David Sylvian-Secrets Of The Beehive

One of my dearest favorites...gotta go with Orpheus, but WPDOA is a close second

Yeah 'Orpheus' for me too...

this is one of my fav records too

boy w/ the gun i guess

Orpheus

Another admirer here, one of my fave records, and one of those rare records that *never* fails to sound new and fresh.

I'm going to have to think about this one.

orpheus

waterfront

always get carried away when i hear that "catalonian bars..." bit.

Weird - I just got Everything and Nothing last week. Around the kitsch items (i.e. songs about smelling magnolia, etc), the Beehive songs were sweetest. I've always loved "Orpheus."

the boy with the gun

listening to this album for the first time was kind of a life changing experience. there are really only a few albums in my life that I remember my first listen (american music club's everclear, mbv's loveless, joy division/closer being the other big ones). it was a record I'd picked up several times because I liked the cover but I knew absolutely nothing about. it surpassed my wildest expectations.

I went with Let The Happiness In. This is a 10/10 record for me.

Yeah, an everpresent in my mental shortlist of the Best Records Ever Made. I could make a case for any song, but I'll go with the opener.

I recall sitting opposite a girl on a train between Liverpool and Nottingham. About 10 minutes after leaving Manchester Piccadilly, she put on her Walkman and started writing out song titles on the cassette's inlay card. The first title was "September". She hesitated on the next line and I scribbled "The Boy With The Gun?" on my newspaper and showed it to her. This broke the ice. We talked and laughed as far as Sheffield, where she got off. Becky, her name was. This was over 20 years ago. I still occasionally think of Becky. What a sap.

I'm surprised by the enthusiasm!

Oh my, Michael, can I borrow that memory? That is fantastic.

i love that story, Michael.

this is between "When Poets Dreamed of Angels" & "Waterfront", for me. Waterfront should be the last track, the closing lyrics on the record being "is our love strong enough" (strangely affirmative as it's delivered in spite of the fact that it's framed as a question) but some CD versions tag on a track called "Promise (The Cult Of Eurydice)" which is lovely but shouldn't end the album. other CDs tag on a alternate version of "Forbidden Colours", for some reason.

I truly believe this is one of the great British albums...I think it's held in much higher esteem than it's given credit for...

I think so too. It's one of those dormant giant albums, not getting a lot of mention usually, not on the forefront of mentioning, but gigantic all the same. A simple poll like this one brings forward how highly it's regarded, and rightfully so. Classic, all the way.

"Orpheus" is undeniable, but I also love the drift and disembodied voices of "Maria."

I keep buying David Sylvian albums waiting for another Beehive. Tain't happened yet.

You guys are doing an expert bit of persuading. I only know "Orpheus," "The Boy With the Gun," and "...Happiness In."

I've had this album for a couple of years now but listened to it recently for the first time in a while and was really stunned by it - I put it on again tonight and have decided on voting for 'Let the Happiness In'.

as these albums were coming out, I had a rough time dealing with Sylvian's voice, but I kept buying them because of his remarkable taste in collaborators -- he would assemble these irresistable dream teams, people you couldn't believe were all playing on the same record. I got used to the voice and even the lyrics, but I never quite rated what he personally added above the sense of texture in the music, which seemed entirely due to the freedom given to the musicians, i.e. I wasn't really sure I was listening to these albums for Sylvian (despite the fact that occasionally some of his songs were ridiculously catchy like 'Red Guitar')

then this came out and it was obviously far and away his best album, and it was the one where the songs are at the center of your attention, and I just realized he was a great writer. despite being less dependent on his collaborators than ever before, it does need to be said that this album owes a LOT to Ryuichi Sakamoto's chamber arrangements, he should almost get co-billing

I need to listen to this album again but I'll have to pull out my copy of 'Weatherbox' to do it which I haven't even opened for almost 15 years

http://www.discogs.com/David-Sylvian-Weatherbox/release/156948

Let The Happiness In (Waterfront as a 2nd favourite) lovely album

I seem to remember Jonh Wilde (that was how he spelled his name, right?) giving this such a savage kicking in Melody Maker that I just had to hear it. Obv, I was a Japan fan when they were having pop hits, but this record led me backwards to Brilliant Trees and Gone To Earth and had me doing semi-daft things like buying Flux & Mutability the day it came out. And falling for girls on trains who both owned and loved the Mick Karn solo record.

Went with 'When The Poets Dreamed of Angels', but this is an impossible pick to make.

'September' is such a perfect opener; short, setting the upcoming vibe in an unprecedented way. Threatening, comforting, promising. The only opener that rivals 'September' as songs that set the tone for the album-to-come is Mark Hollis' opener on his self-titled for me. Both have the same awe-inspiring effect. As if you know, something magical is on the way.

the b-sides from this album are dope

http://youtu.be/dcZVspwOYv4

http://youtu.be/U8cb0iO8Vpg

"Buoy" is on Everything and Nothing too.

i think "Buoy" was originally a Mick Karn single that Sylvian later remixed as a b-side to "Let The Happiness In". dunno what the story is there

this is such a great album. i might be crazy but you can almost sense the cynicism and bitterness that he later developed in full on Blemish and Manafon creeping in

fuck that sentence makes no sense. what I mean to say is it marks a turning point towards a gradually darker lyrical realism than in his previous records

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Orpheus is the best song on here -- but Maria is my favorite. As a friend in college said, "Not sure she'd be terribly flattered by this song."

