YELLO, ONE SECOND REEL TO REEL REVIEW

Yello, One Second 15ips Studio Master Tape edition gets a good listen to by Alan McIntosh for HiFi PiG.

It doesn’t feel that long ago since I had to pick my jaw up off the floor due to the news that Yello was releasing the album Yello on a Master Tape due to Boris Blank and Horch House (now part of the Revox stable) forging a licensing agreement, then it landing on my doorstep, Stu (the editor) meeting the great man himself and us publishing the Stella review. Fast forward though to December 2024, via the announcement of the new Revox B77 MkIII and that Horch House were being acquired by Revox and here I am reviewing another release from Yello’s groundbreaking catalogue on tape via Horch House and their fifth studio album, released in 1987 – One Second. 

I’ll direct readers who somehow have not heard of Yello to the Stella review published in July to brush up, and here I’ll focus on One Second which sees Boris and Dieter collaborate with some phenomenal voices – not least among them the Welsh powerhouse that is Shirley Bassey. 

Before we dig into the music itself, I want to give you a quick tour of what you get when you buy one of Yello’s Master Tape Editions. Arriving from Germany the tapes arrive cocooned in rather fetching plastic yellow cases with the One Second cover art on each. These cases are a relatively new design for Revox/Horch and are designed to protect the tapes in transit and from nastiness such as moisture. The 2 cases are then housed in a very robust black cardboard outer box, again with the One Second artwork adorning one side. 

Nestling alongside the tapes is a folder of items that have become a Horch trademark. Inside a lightweight card “envelope” of sorts, you get your Horch House certificate of authenticity with hologram, serial number and recording information for reference such as equalization, flux, track length and personnel. Alongside this you get superbly reproduced photography of the master tapes, album cover (back and front) and several promotional images – in this case including Boris and Deiter alongside a smiling Dame Shirley Bassey. These add a real joy to the experience and the quality of reproduction is excellent. 

The tapes themselves are ¼”, 2 Track, 10.5” aluminium spools with Yello branding and each is loaded tails out as you would expect, with leader tape pre-added. I ordered my tapes before the Revox/Horch merger so I received the Studio Master Copy version –  2 tapes of RTM RM900 stock, however, I note since receiving mine, and then the Revox acquisition of Horch House that Revox is listing the 1 tape LPR90 version only (Standard Master Copy), the Horch House site still lists both the 2 and single tape variants.  Unlike Stella, and releases set to come, One Second has been on Horch’s catalogue for a number of years so this release is a repackaging exercise rather than a fresh version meaning it’s not had the Jὔrg Schopper magic touch as Stella has, but the reproduction is truly excellent. 

Receiving tape from Horch is always a very satisfying tactile and visual experience even before you get the sonic injection. The whole kit and kaboodle are contained in a further slim cardboard case before being armour-plated for shipment in a very sturdy outer box. Tapes can be somewhat fragile, although not as fragile as many Imagine, so this care is welcome!

We kick off by loading Tape 1 onto the Studer a807 and open with the up-tempo Latin rhythms of La Habenera, it’s carnivalesque horns and Dieters spoken word partnered with Rush Winters on vocals (and backed by Billy Mackenzie) transport us to Cuba in a revolutionary mood. Those more erudite than I may know that La Habenera is both an aria from the opera Carmen and also became synonymous with Cuban dance and music of the era which the song represents in spades, while Dieter moodily monologues on the progressing events and which punctuate the track throughout. It’s immediately clear that Boris’s mastery of production is delivered perfectly on tape. There’s such a scale of sound and dynamic richness! From timpani and percussive details and resonance through to how hefty and defined synths and basslines are – you can’t help but turn it up and already there is altogether too much head bobbing for my own good! From there it’s the very James Bondesque Moon on Ice with its haunting synth melodies, percussive rolling beats and sultry, androgynous but very enticing voice of Billy Mackenzie (of the Associates) creating the romanticism and intrigue. This is just one of the album’s tracks that ended up on Miami Vice and I can see why.

Guitar riffs and wails, sharp samples, wah-wahs, and Latin grooves mean were now into Call It Love – that guitar work of Chico Hablas carries us along like a train, while Billy Mackenzie again leads the vocals carried on that sultry romantic Latin 80’s beat. A bigger, brasher, more bombastic driving track with its club-style breakdowns it’s no less “filmscape” than Moon on Ice and again was featured on Miami Vice… I see a theme emerging! 

La Secret Farida initially takes a French turn, opening with accordion before the breathy spoken words of the very enigmatic, Goth rocker and evident fan of the dark occult, Jenny Farida (in Swedish, so if someone can translate – letters on a postcard please!). The beat and percussive elements have a distinctly militaristic tone of an approaching war machine, which creates a dark backdrop to Farida’s voice before the fanfare-style climax that drops away to allow the drum work and high energy guitar of Hawaiian Chance to take us back to Miami Vice territory again – I can almost see the speed boat chase and Crockett’s rolled up jacket sleeves – ah that takes me back! 

