Needle Time

  Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki & Tatsuro Yamashita - Pacific [MHJL 151 JPN 2020 24-Bit 88.2kHz  FLAC] Another re-post of a rip originally featured here on Needle Time in December 2020 which appears to be still in demand. Originally released on CBS/Sony Japan in 1978, here is the unusually groovy  Pacific Island nostalgia trip by Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki & Tatsuro Yamashita, augmented amongst others by a pre-YMO Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi. This is the 2020 repress on clear sea blue vinyl from Sony Japan's Great Track subsidiary, complete with replica poster, inners and obi. The Japanese label employed the services of the legendary Bernie Grundman to perform the analogue mastering from the original master tapes for this project, so expect no compressed nonsense. There is hardly any noticeable noise from the coloured vinyl ....all you hear are the sounds of the waves crashing around you. Pacific is a blend of lounge, funk, disco, rhumba, smooth ...

  Yellow Magic Orchestra - Yellow Magic Orchestra (US Remix) [ALR-6020 JPN 1979 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Flicking through my shelves of Japanese purchases, I realised that I had never ripped my original 1979 Japanese pressing of the US Remix of their self-titled debut album. Mixed by Al Schmitt for Horizon Records, this version was released in parallel on Alfa Records.  With a little more oomph in the bass, brighter highs and a clearer, wider sound stage, this mix is much more suited to western ears. Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi have become musical icons since, as they gained recognition as key influencers (now, there is an over-used term these days) in electronic music all over the globe. Kraftwerk often sit atop the electronic music pyramid, however it was YMO who took the genre further, blending real drums and bass guitar into their magical mix of electronica. No more is this evident of the excellent jazzadelic Cosmic Surfin' and the nipponic t...

  Akiko Yano - Tadaima  [WWSLP16 2018 FRA 24-Bit 88.2kHz FLAC] The Japanese Girl who found fame following her debut album with American rock band Little Feat in 1976 as a teenager, returned with her popular synthpop album Tadaimo (meaning 'I am home') in 1981. This time recorded with her husband Ryuichi Sakamoto, the two other members of Yellow Magic Orchestra plus YMO programming genius Hideki Matsutake. Most of the tracks are in Japanese, however served up with some great tunes, Yano delivered an important and enjoyably catchy work of Japanese synthpop. She was to melt Japanese hearts with the hit title track single, backed with the English language, I Sing . The album also features some experimental work, for instance the very dark  Iranaimon and the expansive nine minute  Taiyo No Onara which is listed as a nine track cabaret medley on the original Japanese release. The final track,  Rose Garden  is a particular favourite on my turntable. ...

  Sketch Show - Audio Sponge [CTJR-96031/2 JPN 2021 24-Bit FLAC] It became an expensive vinyl summer when Japanese label, Cutting Edge Records decided to release the Sketch Show albums on lusciously packaged vinyl for the very first time ever. These two masters of electronica (you should know their faces by now ...I would hope) began their careers in psychedelic rock, city pop and eventually evolutionarily electronics as two-thirds of Yellow Magic Orchestra. You shouldn't be surprised to know that the other third contributes on various tracks with keyboards and gets a writing credit. So does that make this a YMO album ....almost, I guess? I posted the more organic, second album Loophole back in October, here is their first Audio Sponge in full-resolutionary quality to blow your minds. The duo's use of crackle & pops as percussion is evident throughout and does more than enough to help your ripper while away a few more hours making comparison references to his original 200...

  Yellow Magic Orchestra - Tighten Up [SP-12036 USA 1980 24-Bit FLAC] Three go wild in Tokyo (with a large cast of extras). Possibly their silliest but most pop orientated single, Tighten Up was originally released in Japan and the USA in 1980, before being unleashed on Europe a year later. The flipside Rydeen clearly had a significant influence on the new breed of European synthpop bands..... A1 Tighten Up (Long Version) B1 Rydeen

  Sketch Show - Loophole [CJT-96034~5 JPN 2021 24-Bit FLAC] For quite some time, between the late eighties and the recent 2010's, very little vinyl came out of Japan. Our nipponic brethren were focused more on digital products such as the compact disc and the format's higher resolution upgrades. These days, roles are beginning to reverse and labels have begun to dig through their vaults seeking out suitable work for analogue re-release. I can be quoted as suggesting that most modern electronica is more suited to digital formats, however these tend to suffer audio distortion as twitchy fingered engineers still cannot resist the urges to compress and over-limit.  Tokyo label Cutting Edge Records, who once focused on licensing Western artists, have pulled out a gem here (well actually make that three gems) and have released analogue vinyl platters of three albums by Sketch Show. The duo will be better known as two-thirds of Yellow Magic Orchestra, Haroumi Hosono and Yukihir...

