Japan has their National Treasures, but Sakamoto transcends this designation. As this beautiful work exemplifies, there is no artist working today who more expertly blends East and West, acoustic and electronic, high classical and worldly pop. He is, as the title of one the tracks here suggests, a true "world citizen."
One amazing selection of songs that catch you at every corner.
Start with "War & Peace","Chasm","20 msec." and finish with his long time friend and partner ambient pop star David Sylvian's "World Citizen" (looped piano and re-cycled). All these cuts are so well delivered. Sakamoto can arrange any genre of music. He is indeed a master. This recording is so enjoyable on so many different levels. A must have...
So recently I discovered Senor Coconut (German Uwe Schmidt, living in Santiago, Chile), which caused me to rediscover German Kraftwerk and to discover Japanese Yellow Magic Orchestra, both of which Senor Coconut draws on extensively. Incidentally, I discover the Brazilian Morelenbaum-Jobim Quartet. Then I look into this solo album of Ryuichi Sakamoto (formerly of Yellow Magic Orchestra), and learn that Jacques Morelenbaum is a contributor, and that Sakamoto has other Brazilian collaborations. This is a fine thing about the Internet and emusic. This is fine, life-enhancing music.
Mr. Ryuichi Sakamoto I THANK YOU for your musik I wish you joy from ISRAEL - MY HOME I do hope that you reach here' and to you all' jUST HEAR IT
After the strikingly simple BBTB, Sakamoto returns with a full and fulfilling electronic album. Like several of his earlier pop albums in the 80s and 90s, styles and tempos vary and guest artists make more than mere cameos. The album opens with the slinky rap "Undercooled", then breaks into "Coro" - a fantastic composition seemingly fused together from recycled audio scraps. Longtime collaborator David Sylvian contributes on "World Citizen", a meditation on mindful living in the face of environmental and human distress. ("I want to understand the cost of everything that's lost; I want to pronounce all their names correctly.") Instrumental numbers on the album vary from playful piano tinklings to solemn experimental soundscapes, while vocal pieces directly question the nature of war and our precarious environment. A beautiful, thoughtful, but by no means preachy album.
