I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
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.
For the longest time up to around university, I was a regular purchaser of "MAD" and "Cracked" satirical magazines since I enjoyed especially reading the parodies of TV shows and movies. Of course, the mascot for "MAD" was Alfred E. Neuman, the redhead goofball with his favourite saying "What, me worry?".
It does make me wonder whether Yellow Magic Orchestra drummer, singer and songwriter Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）had been a "MAD" fan himself since his 4th album from June 1982 was titled "What, Me Worry?". However, his visage on the cover looks far more serious and less fancy (or thought) free.
The last time I had Takahashi up on the byline by himself was back in 2023 when I posted his giddy "Kanashiki Blue Colour Worker"（悲しきブルーカラーワーカー）. That was just after hearing of his untimely death on January 11th that year. This time around, I have his track "Disposable Love" from "What, Me Worry?" which is more contemplative yet whimsical at the same time. Written and composed by Takahashi with Peter Barakan also helping out on the lyrics, it seems the man in this story is wrestling in his mind whether the ardor he's had for someone was real or imagined. Sounds like the premise for a sci-fi flick.
On vocals, Takahashi is helped out by singer and producer Tony Mansfield. On the Wikipedia article for the album, he's been listed for his backup vocals, but I think his contribution was more than that, so I'm treating "Disposable Love" as a duet. As for the album itself, it reached No. 35 on Oricon.
Considering the lyric analysis that will soon be shown below, I'm surprised that Yellow Magic Orchestra's"Gradated Grey" was never used for an ending scene of a particularly gritty thriller drama. A track from the band's November 1981"Technodelic" LP, this was written by Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and Peter Barakan with Hosono also taking care of the melody.
When it comes to my own personal adventure with the music of YMO, I've divided their discography into two halves. The first half, which is the one that I've preferred, happens to be the songs from the early years in the late 1970s with songs like "Firecracker" and "Rydeen" when the guys were enjoying filtering various music genres through the wonders of synths and emulators. Meanwhile, the second half which continued from the early 1980s seemed to be the band's flight of fancy into pure artistic techno and less of the pop. For me, it was OK but some songs never grabbed me.
"Gradated Grey" is one song that seems more into the avant-garde part although I think it's still approachable. There is that feeling of waking up in a haze of uncertainty and possibility with the periodic siren-like blasts. As for the lyric analysis, I will have to give credit to one of the commenters for the above video on YouTube, @kunwarbedi3882, for his summary as follows:
Yellow Magic Orchestra's song Gradated Grey is a melancholic yet hopeful masterpiece that explores the complexities of human emotions and the concept of change. The song starts with a description of the singer's current state of mind while driving and listening to a song that makes him feel uneasy and unsure. As the song progresses, the lyrics talk about how the singer has been through many experiences that have made him see many shades of grey. He has seen sadness, despair, and hopelessness but has also seen beauty and hope.
The landscape that the singer drives through is described as unique and unfamiliar, with shades of grey that he has never seen before. This suggests that the singer is in a transitional phase of life, experiencing new and unfamiliar emotions and situations. However, the song also hints at a sense of hope and anticipation for what is to come. The last line of the song talks about racing towards a point where grey meets white, which could symbolize a new beginning or a fresh start.
Overall, Gradated Grey can be interpreted as a reflection on the complexities of human emotions and the constant evolution of our lives. The song acknowledges the inevitability of change and the importance of embracing the unknown, even if it makes us feel uneasy.
If I'm not mistaken, I think among the three key YMO members, Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）, Hosono is the only one who hasn't gotten himself in front of a camera for a movie or TV show. Try to imagine him in the driver's seat in a movie as he has been driving for many hours, wondering what has befallen him and what is to become of him. I keep thinking that Michael Mann would have to direct this film.
Considering that this is the last day of November, a month that perhaps has that greyness compared to the gold and orange hues of October and the white and red colours of December, "Gradated Grey" seems to be the appropriate entry to end this month of KKP entries. Plus, as hinted in the song, that grey looks to be shifting into something brighter hopefully.
For my last entry for this Friday's edition of Urban Contemporary songs on KKP, I'm going for another track from Kenji Omura's（大村憲司）fourth and final album"Gaijin Heaven". In fact, it's the title track composed by him, and as with its fellow track mate, "Dance Your Way to God", it's quite the funky banger. Double in fact, I swear those horns in the intro must have been lifted from David Bowie's "Let's Dance"!
