Description
CD1 – Yellow Magic Orchestra USA – 36:09
- 1-01 Computer Game “Theme From The Circus” 1:46
- 1-02 Firecracker 4:50
- 1-03 Simoon 6:27
- 1-04 Cosmic Surfin’ 4:26
- 1-05 Computer Game “Theme From The Invader” 1:01
- 1-06 Yellow Magic (Tong Poo) 6:17
- 1-07 La Femme Chinoise 5:55
- 1-08 Bridge Over Troubled Music 1:18
- 1-09 Mad Pierrot 4:04
CD2 – Yellow Magic Orchestra – 37:40
- 2-01 Computer Game “Theme From The Circus” 1:48
- 2-02 Firecracker 4:50
- 2-03 Simoon 6:27
- 2-04 Cosmic Surfin’ 4:51
- 2-05 Computer Game “Theme From The Invader” 0:43
- 2-06 Tong Poo 6:15
- 2-07 La Femme Chinoise 5:52
- 2-08 Bridge Over Troubled Music 1:17
- 2-09 Mad Pierrot 4:20
- 2-10 Acrobat 1:12
var de Vries –
Although the first YMO album, it is immediately very good. Consisting of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, who were all experienced musicians already having various solo-projects to their names before getting together, YMO gets into the groove straight away.
Humour is the word here, like Kraftwerk, though YMO are less minimalist. A lot of the music almost parodies other music (Simoon, for instance, sounds like something a Japanese jazz combo might have played on a rainy sunday afternoon in a Tokyo bar in the 20s). At first hearing it can sound slightly kitschy (it was probably meant to be) but repeated hearings reveal quite complicated arrangements. Anyway, the fun they must have had making it clearly shines through and, I find, is irresistable. The vocoder-sounds may sound outdated (depends on when you buy it of course) but the overall sound is still fresh and original after all these years. The ultimate proof that humour is important in music!
1999 Ivar de Vries