Yello – Flag (1988)

When the man's offering 3 CDs for £2 at the boot fair, this is the sort of thing you end up taking home. I'd heard of Yello, but had no idea what they sounded like, apart from an appearance on the NME Mighty Reel cassette with Sensation.

But there's nothing on this album which interests me as much as that 1982 release did. This is an uninteresting procession of rhythm heavy electronic dance style tunes and songs, and after three songs, I'm bored. Blazing Saddles hints at a bit of promise but soon degenerates into a mock Western electronica-torch song. Apparently the hit single The Race is meant to be a high spot, but I'm not hearing (apart from that little sax break, which has been endlessly sampled and marketed.

Alhambra has a faux eastern sound, and it's the last thing of note on this album.

I feel that to get the two star rating, an album needs to have something there that remotely interests me, or some quality that while not to my taste, I can understand why others get it. This doesn't do that.

Link to album tracks

1* - turgid Euro electro-funk-pop that doesn't quite know what it's meant to be