Zebra

Album review

The quirky synthesized noises of Swiss duo Yello have been dance club staples since the early '80s. Early recordings such as Solid Pleasure and You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess were experimental but tuneful synth-pop experiments, combining Dieter Meier's bizarre vocals and Boris Blank's gurgling synthesizer effects to create distinctive, strange, yet compelling dancefloor anthems like "Bostich" and "I Love You." By the mid-'80s, Yello began to incorporate Latin rhythms into its sound, finding a larger U.S. audience along the way; the immortal "Oh Yeah," by far the duo's most recognizable song after being featured in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Secret of My Success, and countless commercials, even crossed over to the U.S. pop chart in 1987. By the 1990s, Yello was still churning out a number of albums; though the experimental synth effects had long become passé and Yello was becoming more mainstream, Blank and Meier continued to find success throughout the world, even though U.S. success was limited to the dancefloor. 1993's Zebra found Yello continuing with its signature sound of combining Latin rhythms, Meier's distinctive vocal approach, and contemporary dancefloor tastes. Yello began to incorporate house music into its sound; the energetic single "Do It" exemplifies this approach. Yello's sense of humor is still intact on Zebra, especially on the faux-Latin-jazz tune "How How." "Tremendous Pain" and "Move Dance Be Born" are also effective dancefloor fillers.
Despite its high points, Zebra (as with most of Yello's later recordings) lacks the daring and adventurous nature of the duo's early output. Zebra certainly isn't lacking in quality, nor is it a bad album. But Zebra continues a trend that began with Yello's 1985 release Stella; as Yello's sound became more commercial, it also became predictable. Zebra is a pleasant listen and it proves Yello has been able to incorporate contemporary dance music trends into its sound. And therein lies the problem. Yello's early albums influenced those trends; by the time of Zebra's release, Yello was struggling to keep up. Most synthesized acts would be lucky to release an album as good as Zebra, but compared to Yello's influential, trend-setting early-'80s output, Zebra just doesn't measure up.

© William Cooper /TiVo