Description
- CD #1
- Kimi ni mune kyun (Uwakina vacances) [4:07]
- Expected way [4:34]
- Focus [3:41]
- Ongaku [3:25]
- Opened my eyes [3:40]
- You’ve got to help yourself [0:30]
- Lotus love [4:05]
- Kai-Koh [4:27]
- Expecting rivers [4:37]
- Wild ambitions [5:10]
- CD #2
- Chaos panic [4:12]
- Expected way [4:34]
- Focus [3:43]
- Kai-Koh [4:26]
- Expecting rivers [4:37]
- You’ve got to help yourself [4:19]
- Lotus love [4:05]
- Ongaku [3:25]
- Opened my eyes [3:43]
- Wild ambitions [5:11]
Release date 19-6-2015
Ivar de Vries –
Naughty Boys marks some sort of return to the fun style of YMOs first two albums but without the vocoder-voices and with much heavier arrangements which somehow sound a bit muddy. However, as a nice innovation two versions exist of it, one instrumental and one vocal, mostly sung by Yukihiro Takahashi who doesnt have a great voice by any stretch of the imagination, being a sort of David Bowie sound-a-like.
However, theres one absolutely great song on it – Ongaku, a sweet but fantastic fast sing-a-long track. The thirty-odd seconds of Youve Got To Help Yourself form a strange premonition of the much longer identically-named track on their next album – another innovation? Who knows…..
Not one of their best albums, but good enough if you can bear with Takahashis vocal antics -otherwise, theres always the instrumental version.
1999. Ivar de Vries
Terrence / USA –
This is one of the greatest synthpop albums I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard plenty.
Every song is great…there are no duds here. If you’re into so called ‘electroclash’ music that so many people are buzzing about these days, then you’ll love this.
Naughty Boys has stood the test of time…a dj could play this and Ladytron back to back and I doubt many would realize that Naughty Boys is over 20 years old. Most of the songs on Naughty Boys are poppy and irresistibly dancey.
Every song makes me want to move. Yukihiro Takahashi‘s drumming is top notch. There are darker, moodier (though still danceable) moments with the brilliant ‘Lotus Love’.
Some songs feature the dreamy e-bow guitar by Bill Nelson, which just adds to its brilliance.
Some exceptional songs are Lotus Love, Kimi Ni Mune Kune, Ongaku, Wild Ambitions.
But make no mistake, there are NO bad songs on the CD. Most of the lyrics are in Japanese. There is also an interview with all the members in the CD booklet but it too is in Japanese.
The 2nd CD features all the songs instrumental versions, except for Kimi Ni Mune Kune, which is replaced by Chaos Panic.
Buy Naughty Boys and see what a great band Yellow Magic Orchestra were.
2004. Terrence / USA