Yellow Magic Orchestra solo projects
NOTE: This page is a little defunct as of now. All three YMO members have released more solo albums than YMO ever did, and Sakamoto's name appears on nearly 100 releases. They all deserve to have their own pages, but I don't really feel like I should just delete this one. So right now I'm going to use it to catalogue the albums I've heard so far and offer a few thoughts on each one. Right now I'm not going to assign ratings but the full pages will have them.
Haroumi Hosono
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This guy appears on an awful lot of albums, and may have the most diverse discography of them all - he started doing the same type of exotica stuff that YMO started with and, like Sakamoto branched into world music, and then techno and other such genres. Like Brian Eno, Hosono is also notable for his production work. I do believe that Hosono is one of music's great innovators and one of the most forward-thinking figures making music today.
Paraiso (1978)
Credited to Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band. This is more of an exotica album rather than an electronic one. Regardless it's still a fun listen with some great pop tunes scattered about and a little bit of experimentation.
Cochin Moon (1978)
Along with Sakamoto's Thousand Knives this was a great precursor to the YMO sound. The idea was to fuse traditional Indian rhythmic elements with electronic sounds. Lots of neat synthesizer pulses and effects. Side two has one of my favorite tracks, "Hum Ghar Sajan", a very exotic-sounding track that's one of the most beautiful pieces of music the man's produced.
Philharmony (1982) ***1/2
This was made during YMO's year off. Continues some of the experiments of Technodelic with a lot of sampling. Kind of has a minimal feel in spots. Some of the tracks have an abstract and unsettling feel to them. There's a couple of first-rate technopop songs that make this worth picking up.
S-F-X (1984)
Credited to Hosono and F.O.E. (friends of Earth). The CD edition contains the Making of Non-Standard Mixture EP, which is nice, because without it this is only 6 tracks. This takes things into a more dance-oriented techno direction although there's a few vocals. Recommended if you like early 80's drum machine tracks like Herbie Hancock's "Rockit". Like Philharmony this has some creative stuff that shows how ahead of the pack Hosono was, but you can tell he's not quite at his destination yet. Contains a very moody solo-piano piece that's definitely worth hearing.
N.D.E. (1995)
A modern-day sounding tribal drum-n-bass album. Features Bill Laswell. A good collection of rhythmic music in a time where Hosono's earlier experiments were finally being developed.
Ryuichi Sakamoto
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Easily the most famous of the YMO members due to his collaborations and soundtrack work, there's two things I find fascinating about the man; one, he has an ability to bring together several styles of music from throughout the world together, and two, he's one of the few electronic musicians who can really play. If you've ever seen the man play, you'd know he's really fantastic on piano and the keyboards, which can give his compositions a unique element.
1000 Knives (1978)
Released about a month before YMO's s/t album. This was Sakamoto's debut. Shows off a bit of his compositional brilliance as well as his interest in electronic blips - many of the sounds found on this album would show up on the YMO album. Kind of scatterbrained though, as Sakamoto didn't yet know where to take these pieces. Of particular interest as three of these tunes would be covered by YMO (the title track on BGM, "The End of Asia" on Xoo Multiplies, and "Plastic Bamboo" which was played live).
Summer Nerves (1979)
Not sure what I think of this one - it's just a bunch of pop songs with a goofy album cover. Two of them were written by Akiko Yano. Fun but not particularly original or catchy.
B-2 Unit (1980)
A very forward-looking electronic album. Similar to YMO's early material but most of the pop elements were taken out. This is an important album in the formation of techno music. One track in particular, "Riot in Lagos", still sounds like it's from the future, nearly 30 years later.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1984)
Sakamoto's first soundtrack. He's done many more since. Still, the title track became his most famous composition. A vocal version with David Sylvan became a decent-sized hit in Japan. Some very pretty synthesizer noises here. This is going to sound nerdy but I suspect some of these pieces were used as inspiration for the music to the SNES game Link to the Past. Although it's clearly soundtrack music much of it stands well on its own. The short ambient pieces remind me of Eno's Another Green World at times, except they are often colder. At 19 tracks it's hard to get bored here.
Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia (1986)
Music of the world, all given an 80's sheen. Has a number of interesting compositions and rounds out with a couple of pop tunes, one of which is sung by Thomas Dolby. A good listen all the way through.
Chasm (2005)
Having done lots of collaborations and soundtracks it's only natural Sakamoto was composing music for a new solo album. Unsurprisingly it's divided, with the running time perhaps 10-20 minutes longer than it should be, but the best material on here stands tall. He seems to be combining a lot of different influences here into a very Oriental-sounding smorgasbord. Features David Sylvan on a couple of tracks. "Undercooled" is a hip-hop track featuring a guest rapper over strings and what sounds like CD glitches. Very cool. So far this has more good material than any of the other Sakamoto albums I've heard.
Yukihiro Takahashi
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Probably the member to get into if you liked YMO songs like "Cue", "Key", "Pure Jam", "Nice Age", and the cover of "Day Tripper". He's definitely more into the electro-pop side of things, which can be a nice change of pace from Sakamoto and Hosono's more minimal or ambient work.
Savarah! (1977)
This was the first time Hosono, Takahashi, and Sakamoto played on an album together. I would have expected it to be similar in style to his Sadistic Mika Band stuff, but this sounds nothing like it, perhaps suggesting Takahashi wasn't much of a creative force in that band. Instead it sounds like a tribute to French disco. Violins, horns, Takahashi singing in French, female backing vocals, and a few key guest spots (Sakamoto's wild keyboard solo ought to stick out). Unexpected, but not really appriciated.
Murdered by the Music (1980)
Takahashi's second solo album should probably be subtitled "the songs YMO wouldn't let me record". Drawing from a variety of styles, Murdered by the Music goes in several directions at once. This is essential for anyone who likes the Xoo Multiplies album. Has some very catchy stuff on it. It's not just technopop - there's some R&B, reggae, and even ska to be found here. Lots of fun.
Neuromantic (1981)
As the title alludes to, this is Takahashi's tribute to New Romanticism. It's a decent pop album, but I prefer the previous one and the next one. Takahashi's great pop sense doesn't pop out much until the second side.
What? Me Worry? (1982)
A good pop album that makes a great companion piece to YMO's Naughty Boys. Once again, the style changes between tracks, although a few sound like they could be leftovers from Neuromantic. Some of Takahashi's best work can be found here. You can tell he's trying to break out of the YMO shell and write great material on his own. Has a number of guest vocalists, one of which was a member of Tubeway Army.
Tomorrow's Just Another Day (1983)
Kind of bland. Still has a few electronic sounds but it seems he was moving away from the technopop style. A few tracks stand out but none are really memorable, as they mostly seem to have slower tempos.
Time And Place - Live 1983 (1984)
A decent live album. As suspected the low points are the tracks from the last album, but the other stuff works well. Has Keiichi Suzuki (Moonriders) as a guest.
Wild and Moody (1984)
Didn't much care for this one either, save for the last track. Thankfully it's pretty short at only seven tracks. Again takes Takahashi in a much more boring direction.
