With 18 tracks, it combines the 1999 Japanese release with two cuts from the 2000 stateside version: the ad-soundtrack-turned-hit-single “Energy Flow” and a beautifully looping closer called “Reversing.” At odds with much of the plaintive piano playing, “Do Bacteria Sleep,” omitted from European and U.S. This new 20th-anniversary edition feels like Sakamoto’s director’s cut. versions did away with some experimental tracks to make room for more commercial offerings. First released in Japan in November 1998 with 14 tracks, it was reissued just four months later with the addition of the somber “Snake Eyes” and a four-handed piano version of the 1979 song “Tong Poo,” from Sakamoto’s hugely influential Yellow Magic Orchestra. To be fair, the album’s form was fluid from the start. In BTTB’s case, the weirder, more prescient, and occasionally humorous moments have been washed from the public record. Memory, however, has a tendency to behave like water-one minute flooding the senses, the next smoothing away details. The little tune eventually grew into “Opus,” the opening track of Sakamoto’s mid-career solo piano album, BTTB.īTTB, an acronym for “Back to the Basics,” has generally been remembered as homage: Sakamoto doing Satie, painting impressionistic scenes to speak to the subconscious. Amid the stress of busy city streets, the melody harbored a yearning for the reflective pleasures and possibilities of meandering. At the time, Japan was still in the grips of “The Lost Decade,” a period of economic downturn following the inflated tech optimism and conspicuous consumption of the 1980s. A melody had popped into his head while he was driving during the standstill, he called home and sang it into his answering machine, he remembers. Slamo feat.Sometime in the late 1990s, Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto was stuck in a Tokyo traffic jam.Surikato BluesâOne Scotch One Burbon One Beer.Jay-D & Nova La AmenazaâSenal De Amor.Pomella, NÃWA (BE), J&S Projectâ≊ssembly Line.Portico QuartetâKnee-Deep in the North Sea.Alisa Weilersteinâ≌arter: Cello Concerto - 1.Hieronymous JacksonâVos Pastores Adulteri.Rain Sounds For SleepâInfant Calm and Relief Shusher.Matt Holubowskiâ≊ Home That Won't Explode.Lawrence Main Theme (From \"Merry Christmas Mr. The Revenant Main Theme (From \"The Revenant\").Yae No Sakura Opening Theme (From \"Yae No Sakura\").Small Hope (From \"Hara-Kiri (Ichimei)\").The Sheltering Sky Main Theme (From \"The Sheltering Sky\").High Heels Main Theme (From \"High Heels\").Wild Palms Main Theme (From \"Wild Palms\").The Revenant Main Theme (OST The Revenant ).