Yello - Solid Pleasure
#411
by Lori Alley
October 15 1980
Yello
Solid Pleasure
Genre: Synthpop
Allen’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Rating: 2 out of 5
Highlight:
Smirak's Train
TOUCH MY MONKEY!! Sorry, the lead singer of this Swiss band is a millionaire/gambler/dilettante named Dieter Meier, so there was practically a gun to my head. (I would highly recommend watching some videos of this guy dancing).
I have only heard of Yello because of their single "Oh Yeah" -you know, that song in Ferris Bueller's Day Off? I can imagine the royalties from that song alone paid for a lot of drum machines and trips to Vegas. So, there are probably a TON of Yello fans out there, maybe like people who love Star Trek and Dr. Who. I mean, I don't get it, but I get that you get it.
Actually I LOVE techno but not this, sorry to say. There were three singles from this album, and they are indeed the most tolerable of the bunch - Night Flanger, Bimbo, and Bostich. Other than Smirak's Train which is a hidden masterpiece, the rest is a true Musik smorgasbord. It's totally ALL OVER THE PLACE! Cleanup in aisle seven!
Okay, so let's say you want to break up with someone, but you're just not up for the hassle of being honest. I'm suggesting that you send them "Downtown Samba" and convince them that the moment you heard it you fell in love, and that it's the anthemic background music to your life together. It is the most insufferable piece of dreck I have ever heard. It really is a samba with lines like "Hey you, over there, watch me, come closer!" It's so creepy it's practically wearing a Members Only jacket and polyester pants.
I guarantee this breakup method, or your money back. It actually ends with voices talking over the music like My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts except instead of being interesting it's actually the stuff of nightmares. I'm not kidding.
Here's another one: "Bananas to the Beat." Just, no. And really, what ARE these crazy kids going to do next? Maybe a few instrumentals like Magneto, and a song called "Massage" which sounds like meditation chanting (I seriously do usually love meditation chanting, but this is just sorta weird).
Bimbo isn't TERRIBLE, imagine if Adrien Belew and Devo were at an awards show doing a Shaft tribute song. Night Flanger is hovering very close to copyright infringement of the Doors, and "Reverse Lion" might be where 'good' experimental music crosses the line into 'Dahmer' experimental. Most of the songs are just really derivative, strange, and kooky. Okay, okay, before everyone gets mad at me, I do have to say, listen to “Smirak's Train”. If you're at all an ambient music person, this one's pretty lulling and addictive. I gotta give them that. And if I were being even more generous I can see that they pushed some boundaries, blah blah blah and probably influenced some future generations of techno bands.
If you were throwing an ironic 80's party though, these guys would be a must (but don't forget to mask!). I can see that this just maybe didn't age well.
https://open.spotify.com/album/4ybpV482xl3I2cZe6xBpQW?si=-0UzICwySOaJTH6_TUAqLg
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