Flag was a watershed album for the group. On one hand, it is a refinement of all the ideas the band had been following through the '80s, on the other, in the wake of their high-profile success with
"Oh Yeah," Yello had reached the point where ideas turned into self-parody -- the cover art of
Deiter Meier and
Boris Blank pulled together into a human knot is horrifically appropriate. Nothing is a surprise here, apart from how
"The Race" is a Xerox of their own 1981 song
"Bostich." Tracks like
"Of Course I'm Lying" are empty exercises in suave, like late-period
Roxy Music without the pedigree.
Billy Mackenzie returns to provide backup vocals on the more romantic tunes. This isn't to say that the album is a dull listen --
"Tied Up," repeated here three times on a nine-track album, is a fascinating collage of
Afro-Cuban rhythms, rain storm effects, drums nicked from a Broadway revue, monkey chatter, basso-profundo lyrics, and screams. Similar thick, eclectic production dogs each track like cologne on a lounge lizard -- too much of a good thing.
Yello saw the decade out with
Flag -- they haven't found their way back since. ~ Ted Mills
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