I was searching a few sites for who was singing "Gaijin Heaven" and at first thought, I had assumed that Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）was providing a guest vocal here but apparently, it's Omura himself behind the microphone. What was not in doubt was the background chorus...Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）! Peter Barakan, who often worked with Yellow Magic Orchestra, was responsible for the lyrics about a foreigner's observations about life in Japan. I was there in the big city between 1994 and 2011 but I wonder sometimes about how life really was for foreign residents in those hedonistic 1980s.
It's an amazing thing about realizing that the huge iceberg representing Japanese popular music not only has a ton of City Pop in the 90% underneath the surface but also a lot of techno kayo. Those guys in Yellow Magic Orchestra really were quite influential.
Case in point: Susan（スーザン）. Her full name is Susan Nozaki, a half-Japanese and half-French singer, actress and TV personality. I only found out about her last night but it seems during the midst of her time on television going into the 1980s, she had a chance encounter with YMO drummer Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）at a TV studio in 1980 which translated into another opportunity for music (apparently earlier in the 1970s, Susan had been a singer and from the description in her website profile, it looks like it may have been as an aidoru).
A debut album would come out titled "Do You Believe in Magic?" which featured all three members of YMO: Takahashi, Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）among other artists. And then there was the second album "The Girl Can't Help It" in 1981 whose material swung from Motown to New Wave. The final track is the technopop "My Love" with some mightily crashing percussion which was written by Takahashi and Peter Barakan with music by Takahashi. Takahashi and Hosono even help out on backing vocals while Susan's feathery vocals fly over the melody line and through the storm of drums.
Part of the reason that I'm posting this particular song is that my friend Scott from "Holly Jolly X'masu" made his first podcast in a while last week focusing on the soundtrack of "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence". The 1983 movie starred David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）with the latter even providing the soundtrack (in fact, Scott points out that a reluctant Sakamoto only joined the cast once director Nagisa Oshima allowed him to score the movie...his very first time to do so). Anyways, if you like, have a listen to the episode through the above link.
Another reason is that I'm still missing The Professor after his passing earlier this year, and it's still a bit of a shock to realize that both he and Bowie have now left this mortal coil. Still grateful though that they also both left a large legacy of music.
I encountered this track from Sakamoto's second original album"B-2 Unit"（B-2ユニット）which was released in September 1980. "Thatness and Thereness" is his first try singing on an album, and as his good friend and YMO bandmate Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）pointed out in a 2011 issue of "Switch" via J-Wiki: "It's not that he's a good singer, and the Professor knows that when he sings, but it's a really good song". (translated by yours truly)
Well, if Takahashi is willing to say that, I can also agree that Sakamoto would never have won any prizes for his vocals, but "Thatness and Thereness" is a contemplative and sumptuous (despite its short time) technopop tune based on one experience with the student movement when he was back in school. Written and composed by The Professor with a co-writing credit given to Yoshitaka Goto（後藤美孝）and translation into English by Peter Barakan, the languid pace of the song makes me wonder whether that scene he had witnessed was so affecting that he saw it in slow motion. The title, which is based on a couple of examples of psychological jargon, adds to my feeling on that possibly very intense memory. Sakamoto also indicated that the song was influenced to a degree by Bertolt Brecht's"The Threepenny Opera" from 1928.
Takahashi himself covered the song (as did many other artists) for the November 2008 2nd album compilation by musician and producer Bajune Tobeta（トベタ・バジュン）, "Aoi Chou"（青い蝶...Blue Butterfly）.
Last night, NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）did feature a short tribute to the great composer and arranger Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）who had passed away almost three months ago. There was some footage of his YMO days with Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）but maybe even 40-year-old technopop was a bit too far out of the show's range on the Shibuya stage to have performed, and admittedly, there are probably some who believe that only the original band could do justice to "Rydeen". Still, it was good to listen to the wistful Christmas mainstay in Japan, "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" and Kiyoshi Maekawa's（前川清）"Yuki Ressha" (雪列車) from 1982, the Mood Kayo singer's debut single as a soloist that was composed by The Professor.
I was looking for something that I could put up by Sakamoto but it's a bit more difficult now since I've already added a lot of his hits with YMO and beyond over the past dozen years of KKP. But I did find a song that probably would have been a little too avant-garde for "Uta Con" but it's perfectly fine here because I do like the cool and wacky. "Broadway Boogie Woogie" hails from his 6th studio album"Mirai Ha Yaro"（未来派野郎...Futurista） which was released in April 1986 and also includes "Ballet Mecanique".
