Yellow Magic Orchestra -- Shadows on the Ground

Yup, sure wasn't expecting to see this scene until late December or early January at the earliest. But indeed, this was just some days ago on November 12th. Still, considering that the annual Santa Claus Parade is tomorrow and that it heralds the unofficial start to the Xmas season here in Toronto, I guess this would be the desired state (maybe some more snow coming here this coming Monday).

Just the atmosphere for this particular song by Yellow Magic Orchestra, "Shadows on the Ground" from their December 1983 album, "Service". Heck, even the month of November is given a shout out right from the get-go as (who I assume is) drummer Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）sings about falling head-over-heels for a woman and perhaps heading for some uncertain future. The shadows are indeed getting longer on the pavement here.

Interesting notes from the J-Wiki article for "Service" when it comes to this particular track which was created by Takahashi and keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）with Peter Barakan helping out the all-English lyrics. Apparently, according to bassist Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, he was once told that "Shadows on the Ground" was reminiscent of Steely Dan's material. Not quite sure on that myself since I've been a fan of that band in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and I quite can't hear any Dan in there. Then one line down, Sakamoto himself conceded that there may have been a bit of the late German arranger-composer Claus Ogerman's influence circa late 70s getting mixed in. But I had never heard of Ogerman until I started thinking about writing this article, so if anyone else has better insights about him and his connection with "Shadows on the Ground", by all means, let me know. BTW, you can take a listen to the Miku Hatsune（初音ミク）cover below.

For me, the first time I heard "Shadows on the Ground" was through YMO's performance in concert, and my initial impression was how rich and melodic it sounded when compared to some of the harder techno the guys were playing during that set. I guess, in a way, it reminded me of the earlier YMO discography when Takahashi, Sakamoto and Hosono were filtering a few of those older genres such as surf rock and exotica through the computer filters.

There's something slightly tropical nightclub and AOR about this one, and whenever I hear it now, I can't help but feel that this could have been included in the soundtrack for either "Ocean's Eleven" or "Ocean's Twelve" by Steven Soderbergh considering the mix of songs that he had included on those soundtracks.

As for "Service", YMO's 8th album managed to peak at No. 5 on Oricon. It also includes the poignant "Perspective".