David Sylvian S/D

Eh, I'm not convinced by "There's No Love". It's missing something for me that was found on "Uncommon Deities". Maybe it was the short form of each track that was the difference, or maybe I just want him to sing again!

The last time I listened to "Manafon" I liked it much more than previously, but I still prefer the reworked versions on "Died In The Wool".

" I still prefer the reworked versions on "Died In The Wool"."

me too

Sylvian drops a new country song on soundcloud out of the blue: https://soundcloud.com/user-516495290/beautiful-country-rough-mix

(this is one of the songs from a project with Joan as Policewoman that seems to have stalled or died or something)

Thanks for posting that, I'll take his scraps!

Them's pretty good scraps! Builds up a nice head of steam by the end too.

Wonder if this means more is on the way?

I hope so!

Gone, seemingly.

Good thing I downloaded it.

Argh, just getting to this now. Is anyone willing/able to share?

apparently there's another one that's still up? is this an unreleased track? https://soundcloud.com/user-516495290/modern-interior

That's from a compilation.

Whoever needs a copy email me geraldmcbb at h0tmail d0t c0m

it's still there, at least for me.

From the comments it looks like he took it down and then re-upped it.

That beautiful country remix is flowing nicely. I especially appreciate that his voice seems less affected than i remembered it.

Since I already posted my e-mail address, if anyone wants a giant ZIP of David's rarities (64 tracks), drop me a note.

E-mail sent! <3

another newish one he put up there that had slipped me by: https://soundcloud.com/user-516495290/jacqueline-demo

Both soundcloud tracks remind me how much I've missed his ambient pop work. Hopefully his willingness to post older tracks is based on some new creative drive.

We'll see, he said a few years back he was done with vocal work. Of course he wouldn't be the first artist to change their mind.

anyone know explicitly what his illness was? i saw something about his back at some point, but I thought maybe it was actually his lungs or something; perhaps he's lost his voice.

So 21 people downloaded the odds and sods comp I made. Any thoughts, favorite bits, etc? For me, I'm surprised and pleased how good 5 hours off (mostly) collaborations flows, David's voice really makes the songs his own.

It's taken me awhile but I'm finally appreciating David's later collaborations, which are also captured on Sleepwalkers, as much as his earlier ones. (If anything, it's the Dead Bees era that I now find the least interesting.) And yeah, his voice def brings a cohesiveness to this collection.

I haven't done an A/B comparison, but I think many of the tracks on "Sleepwalkers" are remixed to some extent.

yes they are

Oh hey Gerald I dropped a line re this collection -- did you get it?

It was in my junk folder. ;-) Replied.

Thanks!

In a fb post about his Weinstein tweets (that he's since deleted), DS said he considers himself "retired".

https://www.facebook.com/tim.wilderspin.3/posts/10213528185735010

i'm going to past that in case it gets deleted or for people not on facebook:

