Search - Ryuichi Sakamoto :: Sweet Revenge

One to skip?

Hilary A. Hatfield | 02/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's hard to believe anyone worth their words would consider this piece of work by Sakamoto the 'one to skip'. It is also considerably puzzling that anyone would rate 'Smoochy' or 'Soundbytes' higher than 'Sweet Revenge'. 'Sweet Revenge' is truly sweet indeed. Intelligent, inventive; Sakamoto takes advantage of using a musical style that is both complex and approachable at the same time. It wouldn't be hard for anyone to enjoy simply as background music but with Sakamoto, the surface is just the beginning. Lyrically, he slides in weighty concepts and spiritual enlightenment into this package that is at first just a pretty face. 'Same dream, same destination' is such an example. If you don't spend time with this piece, you won't get all that it offers.

'SR' is possibly Sakamoto's finest hour in this genre of exploration."

You never know what to expect from Ryuichi.

Kerry Garrett | Winston-Salem, NC | 11/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had listened to Mr. Sakamoto since YMO days. I went to see Marry Christmas Mr. Lawrence for him not Bowie. If you are going to rate any of his works on anything else he has done then you completely miss the point. Sakamoto's music is different every album. Heartbeat and Sweet Revenge are similar but not the same. Sweet Revenge took the culture of the world and compressed it down into some of the smoothest beats the world had ever heard. This album is a pinnacle of the time and one of my favorite CDs from the 90s. Sakamoto left this style behind and went on to make some more fabulous albums. He knows that genius cannot be repeated."

Stop Me Before I Buy This CD Again!

bluejim | San Leandro, California United States | 03/01/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"3/1/06: Okay, so I bought it when it first came out because hey, it's Ryui. Wrong turn for The Maestro; setting his music to off-key chant/singing taken from teenage girl's diaries. Not that they don't deserve their own music, but that's why God created Alanis Morissette. If one of your nieces was performing this stuff for you in her living room, you'd be sitting on the couch thinking "try not to look at your watch, it's gotta be over soon & you can get the hell out of here". So back it went. But I was haunted by the songs Pounding At My Heart and especially Water's Edge, which share at least musically, a more mature outlook. I wanted to use those tunes on some custom CD gifts, so back to the store for a used copy. Then I was lucky enough to acquire the Complete Index of GUT box set which included Sweet Revenge along with some more rewarding releases. So back it went again. I finally got around to listening to my new version of Water's Edge only to discover that the Japanese version had lyrics performed in Japanese! Now don't get me wrong, it's beautiful but so are the English lyrics & that's my mother tongue. Yep, you guessed it. Back to the store for American release copy #3. The life of a record collector.

Update: I had this disc on Random the other day and if you can get away without having to hear Moving On (particularly as tone setting track #2 after Ryui's short intro) this isn't half bad. I'm sticking with 2 stars though."