The title "Broadway Boogie Woogie" originated from the 1943 Piet Mondrianpainting of the same name that you see as the thumbnail at the top. Mondrian had been inspired by the grid pattern of the Manhattan streets and the genre of boogie-woogie. In turn, Sakamoto must have been inspired by the painting and came up with this fun and cacophonous techno-boogie to get those Zoot suit guys and flowery-dressed dolls onto the dance floor; according to the J-Wiki article on the album, Sakamoto's "Broadway Boogie Woogie" is a blues-infused rock-n'-roll number.
Another interesting thing about the song is that along with Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）and Bernard Fowler (who provided vocals for "Ballet Mecanique") singing out Peter Barakan's lyrics, Sakamoto got deep into the sampling by hand-picking out certain sentences from "Blade Runner" for a repeated conversation piece. With saxophonist Maceo Parker (who worked with James Brown, Parliament Funkadelic and Prince) providing his input, "Broadway Boogie Woogie" could be the hit song for a Decopunk New York City. Techno jazz was a small thing in Japanese music with folks like Kazuhiro Nishimatsu（西松一博）but this particular song by The Professor is maybe the first example that I've come across which actually could have people cutting up a rug.
In a nutshell, Yellow Magic Orchestra began by filtering its wonderful technopop through genres such as surf rock, exotica and even 1940s adventure soundtracks during its early years in the late 1970s before they decided to take a turn into something harder on the techno part. But then with their May 1983 7th album"Uwaki na Bokura"（浮気なぼくら...Naughty Boys）, for Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）, perhaps the pendulum swung again into something that emphasized the pop side. Maybe the biggest example of that was the track and single "Kimi ni Mune Kyun"（君に、胸キュン）.
One interesting thing is that "Uwaki na Bokura" had a sequel of sorts in the form of an instrumental remix album "Uwaki na Bokura (Instrumental)" that was released later in the year in July. There is one track that has caught my ear, "Chaos Panic". Composed by Hosono, it's a song that is so sweet that I think it could have been made for a kids' variety show, despite the title. Those cascades of synthesizers and emulators could be imitating the children jumping for joy all about in the water park.
However, the first time that I heard this was through the vocalized version which made up the B-side to the single "Kimi ni Mune Kyun". Peter Barakan and Hosono provided the mix of English and Japanese lyrics for singer Takahashi, and it sounds like half of those musical machines were excised to make room for the vocals. Listening to this version, I couldn't help but get some of those Howard Jones vibes for the entire song whereas the late musician and singer Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博） himself sounded like Jones. Apparently, according to the title for the above video, Takahashi's vocal version has yet to be placed on any original album.
I enjoyed visiting shrines and temples in Tokyo such as Senso-ji in Asakusa and Hie Shrine in Akasaka. There is some grand architecture and especially during major holidays, the storefronts leading up to the religious establishments are bustling with happy activity. But for some of those places, I had to show my devotion to the cause by climbing up thousands of stairs. In 2017, when I made my most recent trip to Tokyo, I was happy that there was an escalator installed next to that gray-white slope of stairs on the way to Hie Shrine. Almost 20 years earlier, when I had gone there along with some students-turned-friends on New Year's Day, I almost died from exhaustion halfway up those concrete steps.
Until recently perhaps, stairs were an everyday thing in the megalopolis. Train stations had a ton of those almost as if a final test for tourists to prove their enthusiasm for traveling through the city, but in the last couple of years of my time in Japan, institutions such as Japan Railways and Tokyo Metro decided to give us all a break and finally install escalators and elevators at key points. Even my station, Minami-Gyotoku, got on the bandwagon and had those escalators and elevators built so at least, my two trips back to visit the old neighbourhood didn't have me risking knee breakage anymore.
Well, it is with that then that I introduce "Stairs" by Yellow Magic Orchestra from their November 1981 album"Technodelic"（テクノデリック）. Much like its track mate, "Neue Tanz", "Stairs" has that industrial stripped-down arrangement that probably had the entire album being compared to a release by Kraftwerk. YMO drummer Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）was behind the words and music along with Peter Barakan's help for this mysterious tune which might describe the typical arduous commute in and out of the many train and subway stations. Fellow bandmate Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）took care of the rumbling piano and that haunting echo of an old-time piano midway through the song. In another way, I think "Stairs" might even be paying some tribute to the endless Penrose stairs that I actually saw weaponized in the movie "Inception".
