The diversity thus makes for a more interesting album than might have been had from variations on the main minor-key 'Sheltering Sky' theme (presented here in orchestrated and piano-based versions.) It also breaks away from the sound of Sakamoto's recordings, strong material that suffers from a certain digital harshness in the strings.
Part of the reason for the variation is that only twelve of the album's 21 tracks are by Sakamoto - several are source music, others were composed by Richard Horowitz. A varied soundtrack album that manages to weave in a little variation from the traditional type of motion picture scoring indulged in here by Sakamoto.
