1996 (Ryuichi Sakamoto album)

1996 is a 1996 album by Japanese composer and pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto. It contains a selection of Sakamoto's most popular compositions plus two new compositions, all arranged for a standard piano trio. The arrangement of "Bibo no Aozora" that appears on this album has appeared in several film and television projects; one notable example is the film Babel, whose soundtrack features both the 1996 version and the /04 version of the song.

1996
Studio album by Ryuichi Sakamoto
Released	June 4, 1996 (1996-06-04)
Studio	Right Track (New York City)
Genre	Chamber music
Length	68:42
Label	Güt, For Life, Milan
Producer	Ryuichi Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto chronology
Smoochy (1995) 1996 (1996) Discord (1997)

Track listing

All songs composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

No.	Title	Originally from	Length
1.	"A Day a Gorilla Gives a Banana" (ゴリラがバナナをくれる日 Gorira ga Banana wo Kureru Hi)	Previously unreleased	1:40
2.	"Rain"	The Last Emperor (soundtrack), 1987	3:38
3.	"Bibo no Aozora" (美貌の青空, Beauty of a Blue Sky)	Smoochy, 1995	6:36
4.	"The Last Emperor"	The Last Emperor (soundtrack), 1987	5:53
5.	"1919"	Previously unreleased	6:22
6.	"Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence"	Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (soundtrack), 1983	4:46
7.	"M.A.Y. in The Backyard"	Ongaku Zukan / Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia, 1984	3:29
8.	"The Sheltering Sky"	The Sheltering Sky (soundtrack), 1990	4:33
9.	"A Tribute to N.J.P."	Ongaku Zukan, 1984	3:17
10.	"High Heels (Main Theme)"	High Heels (soundtrack), 1991	3:18
11.	"Aoneko no Torso" (青猫のトルソ, Torso of a Blue Cat)	Smoochy, 1995	2:32
12.	"The Wuthering Heights"	Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (soundtrack), 1992	5:20
13.	"Parolibre"	Futurista, 1986	3:22
14.	"Acceptance (End Credit) -Little Buddha-"	Little Buddha (soundtrack), 1994	7:30
15.	"Before Long"	Neo Geo, 1991	3:02
16.	"Bring them home"	Smoochy, 1995	3:24

The CD releases on the Milan label in the U.S. and Brazil have only tracks 1-12. The Milan CD release in the UK has only tracks 1-15.

Live concert

Ryuichi Sakamoto Trio World Tour 1996
Japanese DVD cover
Live album by Ryuichi Sakamoto
Released	August 19, 1996 (1996-08-19) to September 1, 1996 (1996-09-01)
Genre	Chamber music
Length	1:54:04
Label	Güt, For Life
Producer	Ryuichi Sakamoto

A concert, called Ryuichi Sakamoto Trio World Tour, was organized in 1996. The setlist of this concert is different than the original album. This concert was played at 6 venues in Japan,^[1] and the Bunkamura Orchard Hall concert was live streamed on August 28, 1996, on the Internet, and was one of the first concerts to be streamed.^[2] This concert was released on both DVD and Laserdisc.^[3]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Bibo no Aozora"
2.	"Rain"
3.	"Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrance"
4.	"The Sheltering Sky"
5.	"Aoneko no Torso"
6.	"Tango"
7.	"Improvisation (High Heels (Main Theme))"
8.	"Little Buddha"
9.	"The Wuthering Heights"
10.	"Asadoya Yunta"
11.	"M.A.Y. In The Backyard"
12.	"Thousand Knives"
13.	"1919"
14.	"A Flower Is Not A Flower"
15.	"The Last Emperor"
16.	"Tong Poo"
17.	"Parolibre"
18.	"Tango (Strings Version)"

Personnel

Performers

• Ryuichi Sakamoto – piano
• Jaques Morelenbaum – cello
• Everton Nelson – violin (tracks 1, 3 – 7, 9 – 12 & 14)
• David Nadien – violin (tracks 2 & 8)
• Barry Finclair – violin (tracks 13 & 15)

Technical

• Fernando Aponte – engineer, mixing
• Ted Jensen – mastering
• Joe Lizzi & Jason Goldstein – assistant engineers
• Hideki Nakajima – art direction, design
• Yoshinori Ochiai – design
• Kazunari Tajima – photography
• Clare de Graw & David Rubinson – production managers^[4]

References

1. "Info page for the 1996 tour". www.sitesakamoto.com. Archived from the original on 1999-11-17. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
2. "08/28 Ryuichi Sakamoto Internet Live English". park.org. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
3. "Ryuichi Sakamoto - Trio World Tour 1996~Complete Version". Discogs. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
4. "Ryuichi Sakamoto discografia". TokyoNoise.Net. Retrieved 2013-05-27.