01. Jimmy Pursey (2:16)
02. See You Tuesday (4:01)
03. Intercourse With Barbara Steele (3:25)
04. His Problem's Boring Me (3:39)
05. Look At Me, I'm You (3:33)
06. Perfectly Human, Thank You (2:24)
07. A Big Dead Man (2:17)
08. Not, In Fact, the Time (2:57)
09. Old Dickhead Is Back (2:26)
10. Deconstruction 1-2-3 (2:07)
11. Big Binoculars (2:06)
12. No-One Went To Heaven (1:39)
13. Mr. Blue Sky (4:12)
14. It's So Mysterious (4:15)
Engineered and produced at the Piano Factory, in London, bewteen May 1992 and March 1993. The songs were all written by Yukio Yung and published in 1993 by Jung At Heart Music. This is with the exception of "Look At Me I'm You" (by Blossom Toes) and "Mr. Blue Sky" (by Jeff Lynne)Yukio also played all the instruments.
Other Yukio Yung releases are available from the Orgone Company, Unit 10 Albion Works, Sigdon Road, London E8 1AP, England
For a catalogue of interesting things, write to Little Teddy Recordings at Schifferlstrasse 1, 80676 Munchen Germany
Bonus Tracks:
JEFF LYNNE EP
LITTLE TEDDY (GERMANY) LITE 715 (1993)
15. Mr. Blue Sky (3:42)
16. Xanadu (3:24)
17. 10538 Overture (2:46)
18. Livin' Thing (2:41)
19. The End Of The Road (2:06)
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Jeff Lynne EP: Those who have wondered what Jeff Lynne's perfectly constructed, intricately plotted pop songs must have sounded like in demo form should look no further than this 7" five-song EP. Yukio Yung is clearly a huge Lynne fan, and these faithful one-man-band reconstructions of five classic Electric Light Orchestra songs are done with much good humor and evident fondness. The selection is a nice mix, with two of the big hits, "Livin' Thing" and the unfairly maligned Olivia Newton-John duet "Xanadu," alongside three of the better ELO album tracks. "Xanadu" is actually the key track, for it was the glossiest of these songs in its original form, and by stripping away almost all of the pristine studio polish, Yung reveals the pure pop heart of the song, showing what a terrific piece of Beatlesque psych-pop it is. The almost punky "10538 Overture" does the same thing by substituting fuzz guitar for cello, as does "Livin' Thing" by almost doubling the tempo. "Mr. Blue Sky" also appears, in remixed form, on Yung's Art Pop Stupidity album.
–Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
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All Music Guide: Yukio Yung's second solo album is a one-man-band operation with a 1990s twist. Working with an early version of digital recording software, Yung (a classically trained keyboardist with an advanced degree in computer engineering) created these 14 songs completely out of samples and loops of "real" instruments. Though the popular concept of an all-samples record is something like the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique or maybe Nine Inch Nails, Art Pop Stupidity has much more in common with English Settlement-era XTC or mid-period Squeeze. The songs have their noisy elements -- the otherwise perfectly normal "Jimmy Pursey" features a sound like the buzzing of 100 electronic cicadas droning through its background -- but most of them are based on layers of piano and acoustic guitar that give a human warmth to even the most processed songs. Although there's a surface humor to song titles like "Old Dickhead Is Back" (which is based on the bass line from Fontella Bass' "Rescue Me," amusingly enough), the overall tone of Art Pop Stupidity is a sort of resigned melancholy that at times, as on the morbid "See You Tuesday," dips down into actual depression. However, Yung's melodic gifts are such that even songs with titles like "His Problem's Boring Me" and "No One Went to Heaven" are instantly hummable. The dreamy "Intercourse With Barbara Steele" has the best chorus and the most judicious use of hand claps and "ba-ba-ba" backing vocals, though the psychedelic-layered harmonies at the end of "Big Binoculars" are equally fine. Covers of ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" and "Look at Me, I'm You" by little-known British psychedelicists Blossom Toes are nice tributes to two of Yung's clear influences, although the 35-second hardcore punk recapitulation at the end of the former shows off Yung's cheekily independent spirit. ~Stewart Mason, AMG