BTTB

1	Energy Flow 4:34
2	Put Your Hands Up 4:53
3	Railroad Man 4:42
4	Opus 4:25
5	Sonatine 3:38
6	Intermezzo 3:44
7	Lorenz and Watson 3:57
8	Choral No. 1 2:27
9	Choral No. 2 2:05
10	Bachata 8:14
11	Chanson 2:24
12	Prelude 4:07
13	Uetax 0:26
14	Aqua 4:29
15	Tong Poo 5:03
16	Reversing 3:56

Barnes & Noble

As easily as Ryuichi Sakamoto crosses genres -- the classically trained pop star is also film director Bertolucci's house composer -- you might not expect that he'd follow DISCORD, his symphony-with-electronics, with a solo piano album. But here it is. BTTB, or "Back to the Basic," is as far removed from his previous work as you could imagine. Where DISCORD revels in the art of noise, BTTB is unashamedly pretty. And where DISCORD finds its aesthetic in combining influences, the music here is stripped away of any excess. Structurally these pieces owe much to classicists, like Brahms, though the sonorities are so clearly in line with Ravel's, Satie's, and Poulenc's that Sakamoto bypasses any label of imitator and heads straight for homage. The "basic" includes the piano in many incarnations, including Cagean preparation, and the results are recorded to near-perfection. Ken Smith

All Music Guide

In a departure from his more electronically amplified works, composer and pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto's BTTB stands as a sometimes contemplative, a periodically nostalgic, and an often new age-sounding acoustic piano album. At the time that Sakamoto began composing for BTTB, he thought that a CD of piano music felt right, though he was not sure of what kind of styles he wanted to play around with. Instead of settling on one or two styles, the renowned pianist and composer experimented with several. For instance, on BTTB, Sakamoto delves into avant-garde piano techniques, playing a prepared piano on the gently circular "Prelude" and "Uetax." With his song "Bachata," Sakamoto interprets folkloric music from the Dominican Republic. Sakamoto's two choral-inspired pieces, "Choral No. 1" and "Choral No. 2," were born out of his fascination with Bach's "St. Mathew Passion" and medieval-esque Gregorian chants. On BTTB, Sakamoto also plays with a variety of themes. On the CD's first two tracks, "Energy Flow" and "Put Your Hands Up - Piano Version," Sakamoto is concerned with issues of healing and therapy. With "Railroad Man," the CD's third track, the pianist and composer attempts to depict the ambience of steam locomotives. All in all, BTTB is a mellifluous CD that highlights Sakamoto's heartfelt dedication to the piano and fascination with various musical traditions. John Vallier