Found out through Twitter earlier today that yesterday (January 17th) was Ryuichi Sakamoto's（坂本龍一）70th birthday so let me wish him a belated birthday, and I certainly hope that he has gotten better since that cancer diagnosis last year. The fact that he has recently worked with Mondo Grosso to get a new song out is perhaps a good sign.
I never heard of The Professor's"Front Line" before. This was his 2nd solo single from April 1981 (following "War Head") and the first thing that I noticed was how the opening rhythm reminded me a little of Yellow Magic Orchestra's"Tong Poo"（東風）through a synthesizer with Southeast Asian ideas. With the original lyrics, melody and arrangement by Sakamoto, the English lyrics were made by YMO associate Peter Barakan. The J-Wiki article also mentions that fellow YMO member Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）is on the drums.
With all affection and admiration for this amazing musician, I think that he has been a far more effective songwriter than a singer, but having said that, "Front Line" is another fun synthpop Sakamoto earworm for my memories. In an odd way, this particular single can be a cousin to YMO's "Perspective" (1983) which also had The Professor and Barakan collaborating on it. Whereas the latter had those beautiful older-and-wiser-but-sadder sentiments, "Front Line" seems to have the protagonist from "Perspective" in an earlier period of life as a more optimistic, happier and cockier fellow.
Judging from those "Front Line"lyrics, Sakamoto is a music warrior fully dedicated to the battle and staving off any affections for his lady love until the war is won. If it hadn't been for the express description of the music warrior in the chorus, I would have said that this was the ideal quirky song for any of The Avengers.
Miku Hatsune（初音ミク）gave her own rendition of "Front Line" and yup, I enjoy her vocalization. For those who may not know Peter Barakan, he has been the host for the long-running "Japanology Plus" program on NHK World.
Had a good talk with Rocket Brown of Come Along Radio and Sanok on the Discord City Pop server earlier today and we got onto the topic of the members of Yellow Magic Orchestra along with their own solo projects. I asked them what they would recommend as a good Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）album, and the December 1984"S・F・X" was put out there. One track that was specifically mentioned was the first one, "Body Snatchers".
Now, when I hear the expression body snatchers, I can only think of the famous 1956 sci-fi movie starring Kevin McCarthy, the 1978 remake with Donald Sutherland and Leonard Nimoy, and then that horrible (rather than horrifying) remake in 1993 with Meg Tilly that some of us saw in the theatre; did want my money back after that one.
However, I gather that true to the album title, Hosono had wanted to go for a similar theme with the track titles starting with the first song "Body Snatchers". The musician, though, also imbued the story of "Body Snatchers" with a similar plot thanks to Peter Barakan's translated lyrics of a woman who has beauty and perhaps the ability to take you over body and soul. Shades of Hall & Oates'"Maneater".
As is the case with the other 5 tracks on "S・F・X", Hosono took care of the composition, and "Body Snatchers" seems to be a tour de force love letter to the 1980s 12" dance remix single with all of the bells, whistles, stutters and scratches that a DJ/remix artist could muster up from his/her bag of tricks. I can also hear some influences from Herbie Hancock's"Rockit" and perhaps even some New Order. There were some special guests providing their voices along with the main one by Hosono. Barakan supposedly contributed his voice along with those of Makoto Kubota（久保田麻琴）, Sandii, and photographer Curtis Knapp.
The album peaked at No. 35 on Oricon, and "S・F・X" was Hosono's first post-YMO album. "Body Snatchers" at least, despite all of the electronics and synths involved, doesn't really sound like a YMO piece.
The late musician-songwriter Kenji Omura（大村憲司）has had his presence on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" represented by some groovy City Pop/fusion from the 1970s and then synthpop in the 1980s.
Now, going further into the 1980s, Omura came up with this neat little synthesis of the genres in the opening track "Sleep Song" for his 1983 album"Gaijin Heaven"（外人天国）. The techno bleeps and blops are indeed present as if Yellow Magic Orchestra were helping out in the studio but "Sleep Song" is also propelled by Omura's jangly rasping guitar. At the same time, some of that City Pop groove rears its slick head often enough as well.
For a track called "Sleep Song", this is the type of tune that can be considered to be caffeine for the ears thanks to that combination of the City Pop groove and synthpop swing. Omura took care of the music and lyrics with YMO buddy and radio personality Peter Barakan also helping out on the lyrics. "Gaijin Heaven" was Omura's 4th and final original album.
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".
