Customer Reviews

The Eye

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Being a long-time Yello fan, I am always eager to absorb the latest work of the Swiss band, comprised of Boris Blank and Dieter Meier. Of course, those of us in America have to wait for the imported music to drift into the country, but the wait is usually more than worth it.

Classifying Yello into a music category is almost pointless, unless the category were "Yello." They have given fans everything from synthesized and sampled electronica to lyrical ballads, from dance/trance club themes to pure unabashed entertainment. Boris Blank's talent as a composer is the key to the richness of Yello's music, and his skill in engineering the finished product is unmatched. Many of Yello's music is "re-mixed" by a variety of engineers and the re-mixes always lack the life-blood that pumps and bubbles through Blank's work. The only exceptions would be, of course, those re-mixes done by Blank and/or Meier themselves. The counterpoint is provided by Meier's imaginative lyrics, some of which are little more than fragments of words twisted and contorted by Blank's design. Other lyrics can be as full as miniature stories or simply a few phrases inspired by Blank's framework.

The most important guide for a reader of this review would be this reviewer's opinion of other Yello work. Yello's best work to date is undoubtedly Stella, their fourth album published in 1985, which is the most consistently fluid and cohesive album Yello has ever fabricated, and included their most popular hit "Oh Yeah." Stella is seconded by the band's next album, One Second, which came out in 1987. Of course, the American printing of One Second jammed "Oh Yeah" between two songs on the side two due to the increasing popularity that same song received through Ferris Bueller's Day Off and other commercial and film spots. Can't trust my fellow Americans but to screw up something that was already perfect. If you are looking for the purer One Second, do not settle for anything less than an import that is without "Oh Yeah.".

1987 to 1997 brought several more albums which are enjoyable, but truly lack the complexity and charisma of the two mentioned above. 1997 saw the release of Pocket Universe, which easily claimed rank number three for Yello's albums produced to that point, but Pocket Universe had it's flaws. Most notable was Stina Nordenstam. Stina's vocals on the track "To The Sea" simply created a gaping chasm in the entire album. Unfortunately, that CD also includes a bonus track of the same awful song pitiably re-mixed by Steve B-Zet. Never should an artist include a second-hand re-mix on one of their own albums. The other flaw would have to be the track "Resistor" which is basically a re-mix of Yello On 45s, or Boris Blank combines all of his favorite samples into a trippingly fast dance track. How unimaginative and a waste of 7 minutes and 13 seconds.

The Eye marks one of their most successful albums in recent years. The success comes in the freshness of the work, the range of themes and moods presented, and tightness of the package as a whole. Every song is fresh and new, with a huge range of styles and moods, enough to satisfy any Yello fan. The Eye easily boots Pocket Universe out of the number three position. The album begins with it's fastest dance track, "Planet Dada", but quickly shifts gears to a more lyrical and atmospheric feel for the rest of the album. Rather than call out each track and highlight it's feel, let me just say that it is the smoothest and tightest album since One Second, maybe even closest to the completeness of Stella. Five tracks include the additional haunting vocals of Jade Davies, who provides some of the strongest vocals to grace a Yello album since Billie MacKenzie and Shirley Bassey in the old days.

The obvious comparison band of late would be Garbage, with their extreme engineering. Yet Garbage choked on their third album; compare that with Yello's eleventh to see where the true mastery and talent lies.

Those of us who have followed Yellow for 20+ years will no doubt recognize some rhythms and lyric repetitions resurfacing from other albums, but they are packed into a complete and fresh spice. The spice makes up for more than 95% of the album with perhaps 2-3% of recognizably familiar Yello. Any true Yello fan will not want to pass on this album, and any first-time Yello buyer should be pleased with this newest work.

An update: I've been listening to this album non-stop for about a week now and It now shares the #2 spot with One Second; this album really shows the best work Yello has produced in over a decade!

Update #2: A few more days of listening and I think this one may be just as good as Stella, or almost nearly as good! Go Yello!

