Ryuichi Sakamoto's 1981 ‘Hidari Ude No Yume’ gets a global reissue
This is the first time the 1981 album is released outside Japan
The trailblazing Japanese composer and music prodigy, Ryuichi Sakomoto, has been a very busy man in 2020 with his ‘Playing the piano for the isolated’ streamed video series as well as a couple of re-issues of his early vinyl releases.
He’s just announced another vinyl reissue and this time it’s a first time release for his 1981 LP ‘Hidari Ude No Yume’ outside of Japan. The title of Sakomoto’s third solo long player translates to ‘Left Handed Drum’ and was originally co-produced by Robin Scott with contributions from members of Yellow Magic Orchestra, Sakomoto’s electro-pop band outlet with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi.
The re-press also gets a remaster from Grammy winning American engineer Bernie Grundman who you’ll find on the credit sleeves of Snoop Dogg’s ‘Doggystyle’, Dr Dre’s ‘The Chronic’ and Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’. The new issue also comes with fresh cover art that’s been pulled from the original negatives by photographer Masayoshi Sukita. The cover art is complemented by a four-fold insert with a foreword by journalist Anton Spice, but what reigns supreme of all the additions to the re-issue is the unreleased instrumental mix of the album, handled by WEWANTSOUNDS.
Sakamoto has had a thirty-five year long illustrious career that started out with a chart-hitting album with Yellow Magic Orchestra ‘Tong Poo’ in 1978, which was followed by ground-breaking singles like ‘Technopolis’, and then eventually is his first solo album titled ‘Thousand Knives Ryuichi Sakamoto’. He’s always been an adventurous and inspirational musician and producer, hoisting almost no boundaries to his approach. From synthetic electronic pop to classical piano, Sakamoto has been a formidable impressionist to both mature and young listeners alike.
Check out Ryuichi Sakamoto ‘Venezia’ below.
The re-issue of Ryuichi Sakamoto ‘Hidari Ude No Yume’ is out on 13 November, 2020 on vinyl and CD which you can pre-order here.
Tracklisting
01. Boku No Kakera
02. Saru To Yuki To Gomi No Kodomo
03. Kacha Kucha Nee
04. The Garden Of Poppies
05. Relâché
06. Tell ‘Em To Me
07. Living In The Dark
08. Slat Dance
09. Venezia
10. Saru No Ie
11. Boku No Kakera (Inst Mix)
12. Saru To Yuki To Gomi No Kodomo (Inst Mix)
13. Kacha Kucha Nee (Inst Mix)
14. The Garden of Poppies (Inst Mix)
15. Relâché (Inst Mix)
16. Tell’Em To Me (Inst Mix)
17. Living In The Dark (Inst Mix)
18. Slat Dance (Inst Mix)
19. Venezia (Inst Mix)
20. Saru No Ie (Inst Mix)
