From: gtaylor@vme.heurikon.com (Gregory Taylor)
Newsgroups: rec.music.cd
Subject: Re: Ryuichi Sakamoto's Heartbeat
Date: 13 Oct 92 13:46:47 GMT
Article-I.D.: heurikon.1781
Reply-To: gtaylor@vme.heurikon.com (Gregory Taylor)
Organization: Heurikon Corporation, Madison, WI

ross-c@scs.leeds.ac.uk (R Clement) writes:
>I've just played a tape of the Japanese version of "Heartbeat", and have been
>amazed to find that not only does it not have the David Sylvian 
>collaborations "Heartbeat (Tainai kaiki)" and "Cloud #9", but that the
>rhythm track for "Heartbeat (Tainai kaiki)" is present with a different voice
>over the top. This "different voice" is not very listenable BTW. 
>
>Does anyone know what the story is? I'm used to CDs having different songs
>in different countries, but I've never heard the same rhythm track used 
>differently in different countries (this is not a "mix", it's a different
>song).

>Also, does the Japanese CD have Cloud #9?

Well, the major problem here is that the Japanese release predates the
UK/American release by some 9 or 10 months, and there were some changes
made in the disk, which includes the new Sylvian vocal for "TK" and 
the addition of "Cloud #9". I think you'll also find that there are
English vocals on a couple of tracks on the UK/US version [Sayonara]
where there are Japanese vocals. Arto Lindsay's voice *is* an acquired
taste, but I personally find that it mixes well with that tape loop of
the Ituri rainforest chanting that opens the song.

Just for the heck of it, here's the original review I did of Heartbeat
based on the Japanese release back in December of last year:

_____________
I know it's not out stateside yet - but here's a foretaste that'll make
me feel less guilty for reading everyone else's wonderful reviews.

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Heartbeat [Virgin Japan VJCP-30093]

Heartbeat
Rap the WOrld
Triste
Lulu
High Tide
Song Lines
Nuages
Sayonara
Borom Gal
Epilogue
Tainai Kaiki

Whereas "Beauty" may have struck some of us as a self-conscious work
of pastiche [and I mean that in a positive sense] which included as
broad a range of musical styles and players as possible [Pino Palladino,
the rhythm section of Farafina, and Robert Wyatt all sharing the same
cut], "Heartbeat" is much more of a single piece - the complement of
guests is smaller and more focused [Dee Dee Brave, Arto Lindsay, John
Lurie, Jungle DJ Towa Towa, Youssou N'dour] and less apparent. But what
has struck me on repeated listening is the sense that the aural *logic*
of the disc is much more coherent here: very smooth, hip, and urban.
The line from an old Joni Mitchell tune which has insinuated itself and
will not go away with regard to this is "the geometric surface of the
modern night". The rhythms are bright and slick and up-to-date: they
seem to be what might result from taking a polished house groove and
dropping as much of the "thumpthumpthump" of the pulse as possible.
[Could this be DJ Towa Towa's influence here?]. I find myself being
reminded most of Sakamoto's "Ongaku Zuken" [Illustrated Music Encyclo-
paedia in English] or Mihaira Yaro [Futurista] discs, in that departures 
from the overall flow of the disc share some common production features
that tie them in with the other work.

Let's see: the de rigeur piano/orchestra themes [Song Lines and Epilogue], 
a couple of obvious singles [Sayonara and Heartbeat] that are more elegant
and restrained than "You Do Me" from Beauty [this is more "sit at the
bar with a Cointreau on Ice and tap your foot" than "break a sweat on
the floor stuff"], 2 "world rap" tunes [Rap the World with Super DJ
Dmitry in Russian and Triste, with Marco Prince in French], a nifty little
angular odd-meter piece with John Lurie on Sax [Lulu], and a piece with
N'Dour which is at once more "western" in its choice of timbres and 
rhythmically much close to N'Dour's own stuff than anything on Beauty.
If I'm not led astray, the Japanese version of this recording includes
a piece which won't show up on the European/American versions. There are
two choices: an arrangement of a traditional folk song [Nuages, with
Houria Aichi on vocals], or a piece using John Cage's voice in snippets
and Arto Lindsay on voice, which essentially restates the lyrics for
"Heartbeat" ["Tainai Kaiki" - my bet for the missing piece]. What else?
Oh yeah - the only real eyebrow raiser on the disc involves the appearance
of Magic Dick doing harp on "Rap the World"! It all fits. The only real
beef I've got is that Sakamoto hardly sings at all this time out.

In all, I initially wasn't quite as excited about it as with his previous
work on Beauty [by the way - if you can find it, the alternative mixes
of "We Love You" are almost ALL much more interesting than the original
by a long shot. There's one with some high-life horns and this great
"Beat on the drum" sample in it that is really fine], but I've found
that it *really* grows on you. Smooth, canny stuff.

__________
Hmmm. It's possible that the sample used on "Rap the World" has changed
between the Japanese and UK/American versions, too. The mix differences
are slightly different on some pieces, but only in ways that are apparent
to folks as famously finicky and control-oriented as Sakamoto-san.
Hope this helps.
--
I am so lonely for the twentieth century,/for the deeply felt, obscene
graffiti/of armed men and the beautiful bridges/that make them so small and
carry them/into the hearts of cities written like words/across nothing,/the
dense void history became in my beautiful century/gtaylor/608-828-3385