Plastics - Welcome Back

Those who have only experienced Plastics through their lone Western album release — the English Welcome and its American equivalent, Plastics, an Alex Sadkin-dulled production of inferior remakes of material from the band's first two albums — are missing out on the Japanese quintet's best work.

The original Japanese albums — Welcome Plastics and Origato — are marvelous and well worth finding for fans of extreme kitsch and quirk. Sung in English by Toshio Nakanishi and Chica Sato, the Plastics' ultra-perky art-pop (played on guitar and synth) takes its cues from American culture of the '60s as portrayed by the B-52's and Devo. Jumpy and clever, nervous and zany, the group takes Western ideals of technology and commercialism and makes catchy Asian sport of them. The first album's song titles say it all: "Digital Watch," "Too Much Information," "Robot," "I Am Plastic," "Top Secret Man." (There's also a silly cover of "Last Train to Clarksville"; Origato includes the Plastics' rendition of "Eight Days a Week.") A great, cool, original band that might just as well be from Mars.