Item 1: Mrs. Veneer buys Ryuichi Sakamoto's CD of solo piano pieces, BTTB.  It's quite beautiful and Sakamoto mostly avoids the New Age clichés that plague so many piano CDs.  Some of the pieces are obvious homages to classical works, such as "Opus," which evokes the Gymnopédies of Erik Satie:

04 Opus

Ryuichi Sakamoto

♫ Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No.1 [piano] ♫

Item 2: I learn from Wiel's Time Capsule that Mark Stewart is preparing a new album (his first of new material since 1995!) and tour, and that he has a new video out:

05 Stranger

Mark Stewart

Connection 2: I've heard some of those lyrics before: "Somewhere, there is a place for us".  They're from "Somewhere," from West Side Story.  David Sylvian recorded a version of that for a TIAA-CREF commercial:

Somewhere (Orchestral Commercial Version)

David Sylvian

Connection 3: Sylvian and Sakamoto's collaborative song "Forbidden Colours," from the movie Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, is perhaps the best-known song by either of them in the US:

Sylvian & Sakamoto - Forbidden Colours

Connection 4: Hey, Mark Stewart did two versions of "Forbidden Colours" on that very same album!  Here's the dub version:

07 Forbidden Dub

Mark Stewart

It's all connected!

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I've been meaning to start a "crooners" thread, but it just hasn't worked out yet; maybe soon.  In the meantime I've been listening to The Pop Group's catalog, and wishing I hadn't missed it all by a few years.  Through the 80s I was a fan of all the groups borne of the late Pop Group: Mark Stewart + Maffia, Rip Rig & Panic, Maximum Joy, Pigbag, Float Up C.P., and possibly more, but I never got around to tracking down the source of it all.  Thanks to the Internet, though, I can do that now, and it's been a revelation.  In trying to find one song that encapsulates all the aspects of The Pop Group, I've decided on "We Are All Prostitutes":

The Pop Group - We Are All Prostitutes

The Pop Group

Listening to this song from 1980, I think, "This is the blueprint for Rage Against the Machine!"  Mark Stewart is even more hysterical than Zach de la Rocha (ranting hysterical, not funny hysterical) (not intentionally funny, at least) , the guitarist (John Waddington or Gareth Sager, or both?) takes cues from Sonny Sharrock instead of Ron Asheton, and everything is a bit sloppy and anarchic, but wedding shouted, social-justice-themed lyrics over a funky rock beat is something both bands have in common.  The Pop Group had disintegrated by 1981, before I even heard of them, but Mark Stewart continued to carry the torch of political paranoia throughout the 80s, and a little bit in the 90s, and apparently still plays live gigs even today.  I was lucky enough to catch him at the 9:30 Club in 1987 on an On-U Sound bill with Gary Clail and Tackhead (with Adrian Sherwood himself on the boards).  Stewart only did a few songs but he emanated a powerful vibe that made it clear that his lyrics really are his own fears and convictions, not just an act.  Perhaps he'll come play in Ithaca someday.  Hahahaha!

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