VA - Tribute To YMO (2004)

This is a cover album, not a remix one - the difference is that none of the actual sounds from the original YMO albums are used, as the songs are reconstructed from scratch. The lineup card features a bunch of Japanese artists, including one former collaborator (Snakeman Show). Surprisingly, Takkyu Ishinio and Yoshinori Sunahara (of Denki Groove) are nowhere to be found - you'd think they'd jump at the chance. Stylistically, this is as diverse as it gets - the only album that doesn't get touched is Technodelic, and only a few sections are done in the technopop style ("Kimi Ni Mune Kyun", "Nice Age"). I guess you could also count Ken Ishii's "Firecracker" cover, but I don't think of it so much as technopop as I do Ishii-style techno with an actual melody. Similarly, "La Femme Chinoise" (here called "Chuugoku Onna") is given an abstract, low-key techno production that can't really be called pop. Besides that, the electronics are generally kept down - there's a couple of tracks done in full-thrash style ("Cosmic Surfin", "1000 Knives"), a jazzy "Simoon" that is essentially the original track minus the electronic production, a ska rendition of "Rydeen", and Jazztronik turns "Behind the Mask" into an R&B number. I'd say this is one of the better tribute albums I've heard - nobody seems to really be "mailing it in", and despite some consistently too-long track times it's entertaining all the way through. The downside is that the shifts in style can be jarring and nobody really nails their track, although a few are close ("Cosmic Surfin", "Nice Age", "Firecracker").