YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA

The dazzling point of departure: exotica, disco, arcade signals and studio futurism assembled by Hosono, Sakamoto and Takahashi into a language the world had not heard before.

PRICE STATUSPRICE PENDINGPrice has not been registered yet

FULL TRACKLIST

SIDE A

A1Computer Game (Theme from The Circus)
A2Firecracker
A3Simoon
A4Cosmic Surfin'
A5Computer Game (Theme from The Invader)

SIDE B

B1Tong Poo
B2La Femme Chinoise
B3Bridge over Troubled Music
B4Mad Pierrot
B5Acrobat

RELEASE DETAILS

LABEL: Alfa
COUNTRY: Japan
FORMAT: LP · 33⅓ RPM
CATALOG NO.: ALR-6012
PRESSING: Japanese original

ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Released in November 1978, Yellow Magic Orchestra’s debut album begins from an idea Haruomi Hosono had already been developing through his tropical work: take imagined global music, rebuild it in the studio, and make technology part of the joke. With Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi, that idea becomes radically electronic. “Computer Game,” Martin Denny’s “Firecracker,” “Cosmic Surfin’,” “Tong Poo,” “La Femme Chinoise,” and “Mad Pierrot” combine synthesizers, sequenced rhythm, funk bass, arcade-game sounds, exotica references, and precise studio arrangement into something that did not resemble conventional rock or fusion. Hosono produced the Japanese original, recorded at Alfa Studio A in 1978; a remixed version followed for the American market in 1979. The album is especially important because the electronics are not used only to signal futurism. They are playful, rhythmic, and connected to older musical fantasies about Asia and the tropics. That mixture of humor, machinery, disco, and exotica created the foundation for YMO’s international breakthrough and for a new Japanese approach to electronic pop.