I just came across the following album review. enjoy Raphael When most people feel like a wank, they tend to retreat to some secluded place, whereupon they can indulge themselves in complete privacy. When Dieter Meier and The Other One fancy touch of protracted masturbation, they drive out to an expensive Swiss studio, record the whole thing onto 72-track and sell it to Phonogram. Not that it's my place to scoff. Yello's monstrous self-indulgence is so popular that they only have to change it's name, say, from "Oh Yeah" to "Rubberbandman" to ensure that everyone buys it all over again. Yello are quite literally a prize pair of wankers. This isn't necessarily a problem. I'd rather have a cerebral, imaginative wanker than a smug, stupid one and it's those qualities that just about redeem Meier and The Other One's diverse doodlings for at least half of "Essential". Yello are quite happy to shun the dynamics of the composite pop song, evidenced by the absence of things like choruses and verses in "Goldrush" and "Tied Up". Quirks such as these are just as often Yello's points of excellence as their nemesis. "Essential" contains all the hits and a few ancient gems that hat henceforth eluded me. A case in point is "Drive/Driven" where you realise that Yello are seeking to thrill the listener as much as themselves. As Meier huskily delivers a surreally inane love song lyric, it's the divinely suble conflict between the humid wash of synths and seductively restrained wah-wah guitar that hints at Yello's capabilities. When Yello succeed it's not because they've successfully deconstructed the rules of making a pop song. It's more to do with their ability to inhabit the infinity that lies between setting out to make a Kraftwerk record and coming away with a Men Without Hats one. Long may they indulge themselves. Peter Paphides