Customer Reviews

Naughty Boys

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

 

 

This is one of the greatest synthpop albums I've ever heard, and I've heard quite a few.
Every song is great...there are no duds here. If you're into so called 'electroclash' music that so many are buzzing about these days, then you'll love this. Naughty Boys has stood the test of time as well...a dj could play this and Ladytron back to back and I doubt many would realize that Naughty Boys is 20 years old.
Most of the songs on Naughty Boys are poppy and irresistably dancey. Every song makes me want to move. Yukihiro Takahashi's drumming is top notch. There are darker moodier (though still dancable) moments with the brilliant 'Lotus Love'. Some songs feature the dreamy e-bow guitar by Bill Nelson, which just adds to its brilliance.
Some exceptional songs are Lotus Love, Kimi Ni Mune Kune, Ongaku, Wild Ambitions. But make no mistake, there are NO bad songs on the cd.
Most of the lyrics are in Japanese. There is also an interview with all the members in the cd booklet but it too is in Japanese. The 2nd cd features all the songs instrumental versions, except for Kimi Ni Mune Kune which is replaced by Chaos Panic. I myself prefer the cd with lyrics.

Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, Ultravox and The Human League have gotten a lot of recognition for their music over the years, but YMO deserve just as much. Buy this cd and see how great they were.

Naughty Boys Instrumental has always been my favorite YMO album. Unfortunately, it had been unavailable on CD. Now I see that there's a CD.

Naughty Boys Instrumental maintains the feel of YMO's previous work while putting a new spin on old works. You've Got to Help Yourself and Lotus Love in particular benefit from the instrumental reinterpretation. The former takes on the aspect of the quintessential anime film score.

I can't recommend Naughty Boys Instrumental too highly. It's a rare gem, now available again.

Although YMO is best known (by some, anyway) as pioneers in electronic music, here they roll up their sleeves and, um, record pop songs. Ten of them. And they're really quite good. My understanding of Japanese is just shy of nothing, but the lyrics at least *sing* well most of the time - I can't comment on content. "Lotus Love" remains my favorite YMO track - a midtempo (love?) song with the occasional English lyric here and there (it certainly sounds quite serious, but what to make of the lyric "Blah blah blah" near the end?). The opening "Kimi Ni Muni Kyun" (guessing at the spelling there) is an uptempo number later decently covered by Human League. Other highlights include "Expecting Rivers" (another fast engaging number) and the abbreviated "You've Got to Help Yourself", which finds the best parts of the songs from SERVICE and condenses it into 30 seconds. Hardly groundbreaking, but this is the one I put on the most often.

Some would call this a cynical cross-over attempt by these naughty boys, and write it off. I won't argue that point, but I'd like to chime in with the fact that these songs are almost uniformly great. "Lotus Love" is such an amazing number that I intentionally avoid looking for a translation of the lyrics, fearing that they would ruin what for me is a first-rate mid-tempo love song. "Expecting Rivers" is a fantastic up-tempo number, and "Kimi Ni Muni Kyun" was poppy enough to get covered by the Human League. Perhaps the oddest bit was the cover of their own "You've Got to Help Yourself" (first heard on SERVICE), now down to an instrumental that's only 30 seconds long. If you like the accent on "pop" in your electro-pop, pick this up.