For the inaugural entry in what I hope will be a long-running and reliable endeavour, I've decided to share what's been my favourite song for the past two decades - a tune that's unlikely to be eclipsed in the near or far future.A melancholy meeting of two musicians who've successfully managed to move deftly between - and reconcile - the radical and the accessible for thirty-something years, "Forbidden Colours" couples Ryuichi Sakamoto's gravity-defying synth and string signals with David Sylvian's otherworldly vocals.
Released in 1983, this elegiac and angelic piece is essentially Sakamoto's main theme from Nagisa Oshima's movie 'Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence', with Sylvian's desert-swept narrative hovering over its sublime surface.
Sakamoto, the former Yellow Magic Orchestra magician, also stars in 'Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence' along with David Bowie, and despite minor flaws it's worth watching for the sublime score alone; it also happens to be one of Bowie's more successful cinematic turns.
The film's script was based on work by South African author Laurens van der Post, specifically 'The Seed and The Sower', which diarised his real-life ordeals as a Japanese POW in World War II.
There are a few versions of "Forbidden Colours" and the Sylvian-less 'Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence' main theme floating around, all well worth seeking out, but this beauty is the best - and an all-time favourite.
Ryuichi Sakamoto & David Sylvian - Forbidden Colours
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2 comments:
Hello Dex
Glad to see you're blogging, and looking forward to what you have to say...
k
xx
good one greg, its an incredible track, not my favourite of sylvian's tho, but i always sort of lost it to forbidden colours - sooo beautiful
andy shandy would be so proud :)
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