Behind the Mask

This album has been added to 1 public list:

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  Seven Songs for the Week #64

  Jason Carty

  Last week, when adding Noel to the list, I came across this list of top synth pop albums from Paste magazine. [ https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/best-albums/50-greatest-synth-pop-albums-of-all-time ] Nestled near the top was Solid State Survivor by Yellow Magic Orchestra. Now, this is a band whose name I am familiar with, but I’d never (knowingly) heard a note, and to be honest because Ryuichi Sakamoto was involved I’d erroneously thought they were a serious, maybe even austere, proposition. But synth pop? OK. So I had a listen and was immediately smitten. This track, Behind The Mask, seemed naggingly familiar, and a minimal amount of research led me to Eric Clapton’s version from 1986. In classic Eric C style he managed to suck all the fun and funk from the track. In fact, Eric’s version was a cover of Greg Phillanges version which in turn was a cover of a song Michael Jackson had written for Thriller using the original YMO track as a backing. Sakamoto couldn’t agree to what MJ’s cut of the publishing should be so it remained on the shelf - who knows how much money that cost him. Eventually it was reworked posthumously as an MJ single in 2010 for the Michael album and the original demo finally saw an official release in 2022 on the Thriller 40 reissue.

  Anyways, this original version is a total vibe. I don’t have to spell out the Daft Punk and Gorillas influence, do I?