YMOh Yeah

Yellow Magic Orchestra
Technopolis (M.S.T. Mix)
Rydeen (Beat Sonic Mix)
Behind The Mask (Live at A&M Chaplin Memorial Studio 7th Nov 80)
I don’t know if the information regarding when and where that version of “Behind The Mask” was recorded is right. Let me explain.

A few weeks ago I picked up YMO Giga Capsule, a special edition DVD featuring live and rare YMO performances. This is not the same as YMO Giga Clips. That’s a different DVD that focused more on TV show performances and music videos. Giga Capsule is a bigger affair, mostly because it’s a two-sided disc. One side is your standard DVD video and features a nice selection of YMO live footage from various concert videos (all of which are annoyingly out-of-print right now). It’s great, but nothing out-of-the-ordinary.

The other side is what’s special, a unique digital experience full of behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, outtakes and more. Of course, that’s what I’ve gathered from reading about it online. That’s because I can’t get the fucking disc to work on my computer. I think the thing will only work using an old 32bit version of Quicktime that is no longer available and doesn’t work on modern 64-bit machines. If anyone does know anything about getting this thing to work on a new PC, hit me up.

Even though I can’t run the disc’s program proper, I can browse the file directories, which led me to some interesting discoveries. Rather amazingly, this one DVD contains YMO’s complete studio discography, as well as the Live At Kinokuniya Hall album. They’re AIFF files, but they all sound pretty good save for the live album, which is blown out for some reason. Anyone with a bit of technical skill could rip all these files off the disc, easily convert them to MP3, and then have every single YMO record on their hard drive! That kind of thing would never happen today.

There are a lot of other random audio files on this disc. Apparently, somewhere on it are the raw instrumental tracks for several songs. Tried my best, but I couldn’t find them. What I could find was this live version of “Behind The Mask.” I got the information behind its source via the disc’s Discogs page. It could be completely wrong, I have no way of checking. I think I just wrote more words in English about this disc than anyone in the history of the internet. If I’m wrong, please inform me with the correct information.

As for the remixes, they’re from a bizarre remix compilation (pictured above) that features remixes of YMO tracks as well as YMO-associates Sandii, Snakeman Show and Melon. As remixes of YMO go, these are some of the better ones I’ve heard. However, as you may know if you read my multi-part guide to the YMO discography, that’s really not saying all that much. Nearly every YMO remix is complete garbage, even the ones by prominent electronic artists like The Orb. I think it’s because YMO are, at heart, a pop band, and the majority of their remixes have been done by artists looking to make the music more like whatever dance music trend is hip at the time. That just doesn’t work.

Like I said though, these aren’t atrocious. And if you’ve ever wondered what YMO might sound like if they were a mid-90s hardcore house act, well then you are in luck tonight!

3 Responses to “YMOh Yeah”

  1. Drain says:

    So, I went searching the net for a solution to your problem. I don’t know if this will help, but I hope it does: So for an old 32 bit version of QuickTime, I found a link that I hope may contain two versions that could help you run the program: https://support.apple.com/kb/dl762?locale=en_US
    https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1207?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

    If it is the correct version that could get your DVD to work and doesn’t open on a current machine, I went searching for an old forum thread for The Simpsons Virtual Springfield that explains how to get the game to work on a modern machine so maybe this might help:

    “First thing you need to do is to find the icon for the game’s installer (should be “Setup.exe”). Right-click the icon and choose “Properties.” Click the “Compatibility” tab at the top. Click the “Run this program in compatibility mode” checkbox and choose “Windows 95.” After that, the game should let you install.”

    Maybe that can help open the program and let you see all that good stuff on your DVD?

  2. Lost Turntable says:

    I appreciate the help but I still can’t get the quicktime version needed to run, it really wants me to be on a 32-bit system!

  3. Mark says:

    James.
    Virtual machines are an answer.
    It’s a bit of a chore, but I learned how to use Oracle’s VirtualBox and installed a 32bit WinXP machine, just to still play ‘enhanced content’ from cd singles. Most of these struggle on a 64bit OS, but a couple of hours should get you a working machine and playability. Latest version: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

    I fell foul of missing USB support and better video, which are additional components (extension pack?) but I’ve wasted more time on other things with less success. It’s not that hard. As long as you’ve still got a copy of XP of course 🙂

    Keep up the writing, I’ve been dropping by for years. Rarely disappoints.

    Good luck,
    Mark

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