Tong POLL: the Yellow Magic Orchestra Albums Poll

I say SSS, myself.

Solid State Survivor all the way, not to take anything away from YMO or Technodelic. Technodon sucked actually.

japanese gentlemen stand up please

"Castalia" from SSS is great, btw -- great, moody Mellotron choir and tic-toc electronic percussion. Should add that BGM is sort of the forgotten YMO record -- very much in the SSS mode, and w good tunes.

1980 ×∞ Multiplies << the Japanese 2x10" version with the Tighten Up cover and the skits

"...we don't sightsee...we DANCE, you understand?..."

omg new fastforward fukup on youtube? *deletes youtube from bookmarks*

Oh my lord, tough one, had to go for the debut though.

Alight here to pine over expensive Japanese import cds and dvds,
including shedloads of YMO and Solo material, have three
guys in and out of a band ever produced so much material?

http://www.farsidemusic.com/acatalog/index.html

That Tighten Up clip, so uncool, but so cool.

Oh and that fast forward thing is on my original DVD too.

1980 ×∞ Multiplies << the Japanese 2x10" version with the Tighten Up cover and the skits

I just listened to Xoo Multiplies — while there's no way anyone could ever assert that this is the best thing they ever did—it's just too bizarre—it is pretty indicative of their ambitions.

Also, did something happen to them between Technodelic and Service? Somewhere in there they went from being a chirpy, Japanese Kraftwerk to sounding much more traditionally J-Pop. Service and Naughty Boys aren't bad records—in some ways they're quite good—but barring Yukihiro Takahashi's voice they almost sound like a completely different band.

Another vote for SSS, but I enjoy all of their stuff up to 1981 a lot. I like Naughty Boys, but as Naive says it's almost like a different band.

Taiso deserves a thread of it's own, bonkers video too.

SSS FOR REALS

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

for me sss isn't even in the running. YMO got really really good with BGM, and the following three albums are all unassailable classics.

It's the debut for me, although "BGM" is kind of cool too, with its obvious influence on my favourite Depeche Mode album.

BGM with Technodelic a close second.

Naughty Boys

Solid State Survivor gets my vote. It has their strongest suite of tunes (Rydeen, Behind the Mask, Technopolis, Castalia) and a panoply of rich analogue synth sounds. The only misfire is the wholly ineffective Beatles cover.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I am starting to feel BGM -- as noted elsewhere on ILM, the 808 beats and amazing Prophet 5 textures really set it apart from their earlier records.

Still, SSS has so many great songs. I love how "Insomnia" has this great, malevolent Kraftwerk/Radioactivity vibe but a synth koto playing lead. It may be my favorite of all YMO tunes.