Description

Yellow Magic Orchestra's second album came out on Alfa on 25 September 1979, and its cover is a group portrait conceived by bassist Haruomi Hosono and shot by Masayoshi Sukita, the photographer best known for his pictures of David Bowie, including the cover of "Heroes". The figures sit around a table in matching red outfits supplied by the costume label Bricks, against a flat green background, in a composition that looks more like a fashion editorial than a band photo.

Art director Heikichi Harata framed the scene, and the American illustrator Lou Beach supplied the logo type, whose chunky, futuristic letters spell out the band's name across the top. The look was carefully controlled down to the stylists credited on the sleeve, and it presented YMO as a single designed unit rather than three musicians.

That suited the music. Solid State Survivor, with "Rydeen" and "Technopolis", made YMO stars in Japan and helped carry synth-pop around the world. The bright, cheerful cover set them apart from the cold, industrial imagery often attached to electronic music at the time.

Credit

Cover concept by Haruomi Hosono; art direction by Heikichi Harata; photography by Masayoshi Sukita; logo type by Lou Beach; costumes by Bricks