Yellow Magic Orchestra -- LIMBO

 

Just out of curiosity, I threw something into the Yahoo Japan search engine: Any underrated songs by Yellow Magic Orchestra? After all, being a good fan of the legendary technopop band from Japan, I've covered quite a few of their songs throughout the history of "Kayo Kyoku Plus".

Well, luckily enough, I did hit some pay dirt. I'd never covered this first song, "LIMBO", on YMO's "Service", their December 1983 8th studio album. Written and composed by Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）with Peter Barakan also helping out on the lyrics, "LIMBO" is about whether or not to leave the Limbo or not. It may be boring but dependable. The outside world may be unpredictable but exciting and evolutionary.

I've been reading some of the English comments for "LIMBO" underneath the YouTube video, and indeed I did catch the David Bowie feeling in the vocal stylings. YouTuber withblueberry also posits "It's enormously interesting musically. It includes dance music, minimal music, atmosphere of Ambient music, etc. . . and has a contemporary cool sense." Personally, I think the arrangement of "LIMBO" also has that whimsical sense of technopop from that decade, nurtured by YMO, Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）and Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）, and I've got to admit that the bass voice doing all of that slow rap adds an extra layer of intrigue as if enticing reluctant tourists from Limbo with free admission to a dance club.

OK, I have to be honest and admit that a part of me initially had thought that "LIMBO" was all about that other limbo.

Yuki Saito -- ONE

 

In comes March...not like a lion; more like a polar bear. Yes, it's still rather Arctic-looking outside my window but we still have three more weeks of official winter to get through.

Outside of her inclusion in ROY articles and any Author's Picks, Yuki Saito（斉藤由貴）hasn't shown up on KKP for almost a couple of years, so it's nice to begin this third month of 2026 with one of her tunes. And this time, it's a pretty ethereal one. "ONE" launches her 4th studio album "Fuumu"（風夢...Wind Dream） from April 1987.

Sounding like something that should be listened to after having lit up a particularly pungent cone of incense, Saito's voice suits the high-falutin' English lyrics by BANDIT and the near-mystical melody of Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）. She sings about two becoming one in a paradise-like setting. I'm just surprised that no religious figures were mentioned here. 

Another track that was on the album was "MAY" but I'd like to clarify my statements there by saying that "MAY" was actually on the CD version of the album, and not on the original LP, according to the J-Wiki article regarding the album. My apologies on any confusion.