Tape 2 is like the main course of a fine meal arriving after some great amuses bouches! Shirley Bassey opens on what I think must be one of the finest tracks on the album,  The Rhythm Divine, a truly stunning track with Boris’s bed of sound, with its glassy synth pans and chords and brooding, laid back bassline and beats,  allowing that towering voice to slide sumptuously across it before soaring and rising only to end with that beautiful control she is so renowned for – superb! Then it’s onto the more synth-heavy Santiago, with its rolling, bouncing bassline, percussion, and dark moody pans and keys, drum breaks and vocal calls. A classic Yello number if ever there was one, with Boris playing with sound and samples. Then we arrive at that almost tribal beat with eastern flavour horns and “call to prayer” reminiscent vocal sampled from Dunya Yunis’ 1976 track Abu Zelif- which carries us on a journey to the Orient, where we are never quite sure where we are being taken next ! 

Goldrush opens with an ethereal, rising vocal before we slide sideways into archetypal Boris “scatting” with sonic and vocal artefacts that build to a rich pumping track that just screams Yello. The dynamic heft of the synth stabs and bassline are superb, the balance and levels are mixed sublimely so it’s never chaotic or messy, and each sound and vocal has its ownlane to swim in. This of course is Boris’s art and skill as a producer! 

Another favourite is next, Dr Van Steiner with rolling percussion and horn stabs as well as those ubiquitous cinematic pans and samples. Rush Winters is on vocals this time and the balance between voice and track is brilliant. A real head bobber if ever I heard one, staccato’d with those drum rolls it has so much energy and dynamism I can’t help but love it. Another track of Yello’s with that “TV anchorman” style monologue from Dieter inviting us to lean into the narrative and invent the film that this is a soundtrack to.  If you watch the 1994 MTV video, you’ll find a story set around a fictitious movie producer and explorer who met Tarzan and “Ed” is interviewing him for his talk show. This is what I love about Boris… the narratives and fantasy he builds and then soundscapes… genius! Bonkers, but genius! 

The penultimate track is the bizarrely titled Si Senor The Hairy Grill (Monty Python anyone?) with its much heavier rocking sound, overdriven bass, screaming vocals, dark moody singing, and those guitar wails. This was also used on the episode of Miami Vice “The Rising Sun of Death” (along with Moon on Ice), as well as being the theme to Fox’s “The Edge” TV show – and like others on the work it feels a bit “soundtrack” at times – not a bad thing and archetypal for Yello, some would say. Personally, it’s my least favourite on the album, but your opinion may differ!  Before I know it, we are into the last but FAR from least track –the brilliantly atmospheric L’Hotel. With its industrial sounds, uber-dark synth pans, and industrial dystopian feel, juxtaposed with tweeting birds and female giggling, it’s a beautiful and emotive piece of soundscape music. For me, L’hotel is quite a departure from the typical “Yello sound” of the time (whatever that is) but it’s truly wonderful, and a fitting closer for what is a superb album end to end. For anyone interested, there is a little-known (and far more club-oriented) remix by Carl Cox from 1990

It could be said, that One Second lacks some of the impact or diversity of Stella, but it remains a superb album and representation of the Yello sound both in musicality and in production quality which is truly top-notch and contains some standout tracks. 

The solid heft, power, dimensionality and dynamics of this recording come through in spades on tape, these issues being so close to the original that it’s hard not to gush at just how good it sounds. With One Second, as with Stella – you’re getting all the sonic glory of Yello, but that bit closer to the original than the vinyl offering, which in itself is incredible. And isn’t that what we all want? If you are in the position to, I highly recommend ordering a copy today – and grabbing the previously released Stella while you are at it!

Yello One Second 15ips/38cms Studio Master Copy edition (2 x Metal reels)is available direct from Horch House’s own website (at the time of writing) for €655 (inc. VAT). The single reel Standard Master Copy is €403.36 (inc. Vat and shipping) is available from Revox’s site.

Alan McIntosh

SUPPLIED BY HORCH HOUSE

Track listings (across both tapes).  Total run time 50 minutes.

Tape 1

1. La Habanera
2. Moon On Ice
3. Call it Love
4. Le Secret Farida
5. Hawaiian Chance

Tape 2

1. The Rhythm Divine 
2. Santiago
3. Goldrush
4. Dr Van Steiner
5. Si Senor The Hairy Grill
6. L’Hotel

Associated review equipment – Studer a807, Hegel 390 Amplifier, Blumenhofer Tempesta 17 speakers, Chord Epic XLR Interconnects, Tellurium Q Black II speaker cabling. Power by Titan Audio. Equipment racking by Quadraspire. For vinyl comparison I use an Origin Live Calypso Mk4, Illustrious arm and Hana Umami Red. Phono stage is a Gold Note PH10+PSU.