YMO poll: Sakamoto vs. Hosono vs. Takahashi

what specifically do you like? otherwise I could easily list off two dozen key albums. you looking for more stuff in the YMO vein, or just their best albums in general? or solo albums outside the three members of the group?

YMO's st is essential:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy5XPdyhzfw

this year i have been really diving into this stuff. i really like Haruomi Hosono's Philharmony, it's a nice mix of experimental sounds and synth pop. there is so much to check out, so many side projects. Miharu Koji's Parallelisme (produced by HH) is also wonderful.

Miharu Koji Koshi

That one is excellent, as is Boy Soprano. Very strong Hosono vibes on that one.

Akiko Yano's Tadaima is another favorite of mine. I've come to see it as the Japanese Technopop version of A Wizard, A True Star

I did create a list on RYM that you may find useful:
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/JAMOOL/yellow_magic_orchestra___solo_and_related_albums/

Froggie - I specifically like Japan and David Sylvan's catalog, including Sakamoto collaborations "Bamboo Houses", "Forbidden Colours" and "Heartbeat". I like Sakamoto's "The Last Emperor" soundtrack. I like Yukihiro Takahashi's "Stranger Things Have Happened" EP with Bill Nelson. And I like bits of YMO's "Naughty Boys", and that's pretty much all I've heard from that world. So what do you suggest next?

Thanks for your RYM list, I'll poke through that.

Well, if you don't have all the YMO albums, I'd say get those first. You can maybe skip Xoo Multiplies and Service since those both have a lot of comedy bits on them. Though it doesn't affect the former too much, since some of it is in English. Even still, they're weird. But yeah, all those discs are great. BGM and Technodelic are my favorites.

Sakamoto's "Left Handed Dream" would probably be up your alley. I believe it's got members of Japan and Adrian Belew on it. You can tell he's going for that sound. I think those guys also worked on some of Akiko Yano's albums, though the most Japan-heavy one (Ai ga Nakucha ne) ain't so good. Gohan ga Dekita yo is absolutely classic though.

The three Takahashi solo albums done while he was in YMO (Murdered by the Music, Neuromanic, and What? Me Worry?) are all pretty essential as well. Beyond that you have to pick and choose a bit. That first Beatniks album is pretty good. This track in particular is awesome and all YMO fans should hear it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y-Rvgtgfjk

The Artcontext pages - though they haven't been updated in years - are a concise treasure of YMO-and-related info:http://www.artcontext.com/artskool/jem/yen.html

The three Takahashi solo albums done while he was in YMO (Murdered by the Music, Neuromantic, and What? Me Worry?) are all pretty essential as well.

all three of these are new wave classics, imo. Neuromantic in particular (W?MW? just behind it) is definitely one to check out if you're into YMO

I mean, come on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBFpX2e3thQ

first comment on that is awesome

http://www.djdmac.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/11202017_AY2.jpg

has anyone heard this? the cover has me very intrigued.

nvm of course the full album is on youtube (bless youtube)

one of the greatest album covers of all time, of course

track 5, "Ike Yanagida" is excellent. a real favorite of mine. the rest is not quite so good. to be fair I think a lot of the songs were written when she was 19, before the songs on Japanese Girl. so it's sort of a "second album debut album" sort of thing. Tokimeki (the follow-up) is really good though, always felt that one was a bit underrated (to the extent that Akiko Yano albums get rated here at all)

Miharu Koshi's cover of Telex's "L'Amour Toujours" is perfect

i scored the first two Sadistic Mika Band LPs from ebay. really love this stuff, it's an eclectic mix of glam rock and prog and 70s funk. they were discovered by Roxy Music and produced by Roxy's Chris Thomas. it totally slipped my mind that Yukihiro Takahashi drummed for the band! there are some sick grooves (that massive beat that opens "Silver Child") and hyperactive 50s rock revivals ("Picnic Boogie", "Time Machine").

Akiko Yano's "Gohan Ga Deki Tayo" is a sprawling epic of nearly proggy awesomeness. It's a must listen and, if you see it around, buy on sight.

sorry -- Dekitayo.

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

Ok froggie, I gave Technodelic and BGM a spin and they're ace. Technodelic jumped out at me as a particularly cool and weird combination of Japan, Thomas Dolby and Kraftwerk. BGM is a shade less compelling but still full of interesting stuff. Will review the rest soon!

I ride for Sakamoto’s soundtrack to Wings of Honneamise, specifically the piano shit with all the big octave intervals etc

Oh huh turns out that’s the theme.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=83VoWltZdus

I’ve always sought out Sakamoto’s stuff. He’s profilic but very hit or miss, as has probably been noted. I should probably spend more time hunting down the better stuff from Hosono & Takahashi, but

It's hard to choose between the three but Hosono has such fascinatingly deep roots and he was doing brilliant shit like this in the mid-seventies.

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

Someone on the dedicated "BGM" thread made a comment that everything YMO and their members did between 1981 and 1983 is "pure gold". I made a quick list - damn they were prolific! Given that I'm really enjoying "BGM" and "Technodelic", which of these are recommended next?

Ryuichi Sakamoto ‎– Left Handed Dream (1981)
Yukihiro Takahashi ‎– Neuromantic (1981)
Riuichi Sakamoto & Danceries ‎– The End Of Asia (1982)
Tokiko Kato With Riuichi Sakamoto ‎– Miłości Wszystko Wybaczy (1982)
Haruomi Hosono ‎– Philharmony (1982)
Yukihiro Takahashi ‎– What, Me Worry? (1982)
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Naughty Boys (1983)
Ryuichi Sakamoto ‎– Coda (1983)
Ryuichi Sakamoto ‎– Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)
Danceries With Ryuichi Sakamoto ‎– Chanconette Tedesche (1983)
Yukihiro Takahashi ‎– Tomorrow's Just Another Day (1983)

takahashi was never as good as this era: i'm a huge fan of both neuromantic and what, me worry in particular. if i had to pick between a ymo album and neuromantic on a desert island, i would instantly grab neuromantic.

one reason for the high quality across the board is that they were all playing and contributing songs on each other's albums, even the solo ones.

Naughty Boys is basically a perfect pop album

of the rest, I'd say Left Handed Dream, Philharmony, and Neuromantic. those Sakamoto albums are all over the map though. the Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence OST is great but it may not be what you're expecting. it sounds like the Link to the Past soundtrack.

I still haven't heard Left Handed Dream! But Philharmony rules. "Luminescent-Hotaru" is maybe the best single song out of albums from the ones i've heard out of the list above.

er...sorry i mangled that, but you know what i mean. i am having a nice ymo & friends afternoon, thanks thread

in light of recent discush on the hosono thread i'd be interested in knowing how people feel about this 10 years on. i suspect that the scales will tip even further in hosono and takahashi's favour? for me it's unequivocally sakamoto, i can't even consider the question rationally tbh, his post-debussian harmonic sensibility appeals to me on such a deeply visceral level

also his capacity for "rigorous" (lol) experimentation outside the formal strictures of conventional pop music, especially in the latter part of his career, for me sets him apart from the other two (who i also love ofc but for different reasons)

this is probably kind of a boring convo actually now that i think about it haha