Trivia / ×∞Multiplies

• Better Export for You: When the Japanese version finally saw release outside of Japan as part of Restless Records' reissue campaign, it featured the instrumental versions of "Chaos Panic", "Lotus Love", and "Kai-Koh" (as Naughty Boys Instrumental was still in No Export for You status) and the non-album single "Kageki na Shukujo" as bonus tracks.
• Channel Hop: The US version marked the band's move from Horizon Records to its parent label, A&M Records; the deal with A&M would only span this album and BGM before the latter's Stateside commercial failure resulted in the label dropping them.
• Executive Meddling: Both "Nice Age" and "Citizens of Science" were put together to sate demand from A&M Records for an American-oriented single. Ironically, A&M would reject the songs for being too uncommercial, relegating them to album-only tracks; "Behind the Mask" was instead made the lead single for the US version of ×∞Multiplies, with "Tighten Up (Japanese Gentlemen Stand Up Please!)" being released in its wake as a non-album single. "Nice Age" would see a single release in the UK, the Netherlands, and Portugal, but not the US.
• Feelies: The Japanese release of the US version included a foldout poster advertising the band's Trans Atlantic Tour.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The American and European versions of ×∞Multiplies have generally been overlooked in reissues, likely because unlike the dedicated remix of Yellow Magic Orchestra, it was simply pieced together from two preexisting albums and thus didn't represent as complete of an artistic product. The US version of ×∞Multiplies was last reissued in 1999, and hasn't reappeared since, not even through YMO's Spotify page (in part because the albums it was stitched together from are already up, meaning one could recreate the US ×∞Multiplies themselves if they wanted to).
• Recursive Import: Like Yellow Magic Orchestra before it, Alfa Records released the US version of ×∞Multiplies in Japan shortly after its American release. Unlike the band's debut album, however, the US version of ×∞Multiplies would be mostly depreciated after the '80s barring a couple rare CD reissues.
• Referenced by...: Irem's arcade shoot-em-up X Multiply is named after this album; an infinity symbol made of cells appears on the game's title screen.
• Working Title: The US version of ×∞Multiplies, which was cobbled together from both Solid State Survivor and the Japanese version of ×∞Multiplies, had its first test pressings made under the title of Solid State Survivor. The original title stuck around long enough to appear in retailer pamphlets in June of 1980, complete with cover art based on that of the "Rydeen" single release (which at the time was only available in Japan), but A&M ultimately decided to title it after the later of the two albums that their record was pieced together from (likely to dissuade import copies by making them appear caught up with Alfa's releases).

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