Gentlemen Take Polaroids
by Japan
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Japan bestography
Gentlemen Take Polaroids is ranked 2nd best out of 10 albums by Japan on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Japan is Tin Drum which is ranked number 2023 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 830.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Gentlemen Take Polaroids on YouTube
Gentlemen Take Polaroids track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Gentlemen Take Polaroids rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  flamingyesdept | Top 42 Music Albums of 1980 | 41/42 | 0 |
| 2026 |  ssteve | Top 32 Music Albums of 1980 | 20/32 | 2 |
| 2026 |  MadhattanJack | Top 100 Music Albums of 1980 | 2/100 | 5 |
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 100 Music Albums of 1980 | 21/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  dihansse | Top 76 Music Albums of 1980 | 15/76 | 4 |
| 2026 |  btener11 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 63/100 | 8 |
| 2026 |  sssvnnn | Top 85 Music Albums of 1980 | 62/85 | 1 |
| 2026 | matterhornrider | Top 76 Music Albums of 1980 | 72/76 | 0 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 100 Music Albums of 1980 | 100/100 | 0 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of 1980 | 42/100 | 3 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 87 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 324 | |||
Gentlemen Take Polaroids collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 43 members
Gentlemen Take Polaroids ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 125 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 05/09/2026 05:17 | matterhornrider | 5,168 | 81/100 |
| ! | 05/07/2026 09:52 |  MetalMan67 | 6,251 | 71/100 |
| ! | 04/25/2026 07:50 | cicadelic | 14,032 | 73/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 8% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.0/100, a mean average of 74.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.8.
Gentlemen Take Polaroids favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 20 members
Gentlemen Take Polaroids forum mentions
Jboy56 01/23/2024 15:28 in What album are you listening to right now? dihansse 09/28/2023 20:46 in My discoveries per yearGentlemen Take Polaroids comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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I love Japan. As someone who cut his musical teeth in the period from 1979-1984, Japan stood out for me as being exactly what I was looking for in a band: they were extremely talented musicians, they (mostly) ploughed their own furrow, and they looked gorgeous! They got a lot of criticism at the time for being "too much like Roxy Music". And yes, you can definitely hear the Roxy elements in their music, and especially in David Sylvian's vocal style. But early Roxy were a great band, and Bryan Ferry a great singer. So what's wrong with a bit of emulation? (Edited)
I think this is their best. It's a consistent album with the freshness of their 'adolescent' years. Best track: 'Taking islands in Africa'.
I had the biggest crush imaginable on David Sylvian in my distant youth. I bought this album after I saw them on TOTP. I really love it. It was so different from anything else at the time and I love every track on the album (especially 'Nightporter' and 'Taking Islands in Africa').
The second best Japan album after, quiet life. It's dark and atmospheric and recorded when the band were at their peak. Great early eighties sounds.
Japan really hit their purple patch with this. Following on from the change in direction from "New Glam" to "Art-Synth Pop" in their Quiet Life album, this nicely expands on that change, and is a suitable forerunner to the sublime Tin Drum.
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