Sweet Revenge (Ryuichi Sakamoto album)

Sweet Revenge is a 1994 album by Ryuichi Sakamoto. The Japanese and international releases have different track listings, with the international pressing featuring (uncredited) re-mixes of half of the songs. The title track is an instrumental piece originally composed for the soundtrack of Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha.

A re-recording of "Psychedelic Afternoon", featuring original lyricist David Byrne on vocals and sporting modified lyrics, was released in 2013 as a way to raise money and awareness for children who survived the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. An animated music video was released concurrently with the new version.

The album includes other collaborations, with Amedeo Pace, Holly Johnson and Roddy Frame, among others.

Track listing

Personnel

• Ryuichi Sakamoto – keyboards, programming, percussion, vocals
• J-Me – vocals
• Vivian Sessoms – vocals
• Holly Johnson – vocals
• Latasha Natasha Diggs – vocals
• Paul Alexander – vocals
• Arto Lindsay – vocals
• Roddy Frame – vocals
• Miki Imai – vocals
• Towa Tei – programming
• Satoshi Tomiie – programming and arrangements
• Cyro Baptista – percussion
• Amadeo Pace – guitar
• David Nadien – string section leader
• Lawrence Feldman – bass clarinet
• Romero Lubambo – guitar
• Hiroshi Takano – guitar
• Jean-Baptiste Mondino – photography

Reception

The Rough Guide to Rock wrote that the album "moved his post-Tangerine Dream electro-chamber music into the corporate soul realm of Soul II Soul and M People."

Remix album

A remix album, titled Hard Revenge, was released in December 1994.

Tour and live album

The album was followed by a live tour "Sweet Revenge Tour", resulting in a live album, Sweet Revenge Tour 94, released in January 1995.

References