For those that are interested, yesterday was a big day for fans of the highly-influential and unique band Japan. Their manager, Simon Napier-Bell, posted about his time with the band, trotting out his side of the story of their split in 1982. Suddenly, David Sylvian - their somewhat reclusive singer - came on the thread with a massive rebuttal directly aimed at his old manager, claiming he ripped them off and also talking about how he was kept from his dying friend Mick Karn's bedside. Almost as soon as Sylvian posted - as is his wont - he deleted it. Luckily, quick-acting fans copied and pasted it. If you're into the group, it makes for compelling reading. See below...
SNB: 35 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH…
Japan were in the middle of their last tour. At the end of it they would break up, which seemed insane. It had taken six years for them to move from being unknowns to Britain’s most influential rock group.
I’d signed them in 1976 after I’d auditioned David Batt at Wigmore Hall Studios. He turned up in hippy sandals and jeans with long blonde hair down to his waist and an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder. In the studio he eyed me disdainfully, as if he were doing the auditioning, not me. It wasn’t just his looks that won me over, it was his voice and his rambling songs with their strange lyrics, “She keeps her love in a carrier bag”.
With him came a group. On drums was Dave's brother, Steve, only 16 and a dead ringer for young Elvis. The bass player was “Mick” Michaelides, their best friend, with down-to-the-waist hair to match David's, but orange. On keyboards was Richard Barbieri, thicker-set and more cautious than the other three, but like the others from the same school in Lewisham. And on guitar was Rob Dean, from North London, acquired through an ad in Melody Maker.
I put the group into a recording studio, got some examples of their best songs, then sent them off to a photo session. When I had the perfect picture I put together a smart-looking package and sent it to every A&R man in London. It wasn't the first time my enthusiasm had blinded me to the realities of the music business. In the 60s I'd got much the same reaction when I first sent out tapes of Marc Bolan. I should have remembered that A&R men immediately turn down anything that doesn't sound exactly like the current best-selling artist. They have no understanding of being prepared for the next change in style or the next development.
Among the stack of depressing rejection letters were two which stood out. One was from someone at RCA: 'If you change the group's bass-player and find someone who knows how to play, I might be prepared to listen again’. The other was from an A&R man at CBS. “This group has potential. Unfortunately, we are not in the potential business.” (Presumably the reason for them hiring an A&R man who had none.)
It was a bad start but I persevered more than I’d ever persevered before. David changed his surname to Sylvian, his brother to Jansen, and Mick to Karn. It took a year to get a record deal, two years to get their first record released, three years to play the first UK gig that broke even, four years to be taken seriously.
But after five years Japan were one of the most influential groups in Britain. David’s new bouffant hairstyle had been stolen by Duran Duran. The sound of Mick’s fretless bass had become the backbone of Paul Young’s hits. Richard’s flowing synth lines were heard in every emerging group. As were Steve’s drum syncopations. And when their new album Tin Drum came out it was the successes of the year, setting them up to break America.
Then things went wrong...
Mick had a Japanese girlfriend to whom he was devoted - he was learning Japanese and had settled down domestically. But one day he came home to find she'd left him for David. The group came to me and said they were breaking up. It was apparent there was no point trying to persuade them otherwise, but I told them, “For the sake of your future solo careers, don't announce it yet. That way you'll continue to have the status of being part of a top group while you each sort out what you want to do with yourselves. Meanwhile I'll tell the press Japan are working on their next album.”
During that year we released three Japan singles, all of them big hits – Ghosts, Cantonese Boy, and I Second that Emotion. I was playing for time and I hoped to keep them together. After three months I persuaded them to play a final tour starting in a further four months time. When the tickets were put on sale they sold out at once. It was a long wait, but on the first night I held my breath - going on tour again, being onstage, receiving rapturous applause – surely it would bring them back together again.
But the answer was “No!”
On the first night, billing and cooing in the dressing-room with David, was Mick's ex-girlfriend. Mick refused to go in. And from there on it was inevitable.
After a British finale of six consecutive nights at Hammersmith Odeon, the group went on to Hong Kong, Thailand and Japan. Even till the last day I thought, “This band just CANNOT be breaking up.” But after the last gig in Nagoya, they did.
Inconceivable really that they could play so tightly, appear so cohesive, yet still walk off stage and separate, just like that. I felt there had to be more to it than just the domestic relocation of Mick’s girlfriend, and in due course I realised there was.
Maybe one day I should write the book.

