Yellow Magic Orchestra CD masterings

I'm a massive YMO fan and have been attempting to find the best CD versions of the albums, having started with this band on vinyl and owning various albums of different vintages on CD.

Initially things seemed simple; online wisdom had it that the Japanese 1984 and 1987 CD issues are the same; in '92 came the remastered series released worldwide (these were replicated in Japan, plus the first CD release of the Japanese mix of the debut album); in '98 there was the final Alfa round of releases on mini-LP CD (first full release of After Service on CD) and then in '99 came the Toshiba-EMI Hosono remasters which have been replicated on all releases since (including Epic, Music On CD etc).

However, as I have discovered, the reality is a little more complicated:

Yellow Magic Orchestra (A&M version) - first CD 1984, same master 1987, remaster 1992 (noticeable noise reduction), 1998 I'm missing and 1999 - present seem to be the same.

Yellow Magic Orchestra (Japanese version) - first CD 1992, same master used in 1998, remastered 1999 and the same used since

Solid State Survivor - first CD 1984, different master 1987, 1992 release seems to be the same as the 1984 disc (lovely mastering), the 1998 is another different mastering (loud), and the 1999 - present is yet another (even louder).

Public Pressure - all seem to use the same master until 1999. The remaster is a lot louder and the CD indexing is done a bit differently.

Multiplies (Japanese version with comedy sketches) - not on CD until 1990; in 1992 the US/UK version on restless adds bonus tracks and is remastered; 1999 remaster

Multiplies (A&M track listing); first CD release in 1988; same mastering used for Japanese releases up to 1998 (only release of the Hosono remaster as this title was not released in subsequent issues or internationally). The 1988 master is fantastic.

BGM - this one is interesting because all CDs on Alfa and the 1992 Restless CDs feature an alternate take/mix of "Happy End". The correct version is only on CD from 1999 onwards. The dead giveaway for the "wrong" mix is the sudden re-appearance (not well-played) of the metallic synth line after the middle percussive section of the song. On the vinyl mix (on CDs from 1999 to the present) the mettalic sound is gradually mixed in but on the "wrong" version it is louder. There are also other differences but very hard to describe (sound FX, mixing differences).
First CD release 1984; same master used on all subsequent Alfa pressings to 1998; 1992 restless version apparently remastered but sounds no different to me. 1999 and later issues are louder but have the correct "Happy End".

Technodelic - don't have the 1984 yet, so may be unique; 1987 master is curiously louder than others in this series but sounds great; same used up to 1998 in Japan (don't have the Restless issue - is it remastered?); from 1999 onwards the same master is used.

Naughty Boys - 1984 first CD issue; the 1987 and 1992 are different but the same as each other - these have some noise-reduction compared to the 1984 CD; don't have the 1998 to compare; the 1999 and later are remastered and louder.

Naughty Boys Instrumental - 1990 first CD issue; same master used until 1999.

Service - 1984 and 1987 masterings are different, with the 1987 being quieter/thinner sounding; the 1992 is remastered but is very similar to the 1984 CD; 1998 is different again (louder, more presence) and the 1999 and later is even louder and less subtle.

After Service - same master used (as far as I can tell) until 1998 when the first 2-CD edition came out which is brickwalled; in 1999 a new master was done which is a bit better (and this is the one on sale since).

One to note - Best Selection (1986, reissued 1991) is a fantastic sounding CD and some of the tracks have been tweaked to sound particularly good on headphones and to make the most of the sound-field. This is no accident, this comp was initially a cassette-only collection in 1982, marketed in a red plastic slipcase intended to appeal to Walkman users.

Anyone able to help me fill in the gaps?

 

Aha! I've been hoping for a thread like this. I've been meaning to investigate YMO, as they're slap-bang in the middle of a Venn diagram of my intersecting interests, but I'm keen to buy once and get it right the first time, even if it costs a bit more. Nothing to contribute as such, just to say I'll be watching with interest.

Would you say the 1984 releases are the best bet, most of the time? I need to do more reading on the different variants of some of the albums.

Would this be a good starting place for a YMO newbie? I'm a headphone listener most of the time, so this sounds tempting. I can see a 1986 version for a pretty reasonable price - is the mastering on the two CD releases identical?

 

Do you know if the mastering of the UC YMO compilation is different between the original 2003 release and the 2009 Blu-spec reissue? Some Googling suggests this has a reputation as the "best" YMO compilation, but the Loudness War DR figures are fairly middling on the 2003 (10&11).

Also, what kind of DR figures could I expect from Best Selection? As an early CD comp, I'm assuming they're pretty good.

 

Picked up Yukihiro Takahashi — Once a Fool this week. Nice album. I must pick up more from him.

