Delightful and full of Japanese joy
Steven Guy | Croydon, South Australia | 03/04/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I bought this recording on Lp in the early 1980s and I was curious about the sound of the Yellow Magic Orchestra live. I was very pleasantly surprised.
The sound is first class, something of an issue on many live/concert recordings from this time, and very clear. Yukihiro Takahashi's drumming is quite phenomenal - he was (is?) a real powerhouse drummer. The keyboard playing from Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Akiko Yano, is first class, of course, and they seem to communicate their collective elation and enthusiasm through their instruments. Not much singing on this album, however, I fell in love with the voice of Akiko Yano on this recording. She has a beautiful, almost childlike quality to her voice. It sounds fragile and full of life at the same time. I guess that considering her long association with the group, especially as a touring musician and singer for the ensemble, it could be said that she was the de facto 4th member of the group. However, her solo work does show her in a very different light.
In some ways, the Yellow Magic Orchestra really came alive in front of an audience - their studio albums were much more experimental and complex. On tour they just seemed to let it all hang out, in a very Japanese way, of course, and simply "go for it", if you know what I mean?
YMO released "After Service", another live album, many years later, and, it was much more sophisticated on a number of levels. However, it didn't quite sound like the musicians were having as much fun as they were having at the time Public Pressure was released. Miss Akiko Yano was missing from the "After Service" concert and missed her voice - she made many of the songs much more interesting simply by the qualities of her own vocal style and, as I observed on YouTube recently, her incredible energy and enthusiam.
Check out the live perfomance of YMO's "Nice Age" song in concert on YouTube to see what I mean. Akiko can barely hold herself down! I fell in love with her!"
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1