For me, Beehive was the hardest of the first three records to delve into. I came to Sylvian via Gone To Earth by way of Robert Fripp -- and then Brilliant Trees. While my entry point, like Milton, was Sylvian's collaborators (Holger Czukay and Jon Hassell on Trees; Fripp and Bill Nelson on GTE), it was the sense of texture, the electronics and those mysterious "tapes" and treatments and often how they played off of Steve Jansen's drums that really captured my imagination. Beehive, by contrast was, notwithstanding Maria, an "unplugged" record. As such, I was disappointed for a long time-- and a little put off by what I perceived as preciousness of the songwriting. With time, however, I found it to be his Scott Walker record -- and came to love it for very different reasons.

Also, "Ride" (which is on Everything and Nothing) was supposed to be on here as well. Wish it were.

would love to someday hear the original version of Ride (the one on Everything and Nothing was partially re-recorded). there used to be a snippet of it on the internet somewhere, but I don't think the full thing ever leaked.

With time, however, I found it to be his Scott Walker record

This is very, very true and beautifully said, NTI

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

well distributed results--can imagine most also love mother and child. a classic record

Yeah really nice to see such a well distributed set of votes...kinda proving what a strong album it is...also pretty amazing to think he made this album in his late 20's...

On the waterfront the rain
Is pouring in my heart
Here the memories come in waves
Raking in the lost and found of years
And though I'd like to laugh
At all the things that led me on
Somehow the stigma still remains

Is our love strong enough?"

'tis that time of the year again. So beautiful it aches.

Played 'Beehive' after The Blue Nile, with Mark Hollis lined up next. Any other records that fit this mood?

(On Spotify the album does have 'Promise' as the closer, but not 'Forbidden Colours' before it, which drives me nuts. Fucking streaming era)

The album originally had neither of these at the end; forbidden colours was a bonus track added to the CD. But when it was remastered several years ago, Promise was swapped. I don't know why. forbidden Colors, at least that version, is now orphaned; to the extent that that matters in these 'everything is available somewhere on the internet' days.

I know, but that's why it doesn't make sense to me that they did add on Promise, but left off Forbidden Colours (the 'Beehive' version the best version around imho). Ah well.

"Forbidden Colours" never felt like a part of the album, but that never bothered me. Ending the record on such a stately note seemed appropriate in some way.

I remember being a touch disappointed by Beehive when I got it – I loved how electronic Brilliant Trees and Gone to Earth were. And in some ways it really stands apart in his catalog. But it creates a perfect mood.

Perfect before-bed music.

Wisdom.

Perfect before-bed music.

Mother and Child deserved more votes.

Was coming in to say the very same thing, fetter! That and WPDOA. But I am happy one of my ultimate favorite songs, "Orpheus" (and what I named my old 1995 Chevy Blazer) came up on top, and two additional favorites of mine, "Let the Happiness In" and "The Boy with the Gun", placed not far behind. BTW, there's probably already been a DBOAC poll, hasn't there?

We've only polled this and "Brilliant Trees". There's a rather short DBOAC thread and that's it, so poll away!

Happy birthday!

is this his best album?

Maybe. I've quite come around to Gone to Earth, night music I admire.

I like Gone to Earth best because of the way the two albums play off of each other. The songs are like a journey taking you to the place where the instrumentals can envelop you.

"Orpheus" is the centrepiece of this album, but I think I'd choose the Scott Walker tribute of "Waterfront". I felt that Sylvian's voice got a little rougher and deeper on this record, which is strange since it was only a year later and he hadn't toured between the two records.

I don’t know this album but Gone to Earth is tremendous, dark velvet maroon, gorgeous sound world

haha, I love Gone to Earth but like to listen to it on sunny autumn days!

Ideal Sunday morning music.

the only bad thing i have to say about this album is that it's a tragedy he didn't manage to finish "ride" at the time

From his wiki, never heard this one before:

"I'm not currently thinking about a future in the arts. To quote Sarah Kendzior from her book The View From Flyover Country, "In an article for Slate, Jessica Olien debunks the myth that originality and inventiveness are valued in U.S. society: 'This is the thing about creativity that is rarely acknowledged: Most people don't actually like it.'"[78]"

Though the version of "Ride" on Everything and Nothing isn't exactly the same mix that would have been on this record (the rhythm tracks sound especially different to what he would have done in 1987), I tried coming up with a LP sequence that would integrate it:

Let the Happiness In
Mother and Child
September
Ride
The Devil's Own

The Boy With the Gun
When Poets Dreamed of Angels
Maria
Waterfront
Orpheus

It's so long and such an obvious centrepiece to the record that it's hard to include it without throwing one of the sides off-kilter, hence the radical track shuffling.

It seems that Sylvian gets more satisfaction from visual art and occasional installation-type work these days than even working the margins of popular music where he last wound up.

Even if he was unhappy with the recording at that stage, it's strange that he didn't perform "Ride" on his subsequent tour. I would have preferred to hear it over some of the instrumental indulgences he and the band did.

Though the version of "Ride" on _Everything and Nothing_ isn't exactly the same mix that would have been on this record (the rhythm tracks sound especially different to what he would have done in 1987)

Not really the right thread but surprised to see a Forbidden Colours T-shirt in 2023.

https://shop.davidsylvian.com/products/forbidden-colours-t-shirt

yeah he's rolling out a bunch of merch which is...weird