First and foremost, I've always associated Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）as one part of the amazing Yellow Magic Orchestra. It wasn't until much later that I discovered that the bassist-songwriter had also been part of another legendary band Happy End and had owned his own successful career for several years through some eclectic music between those two gigs. Of course, post-YMO, Hosono managed to keep the music going.
I have to quote this one fellow on YouTube, mikkabouzu, who commented on hearing "Sports Men", a quirky earworm from his 6th original album"Philharmony"（フィルハーモニー）which came out in May 1982. He said that listening to the song and Hosono, he felt that it was akin to "...a drunk Lou Reed crossed with New Order, through a Japanese accent filter". Before coming across that comment, I was going to say Bob Dylan, but I will go with mikkabouzu.
As I said, "Sports Men" is quite the infectious tune especially with Hosono bleating "Twitching, probing, twitching, probing". It's an innocent butterfly of a song that was written and composed by the fellow with Giles Duke and Peter Barakan also contributing to the lyrics.
Dang! Country music version as well? Amazing! Anyways, when I hear this, I think that the original version should be placed in some Hollywood comedy in which the main character, an overweight schlub, is desperately and comically trying to lose the pounds through some exercise montage. Another commenter even stated that "Sports Men" ought to be used as the official anthem for the 2020 Olympics. Fat chance (no pun intended) but I could imagine it being used as background music by one of the official broadcasting stations around the world. NBC? CBC? NHK?
This is another track...in fact, it is the first track....from Yellow Magic Orchestra's"BGM" album (1981). "Ballet" was written by YMO drummer Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and current media personality Peter Barakan with Takahashi also providing the music.
Not as much of a fan of this number as I am with some of the other tracks on "BGM" such as the cool and percolating "U.T.", but it still leaves an impression. My imagination has woven, especially from the intro, an absinthe-driven haze in a smoky German cabaret from the 1920s...with banks of synths. The J-Wiki description had Takahashi saying that his lyrics were inspired by a foggy Warsaw and the Polish painter Tamara de Lempicka (that must have been some absinthe!). I'm not sure if Takahashi had meant to do so, but I keep hearing shades of David Bowie in there for some reason.
Years ago, I bought a VHS tape of a documentary and music videos of Yellow Magic Orchestra, and of course, the usual suspects were in there such as "Firecracker", "Rydeen" and "Kimi ni Mune Kyun"（君に、胸キュン。）. But in between interviews and videos, there were brief interludes with some graphic showing pieces of the YMO timeline since they started up in 1978 along with snippets of their music.
The last or second-last interlude on the tape then featured a tune that I had never heard before. And each line, it started off with "Everyday...". I was rather entranced by the melody and the dreamy vocal that I had assumed was main vocalist Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）.
It wouldn't be for another number of years before I found out that the song here was "Perspective" from YMO's 8th album from December 1983, "Service". Starting off with a definitely un-techno piano accompanied by a synthesizer, "Perspective" goes into a curious and beautiful riff that would make for a lovely song to go with the daily beat of the average worker. The technopop is in there but I think the song is one of their most down-to-earth efforts, so to speak.
Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）wrote and composed "Perspective" with YMO associate Peter Barakan also working on the lyrics. And I believe that is indeed the Professor intoning the actions of the day while the song is moving on. While these actions such as brushing one's teeth and reading the paper might be the usual humdrum activities, putting them to music as YMO have here gives "Perspective" that wistfully comforting sensation...that in a way, it's a blessing to have that humdrum. In fact, Sakamoto mentioned in a Boxing Day interview on a Tokyo FM radio program via the J-Wikiarticle for "Service" that the song was one of the band's favourites.
I found this concert video with Arto Lindsay and Sakamoto performing "Perspective". "Service" peaked at No. 5 on Oricon.
I've got quite a few albums by the amazing Yellow Magic Orchestra but I'm beginning to feel that I ought to also invest in a number of Ryuichi Sakamoto's（坂本龍一）albums as well. His 1978"Sen no Knife"（千のナイフ...Thousand Knives） is one prospect but another is his 1986 "Mirai-ha Yaro"（未来派野郎...Futurista）.
One reason is that it includes a track that I've already covered titled "Ballet Mecanique" that has a couple of more incarnations that will be explained if you go to the article. The other reason is that I recently discovered another snazzy and catchy number called "G.T.".
I figure that Sakamoto who composed "G.T." had some reason to title this song thusly but I haven't found out yet. But then again, there was an earlier YMO hit known as "U.T." back in 1981 and the Spielberg blockbuster "E.T." came out in 1982 so I guess The Professor must have had some sort of grand plan with the second letter "T".
