BGM is the fourth studio album by Yellow Magic Orchestra, released on March 21, 1981. The title stands for "Background music",[1] though Japanese TV and press advertising alternately used "Beautiful Grotesque 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. The album was the first of any kind to feature the Roland TR-808, one of the earliest programmable drum machines;[3] YMO had already been the first band to use the device, featuring it on-stage as early as 1980.[4][5] In addition to the TR-808, this was also their first studio album recorded with the Roland MC-4 Microcomposer.

BGM
Studio album by Yellow Magic Orchestra
Released	March 21, 1981
Recorded	January 15, 1981
Studio	Alfa Studio "A", Shibaura, Minato, Tokyo
Length	47:06
Label	Alfa A&M
Producer	Haruomi Hosono
Yellow Magic Orchestra chronology
x∞Multiplies (1980) BGM (1981) Technodelic (1981)
Singles from BGM
"Cue" / "U•T" Released: April 21, 1981 "Mass" / "Camouflage" Released: September 5, 1981

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; he had previously provided lyrics for Ryuichi Sakamoto's solo track "Thatness and Thereness".[6] Sakamoto himself was often absent from the BGM recording sessions due to creative differences with Hosono, 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.[6] Another song, "Rap Phenomena", was an early attempt at electronic rap.[1] "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	[1]
Pitchfork	9.2/10[6]
Stereo Review	positive[7]

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.[7]

Track listing

• All CDs released between 1984 and 1998 feature an alternate take of "Happy End", with audible differences throughout the second half of the track. The original version appears on all CD and later vinyl releases from 1999 onwards.

Personnel

"Music Plans"

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

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"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