Oil On Canvas is a live album by the English band Japan, released in June 1983, six months after the band had broken up. It became their highest charting album in the UK, peaking at number 5: Japan (national chart, 11), No. 1 on the overseas artists chart.
The live tracks on the double album were taken from the band's performances at the [l264367] in November 1982, during their final live concert tour. With guitarist [a226515] having left the band in 1981, Japanese session musician [a58970] was added to the line-up on guitar and additional keyboards.
Although marketed as a live recording, the album also contains three new instrumental studio tracks ("Oil On Canvas", "Voices Raised In Welcome, Hands Held In Prayer", and "Temple Of Dawn"), recorded separately by Sylvian, Sylvian/Jansen and Barbieri respectively - the title of Barbieri's track is taken from the novel The Temple of Dawn by [a1563852].
Mick Karn's autobiography later admitted that the tracks were re-recorded in the studio and therefore deemed it not a live album.
Some early single-disc CD editions omit the "Gentlemen Take Polaroids" and "Swing" tracks.