But getting back on the road again, like YMO's "U.T.", "G.T" is another propulsive affair helped along by singer Bernard Fowler (who also sang "Ballet Mecanique"). There is even more of a feeling of a racing car warping around the big city whereas "U.T." always sounded as if the super car were in stealth mode. The "G.T." car is more than happy to show off its colours and sound off its skids. Plus, it's more than likely, it's leading the cops on a merry chase.
This cover version by Jimmy5820 of the live performance on Sakamoto's "Media Bahn Live" is even more kakkoii. Along with Sakamoto coming up with the music, Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）provided the original Japanese lyrics which apparently got translated into the English used here by media personality Peter Barakan（ピーター・バラカン）. But just getting out of the rebel car theme for just a sentence or two, looking at those lyrics, I got the impression that all involved were thinking far bigger ideas such a huge space race around the solar system. And being a "Doctor Who" fan, I couldn't help but feel that there was some foretelling in the words about how Earth's favourite Time Lord and future companions would interact decades later.
"G.T." came out as a single in March 1986 for Sakamoto while "Mirai-ha Yaro" peaked at No. 5. Come to think of it, perhaps I will put "Media Bahn Live" onto the wish list as well.
Finishing up with Barakan, one show that he's been associated with is "Begin Japanology" on NHK-BS which had its run between 2003 and 2013. He's also helped YMO in the past as well through the song "Mass" in their album "BGM".
Well, ever since that magical moment when I first witnessed the official video for Yellow Magic Orchestra's"Firecracker" on the local multicultural channel's "Japanese Panorama" programme around the late 70s/early 80s, the band has been tied into my full-scale dive into the world of Japanese pop music....and therefore, this blog. My first purchase at a record store in Japan was YMO's debut album as an audiotape in 1981, and then it would be a full year before I got another release via my younger brother's graduation trip. During that year, anything that sniffed of computer music on TV, I would automatically think "YMO". In fact, I heard one riff during a commercial on "Sounds of Japan" and swore it was from the band; actually it was the intro to Grandmaster Flash's classic "The Message". Fortunately, I didn't go into complete withdrawal and didn't wear out my first tape into ashes, since I was also discovering how much I was getting into music in general from my country, the States and the UK as well. The Human League, Gary Numan, Pat Benetar, Billy Joel, Al Jarreau, and a list of many others kept my attention fully engaged.
Still, I was ecstatic when my brother returned from Japan in August 1982 and opened up the bag of souvenirs for the family which included three 45" singles from Seiko-chan, Hiromi Iwasaki and Matchy...and the tape whose photo you see above you. My gifts even had an interesting smell of lavender infused into them for some reason...an aroma that didn't dissipate for years. Still, whenever I pass an air freshener somewhere, I instinctively think, "Rydeen" (any immediate friends of the band who are reading this...please don't tell them). In any case, here is "Best One '82".
Side A
1. Behind The Mask 2. Rydeen 3. Jiseiki - Hirake Kokoro 磁性紀～開け心 4. Nice Age 5. Solid State Survivor 6. Cosmic Surfin' 7. Absolute Ego Dance 8. Day Tripper 9. Rap Phenomena 10. Castalia 11. Cue
Side B
1. U.T. 2. Technopolis 3. Citizens of Science 4. Tong Poo 5. Mass 6. Tighten Up 7. 1000 Knives 8. La Femme Chinoise 9. Firecracker
Now, in the J-Wiki article on YMO, this tape (ALC-38001) doesn't seem to show up in the list of their BEST compilations for some reason, although Alfa Records (the band's recording studio at the time) did release "YMO -- Best Selection" in October 1982 which is not my tape.
Now, as the track list above shows, Side A launches with "Behind The Mask". Thanks to my fellow classmate who was with me on the trip to Japan, he fed my YMO habit briefly when his parents held an after-trip party a few months later at their house, and my friend played "Solid State Survivor", the band's 2nd album. Hearing "Behind The Mask" once again several months later was like manna from heaven to my ears. And what a great way to start off the BEST. Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一） composed the song while British poet and lyricist Chris Mosdell created the lyrics. Again, jari has his comprehensive take on what is probably the band's most well-known song internationally.
