Tracks:
Computer Game 'Theme from the Circus'
Firecracker
Simoon
Cosmic Surfin'
Computer Game 'Theme from the Invader'
Yellow Magic (Tong Poo)
La Femme Chinoise
Bridge Over Troubled Music
Mad Pierrot
Acrobat

Performer Notes:

• Personnel: Yukihiro Takahashi (vocals, drums, percussion); Masayoshi Takanaka (electric guitar); Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, percussion); Harry "Haruomi" Hosono (keyboards); Hideki Matsutake (programming); Minako Yoshida (background vocals).
• Audio Mixer: Al Schmitt.
• Audio Remasterers: Roger Seibel; Mitsuo Koike.
• Recording information: Shibaura, Studio A, Tokyo, Japan (07/10/1978-09/05/1978); Shibaura, Studio A, Tokyo, Japan (09/05/1978).
• Editor: Mitsuo Koike.
• Illustrator: Lou Beach.
• Unknown Contributor Role: Shunsuke Miyazumi.
• Arrangers: Yukihiro Takahashi; Harry "Haruomi" Hosono; Yellow Magic Orchestra.
• The groundbreaking Japanese electronic music trio Yellow Magic Orchestra initially caused few ripples of excitement when its debut album--complete with computer game bleeps and arch synthesizer renditions of faux-Oriental musical themes set to pointedly fake-sounding R&B rhythms--was released in 1978. The western music cognoscenti were still trying to accommodate the seismic artistic shifts of punk rock.
• But in retrospect these purposefully plastic-sounding tracks, particularly the eastern cadences and synthetic funk of "Firecracker," the jazz-fusion of "Tong Poo," and the grinding, George Clinton-influenced "Simoon," foreshadow much of the European electronica-based dance music of the 1980s and '90s, including Depeche Mode, New Order, and the Human League. In addition, the band's fetish for the idiosyncratic sounds of popular computer games of the day demonstrates its perceptive realization that future listeners would one day view these seemingly insignificant sonic twitches as an important part of their formative years.

Professional Reviews: Uncut (3/04, p.108) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[G]alvanising, unabashed, floppy-haired '80s pop, all big hooks and tumbling, boxy electro-rhythms..."

Mojo (Publisher) (3/04, p.115) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[With] breathtaking flights of melodic fantasy and speedy percussive insanity..."

Producer: Hideki Matsutake, Haruomi Hosono

Format: CD (2 Disc)

Country: USA

Studio/Live: Studio

Release Date: 2 February, 2004

Label: Sony Music Entertainment UK

Dimensions: 12.8 x 14.4 x 1 centimeters (0.03 kg)