"BGM" by the Yellow Magic Orchestra is the greatest electronic pop album ever.

Exactly how popular are YMO in Japan itself? Cult hit? Mondo pop band?

Solid State Survivor was the best selling album in Japan in 1980 (over a million copies if you combine LP and cassette sales), Multiplies and Public Pressure also topped the charts that year so they were pretty big then. BGM and Technodelic, however, were commercial suicide in comparison but still peaked at no. 2 and 4 respectively in the Oricon album charts. Their only singles that got in the top 10 were Technopolis (9), and Kimi ni Mune Kyun (2) which was a pretty big success. They played in Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on several occasions in 1980 and 1983, this was probably the biggest venue in the country at the time (it's where The Beatles played in 1966).

Gah, and here I thought no one would respond! Excellent comments and recommendations, guys. I've gotta finally track down Ippu-Do's stuff. I've read a lot about them but for some reason have never actually heard them. Time to remedy that.

Maybe a tough proposition: Name some good post-1984 YMO-related stuff.

i think ryuichi sakamoto's album Beauty from 89 (90?) is pretty nice. "We Love You" is a rolling stones song with robert wyatt and brian wilson singing on it

http://robotsinheat.com/temp/We%20Love%20You.mp3

Have a mix:

http://mysterydriver.tumblr.com/post/798385856/ymomix1

^ awesome. thanks

http://rootstrata.com/rootblog/?p=3706

Fairlights, Mallets and Bamboo- Fourth-world Japan, years 1980-1986
By Spencer Doran

Haruomi Hosono – “Down to the Earth“ from Mercuric Dance
Ryuichi Sakamoto – “A Rain Song” from Esperanto
Mkwaju Ensemble – “Ki-Motion” from Ki Motion
Haruomi Hosono – “Air Condition” from Philharmony
Mariah – “Shisen” from Utakata no Hibi
Yasuaki Shimizu – “(Untitled Pieces for Bridgestone)” from Music for Commercials
Mkwaju Ensemble – “Lemore” from Mkwaju
Seigen Ono – “Mallets” from Seigen
Masahide Sakuma – “WINDOWS/Hi!!” from Masahide Sakuma
Geinoh Yamashirogumi – “Agba’a” from Africa Genjoh
Yasuaki Shimizu – “(Untitled Piece for Tachikawa)” from Music for Commercials
Danceries – “Grasshoppers” from End of Asia
Phew – “Closed” from Phew
Haruomi Hosono – “Windy Land” from The Endless Talking
YMO – “Loom” from BGM

Very nice, thanks.

Brilliant mixes, many thanks!

yeah thanks alll

Corey, did you notice that Ryiuchi Sakamoto is playing the Vic in October?

Thank you for listening! Can't wait to listen to that Jaxon mix!

it's not actually my mix. just found it.

i actually was forwarded your ymo mix from a non ilxor the other day (although he is friends w/dan and jeremy). thought it was pretty cool

Corey, did you notice that Ryiuchi Sakamoto is playing the Vic in October?

No! I'm gotta see that.

err, gonna.

Really digging Miharu Koshi's "Tutu" right now, thanks for the recommendation.

Also really enjoying the first two Logic System albums. Great stuff! Now if I could find those Interior and Testpattern records...

Now I'm trying to find Koshi's "Boy Soprano". Any kind soul want to help me out? ;)

^^ Found it — and just listened to Yano's "Ai ga nakucha ne". So good!

Hey, very interesting thread and Spencer I love that Fairlights mix you made - I actually found it on waxidermy originally.

A little request: would anyone be able to up Koshi's Boy Soprano? Or let me know where to find a link? Because I can't find it *anywhere* and I listened to the one song that's on youtube about 10 times today.

I found it on s0uls33k, if you're not averse to that...

Oh I see now that the Fairlights mix-maker wasn't the dude who posted it. Still a wicked mix, though.

Thanks I'll try s**ls**k again, I tried using it in the past but something wouldn't work for me.

Good thread! I recently got into this album again, my review is on my YMO page here:

http://www.listology.com/jamool/story/yellow-magic-orchestra

I gave it 4.5/5. Although listening further I may just give it the perfect rating. So much depth on that album and some truly haunting pieces. Side 2 is as good as the side 2 of their debut. Really a must-own synth album for any New Wave fans.

jay vee- any chance for a tracklisting on that ymo mix? been listening to it quite a bit lately, good stuffs

it appears to be down

Yikes. Don't know about a tracklisting but would be happy to id any couple of trax for you. I had the mix up for about a month and took it down as soon as I noticed no d/l's. I can Sendspace it for anyone interested.

Chicago DJ Boo Williams dropped 'Computer Games' into a set of mostly deep house at a party I went to on Saturday in London, and it still sounds amazing on a loud system - the crowd lapped it up :-D

I used to have several YMO tracks on my DJ lists. "Firecracker" (the one usually labelled as "Computer Games") is one. "Rydeen" and "Technopolis" are other good ones. There is a Takkyu Ishino (Denki Groove) mix of "Technopolis" that is just ace, brings the house down. Lately I have been trying to mix "Pure Jam" into different things, very great track that's very 90's even though it was released in '81. Great stuff.

Fastnbulbous: Xoo Multiplies is definitely worth seeking out if you have a particularly dry sense of humor. It's kind of a comedy album and the two sketches in English are very funny. Song-wise it's mostly very good. Their cover of "Tighten Up" is a classic. One of my top ten YMO tracks. It's quite hilarious as well in it's own way. I love how after the comedy sketch, one of the Snakeman Show guys says, "Here we go.....again" and the song starts up for a third time.

