By the mid-70's Queen had become an established and world-famous band, and around this time some other artists began to realise that Brian May had a very distinctive guitar sound, and that it might enhance their recordings if they could get him to play on their records. The first person to nab the guitarist was Eddie Howell, who persuaded May to play on his 'Man From Manhatten' single, although that wasn't that hard as the song was already being produced by band-mate Freddie Mercury, who also played piano and sang backing vocals. The production is so Queen-like that it's almost like 'A Night At The Opera' out-take, and although it received considerable airplay in the UK, just as it was about to take off it was discovered that the bass-player had been working in the UK without a work permit, and the Musicians Union banned further airplay, which effectively killed any chance of chart success. A couple of years later he was asked to perform on Lonnie Donnegan's 'Puttin' On The Style' album, alongside Rory Gallagher, Albert Lee, Peter Banks, Ronnie Wood, and Mick Ralphs, where he added a distinctive solo to 'Digging My Potatoes'. Quartz were a heavy metal band, who had already released their first Tony Iommi-produced album in 1977, and they toured with Black Sabbath to support it. May offered to do his 'Queen' style editing of the song 'Circles', but after several attempts he admitted that he thought the original version with Ozzy Osbourne on backing vocals was still better, and so his contribution was cut from the final mix by Iommi. However, the recording was not dumped, and was resurrected to appear as the b-side to the 'Stoking The Fires Of Hell' single in 1980. When Jeffrey Osborne was recording his second album, May was asked to contribute solos to a couple of the tracks, and this became a fairly regular occurrence, with requests also coming from Billie Squier, Chris Thompson, and Meat Loaf over the next few years. In 1986 May was asked to write a couple of songs in English and Japanese for established Japanese singer Minako Honda, who he had met when she was already a star, even though she was still young enough to have to be chaperoned when she traveled to another country. He quickly wrote 'Golden Days' and 'Crazy Nights', and sent her the demos, and it was arranged for her to come to London to record them. As well as writing the songs, May played most of the instruments on the recordings, and although Minako didn't speak the language, she managed a pretty good English version of both songs. She sadly passed away in 2005, aged just 38. In 1988 May teamed up with band-mate Roger Taylor to add some un-credited guitar to 'Love Lies Bleeding' from The Cross's 'Shove It' album, and in 1989 he again contributed an un-credited solo to 'Self' by Fuzzbox, and when it was released as a single it charted both in the UK and the US. Lastly, for this album, he was invited to help out Holly Johnson with his debut solo album 'Blast', where he added a solo to 'Love Train', which was then released as a single, resulting in a top 5 UK chart placing. You can immediately recognise May's contribution to all of these songs, as his guitar sound is unique, making him one of the UK's best and most well-respected musicians. 
Track listing
01 Man From Manhattan (single by Eddie Howell 1976)02 Circles (b-side of 'Stoking The Fires Of Hell' single by Quartz 1980)03 Digging My Potatoes (from 'Puttin' On The Style' by Lonnie Donnegan 1978)04 Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right (from 'Stay With Me Tonight' by Jeffrey Osborne 1983)05 (Another) 1984 (from 'Signs Of Life' by Billie Squier 1984)06 A Shift In The Wind, Parts 1 & 2 (from 'Radio Voices' by Chris Thompson 1985)07 Golden Days (single by Minako Honda 1986)08 A Time For Heroes (single by Meat Loaf 1987)09 Love Lies Bleeding (She Was A Wicked, Wily Waitress) (from 'Shove It' by The Cross 1988)10 Self! (from 'Big Bang' by Fuzzbox 1989)11 Love Train (from 'Blast' by Holly Johnson 1989)
If Big In Japan are remembered for anything, it's the fact that they were a supergroup in reverse, with all the members going to to much greater things when the left the band. Coming from the same Merseyside scene which would produce Echo & the Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, OMD, and Dalek I Love You, Big In Japan started off playing gigs around Liverpool, alongside bands like Wah! Heat, but will always be predominantly associated with Eric's Club. Their stage show was unique: lead singer Jayne Casey would perform with a lampshade over her shaved head, guitarist Bill Drummond played in a kilt and bassist Holly Johnson performed in an overtly flamboyant manner. The group was originally the idea of Deaf School's Clive Langer, his friend Bill Drummond (guitar, vocals), Kevin Ward (bass, vocals) and Phil Allen (drums), and they formed the band in May 1977, playing only three gigs, the first of them at Bretton Hall College, in Yorkshire. In August the line-up expanded to include Jayne Casey (vocals), Ian Broudie (guitar) and Clive Langer (guitar), who quit in September, just after the band recorded their eponymous first song, which appeared on the 7" single compilation 'Brutality, Religion And A Dance Beat'. In October, Ambrose Reynolds joined to replace Ward who then left that December, with Reynolds himself quitting shortly afterwards to be replaced by Holly Johnson. In January 1978, Budgie (previously in The Spitfire Boys and later a member of The Slits and Siouxsie and the Banshees) replaced Allen on drums, and in early June, Johnson was sacked and was replaced by ex-Deaf School bassist Steve Lindsey, who was in turn replaced in July by Dave Balfe (previously of Dalek I Love You).Hatred of the band reached such a level that a petition calling on them to split up was launched by a jealous young Julian Cope, and after being displayed in local record shop Probe Records, the petition gathered numerous signatures, including those of the band themselves! According to Cope's autobiography, Bill Drummond was into the whole thing and told Cope that if they got 14,000 signatures then the band would split up. They got about nine. They did eventually split up of their own accord after a last gig at Eric's on 26 August 1978. During their short career Big in Japan made just four studio recordings, which were later included on the 'From Y to Z and Never Again' EP, and was released to pay off debts, as well as a session for the John Peel show in 1979 with a line-up of Casey, Broudie, Johnson and Budgie. To show the extraordinary membership of the band, the full line-up is:Clive Langer (ex-Deaf School, later of Clive Langer And The Boxes, and famed producer)Bill Drummond (later of The KLF and founder of Zoo Records) Kevin Ward (later designer of artwork for many Liverpool bands)Phil Allen (is the brother of Enrico Cadillac Jnr, lead singer of Deaf School)Holly Johnson (later of Frankie Goes to Hollywood)Ambrose Reynolds (later of Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Pink Industry)Jayne Casey (later of Pink Military and Pink Industry)Ian Broudie (later of The Lightning Seeds, and famed producer)Budgie (later of Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Creatures, and The Slits)Steve Lindsey (ex-Deaf School, later of The Planets)Dave Balfe (ex-Dalek I Love You, later part of Lori & The Chameleons, and founder of the Zoo and Food Record labels)
Ironically, the band never performed or released any music in Japan.
Track listing
01 Big In Japan (from 'Brutality, Religion And A Dance Beat' split single 1977) 02 Society For Cutting Up Men (previously unreleased 1977)03 Nothing Special (from the 'From Y To Z And Never Again' EP 1978)04 Cindy And The Barbie Dolls (from the 'From Y To Z And Never Again' EP 1978)05 Suicide A Go Go (from the 'From Y To Z And Never Again' EP 1978)06 Taxi (from the 'From Y To Z And Never Again' EP 1978)07 Don't Bomb China Now (John Peel session 1979)08 Goodbye (John Peel session 1979)09 Suicide High Life (John Peel session 1979)10 Match Of The Day (from 'Street To Street - A Liverpool Album' 1979)
