30th Anniversary Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

[Quiet Visitor]

Paul wrote a nice review on the newly released 3oth Anniversary edition of Ryuichi Sakamoto's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.

[Quiet Visitor]

Woops, should have posted this in the Collaborations-section. Maybe it can be placed in there?

[Chet]

it's a beautiful edition - been waiting very long for this to happen.

[Blemished]

Woops, should have posted this in the Collaborations-section. Maybe it can be placed in there?

Moved that for you.

Intrigued about this - haven't listened to the full soundtrack since borrowing the vinyl release from my local record library (!) back in the 1980s.

I've not really been a huge fan of Sakamoto since then - although really enjoyed his recent work with Alva Noto and the Tony Takitani soundtrack - but intrigued about listening to that classic Prophet 5 sound again.

[Quiet Visitor]

This was one of the first soundtracks, from which I heard the music before seeing the movie. Quite a disappointment when it turned out that Forbidden Colours was not in the film. I still have a picture-disk of the single, featuring David and Ryuichi, which I've played over and over again, before I bought the album.

[Quiet Visitor]

The double-disk finally arrived as it was lying at the customs a couple of weeks (which of course costs me a couple of more euro's ).

The review is to the point. What a great sound! And the extra disk is a very good addition, despite that some tracks have a quite abrupt ending.
I'm tempted to by the Coda-rerelease too...

[Chad]

I've always preferred Coda to MCML. I think the unplugged versions work better. It also includes his dedication to the group Japan.

This was probably Sakamoto most productive period. You should also check out the often overlooked percussive "Esperanto" or the avant swing found on Futurista. OngakuZukan is well done commercial pop that sounds like it was made for TV series jingles. I know that sounds bad but its definitely worth having. My favorites from the 90's are the bossa nova infused Smootchy/1996/Casa. I think both Chasm & Out of Noise were really strong efforts. His recent newsletter says that he's recording a new record. I wonder where he's headed next? No matter where he goes, I have no doubt it will be rewarding.

[Quiet Visitor]

A bid odd: Milan Music releases the album too, but as a simple 1 disk-edition, without any extra's:

https://www.burningshed.com/store/mediu ... /386/6556/

[karnsculpture]

Looks the same as the version of the album they've had in print on and off in the 2000s, must still have the rights outside Japan for the soundtrack.

[Quiet Visitor]

I've always preferred Coda to MCML. I think the unplugged versions work better. It also includes his dedication to the group Japan.

It's been a while, but I finally got my copy of "Coda". It indeed has its charms too. It was funny though that when I heard the first notes of the "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" I remembered that I already have this piano-version plus a piano-only take on "Last Regrets". They both appear on "Piano One" (Private Music, 1985), together with works of Joachim Kühn, Eddie Jobson and Eric Watson.

[Quiet Visitor]

Slightly OT: a few weeks ago I saw a photo-shot from the movie Blinded By The Light. It showed the bedroom of the main-character with all these Bruce Springsteen-posters. But to my surprise there was also a large film-poster from Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. I haven't seen the film (yet?), so I wonder if the subject of that poster comes back in the movie somewhere. I imagine the guy listens to Forbidden Colours after he is a bit Springsteen-tired

[Quiet Visitor]

For those who are interested in piano-versions of a lot of Sakamoto's work might want to look at the 5-CD box by Dutch pianist Jeroen van Veen, called Sakamoto, For Mr. Lawrence.

Tracklist
1-1 Merry Christmas Mr.Lawrence 4:38
1-2 Fountain 2:38
1-3 Solitude Theme 4:31
1-4 Dancing In The Sky 1:13
1-5 Asience-Fast Piano 2:35
1-6 The Sheltering Sky Theme 5:12
1-7 Solari 4:09
1-8 Gohatto 4:20
1-9 Yamazaki 2002 3:22
1-10 Ubi 3:34
1-11 Andata 4:44
1-12 Aubade 1:44
1-13 SILK Endroll 5:04
1-14 Koko 4:49
1-15 Mizu No Naka No Bagatelle 4:23
1-16 Reversing 3:30
1-17 Stepfather 2:31
1-18 Shinig Boy & Little Randy 5:54
1-19 Litany 5:32
2-1 The Last Emperor, Version 1 4:52
2-2 The Last Emperor, Version 2 5:44
2-3 Seven Samurai - Ending Theme 5:40
2-4 High Heels Main Theme 4:05
2-5 M.A.Y. In The Backyard 5:15
2-6 Zero Landmine (Piano Version) 5:46
2-7 The Revenant - Main Theme 2:05
2-8 Tibetan Dance 4:30
2-9 Behind the Mask 3:24
2-10 Blu 6:32
2-11 Rain 4:14
2-12 The Land Song-Music For Artelligent City 5:15
2-13 Dear Liz 4:02
3-1 Thousand Knives 6:02
3-2 1919 6:28
3-3 Batavia 1:04
3-4 Germination 2:30
3-5 A Hearty Breakfast 1:26
3-6 Before The War 2:01
3-7 The Seed And The Sower 5:23
3-8 A Brief Encounter 4:06
3-9 Ride Ride Ride 2:03
3-10 The Flight 1:37
3-11 Dismissed, Assembly 2:46
3-12 Beyond Reason 1:23
3-13 Sowing The Seed 1:52
3-14 Last Regrets 2:01
3-15 The Seed 1:27
3-16 Tong Poo 5:40
3-17 Happy End 7:43
3-18 Kai Koh 5:39
3-19 Gohatto, Piano Version 3:52
3-20 Dear Liz 4:10
3-21 Castalia 5:21
4-1 Amore 5:40
4-2 Lost Child 4:44
4-3 Opus 5:05
4-4 Sonatine 4:02
4-5 Intermezzo 4:42
4-6 Lorentz And Watson 3:40
4-7 Choral No.1 2:32
4-8 Choral No.2 2:23
4-9 Bachata 7:42
4-10 Chanson 3:03
4-11 Distant Echo 6:23
4-12 Aqua 4:12
4-13 Energy Flow 4:28
4-14 Put Your Hands Up 4:58
4-15 Railroad Man 4:09
5-1 Eight Themes Of Eight 3:02
5-2 I Have To Buy A New Pair Of Shoes 2:22
5-3 On The Boat 4:27
5-4 Tamago 2004 2:23
5-5 Before Long 1:39
5-6 Loneliness 1:53
5-7 Perspective 5:31
5-8 Ex Jazz 2:03
5-9 Parolibre 4:55
5-10 Sweet Revenge 3:55
5-11 Tatorso 2:56
5-12 Tango 5:05
5-13 Bibo No Aozora 6:41
5-14 Floating Along 5:47
5-15 A Flower Is Not A Flower 6:12
5-16 Sayonara 3:21
5-17 High Tide 2:43

Van Veen released a lot of this kind of compilations from work of others like John Adams, Einaudi, Phillip Glass, Steve Reich.