YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA "X MULTIPLES" TEST PRESSING LP

$

192

THIS IS A WHITE LABLE TEST PRESSING FROM A&M RECORDS , WITH A PLAIN WHITE CARDBOARD SLEEVE THAT HAS THE NUMBER SP-4813 A/B, THAT IS THE NUMBER IN THE MATRIX OF THE DEAD WAX ON THE VINYL. I LOVE FINDING PLAIN WHITE SLEEVES IN LOCAL THRIFT STORES, THIS ONE WAS A BIT OF A MYSTERY, USUALLY THERE'S AN ARTIST AND TITLE WRITTEN SOMEWHERE ON THE RECORD OR JACKET. I TRACKED THIS DOWN ON GOOGLE AND IT CAME UP THE YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA ALBUM "X (INFINITY SYMBOL) MULTIPLES" THE PIC OF THE ALBUM SLEEVE IS INCLUDED ABOVE. THE VINYL HAS SOME SCUFFS FROM THE SLEEVE I WOULD GRADE IT AS GOOD+. THE TEST PRESSING LABLE HAS NOTHIN WRITTEN ON IT, THIS COMES IN THE PLAIN WHITE JACKET I FOUND IT IN... HERE'S SOME INFO ON THE ARTIST AND ALBUM...

Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) is a Japanese electropop band formed in 1978, known for pioneering the electropop music genre.[1] The principal members are Haruomi Hosono (bass), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums and vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards).

Biography

 Formation and early years

The band was conceived as a one-off studio project by Hosono, the other two members being recruited session musicians—the idea was to produce an album fusing orientalist exotica (cf. their cover version of Martin Denny's Firecracker) with modern electronics. However, the first album (with its cutting-edge production) was very popular, and the studio project grew into a fully fledged touring band and career for its three members.

Sakamoto first worked with Hosono as a member of his live band in 1976, while Takahashi recruited Sakamoto to produce his debut solo recording in 1977 following the split of the Sadistic Mika Band. Hosono invited both to work on his exotica flavoured album "Paraiso", followed by electronic material for the anthology collection "Pacific". Following the release of the debut "Yellow Magic Orchestra" a live date at the Roppongi Pit Inn was seen by executives of A&M Records of the USA who were in the process of setting up a partnership deal with Alfa Records. This led to the YMO being offered an international deal, at which point (early 1979) the three members decided the group would be given priority over their solo careers.

Success and breakup

An advertising deal with Fuji Cassette and the group sparked a boom in the popularity of electronic pop music (called "Technopop" in Japan) that had an impact similar to that of The Beatles and Merseybeat in 1960s Britain. A testament to the influence of YMO on fashion is how many middle aged Japanese businessmen still have the "Techno cut" haircut, modeled after the group. Successful solo act Akiko Yano (later married to Sakamoto) joined the band for its live performances in the late 70's and early 80's, but did not participate in the studio recordings. On the other hand, the YMO trio contributed to her own albums and became part of her live band, during these same years.

Making abundant use of new synthesizers, samplers, sequencers and digital recording technology as it became available, as well as utilizing cyberpunk-ish lyrics sung mostly in English, their popularity and influence extended beyond Japan. Generally the band are highly regarded as pioneers of electronic music, and continue to be remixed and sampled by modern artists.

Solid State Survivor, released in 1979, was YMO's pinnacle recording in Japan, winning the 1980 Best Album Award in the Japan Record Awards. It featured English lyrics by Chris Mosdell, whose sci-fi themes often depicted a human condition alienated by dystopic futures, much like the emerging cyberpunk movement in fiction at that time. The album’s major single and YMO’s biggest international hit, “Behind the Mask”, with lyrics penned by Chris Mosdell, was later revised by Ryuichi Sakamoto for a 1987 solo release of the same name (it was also covered by Greg Phillinganes and Eric Clapton).

The band had stopped working as a group in 1984, after the release of their motion picture "Propaganda", the three members returning to their solo careers. The group were careful to avoid saying they had "split up", preferring to use the Japanese phrase meaning "spreading out" (??, sankai?), and in fact the trio continued to play on each other's recordings and made guest appearances at live shows. Takahashi, in particular, would play YMO material in his concerts and as "lead singer" was arguably best placed to do so. To dodge lawsuits and "spread out" creatively they released the next one-off reunion album, Technodon, and credited it to 'NOT YMO' (YMO crossed out with a calligraphy X) or YMO in 1993. Instead of traditional vocals, about half of which features field audio recordings and samples of authors and scientists reading their work.

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×?Multiplies (??, Z?shoku?, lit. "multiplication") was a mini-album by Yellow Magic Orchestra released in 1980. It contains a mixture of songs and instrumentals by YMO (including a humorous reworking of Archie Bell & the Drells' "Tighten Up"), interspersed with comedy sketches. These sketches are performed by Snakeman Show in both Japanese and English, with YMO participating in some of them

 Release history

×?Multiplies was released in several formats worldwide. The original Japanese pressing came on 10" vinyl. The United States pressing compiled tracks from both this record and from Solid State Survivor, which had not been released there, while dropping the comedy sketches. The United Kingdom released ×?Multiplies with additional tracks culled from Yellow Magic Orchestra. All re-issues from 1999 onward reverted to the original Japanese tracklisting.

The tracks differ slightly between the Japanese and US versions: In the original release Nice Age has an abrupt ending and other tracks are crossfaded between the Snakeman Show sketches; in the US version these have clean intros and endings and Jingle 'YMO' is listed as part of the Nice Age track.

THIS WILL SHIP IN CARDBOARD BACKING TO PROTECT THE RECORD. INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING MAY VARY, CHECK OUT MY OTHER AUCTIONS FOR MORE INTERESTING ITEMS, THANKS!