Yellow Magic Orchestra -- Technopolis（テクノポリス）

 

Well, perhaps this is a first! Usually when it comes to commemorating anniversaries for certain lauded kayo here, I've found myself a few days to a few weeks late. For example, I was almost three weeks late to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Yellow Magic Orchestra's amazing "Rydeen" earlier this year.

This time around, I'm unfashionably early for YMO's "Technopolis" which was actually the band's debut single released on October 25th 1979. That's right...it's going to be 41 years old in 16 days. Feel free to get those famous words out of your system:

 T-E-C-H-N-O-P-O-L-I-S...TOKIO, TOKIO!

Now, I already gave some description about "Technopolis" back in 2012 when I wrote about the album that it was placed on, "Solid State Survivor", which became the No. 2 album for 1979. However, I never gave my full feelings on the melodic love letter to Japan's capital by YMO member Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）. I realize that "Rydeen" will probably be the YMO song that fans will gravitate to first (and I'm a huge fan of it as well), but "Technopolis" is also one of the trio's trademark tunes. After Sakamoto through his vocoder intones his first pair of "TOKIO", the synth melody flows in with an air of mystery and deep wonder as images of gleaming towers rise up and as we the listeners/tourists go further into the titular technopolis, all sorts of incredible architecture suddenly surround us like a 2xth-century utopia. There's also that high-pitched oscillating synth which sounds like a police warning and a welcoming herald into Tokyo.

Some of the interesting trivia that I gleaned from the J-Wiki article for "Technopolis" is that in creating this song, he researched and analyzed a number of Pink Lady songs (!) and reconstructed them to see if he could come up with something that would sell as a "Tokyo kayo". YMO bandmate Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）commented in an issue of "SWITCH" magazine via the J-Wiki article stated that The Professor constructed "Technopolis" under the assumption of prolific composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）being asked to create a YMO song...and that's why it became a hit.

During that turning point in my life which was represented by my 1981 summer trip to Japan, I didn't hear "Technopolis" or "Rydeen". However, on listening to "Firecracker" back in Toronto and then a cool technopop version of Vivaldi's "Spring" at the Toshiba Science Centre, I knew that I had to get a YMO audiotape, and I did end up purchasing their first album in Osaka (which didn't have either "Technopolis" or "Rydeen" to my disappointment, but how was I to know?). Still, I could only imagine how much more excited about technopop I would have gotten if Sakamoto's creation had entered my ears during my first five days in the capital.

Another reason that I'm writing this article tonight is that, like "Rydeen", a number of other technopop groups over the decades have provided their own take on "Technopolis".

During my time in Japan, for instance, I bought "YMO REMIXES TECHNOPOLIS 2000-01" which came out in November 1999 and consists of remix versions of the Orchestra's songs by those groups. One is "Technopolis (The Readymade - Darlin' of Discotheque Track)" provided by Yasuharu Konishi（小西康晴）of Pizzicato Five fame. It took me a while to figure out his angle, but then I figured out that it was a particularly intense surf rock layer over the original Sakamoto melody. Frankie and Annette and all of their beach blanket bingo buddies would be doing The Swim together at a rave to this one.

It goes to show that you can't stop at one peanut since a sequel album was released, "YMO REMIXES TECHNOPOLIS 2000-00" the following year. This time, it's Denki Groove's（電気グルーヴ）"Technopolis (Denki's Techtropolis-RMX)". To be honest, I wasn't initially a fan of this version since it consists of certain phrases from the song being repeated over and over but then over time, it's gotten to grow on me. Basically, I would be doing the full dance to Konishi's remix (don't imagine that please) but nodding my head or shifting my shoulders most intensely to Denki Groove's take.

Ah, by the way, the bad news is that I believe that both albums have the dreaded haiban status but perhaps you may be able to find copies through auction.

Several years ago, I discovered this video on YouTube by Orengedenki, aka Hiroshi Oikawa. He has been specializing in covers of YMO songs and although I don't think that he has ever released anything on CD or streaming, he has put out a lot of content through his YouTube channel. Also known as Orange Magnetic Orchestra (OMO), his version of "Technopolis" has some more bongo-esque percussion, a bit more spaciness in parts and some rearrangement here and there. I also have to give my compliments to the video which was released in 2010...nothing like West Shinjuku including Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to show off a modern megalopolis.

Since I'm subscribed to his channel, I've also got to show Chick Norman's "The Dark Prison Mix" of "Technopolis". Y'know, if there were ever a Hollywood thriller movie set in Tokyo, this would be the version that I would love to have rolling during the snazzy end credits sequence.

In finishing, I've been reading the comments underneath the videos about how either "Technopolis" or "Rydeen" ought to be performed at the Tokyo Olympics' Opening Ceremonies, provided that they will indeed take place in 2021. I'm good with either one if Yellow Magic Orchestra is invited to come up on stage at the Olympic Stadium. But I also have to admit that I would love to see Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）come back to perform "TOWN" as well.