  Yellow Magic Orchestra - Public Pressure [ALR-6033 JPN 1980 24-Bit FLAC] Recorded at London's The Venue, LA's Greek Theatre and New York's Bottom Line, Public Pressure was a live album marking Yellow Magic Orchestra's first tour outside of Japan. This a rip of my pristine Japanese original pressing, released on Alfa Records in 1980. YMO's live line-up at the time was the six piece of Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yukihiro Takahashi, Hideki Matsutake, Akiko Yano and Kazumi Watanabe. Guitarist Watanabe had fallen out with Alfa Records, so insisted that all the live guitar parts were disappointingly mixed out of the final release. A1 Rydeen A2 Solid State Survivor A3 Tong Poo A4 The End Of Asia B1 Cosmic Surfin' B2 Day Tripper B3 Radio Junk B4 La Femme Chinoise B5 Back In Tokio

  Yellow Magic Orchestra - Technodelic [MHJL-80 JPN 2019 24-Bit FLAC] Originally released on Alfa Records around the world in 1981, Yellow Magic Orchestra's most experimental album Technodelic  was remastered to vinyl by Bob Ludwig and Bernie Grundman as part of the Great Tracks vinyl reissue campaign in Japan.  Here for your pleasure is that record, on which YMO strip back to the basic three piece aided by Hideki Matsutake on technical duties. Many consider Technodelic to be the first use of samplers ever committed to a vinyl album - technically innovative, the album set the bar which many others followed with its consistent use of loops & samples performed on a Toshiba LMD-649 sampler. alongside Roland TR-808 and a Prophet-5 synthesizer. The results are very stripped back & minimal, verging at times on the avant-garde, making Technodelic an intriguing listen, even more so these days when you consider its place in the timeline of electronic music. A1 Pure...

  Yellow Magic Orchestra - BGM [ALR-28015 JPN 1981 24-Bit FLAC] YMO's third album proper ripped from my original 1981 Japanese pressing. This rip was a little more challenging than usual, in fact I never want to have to go through the clean up process required on Loom ever again, perhaps I need to offload this copy and get the recent Japanese remaster (which is bound to sound good) - maybe one day. Harry Housono is said to have over-worked the rhythm sections of the original recordings, resulting in a compressed sound to the drums. This technique was subsequently, and quite oddly, adopted by other bands in the years which followed. This album marks the introduction of the TR-808 drum machine, growing in popularity so much that its use spread widely and quickly. Friction was beginning to develop between Housono and Sakamoto at the time of recording over musical differences, which was eventually lead to the YMO split - there is only only full band composition on the whole record. H...

  Yellow Magic Orchestra - Naughty Boys [YLR-28008 JPN 1983 24-Bit FLAC] Some more Haroumi "Harry" Hosono, this time with his two electronic partners, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi as the important Yellow Magic Orchestra. The cheekily named Naughty Boys was the trio's sixth album and you would be forgiven for assuming that this was a strictly pop album, despite the opening Japanese pop chart topping single,  Kimi Ni Mune Kyun . As the album develops, YMO reveal more of their expected innovative edges, all developed with 'modern' eighties pop sentimentalities.  Not credited, but likely more involved than you may first think was one of Yorkshire's finest, Bill Nelson on guitar. The favour was returned when Yukihiro Takahashi and YMO synth technician (& Logic System main-man), Hideki Matsutake worked on Nelson's Chimera album. The two albums do have a similar feel, no more so than on the excellent  Wild Ambitions . I picked up this origin...

  Yellow Magic Orchestra (イエロー・マジック・オーケストラ) ‎- Solid State Survivor (ソリッド・ステイト・サヴァイヴァー)                          [ALR-6022 JPN 1979 24-Bit FLAC] Hopefully this is an album which should need little introduction to most, however if you don't know Solid State Survivor then you are in for a treat. My copy is a 1979 Japanese original on Alfa Records which despite its years, shows very little evidence of wear so it was a pleasure to rip.  This was the trio's second album and the showroom dummies (dressed to resemble guest band members Hideki Matsutake and Akiko Yano) on the sleeve are a strong hint that the electronic musical baton was being passed from Germany to Japan. This album was eons ahead of anything coming out of Europe at the time, Kraftwerk had likely peaked by 1978 and they were never going to record anything as catchy as  Technopolis , Ryden or the excellent  Behind The Mask . It was to be anot...

  Yellow Magic Orchestra - Yellow Magic Orchestra [MHJL 53 JPN 2018 24-Bit FLAC] It was only a matter of time before I got around to Yellow Magic Orchestra. Likely the most important musical trio to emerge from Japan, here is their debut album courtesy of the splendid Great Tracks reissue series from Sony Japan, remastered (properly) onto black vinyl by Bob Ludwig to mark the album's fortieth anniversary. Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi have become musical icons since, as they gained recognition as key influencers (now, there is an over-used term these days) in electronic music all over the globe. Kraftwerk often sit atop the electronic music pyramid, however it was YMO who took the genre further, blending real drums and bass guitar into their magical mix of electronica. No more is this evident of the excellent jazzadelic  Cosmic Surfin' and the nipponic techno-bot beats of Firecracker and the disco inferno that is Tong Poo. Did I mention how good...