Another artist that should need little or no introduction here is Ryuichi Sakamoto who died a year ago today. One of Japan's premier musicians & composers encompassing electronic & ethnic music through the sounds of jazz, rock, & classical.
Here's a 12" 45rpm that I'm particularly fond of, from 1983.
Side 1 -
Riot in Lagos (Long Version)
Side 2 -
Lexington Queen
Warhead
R.I.P. Ryuichi,
NØ
Riot in Lagos
ReplyDeleteUkgZsWmQSNOwx878LWUaM8IuCkGoejZCQHB3bzDRVBA
Having trouble with the Mega link my friend, i.e. doesn't appear to be there.
DeleteThis is a quote from my last share in response to Pat Trip Dispenser who had the same comment:
Delete"This is the second post in a row that the first share link was missing when it appeared, even though it was there when I shared it. A wonderful new gift from the improved world of Blogger, I guess."
Now this is the third post in a row it has happened on. Blogger just keeps giving & giving, always improving. I'd laugh if it wasn't such a pain in the ass.
Sorry for the trouble. Should be fixed now. thanks for letting me know.
sorry to bring the bad news, but FYI, that link is somewhat unresponsive, unlikely it's on my end, since i checked on the three following links below (RHYE), without any issues
ReplyDeleteThe first link on Rhye was acting the same the day I shared it & likewise Ghost of Vroom the post before that. Seems to be an ongoing thing with wonderful Blogger. Fixed now. Thanks.
DeleteOOooo, thanks for the long version! A Dennis Bovell production, I believe!
ReplyDeleteHad a momentary problem with the Mega link, resolved when I deleted the extra characters "20%" from the mega.nz domain.
The original B-2 Uit version was 5:40. Here's what Dennis Bovell sez:
Delete"In 1980 yes. In Southwark. Don Letts had been touring in Japan with Big Audio Dynamite and he came back and said to me ‘there’s a man I’ve met in Japan who is seeking after your telephone number’. I was like ‘who’s that?’ and he said ‘Ryuichi Sakamoto’. I said ‘What??? Give it to him!’ (laughs) and he said ‘I already did. He’s going to call you about doing some work in your studio.’
I was building a studio but it wasn’t common knowledge so I get this telephone call from someone representing Ryuichi saying ‘we want to use your studio’. I said ok and asked ‘when?’ and he tells me and it doesn’t quite align with when I was going to be ready for the studio to be used by other people because I was intending to test it myself first. And then came the most unusual request. ‘Yes, I want to use your studio before you do’ (laughs). I was like ‘Ok, bring it on’.
I was a Yellow Magic Orchestra fan so I knew who I was dealing with and what the possibilities were. He said ‘I’ve got some equipment over in Germany and I want to send it over to your studio.’ So I was like ‘hold on is this an April Fool’. You know… The guys living in Japan and he’s got equipment in Germany and he wants to send it over to the studio to do this work. I said ‘Ok, whenever you are ready send it over’ and then one day an arctic truck pulls up outside and the man asks me if I’m Dennis Bovell and tells me to sign here and there were keyboards and all sorts of things that he was going to need to do this recording.
He’d been working in Kraftwerk’s studio in Germany and then he’d sent his equipment from there to me and then I thought, ‘Shit it’s serious’. I had a friend who knew the late Sir George Martin and got himself into Air Studio and got me some Dolby’s to do this recording. I also had this 3M 24 track multi-track tape machine from George Martin so as a client he loaned me these Dolby’s as I needed some noise suppressant as Ryuichi was coming over. He turned up with an instrument called a Prophet 10, which was brand new and a double manual Prophet 5 keyboard. I’d only ever seen a Prophet 5. Then he said 'right, record’.
I started to record and I recorded a drum track that he wanted. He said ‘right, play that back’. As I played back something he’d be jotting on his musical notation sheets and then he’d say ‘Roll’ and he recorded that whole piece. Then I proceeded to cut it up and dub it and he was like ‘Yeah that's what I want’ as that's the dub thing that he wanted and that hadn’t been done until then as far as I know. And that track cause quite a stir. It was on B2 Unit album.
We did it in a few hours. Ryuichi was very quick and he knew what he wanted to do. He’d hear notes in his head, get the manuscript, write it down and then play what he heard in his head. Most people have an idea and sort of tap it out but being able to write music he could transfer his thoughts into notes and he did. It was a great exercise in how to compose instantaneously which is something I am very fond of doing so watching him do it just confirmed my thoughts that its a great thing to do."
How strange - the "long version" is actually a minute shorter than the LP version!
ReplyDeleteYeah, the Long Version is the next to shortest at 4:06. It is longer than the 7" version also released by Island the same year (1983) at 2:43. The Island promo 12" released in 1980 was 5:33. However, the Rocktopus (Germany) release from 1981 was the longest at 5:40. I would assume that all the versions are different edits.
Deletelink not working?
ReplyDeleteThis is a quote from my last share in response to Pat Trip Dispenser who had the same comment:
Delete"This is the second post in a row that the first share link was missing when it appeared, even though it was there when I shared it. A wonderful new gift from the improved world of Blogger, I guess."
Now this is the third post in a row it has happened on. Blogger just keeps giving & giving, always improving. I'd laugh if it wasn't such a pain in the ass.
Sorry for the trouble. Should be fixed now. thanks for letting me know.
Ack! A sad message: "Hmmm… can't reach this page. Check if there is a typo in mega.%20nz." ~ Stately Plump Buck
ReplyDeleteThis is a quote from my last share in response to Pat Trip Dispenser who had the same comment:
Delete"This is the second post in a row that the first share link was missing when it appeared, even though it was there when I shared it. A wonderful new gift from the improved world of Blogger, I guess."
Now this is the third post in a row it has happened on. Blogger just keeps giving & giving, always improving. I'd laugh if it wasn't such a pain in the ass.
Sorry for the trouble. Should be fixed now. thanks for letting me know.
Hi NØ. I think there might be a problem with this link!
ReplyDeleteMarkyD
This is a quote from my last share in response to Pat Trip Dispenser who had the same comment:
Delete"This is the second post in a row that the first share link was missing when it appeared, even though it was there when I shared it. A wonderful new gift from the improved world of Blogger, I guess."
Now this is the third post in a row it has happened on. Blogger just keeps giving & giving, always improving. I'd laugh if it wasn't such a pain in the ass.
Sorry for the trouble. Should be fixed now. thanks for letting me know.
This is incredible - thank you very much
ReplyDeleteYou're most welcome. Sorry for the problem before with the link.
DeleteThanks for fixing the link, that was me posting n moaning in the first comment only I forgot how to override my laptop to use my Google account. Great music of course and a great story from Dennis Bovell. Thanks Dave H
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dave H. Letting me know about problems is most appreciated. Glad it's straightened out. After jonder commented about Dennis Bovell's involvement, I thought what a perfect time to add his own thoughts in his own words.
Delete