ever played in Japan. In general, the sound quality is excellent, with just the right balance of band and audience. The boys sound relaxed and are very much in synch. This is a very enjoyable disc to listen to, except for the startling and inexplicable change in audio which occurs briefly during “Walking On The Moon” (lasting about one second), again during most of “Message In A Bottle” (lasting about three and a half minutes), and again briefly during “Roxanne” (about four seconds). During these changes, the treble suddenly becomes much more pronounced and the bass drops. It is not known whether this was a problem with the FM broadcast itself, or merely the source used by Tarantura.
The other problem with this release is that it includes only half of the concert. Although this is the first silver CD ever released, copies of the entire show have circulated for years. Apparently, the concert was broadcast in two parts over two successive weeks. This disc includes only the first week’s broadcast. Furthermore, the show was not broadcast in order. The actual order of the concert was:
Next to You, So Lonely, Walking On The Moon, Hole In My Life, Deathwish, Fall Out, Truth Hits Everybody, Bring On The Night, Visions Of The Night, Message In A Bottle, Peanuts, The Bed’s Too Big Without You, Roxanne, Can’t Stand Losing You, Landlord, Born In The 50’s, No Time This Time
The underlined songs were broadcast the first week and are included here. The remaining songs were apparently broadcast the second week and are not present. As a bonus, Tokio Yeah! includes as its final track an interview with Stewart Copeland, which disappointingly consists of only two questions.
It is puzzling that Tarantura would release a CD containing only the first week’s broadcast, which is only half of the concert. It would have been much better if they had issued a 2CD set including both weeks’ broadcasts, with the songs edited back into their original order. Given the quality of the broadcast and the band’s amazing performance, such a release would have been a true treasure – perhaps even rivaling the legendary February 22nd, 1981 show in Melbourne, Australia (best preserved on Evolution 1 and 2 on Golden Stars WPCD 1085 and 1086).
Clearly it would be best if Tarantura went ahead and released another CD containing both weeks’ broadcasts, edited appropriately. While such a release would make Tokio Yeah! superfluous, it is the only approach which makes sense. If Tarantura intends only to release another single CD of the 2nd week’s show, we will be left with two separate CDs which together contain the entire concert, but which are hopelessly out of order. Such an approach will not satisfy any fan.