One of the reasons that I was so hungry for that second YMO album to come into my hands was that as much as I loved the first album, "Yellow Magic Orchestra" always struck me as a prelude to bigger and better things....kinda like how the first "X-Men" film was, compared to "X-Men United". Listening to "Solid State Survivor" at my buddy's place and...much later...discovering that YMO's 2nd album became the top-selling LP of 1980 cemented my theory. "Behind The Mask" was one of the songs responsible for my opinion. And then came "Nice Age"....which is an electro-metaphor for a fire-breathing woman making one too many visits to Shinjuku or Roppongi. The synths sound just as sultry as that doomed lady, and drummer/vocalist YukihiroTakahashi（高橋幸宏）comes across as the hand-mincing pimp/emcee snidely describing her life. Both he and Sakamoto created the melody while Mosdell wrote the lyrics.
Mosdell had a big hand in the band's early creations, and often wrote about how civilization advanced technologically but at the cost of its soul. Sometimes when I listen to "Nice Age", I'm reminded of the robot doppelganger of Maria from the 1927 film "Metropolis" at how she was able to twist men around her metal finger.
As for the female vocal in the refrain for "Nice Age", according to the liner notes for the bigger BEST album, "YMO GO HOME", the singer was Mika Fukui of The Sadistic Mika Band.
Mosdell and Takahashi were also behind the title track from YMO's most successful album, the aforementioned "Solid State Survivor", a song that has a theremin-sounding synth which seems to represent the shiny bastion of a technopolis before Takahashi quickly patters out lyrics stating that not all is wonderful under that gleam. The barely audible phone conversation that happens throughout the song has a creepy feel, especially that laugh near the end.
While the first three songs that I've mentioned have YMO going into New Wave territory, Takahashi's cover of The Beatles'"Day Tripper" sounds like the band's application of synths into various musical genres such as Ventures-style music for "Cosmic Surfin" for their first album. Here, it's Lennon/McCartney territory with the added guitars and Takahashi kinda aiming for The Fab Four vocal style. Strangely enough, YMO's version of "Day Tripper" was the first time I had ever heard the song performed by anyone.
"Rap Phenomena" was the first of the new songs that I hadn't heard prior to getting this tape. Originally from YMO's 5th album, "BGM"(1981), it was written and composed by Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, and as nikala once mentioned in one of her articles, he was never all that strong a singer, and admittedly when I first heard this on the tape recorder, I kinda went "What the...?". Mind you, he was rapping here, but the lyrics about unified fields, corpuscles and a guy named Lamue always made me wonder about this weird entry. It hasn't been included in "YMO GO HOME" and I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't make it onto any other of the band's BEST compilations. Somehow I don't think Grandmaster Flash got too worried about "Rap Phenomena".
The final track on Side A, "Cue" was the 2nd completely new song that I came across, and I think it has fared better than "Rap Phenomena". It also struck me as being about as close to a mainstream New Wave-y pop song that YMO got at the time (before "Kimi ni Mune Kyun"). Hosono and Takahashi were responsible for the lyrics and melody with radio personality/music critic Peter Barakan also helping out with the words. According to the J-Wiki article for the song, it had been inspired by British band Ultravox, although I sometimes wonder how David Bowie would've done with this one. "Cue" was also on "BGM" and even had a single release, the band's 4th in April 1981.
My last track for "Best One '82" is "Citizens of Science" which also came from "Solid State Survivor". It was another Mosdell/Takahashi collaboration with even Mosdell taking part in the vocals. Not surprisingly, the song is about the leaching of all emotion and soul from society. It was likely an indictment of Japanese society back 30 years ago, but it could even be something similar against all 1st-world societies today.
To finish off, I just had to include this feisty Miku Hatsune cover of "Nice Age".
How do I approach talking about an album by Yellow Magic Orchestra? Well, I mean, I have spoken about "Solid State Survivor", YMO's 2nd and most successful album, but sometimes when I come across some of these articles on the Internet lavishing all this praise and all of this technical nitty-gritty about their influence on world music, it can be awfully intimidating. But after musing and brooding, all I can do is just talk about my personal impressions on Messrs. Hosono, Takahashi, Sakamoto and Matsutake. As for the Wikipedia stuff on the album, you can take a look here.
"BGM" is the band's 4th album, released in March 1981. The letters stand for "Background Music", what we would associate as Muzak orelevator music in Canada and the US. Of course, the contents were anything but. The YMO boys always did like their daily dose of irony. I actually only bought the album a few short years ago, but I had first encountered some of the tracks all the way back in 1982 when they were put onto a BEST audio tape of the band which my brother had bought and brought back to me when he came back from his graduation trip to Japan that year. I'd brought back the first self-titled album, also in audio tape format, the year before, so I was rather dying to get that new album.
