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Various Artists
La Yellow 357
(Yellow Productions)
La Yellow 357 is the soundtrack for a movie that doesn't exist. France's
Yellow Productions hit upon the idea of this "virtual-soundtrack" as a
thematic means to showcase some of its best artists. Those featured
include the Mighty Bop, DJ Cam, Fresh Lab, Dimitri from Paris and Magnetic.
Although a little dated now, La Yellow 357 (having been released late last
year in France,) is an album still worth mentioning. If not for the music,
it still deserves credit for the originality in its presentation. You
would be easily fooled into thinking that this actually was a soundtrack,
considering how its been packaged. The blurb on the front reads "Original
soundtrack recording Yellow Productions present a Chan Woo film"! Then the
"movie's" title boldly confronts you "LA YELLOW 357", framed to the left by
a foxy femme fatale, pistol in hand. Perhaps I'm raving a little too much
about the packaging, but this contributes along with the music into the
final product of fine work. It looks good. It sounds good.
So how does it sound good you ask? Maintaining the soundtrack theme, the
album opens with the trailer for the film (as presented by Dimitri from
Paris.) Gangsters, gun-fire, sexy chicks and Chan Woo himself, speaking in
Mandarin, introduce La Yellow 357 to the waiting audience and so you settle
back in your seat, pop-corn close by, to enjoy the show.
As you might expect, it opens with "Theme 357", obviously the theme for the
"movie"! This Mighty Bop track is a little disappointing, considering some
of the other pieces they've produced. However they're soon redeemed, as
besides "Theme 357", they contribute two more instrumentals (not counting
"Theme 357 'reprise'", which closes the album and is essentially the same
as "Theme 357".) The best of those remaining two is in my opinion "Love
Theme Universal". This electronic groove glides soothingly along,
primarily characterised and contrasted by a man occasionally breaking the
music to melodically scream (if such a thing is possible,) a few words.
Other highlights include Dimitri from Paris' "Un Grand Coeur {{Suspense}}",
Fresh Lab's "L'inquietude" and Magnetic's "The Final". Taking Dimitri's
"Un Grand Coeur {{Suspense}}", it begins with a low voiced Frenchman
speaking, undercut by an eerie whining persistently winding its way along
in the background. That is, until it's drowned out by the loud beat that
soon enters the stage. The track is reasonably minimalistic, most of the
song's "action" being concentrated in the beat. The end product conjures
up images of the Untouchables, gangsters and so on. In addition to all
this, excepts of speech from the "movie", as is found at the conclusion of
DJ Cam's "Return at Bates Motel {{l'angoisse}}" and skits, such as "Jose's
Wife", remind us of La Yellow 357's stylistic theme and contribute
positively to the quality of the album as a whole.
To label La Yellow 357 stylistically is a difficult task at best. At times
it's electronic tunes with a twist of hip-hop (take both "L'inquietude" and
"The Final" mentioned above as examples of this), on other occasions it's
hip-hop jams with a splash of the electronic (such as Dimitri's "Un Grand
Coeur {{Suspense}}.) The ultra-small print on the reverse of the album
reads "file under trip hop", so categorically this would be how the staff
of Yellow Procuctions view it. Pick it up if only for the reason that it's
the perfect point with which to introduce yourself to Yellow Productions.
La Yellow 357 is an excellent soundtrack greatly in need of a movie to
accompany it. Check it out!
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That's number one....
Dino!