Post by MartinT on Aug 29, 2022 18:45:00 GMT
Yello – Featured Artist
Yello are probably the only artist from Switzerland you will all have heard of. Formed in 1979 (but with roots going back some further years), Dieter Meier and Boris Blank are the two mad-as-a-hatter members with Dieter providing rather good bass vocals and Boris building an enormous library of high-quality sampled sounds. Yello often feature guest vocalists, some of the best-known being Heidi Happy, Till Bronner, Jade Davies, Fifi Rong and Malia among others.
Their music features the aforesaid samples (newly created for each album) in mostly highly rhythmic music and often with Dieter’s dark voice making memorable contributions. Their key output has been albums, but a few of their songs have become hits in their own right, such as Oh Yeah, The Race and Bostich. Yello have always placed a high emphasis on production values and it’s telling how well their music responds to high-resolution releases. The better the playback equipment, the more you realise just how much has gone into their pristine sound.
There are many worthy albums to listen to, but I am featuring four that I return to again and again. Please feel free to add others that you enjoy listening to.
Flag (1988)
The first of their albums to integrate all of their previous progressions, creating what I think of as their first truly memorable and unique style. The track that brought it the most attention is The Race, which I first heard at a hi-fi show through Audio Innovations equipment. The saxophone just popped out of the speakers. I was transfixed, as I had never heard such complex and compelling music like this before.
The other epic track is Tied Up, which remains one of my all-time test tracks for hi-fi systems to this day. If this music doesn’t sound exciting, something is very wrong with your system’s ability to pick up detail and convey dynamics.
Flag is the representation of a new style of electronica using predominantly samples rather than synthesised notes, integrated into memorable beaty and rhythmic songs with vocals to suit. It remains my favourite Yello album.
open.qobuz.com/album/0060255716840
The Race live in Berlin
The Eye (2003)
I think of The Eye as a linking album between the massively complex and busy style of Flag and the greater emphasis on bass rhythm and vocals of Touch. Listening to Junior B, for instance, you could be mistaken for thinking it comes from Touch. For the most part, this is a step closer to Touch, leaving the style of Flag behind.
open.qobuz.com/album/0060255716970
Junior B, featuring Jade Davies
Touch (2009)
An outstanding album of well-crafted songs from the beauty of Kiss in Blue and Stay, featuring Heidi Happy’s perfectly matched voice, to the sheer soundscape of Takla Makan, with some of the deepest, most room shaking bass this side of a Ruffatti organ. It also features Bostich, which has been used on TV, and a stunning remix of Oh Yeah which brings a smile to my face every time. This album puts rhythm and beat forwards, with infectious and memorable tunes throughout.
open.qobuz.com/album/0060255716810
You Better Hide, featuring Heidi Happy
Toy (2016)
Listening to Limbo on Toy, you feel right back at home with Yello’s best work despite there being another small progression forwards. Dieter’s vocals are as gravelly and wonderful as ever. No Heidi Happy on this one, we get Fifi Rong’s cutesy voice on a couple of numbers, most prominently in Kiss the Cloud.
As reviewed by Mixmag, their comment was “On this showing, they’re just as weird and just as wonderful as ever”. Yep, weird and wonderful covers Yello nicely.
open.qobuz.com/album/0060254787985
Kiss the Cloud, featuring Fifi Rong
Yello are probably the only artist from Switzerland you will all have heard of. Formed in 1979 (but with roots going back some further years), Dieter Meier and Boris Blank are the two mad-as-a-hatter members with Dieter providing rather good bass vocals and Boris building an enormous library of high-quality sampled sounds. Yello often feature guest vocalists, some of the best-known being Heidi Happy, Till Bronner, Jade Davies, Fifi Rong and Malia among others.
Their music features the aforesaid samples (newly created for each album) in mostly highly rhythmic music and often with Dieter’s dark voice making memorable contributions. Their key output has been albums, but a few of their songs have become hits in their own right, such as Oh Yeah, The Race and Bostich. Yello have always placed a high emphasis on production values and it’s telling how well their music responds to high-resolution releases. The better the playback equipment, the more you realise just how much has gone into their pristine sound.
There are many worthy albums to listen to, but I am featuring four that I return to again and again. Please feel free to add others that you enjoy listening to.
Flag (1988)
The first of their albums to integrate all of their previous progressions, creating what I think of as their first truly memorable and unique style. The track that brought it the most attention is The Race, which I first heard at a hi-fi show through Audio Innovations equipment. The saxophone just popped out of the speakers. I was transfixed, as I had never heard such complex and compelling music like this before.
The other epic track is Tied Up, which remains one of my all-time test tracks for hi-fi systems to this day. If this music doesn’t sound exciting, something is very wrong with your system’s ability to pick up detail and convey dynamics.
Flag is the representation of a new style of electronica using predominantly samples rather than synthesised notes, integrated into memorable beaty and rhythmic songs with vocals to suit. It remains my favourite Yello album.
open.qobuz.com/album/0060255716840
The Race live in Berlin
The Eye (2003)
I think of The Eye as a linking album between the massively complex and busy style of Flag and the greater emphasis on bass rhythm and vocals of Touch. Listening to Junior B, for instance, you could be mistaken for thinking it comes from Touch. For the most part, this is a step closer to Touch, leaving the style of Flag behind.
open.qobuz.com/album/0060255716970
Junior B, featuring Jade Davies
Touch (2009)
An outstanding album of well-crafted songs from the beauty of Kiss in Blue and Stay, featuring Heidi Happy’s perfectly matched voice, to the sheer soundscape of Takla Makan, with some of the deepest, most room shaking bass this side of a Ruffatti organ. It also features Bostich, which has been used on TV, and a stunning remix of Oh Yeah which brings a smile to my face every time. This album puts rhythm and beat forwards, with infectious and memorable tunes throughout.
open.qobuz.com/album/0060255716810
You Better Hide, featuring Heidi Happy
Toy (2016)
Listening to Limbo on Toy, you feel right back at home with Yello’s best work despite there being another small progression forwards. Dieter’s vocals are as gravelly and wonderful as ever. No Heidi Happy on this one, we get Fifi Rong’s cutesy voice on a couple of numbers, most prominently in Kiss the Cloud.
As reviewed by Mixmag, their comment was “On this showing, they’re just as weird and just as wonderful as ever”. Yep, weird and wonderful covers Yello nicely.
open.qobuz.com/album/0060254787985
Kiss the Cloud, featuring Fifi Rong