"Mass" (above) was one of those songs. When I first looked at the title, I wasn't quite sure if the band had named the tune after a religious event or the scientific concept. But after listening to it, it had that eerie-sounding reverence and I could distinctly picture computer-aided design churches being drawn in cyberspace. I could only imagine a YouTube video of the past week's Papal election with this song playing in the background (BGM, indeed). Written and composed by Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, there was also another addition to its creation and voice in the form of Peter Barakan, who is a Tokyo DJ and television commentator still very much a presence on the small screen (plus he also helped in the lyrics). Through his English and Russian intonings, "Mass" gains further gravitas.
If I were to analogize here, I would probably say "BGM" is to a psychological suspense movie as "Solid State Survivor" is to a comedy-action thriller. YMO's 2nd album just seems to have that energy rush and brightness in the synths in tracks like "Rydeen" and "Technopolis". Not to say that the tracks in "BGM" are dirge-like, but there is a bit more of a seriousness to the proceedings; the synths seem to rumble on the ground a lot more here.
I actually already did an article on one of the other tracks, "U.T." some months ago, but still decided that it needed to have its place here....via a great remix version! It's minimalist but I enjoy the urgent pace, and I can finally understand what Hosono and the guys are talking about during the bridge. Hosono also pointed out in the J-Wiki article about the album that it was because of the financial success of "Solid State Survivor" that they were able to do the things they had wanted to do for "BGM".
"Rap Phenomena" was probably one of those things. Back in the early 80s, the only two rap songs that I'd ever heard were "Rapture" by Blondie and this one with Hosono doing the way-out vocals involving Maitreya the Saviour and the Unified Field Theory. Lyrically, I think the album tries to go out and explore some of the more esoteric stuff in the universe. The first track, "Ballet", sounds like an extended haiku, while the aforementioned "U.T." speaks of Ultraterrestrial life....albeit tongue-in-cheek.
This video is for "1000 Knives", a Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一） piece which dates back to the original done in 1978 when Sakamoto had released his first solo album. One of the other notable points about "BGM" is that YMO is the first band to have used "....the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, one of the first programmable drum machines..."(according to the Wiki article), and apparently it's been a good luck charm for a majority of the hits for any Western or Japanese band during the 1980s. For this song, the hand claps are one of the cool effects. And it was obvious through this track and the others that Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏） just LOVED putting the Composer through its paces. When I first heard "1000 Knives" on the tape though, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it....it sounded even more alien than the usual YMO song, especially with that rock synth in the middle.
Here is a 2009 concert performance of "1000 Knives" by YMO. The boys may be older but they are no less cooler. The version here seems to have taken on a fusion feel.
And as a comparison, here is the original "Thousand Knives" by Sakamoto in 1978 from "The Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto". I've only listened to a portion of this video so far but the original seems to have more of that "Asian Exotica" feel and jauntiness to it.
My final video here is for "Camouflage" which I picked out because to me it symbolizes the direction that YMO was starting to head into generally: a more avant-garde and pure techno area without the pop that infused the earlier hits such as "Firecracker" and "Cosmic Surfin'". There is a cooler and more industrial feeling to this one.
"BGM" made it to No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies while it finished the year in the 28th position and sold 275,000 copies. Perhaps it didn't quite hit the heights that "Solid State Survivor" did, but it's no less significant in terms of techno or music in general.
These were the tracks:
1. Ballet 2. Music Plans 3. Rap Phenomena 4. Happy End 5. 1000 Knives 6. Cue 7. U.T. 8. Camouflage 9. Mass 10. Loom
Continuing on with YMO, "Absolute Ego Dance" was never released as a single but was part of the album "Solid State Survivor" when it was released in late 1979. A five-minute blast of techno fun, it mixes in Okinawan and Indian influences (according to the J-Wikipedia write up), and even has a bit of R2-D2. Sandii (of Sandii & The Sunsetz) contributes her speaking-in-tongues.
"Taiso" (Exercise) was a single from the "Technodelic" LP released in late 1981. I think the video helps out with the song since it's so whacked out. If you have ever dreamed of the YMO boys in an exercise informercial...then you've come to the right place. As actors, YMO make great musicians, but at least they're having fun. As for the young lady, I think she was having more than vitamins coursing through her veins. Apparently, the video was influenced by a Talking Heads video, most likely "Once In A Lifetime".