 

Managed to grab a copy of the 2003 pressing of UCYMO from Music Magpie for £12, which barring a few wrinkles in the cover sticker turns out to be near mint, complete with its weird double CD case (which looks all the world like a double cassette boxes I used to get ZX Spectrum game compilations in). Love the shiny engraved red CDs; the whole thing looks like expensive wrapping paper from a perfumery or something.

This sounds good! DR database has it clocking in a bit lower than the '92 versions of the individual albums, but still fair (10-11ish). There's tape hiss there, suggesting the dreaded NR has stayed away, and it's punchy and fresh - need to do some A/Bing, but I might prefer it. Content wise, as well as being a really solid comp it has some decent stuff for the devotee, like the single mix of Technopolis (surprsingly richer), The End of Asia (which saves me having to get the JP version of X∞Multiplies), the vocal mix of Chaos Panic, the Kageki na Shukujo single, M-16 and the original Seiko watch advert version of Behind the Mask from 1978.

It would be an ideal thing to lend to friends to get them into YMO, but if any of them broke that special jewel case, I'd have to kill them.

 

I like Providence from this album.

 

Yeah I usually dislike remasters but this compilation has always sounded good to me. Chaos Panic is a classic b side.

 

Has anyone compared the SACD of UC YMO with the RB?

 

I think it’s possibly my favourite track from that era. I actually really like Naughty Boys apart from Kimi Ni Mune Kyun - if they’d put Naughty Boys out with the same tracklisting as Naughty Boys Instrumental (Chaos Panic in place of Kimi), I think it would be a much better album.

 

Haruomi Hosono Reissue series announced

 

How does Sealed work as a compilation? I understand the concept (gathering songs written by individual members of the band on separate LPs, on the original release), but I haven't seen any reviews in terms of whether that approach makes sense, if it gathers notable rarities, etc. (I'm not so concerned about the mastering per se.)

 

To be honest the concept worked much better on vinyl. The CD version is useful as a way to get the 2 non album single tracks (vocal version of Chaos Panic and Kageki Na Shukujo) plus the European single edits of a couple more. It misses out a few tracks from the vinyl version - notably Prologue and Epilogue from the Sakamoto section.

 

Just about finished my core YMO studio collection. ‘92 Alfa of the debut, ‘92 Restless of Solid State Survivor, BGM, Technodelic, Naughty Boys and Service, a Japanese second pressing of Technodon (original mastering, but without the adjustable artwork) and UC YMO. Not sure I can be bothered with Naughty Boys Instrumental.

All I need now is a copy of Multiplies, but I’m bit torn over which version to get. The purist in me says the original Japanese track listing with the sketches, but unlike Service the I believe the sketches spill into the opening of the tracks, making it a bad source for creating a reduced, music-only playlist. At the same time, the US tracklisting is missing The End of Asia, although I do have that on UC YMO.

 

Thanks for that. I was actually thinking of getting the original release on, er, cassette (thus totally disregarding the thread title's explicit mention of "CD masterings"), which I believe preserves the original sequence.

I'm still just dipping my toes in the water now and have no sense at all of the solo careers of the band members, so having things broken up this way seems like an intriguing way to get to know the band better. In this vein, I'm also looking forward to the Light in the Attic compilation of Japanese new age, which I believe features some of their solo material.

 

UCYMO has the jingle, nice age, tighten up, citizens and end of Asia, so you’re only missing the title track of Multiplies. Personally I’d go for the US track listing CD on Alfa as it’s really good in terms of sound quality.

 

Some recommend titles if you want to discover YMO solo work - B-2 Unit by Sakamoto, Neuromantic by Takahashi and Philharmony by Hosono. Add to that Exitentialism by The Beatniks (Takahashi & Keiichi Suzuki) and you have a nice little collection of sounds that bridge early to late YMO and complement BGM and Technodelic really well.

 

Don’t forget Hosono’s Paraiso and Cochin Moon! The man was on fire in 1978, released some real master works.

 

No, but the SA-CD of UC sounds remixed to me, compared to my original Alfa CDs and LPs. Am I imagining it? I don't see how a remaster could make it sound so different.

 

I love Instrumental, maybe even more than the regular Naughty Boys.

 

I finally stopped being lazy and compared a few tracks with headphones. It's not a remix, but when listening via speakers, the SA-CD does so much better w/ the soundstage of the atmospheric synth sounds that I thought it was remixed.

It sure would be nice to have the entire YMO catalogue remastered on SA-CD like UC!

 

This is probably old news, but I was browsing CD Japan, and discovered that the entire YMO catalogue (original albums) have or will be released on SA-CD:
CDJapan : Search result by ( yellow magic ) OR "yellow magic"

They're labeled as "SACD Hybrid".

 

Does anybody have the Music On CD pressings? How are they?

 

Same mastering and packaging as the 2004 Epic releases; same audio as the 1999 Toshiba-EMI Japan and later GT Music / Sony Japanese CDs.