Saravah LP

Yukihiro Takahashi's 1978 solo debut, cut at Tokyo's Alfa Studio A a year before he formed Yellow Magic Orchestra with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Haruomi Hosono. Sakamoto co-produced and arranged everything by hand, before sequencers took over that job, while Hosono played bass and Tatsuro Yamashita and Minako Yoshida sang backing vocals. It blends kayokyoku pop with French influences, and pieces of it turn up again on YMO's early records. Wewantsounds handles this reissue. Worth grabbing for anyone tracing YMO's roots back before the group existed.