BGM (album)

BGM
BGM
Studio album by Yellow Magic Orchestra
Released	March 21, 1981
Recorded	January 15, 1981
Studio	Alfa Studio "A", Shibaura, Minato, Tokyo
Genre	Synthpop; electropop; electro;
Length	47:06
Label	Alfa; EMI;
Producer	Haruomi Hosono; Kunihiko Murai & Shōrō Kawazoe (executive producers);
Yellow Magic Orchestra chronology
Singles from BGM
	"Cue" / "U•T"; Released: April 21, 1981; "Mass" / "Camouflage"; Released: September 5, 1981;

BGM is the fourth studio album by Yellow Magic Orchestra, released on March 21, 1981. The title stands for "Background music".^[2] This album was produced by Haruomi Hosono. Recording started on January 15, 1981, in an effort to release the album by March 21, 1981. YMO was the first band to use the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, one of the first programmable drum machines, as early as 1980.^[3]^[4] This was their first studio album recorded with the Roland MC-4 Microcomposer and TR-808.

Overview

Alfa Records, YMO's record company, had installed a 3M 32-track digital recorder in its studio shortly before YMO started recording BGM. Since Hosono was not fond of its overly sharp sound quality, he recorded all the rhythm sections for BGM on a TASCAM 80-8 analog recorder first and copied them with the 3M machine, resulting in the fuller, much compressed rhythm tracks. Unfortunately, no known working samples of the 3M recorder exist in Japan today, making it quite difficult to play the master tape.

One of the earliest uses of the TR-808 for a live performance was by Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1980 for the song "1000 Knives", an electro rendition of member Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Thousand Knives" (1978). The hand-clap sound was later publicized on this album, being used again on "1000 Knives" and in "Music Plans", another of Sakamoto's songs.

Peter Barakan debuts as YMO's co-lyricist. Ryuichi Sakamoto was often absent from the BGM recording sessions on account of illness, and he turns in "Music Plans" as his only new composition for the album, since "1000 Knives" (from his 1978 debut album The Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto) and "Happy End" were new recordings of his earlier materials. Another song, "Rap Phenomena", was an early attempt at electronic rap.^[2] "Loom" is a re-working of "The Infinite Space Octave" by YMO computer programmer Hideki Matsutake, and features a slow, upward glissando similar to the Deep Note, THX's audio logo. A similar sound was previously used by YMO members Haruomi Hosono and Ryuichi Sakamoto for their 1978 album Cochin Moon. Like most YMO albums, song titles were printed in both Japanese and English, as listed below. "来たるべきもの" more accurately translates to "What should come".

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
Stereo Review	positive^[5]

When released in 1981, the album's reception was positive. Stereo Review described the recording as "crystalline" and the performance as "the twain meet", praising the album for its "remarkable" blend between "East and West", its "catchy tunes", its "ambitious collection of electronics" and for "pushing at the frontiers of electronic rock", but noted that this affected the album's accessibility.^[5]

Track listing

Side one
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Ballet" (バレエ)	Yukihiro Takahashi, Peter Barakan	Takahashi	4:34
2.	"Music Plans" (音楽の計画; "Ongaku no keikaku")	Ryuichi Sakamoto, Barakan	Sakamoto	4:34
3.	"Rap phenomena" (ラップ現象; "RAP genshou")	Haruomi Hosono, Barakan	Hosono	4:33
4.	"Happy End" (ハッピー・エンド)		Sakamoto	4:33
5.	"1000 Knives" (千のナイフ; "Sen no KNIFE")		Sakamoto	5:24

Side two
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Cue" (キュー)	Takahashi, Hosono, Barakan	Takahashi, Hosono	4:33
2.	"U•T" (ユーティー)		Yellow Magic Orchestra	4:34
3.	"Camouflage" (カムフラージュ)	Takahashi, Barakan	Takahashi	4:34
4.	"Mass" (マス)	Hosono, Barakan	Hosono	4:32
5.	"Loom" (来たるべきもの; "Kitaru beki mono")		YMO, Hideki Matsutake	5:21

Personnel

"Music Plans"

"Music Plans" is an electro track demonstrating the extensive use of the Roland TR-808 drum machine.

"1000 Knives"

"1000 Knives" is an electro cover of Ryuichi Sakamoto's electronic track "Thousand Knives" (1978). YMO's 1980 Budokan performance of this track was one of the earliest uses of the TR-808 in a live performance.

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Yellow Magic Orchestra – Arrangements, Electronics, Vocals, Voices on "U•T", Mixing engineers

Haruomi Hosono – Bass, Synth Bass, Keyboards, Delays & Harmonizer on "U•T", Production
Ryuichi Sakamoto – Keyboards, Vocoder
Yukihiro Takahashi – Drums, Electronic drums

Guest musicians

Hideki Matsutake – Programming
Takeshii Fujii, Don Nagata & Tomoki Miyadera – Equipment Coordination
Peter Barakan – Lyrics
Tomoko Nunoi (uncredited) – French Narration on "Ballet"

Staff

Kunihiko Murai & Shōrō Kawazoe – Executive Producer
Mitsuo Koike – Recording & Mixing engineer
Yoshifumi Īo – Recording Engineer
Kazusuke Obi – A&R Coordinator
Plan-New Werk & Tsukuitoshinao – Creative Services
Masayoshi Sukita – Photography

References

^ YMO – BGM, Discogs
^ ^a ^b ^c Mills, Ted. "BGM – Yellow Magic Orchestra". AllMusic. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
^ Jason Anderson (November 28, 2008). "Slaves to the rhythm: Kanye West is the latest to pay tribute to a classic drum machine". CBC News. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
^ Mickey Hess (2007), Icons of hip hop: an encyclopedia of the movement, music, and culture, Volume 1, ABC-CLIO, p. 75, ISBN 0-313-33903-1, retrieved 2011-05-29
^ ^a ^b "Yellow Magic Orchestra: BGM". Stereo Review. 46. CBS Magazines: 38. 1981. Retrieved 2011-06-01.

[1] YMO – BGM, Discogs

[Mills-2] Mills, Ted. "BGM – Yellow Magic Orchestra". AllMusic. Retrieved 16 June 2015.

[cbc_808-3] Jason Anderson (November 28, 2008). "Slaves to the rhythm: Kanye West is the latest to pay tribute to a classic drum machine". CBC News. Retrieved 2011-05-29.

[4] Mickey Hess (2007), Icons of hip hop: an encyclopedia of the movement, music, and culture, Volume 1, ABC-CLIO, p. 75, ISBN 0-313-33903-1, retrieved 2011-05-29

[Stereo_Review-5] "Yellow Magic Orchestra: BGM". Stereo Review. 46. CBS Magazines: 38. 1981. Retrieved 2011-06-01.

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