Yellow Magic Orchestra - BGM: One of the greatest technopop albums ever?

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I've always been a YMO fan...I think nearly everything they've done is great, but recently I've been blasting this album quite a bit. I cannot believe this thing is 30 years old; there's such a ridiculous amount of technology on it, and you can hear different things depending on the stereo that you listen to it on. Have been listening to it in the car once a week for the past two months and it does not get old. Every track is great in its own right and some of them were ridiculously ahead of their time. Everything seems to take a different approach but it all works. You get great 808 sounds ("1000 Knives"), incredible balladry ("Cue"), fantastic takes on the avant-garde ("Happy End", "Loom"), and a chilling electro-symphony ("Mass"), as well as several things I can't even really identify. Just wondering if anyone else here has heard it; I'm getting into a lot of older technopop music and this, to me, sounds like an all-time classic. It came out in 1980 and to this day does not really sound dated. Anyone else with me???

[Bargo]

Some days the only thing I ever want to listen to is Cue, obsessively, over and over. I kinda love that song way too much.

[BrotherLovesDub]

will put this in my portable and check it out. never heard anything but that 90s disc of remixes.

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

Do it!! Although a few of the 90's remixes were good that disc really doesn't do justice to them. Pretty much all the studio albums were better - they're not really a band that needed to be remixed. In my opinion, they're as good as Kraftwerk, and I'm a huge Kraftwerk fan.

[BrotherLovesDub]

Can you give me a primer/top5 YMO albums to listen to? They have a lot of comps and live albums. What should I start with after BGM?

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

Well, I can just lead you to my YMO page:
http://listology.com/jamool/story/yellow-magic-orchestra

But I'm guessing you don't want to read all that, so I'll make it brief. I don't really even think that BGM is a good first album if you're looking to get into the group because it's kind of off-putting at first. It's one of those albums that gets so much better if you listen to it on a good system. Here's a quick runthrough of their studio albums:

YMO (s/t): Kind of a blend of tropical/exotica and electronica. Kind of gimmicky but the music is actually pretty complex. If you like the "Firecracker" single this is more of the same.

Solid State Survivor: A classic...it's not YMO's best but it's probably the best place to start with them; short, sweet, and three of the songs are absolutely essential. This is their most famous.

Xoo Multiplies: A bizarre, post-modern comedy album with about 20 minutes of actual music, including their bizarre rendition of "Tighten Up". I think it's hilarious but you need to have a very specific (and dry) sense of humor.

BGM: Well, you know how I feel about this one.

Technodelic: Best place to go if you liked BGM; it's a dark New Wave type album not unlike Metamatic or Replicas. Has some really great song material and some killer upbeat tracks, though most of it is depressing. "Pure Jam" is a must-hear because it really sounds like a decade ahead of its time. I'd say this is their 2nd or 3rd best.

Naughty Boys: Really it's just a pure J-pop album with lots of synths. It made them huge for a while but it's not very innovative or original. But it is very enjoyable.

Service: A lot like Naughty Boys, but with comedy bits...this time it's all in Japanese so you can't really understand what is going on...I'd say pass unless you really liked the last album

That covers their main albums...if you check my page there is some later stuff that is really worth checking out. IMO they had a really good run of albums and you should enjoy most or all of them. Even beyond that each member has like a zillion solo albums...the ones that were made concurrently with YMO are all very good, and there are many I haven't heard.

If you want a comp, ideally the 2 disc UCYMO (it's called Ultimate Collection or something) would be the best, it doesn't really have any obvious omissions and shows off every side of the band (obviously). If you want something brief, the one called Kyoretsu no Rhythm is pretty good. It mostly focuses on the technopop side of the group and actually includes some of the great comedy sketches from the Xoo Multiplies album. The downside is that there's a lengthy "megamix" done by some outside producer that kind of eats it, when the album itself seems to leave off a few tracks you'd think would be auto-includes.

Hope this helps...sorry for the novel

[fraser]

I'll make it brief

Nice try :)

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

My YMO article is over 8500 words so...I'm learning

[BrotherLovesDub]

Thanks for the info. Really appreciate it. Will take your advice.