From: Gregory Taylor <gtaylor@vme.heurikon.com>
Subject: Review: "YMO Techno Bible"
Followup-To: rec.music.misc
Originator: recmusic@galaxy
Keywords: YMO's Techno Bible
Reply-To: Gregory Taylor <gtaylor@vme.heurikon.com>
Organization: Heurikon Corporation, Madison, WI
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 07:56:05 GMT

In his recent and much appreciated missal of the Japanese charts,
our friend Kaz-san (sana@McLaren.pontneuf.tis.co.jp) writes:
>			ORICON ALBUMS TOP 20
>  LW  TW TITLES					ARTISTS
>   -  10.Techno Bible				YMO
>    Great TMN!! Their two live albums occupy top 2 position this week.
>    Behind these titles Jun Sky Walker(s), one of the most successful
>    pop punk band in Japan, debuts at No.3. YMO fans' collectors item
>    "Techno Bible" debuts at No.10.

For the curious, here's a short description/review/look at the above.
I'm cross-posting it to our black-clad friends in rec.music.industrial
for such a techno-contingent there as may be interested in a little
history. It's shameless technopop, so the glowering industrial types
might want to hit the "n" key now, as will all Nihongophobes.

New YMO: a quintessential collection, a first look. It's pop [proto-techno,
but not proto-industrial], it's staggeringly well done. 

Well, it arrived in the mail this morning. Our pal Kaz shows this box
entering the Japanese album charts up at 10 or so. I see why. It's an
absolutely fantastic selection of stuff (just about everything you 
could want), a disc of rare stuff that really *is* hard to come by,
and a bound booklet with all kinds of useful information in excruciating
detail [a marvelous discography of *everything*, track listings, timings,
people and all].

So what's the catch? Well, it'll run you about a hundred bucks stateside
for the 5-disc box [given the current Japanese prices for single discs,
this is a bargain. Trust me.]. For the newbie, I'd still suggest you
check out the Restless single disc compilation "Kyoretsu Na Rhythm",
or perhaps the Japanese "YMO Sealed: Best Selection" if you're up for
the slightly cheaper 2-CD Japanese import (everything except "Expected
Way" on "Sealed" is included in Techno-Bible). Having said that, I'll
follow by saying that this is a typical Japanes boxed set - done right.

Three discs grouped historically, roughly two YMO releases per disc.
I'm a little surprised at the fact that the compilers seem to have
thrown out precisely those tracks I'd have dropped. The live CD has
a sizeable chunk (about half of the box CD comes from it) of the recent
1991 "Fakerholic" live YMO tour CD from their 1979 tour. In fact, it
would appear that they're taking pretty serious efforts to present YMO
as a *live* outfit [and from the selection, I think you'll buy the
argument]. The rare disc includes a bunch of outtakes from their final
live disc "After Service" [which came out after YMO had gone their 
separate ways], along with some B-sides and DJ-only remixes from the 
late 70s/early 80s, and a passell of recent remixes by our British
cousins along the lines of the recent "radical remix" disc "High Tech
No Crime" (more on this later).

The accompanying booklet has extensive notes on everything in the box:
tracks/players/lyrics/dates, a bunch of little written tributes, a short
interview with Haruomi Hosono, an exhaustive Chronology/little bios,
a truly fine discography [exhaustive, too, including all *non-Japanese*
YMO releases, etc.] and translations of all the lyrics what ain't in
English - 180-odd pages worth of data.

I'll avoid my usual discussion of what I believe YMO's place in the canon
might be [proto-techno stuff, one of the first attempts at a "global"
pop band, the degreee of their acheivement using the technology of the
time, mention of the solo careers of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono,
and Yukihiro Takahashi, etc.] and end with a listing of what's here
and where it comes from:

So remember: "YMO - Techno Bible" (Alfa records ALCA 371-374, H12-19).
Check it out. Sayonara.

Contents:

Disc1:Early
 1.Rydeen
 2.Absolute Ego Dance
 3.Mad Pierrot
 4.Tong Poo
 5.Behind the Mask
 6.Nice Age
 7.Citizens of Science
 8.Technopolis
 9.Tighten Up (Japanese Gentlemen Stand Up Please!)
10.La Femme Chinoise
11.Insomnia
12.Simoon
13.Firecracker

1,2,5,8,11 from "Solid State Survivor" 1979
4 from the Japanese "Yellow Magic Orchestra" 1978
3,10,12,13 from the U.S. release "Yellow Magic Orchestra" 1979
6,7,9 from "X 8 Multplies" 1980

Disc2:Middle
 1.Jiseiki - Hirake Kokoro
 2.Cue
 3.Key
 4.Neue Tanz
 5.Seoul Music
 6.Camouflage
 7.Rap Phenomena
 8.Taiso
 9.U.T.
10.Light in Darkness
11.Music Plans
12.Mass
13.1000 Knives
14.Pure Jam

2,6,7,9,11,12,13 from "B.G.M." 1981
3,4,5,8,10,14 from "Technodelic" 1981
1 from the Snakeman Show album "Isoide Kuchi De Sue" 1981

Disc3:Late
 1.Wild Ambitions
 2.Lotus Love
 3.Ongaku
 4.The Madmen
 5.Kimi Ni Mune Kyun
 6.See Through
 7.Kai-Koh
 8.Limbo
 9.Shadows on the Ground
10.Chaos Panic
11.Kageki Na Shukujo
12.Perspective
13.You've Got to Help Yourself

1,2,3,5,7 from "Naughty Boys" 1983
4,6,8,9,12,13 from "Service" 1983
10 B side of Kimi Ni Muni Kyun single 1983
11 A side of Kageki Na Syukujo single 1983

Disc4:Live
 1.Propaganda
 2.Tong Poo
 3.Solid State Survivor
 4.Ballet
 5.Cosmic Surfin'
 6.Rocket Factory
 7.Day Tripper
 8.Radio Junk
 9.Zai Kung Tong Shonen
10.Behind the Mask
11.Technopolis
12.1000 Knives
13.The End of Asia
14.Firecracker

1,2,3,4,14 from "After Service" 1984
5 from "Public Pressure" 1980
6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13 from "Fakerholic" 1991

Disc5:Remixes/Rare Stuff/"After Service" outtakes
Tong Poo/the Orb Remix
Computer Games/Mark Gamble Micro Mix
Multiples/The Altern8 12" version
Pure Jam/The Sideways Remix
Rydeen/The Graham Massey Remix Long Version
Neue Tanz/The Something Wonderful Remix
Light in Darkness/The 808 States Ambient Reprise

Note: *None* of these remixes appear on the recent "High Tech/No Crime"
YMO remix album (alfa ALCA-323)

As a side note, this "High Tech/No Crime" disc might interest some of
you technogeeks out there. Remixes of YMO stuff by Mark Gamble, the Shamen,
Altern8, 808 State, Orbital, Rhythmatic, LFO, Robert Gordon, Graham
Massey and Sweet Excorcist

Tong Poo/DJ copy 1978
Firecracker/DJ copy 1978
Technopolis/Single Mix Version 1979
Tighten Up A&M Mix 1990 (the Jeff Ayeroff and John Beverly Jones remix)

The Madmen (AS outtake)
Chinese Whispers (AS outtake)
Shadows on the Ground (AS outtake)
Perspective (AS outtake)

--
A machine plays many pianos at once and the music holds them aloft, a different
tune for each ship. Freedom has nothing to do with control and control nothing
to do with my weak heart lonely for its birthday and the excitement of pure
sunlight and of snow parting into countless buoyant shapes over the airfield.