This bonus CD has been sequenced nicely so that it can be enjoyed from start to finish as an alternative soundtrack to the film.
A new 30th Anniversary two-CD edition was issued in Japan at the end of November and what this reissue does very deftly, is to present the original album, alongside a second disc that includes all of the cues in the film soundtrack that were missing – a few were extremely low in the sound mix and so can be enjoyed fully for the first time here. The original single recording, with vocals by David Sylvian ( Forbidden Colours) is the closing track on the soundtrack album. The main theme of the film has been covered by many musicians, from Watergate’s dance hit in the late 1990s to a recent operatic version by Paul Potts. Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (1983) is one of those unusual films that has gained a greater reputation over time it is the film debut of Takeshi Kitano, who later went on to become an award winning director and writer Jack Celliers is one of ‘s best regarded acting roles, and the soundtrack by Ryuichi Sakamoto (who also plays a leading role in the film) has lived on beyond the silver screen, most recently forming part of Anne Dudley’s performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra at London’s South Bank Centre. Paul Rymer guest reviews the Japan-only 2CD 30th Anniversary Edition of Ryuichi Sakamoto‘s soundtrack to Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence as well as the companion release Coda.
