Ryuichi Sakamoto & The Kakutougi Session - 1979 - Summer Nerves

Ryuichi Sakamoto & The Kakutougi Session

1979

Summer Nerves

01. Summer Nerves (4:12)
02. You're Friend to Me (5:03)
03. Sleep on My Baby (5:12)
04. Theme for "Kakutougi" (6:23)
05. Gonna Go to I Colony (4:42)
06. Time Trip (4:17)
07. Sweet Illusion (6:34)
08. Neuronian Network (4:09)

Ryuichi Sakamoto - keyboards
Yukihiro Takahashi - drums
Kazumi Watanabe (#3,7) - guitar
Kenji Omura (#3,7) - guitar
Masaki Matsubara (#4,5) - guitar
Shigeru Suzuki (#1,2,4,6) - guitar
Ray Ohara - bass (#1-4,6,7) - guitar
Motoya Hamaguchi (#1,2,4,6) - percussion
Pecker (#3,5,7) - percussion
Mabumi Yamaguchi - saxophone (#1)
Akiko Yano - backing vocals (#3)

Recorded at CBS/Sony studio, Tokyo.

A set that's maybe a bit more straightforward than some of the other work from Ryuichi Sakamoto from the time -- warmly crafted with lots of jazzy touches, thanks to work on the record from Katuougi Session! The approach is almost city pop, but there's still some of the quirkier touches we love in Sakamoto's music -- as you might guess from the cover -- including a bit of vocoder, and a relatively understated way that often has the lyrics stepping around right down in the grooves!

A distinct departure from the rest of Sakamoto's solo career and a fun one at that. On this release he delves into a mix of reggae, disco and a little bit of jazz fusion as well as his usual brand of weird electronic music. All of it comes together here to make 8 tracks of zany city pop songs that aren't very memorable but are entertaining enough to keep me engaged while listening. Overall the album has a nice summery/tropical feel.