A word of caution though; make sure you get the Japan release. AFAIK Solid State Survivor wasn't released in the US at first so the US version of Xoo Multiplies is kind of a combination of the two albums, dropping all of the comedy sketches and other unique material. I guess they figured U.S. audiences wouldn't understand it (probably a good call).

but for the audiences that love them, there's the full length album: Snakeman Show Presents Melon and Exotic Sounds Of Watermelon - "Pithecan Thropus Erectus Strike Back", particularly the track "International Dance"

I have that one; it's pretty good. A real trip, too. Their version of "Fly Me To the Moon" is one of the most bizarre things I've ever heard.

Here's a neat discovery: on both sides of BGM, tracks 1-4 are all 4:32-4:35 in length, and 5 is 5:21-5:23. I think that might explain why some of the tracks seem to cut off abruptly. Cool

Listening to the "World Tour 1980" two-disc set — so great!

Can't believe I'd never heard it before, glad I checked the thread...the tracklist is quite interesting, heavy on early Sakamoto stuff, quite a few cover tunes, with Akiko Yano, I think there's a Sandii cover (or is it Sheena?), even a bizarre Beatles cover, and some things that I can't identify ("Maps"). I really dig the cover of "Kang Tong Boy" though I've never heard the original. Even the YMO tunes seem to get overhauled. It's a lot different from the Public Pressure/Faker Holic sets (which I also liked a lot).

Coming to the Hollywood Bowl in September!

At least, this is probably the greatest YMO album ever, although the first two are also great.

Sadly, I feel like a bit too many of the others are being dragged down in quality by way too much Japanese dialogue between the songs. I would guess they would make more sense to Japanese people though.

XP wait waht?

Whoa really?? Are they just going the one US date or are they going on some kind of tour!?

XXP the only one that really gets "dragged down" is Service, but you can just skip the Japanese dialogue bits or program them out. A few of the comedy bits Xoo Multiplies are in Japanese but they're short and actually kind of amusing by themselves. AFAIK almost all of their lyrics are in English besides a couple of songs like "Kimi Ni Mune Kyun"

http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/tickets/performance-detail.cfm?id=4529

Cibo Matto in support too, I'm jealous

Wow really really hope they are doing more US dates. I mean YMO is on a short list of bands that completely shaped my tastes in music, Hosono is particular is like a God to me, and I'm going to miss it? No way! "Additional artists to be announced"? Sounds like a hell of an evening...

A few of the comedy bits Xoo Multiplies are in Japanese but they're short and actually kind of amusing by themselves.

Judging from the amusing English language dialogue in the beginning, I would guess they may be amusing. But I don't understand them.

And with a playtime of less than 30 minutes, there is little music left on "Xoo Multiplies", although what little music is on the album is usually brilliant. Still more of an EPs worth of music than an album though.

But sure... "Japanese are crazy! Japanese are monkeys! Japanese are PIGS! Do you understand?" "No."

I actually searched for more Snakeman Show material hoping to find something else like those two English bits. I didn't really find anything quite like it but I did find this album which was quite interesting:

http://www.discogs.com/Snakeman-Show-Pithecan-Thropus-Erectus/master/288369

All around bizarre album but my favorite thing on it is this weird karaoke version of "Fly Me To The Moon" that strategically bleeps out words to make it sound a lot dirtier than it actually is. Then during the instrumental parts there's this ominous voice that interviews couples on their sex life, with lines like "when you last fuck?" and "would you like a blowjob?"

I've really come around to this album recently, I always thought it was one of their weaker efforts but I think it's just the hardest of their albums to get into. I'm really glad this thread persuaded me to give it another go. I'd now rank BGM as my third favourite album of theirs behind Naughty Boys and Solid State Survivor.

http://www.goldenvoice.com/shows/details/?id=31801&CFC=AEGLIVE_CYELLSFO062711AEG001

SF, The Warfield, June 27

Are they playing anywhere else in the US? Can't find that info

Ah jeez, could have just looked upthread, more CA dates, cool

just one more...

can they play anywhere that's not in CA?

whoa. when i interviewed ryuichi sakamoto five years ago in new york, he told me that YMO would never reunite.

here's the full article i wrote, if you're interested in reading it--it was a feature i wrote for the german magazine groove:

http://www.theoriginalsoundtrack.com/blog/archives/00000615.htm

Listening to "Cue" right now, oddly enough.

So much fun to look up what the YMO guys said about this album.

The gist of Takahashi's comments: "Look, the first thing to keep in mind about BGM was that the Professor was in a DARK place."

And Hosono's: "Okay, what you need to keep in mind about BGM was that the Professor was NOT doing okay for a while there."

And the Professor's: "Fuck, man, I was in a dark place. I was not doing okay for a while there."

who's the professor?

Sakamoto I'd figure from process of elimination

In the late 70s, the other members of Yellow Magic Orchestra had called him the Professor, a jokey nickname that contrasted Sakamoto’s intellectual bearing with his unwanted role as the group’s main heart-throb.

Right, it's Sakamoto, sorry! I live in China and the nickname is so prevalent and beloved here, in Japanese and Chinese sources it's rare to see Sakamoto called by name -- to this day, in interviews, Hosono still calls him "kyouju," professor. Fans and interviewers too. And everyone always seems to say it so sweetly. It's endearing, and contagious.

Album is not pop. Says so right on the label

I made this post over a decade ago, sue me!

This is super niche, but you don't see interviews with Peter Barakan very often.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E54rNB0RWHs

Ooh nice! I find Peter Barakan a very comforting presence, his NHK show is a go-to when I want to watch something cosy.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/japanologyplus/

Stumbled across that recently, definitely worth a listen!