I bought The Eye as an import as well as the "planet dada" single and checked out this version for the video. For the price and the fact that you get the bonus CD that has every song on it that the "planet dada" single has but the "planet dada(original version)" which means it won't be redundant if you decide to play both CDs back-to-back (It's the first track on the main CD), I would recommend this over getting the import full CD and single or even just the import CD at all.

As for the video, it plays nicely on Quicktime. It wouldn't play on my Windows Media Player. It has a ".mov" extension. It's title is "Planet Dada Video." It is icing on the cake!!! It's a fun and visually interesting video-- much better than the usual fare out there. If you liked their "Squeeze Please" video that they used to have on their web site, you'll LOVE this! :-D

As far as the music goes, it ranges from jazzy dance to a sort of trance and back again. It is ve-e-e-r-r-r-y-y-y-y DADA!!!!! It's a brain twist to a beat. To it you can comfortably swing upon your feet. I personally have painted on canvas large and small. And when I'm into it, I haven't a care at all. It's happy, fun, and a nice surprise. It might not make you practical, but it could make you wise.

This is some of the best modern music to come out of Europe this year. The three track sequence of Time Palace, Indigo Bay, Unreal is among the very best material Yello have ever produced. A classic, buy it now.

I have been a Yello fan since the early days, and I've always liked the way they come up with wonderful tunes and bizarre/catchy lyrics. This CD is great, but it seemed to lack a bit of the weirdness, there is definitely no "Oh Yeah" here. That doesn't mean it isn't great! Dada sounds so much like Kraftwerk, which isn't bad since I like them too, and a few other songs with female vocals remind me of Combustible Edison. I'm sure if you're a fan you'll like this, but don't expect any "Race" or "Evening's Young" fun. Strictly electronica and danceable.

As a long time follower of Yello, I'm again elated to finally track down the Eye CD. If you haven't yet listened to these folks, get this CD. I agree with other reviewers that they are in a category of their own and a refreshing departure from the uninspired paff that gets overplayed in this country.

Well, finally we've got another brilliant album from Yello in the new millennium. The dippiest bass and the highest upper frequencies yet I ever heard on their albums. Great musicianship and vocal works by Boris Blank, Dieter Meier and Jade Davies. These guys are the fathers of the "electricity". Every DJ on the planet helplessly crying "How do they put out such a clean precise mix..."
Every song on this CD is worth every single penny I spent (well may be except the last remix). Anyway if you going to give it a try make sure you do it on a good stereo set and very loud, as mentioned before you will be blown away, literally by the deepness of the sound and the songs you're about to hear. The sound quality on the top notch.
And please stop wining about this album not being like One Second or Baby... Like all the rest of Yello albums this one is unique and very interesting.
Very pleased with this CD.

Yello on the road again! This is the 11th studio album by Swiss duo of Dieter Meyer and Boris Blank, wonderful creation of enigmatic musical geniuses. Some songs from this album (like Planet DaDa and Soul On Ice) are so good that I was even laughing! This CD was definitely worth waiting, Yello never sounded outdated and neither they do now, they proved all my expectations.

I found the electronic tracks to be a bit retro. Planet Data and Tiger Dust, for example, are good if you're looking for something that sounds like Kraftwerk or Uberzone, but nothing here is groundbreaking. However, I find great value in this CD for its many chillout tracks. The female vocalist is quite prominently used, and she is wonderful.

I caught the synth bug in the 70's and just like malaria, never got rid of it.
Love the electronica? Yello's ''The Eye reminds me of Kraftwork - The Mix. Plenty of catchy synth work.
I rate 5 of 5 stars on the cuts Tiger Dust, Distant Solution and Indigo Bay.
I rate 4 of 5 stars on Planet Dada (both mixes), Nervous, Soul on Ice & Time Palace
and that's 9 out of the 12 cuts on the CD.

While to some degree I had written off Yello a very longs time ago (maybe 1994!) this is somehow a surprise. It is true that also like Cabaret Voltaire they have gotten into a rut sound-wise but it does contain the odd catchy tune that allways made the difference with Dietrer Meier and his crew.