LWA Blog — ryuichi sakamoto

Finished my errands/chores and now I'm listening to this on a Saturday afternoon. Opus was recorded at the end of 2022, just a few months before Sakamoto died from cancer last year (March 2023). A sweet farewell from one of the greats. 20 songs, curated by the man himself, that encapsulate his legendary career. There's an accompanying concert film (streaming on Criterion Channel, if you have access). I was lucky enough to see him once, when he toured with the Morlenbaums (Paula and Jacques) in the early 2000s.  Ars longa, vita brevis (art is long, life is short). - A favourite quote of...

When I was a teen, a local department store was getting rid of their vinyl stock and all of the records were marked down to $1 each. I bought a handful of titles without even knowing what they were, I just wanted more records. One of them was Ryuichi Sakamoto's Left Handed Dream. Thinking about it now, I can't imagine how that album ended up in their inventory. So weird, but I also bought a couple Adrian Belew solo albums (Lone Rhino and Twang Bar King) and a King Crimson album (Discipline). Maybe the buyer had a thing for Belew,...