DS : '"simon, come on, this is utter BS. have you forgotten the dinner prior to your hearing Tin Drum in which you told me to break up the band? That you'd been talking mick into believing he was ready for a solo career and I should be thinking along the same lines? You were still playing puppet master. 'You're in danger of becoming a band that everyone's heard of but no one's actually heard' . I insisted we'd recorded our strongest album, you doubted this. Hedging your bets you said 'Of course, if you're right I'll be persuading you to stay together'. I spoke with mick and he said you'd been whispering in his ear about a solo career and that he wanted to go for it (he'd been telling yuka the same but with no animosity aimed at me as there was none between us. She said he only ever spoke respectfully. He just wanted to find his own voice) but would like to keep the band together (as a safety net). I asked him to choose one over the other and he claimed he couldn't, so I chose for him. If everyone was pulling together for the band it made no sense to have someone hold back and start writing for themselves, not at that stage in our development when the songwriting was beginning to open up. It was you who sowed the seeds of discontent because I'd stopped listening to your 'advice'. You only enjoyed management when it was like a game of chess, moving pieces on a board. To place yuka, who has never publicly defended herself, never will, in the middle of all this, upsets me greatly as she remains my dearest friend (she was never anywhere near the Tin Drum tour. These deviations from the truth seem like simple fabrication for the sake of after dinner chatter but it has actually impacted all of our lives). After trying to work on his sculpture and music, and without okaying it with me, mick said he couldn't work with yuka around and asked her to 'go over to david's house' (as you know, we all lived in the same Square). yuka didn't wish to intrude so she'd walk around London, window shopping, until it got dark and too cold for her. She then asked me if she could kill a couple of hours until she could go home (6pm being the set time). Mick sent her to my home repeatedly after that, again, without ever speaking to me about the inconvenience or otherwise. yuka did her best to stay away until the November cold got to her then she'd perch on my couch and drink tea whilst I worked. Eventually, mick ask her to move out permanently. She came to me in tears and I said 'stay'. It was that simple, but it's been made into a drama when, anyone who knew mick knows this was, or became, his modus operandi. Ask his partners to leave and, once gone, claim them back. It got him into some deep water over the years. I could offer a lot more on the subject of mick's mental state, for example, his intolerance for one member of the band whom he fought to have removed from day one until the last sessions of Tin Drum, but that's not my place. He very rapidly moved onto working on his solo career just as you'd advised him. ("mick will be a star because he'll do all the things you refuse to you. Saturday morning kids shows, page 3, etc. And, regrettably, he took your advice"). Some members of the public feel the need to take sides on the matter of my friendship with mick but it's no one's business but our own and those who, for many years, stirred the pot behind the scenes. The last time I saw mick alive was just prior to my mixing RTC. Must've been 90/91. He asked to meet for coffee. I remember it well. The Dome, which used to stand on a corner of King's Rd, a short walk from my place in Chelsea. During that conversation he told me three things I'll never forget. 'You did a great job producing RTC (no one had acknowledged I'd done any such thing until that moment)/You bring out the best in me/would you consider producing my next album?' .. I was flattered and happy to be asked and said 'absolutely'. I never saw him again and was denied a place at his deathbed due to the interventions of others (one message apparently reached him before he passed, that I'd referred to him in an interview as my brother as, despite everything that'd gone down between us, he was. I was told this was well received). This is my story, my truth if you will. It's something I've not shared until now (I'll not tell the true stories behind the making of the band as it'd hurt too many people. Knowing this has encouraged others to fabricate all manner of 'truths'). You did ask me to keep the break up of the band from the press for one year until a final tour in '82. I agreed based on your explanation that the band would need an influx of cash to help them get on their feet after we (publicly) broke up. That you took your percentage from the gross income from the tour and not the net denied the band from having any earnings to speak of once the tour was over. I confronted you on this matter and you said, as ever, with a smile, that it wasn't your concern how much we spent on lighting and set design and you were within your rights to skim from the top. I disagreed with you then and do to this day. It was immoral of you to go back on your word. So much to be said, and yet I'm told I've already given my side of the story. I obviously haven't. But hearing this nonsense touted as truth, allowing it to stand in for the facts, wears me down. You walked away with money one way or another. Because of the way I'm made, I hold no grudge, but that's an easier position for me to take than for others for obvious reasons. You're a storyteller, it's what you now do (and of course you know full well why we could simply walk away from one another come the tour's end, you'd orchestrated the break). But you've been fucking around with the real lives of others, you've impacted them positively but also profoundly negatively. You have to own that before you too take your leave. We don't need more books on the subject as they're so far from the reality as lived. Let's leave things be and not perpetuate yet more erroneous myths."

Just... wow.

Can anyone find David's statement regarding Mick's death? I recall it was touching but can't find it online.

Dammmmn

SNB's reply. supposedly DS deleted his own original statement.

Hi David Sylvian - I love that you wrote that reply to my piece. I value your viewpoint and your memories of the situation. You're right I'm a storyteller; I enjoy nothing more than good raconteuring but try always to keep to the truth. Truths, of course, can differ from person to person but we should all do our best to write with honesty. In the course of managing a band many things are said to the individuals involved - to comfort, to cajole, to calm, to inspire - but in the end the manager's principal job is to keep the band productively together as long as possible, and if that fails then to try and help each of them on a path to a solo career. I thought I did pretty well at the first thing, not so good at the second. I'm sure your memories are correct for you, you have too much integrity for them not to be, and mine are correct for me. I remember only good times managing Japan, and much good humour.

Richard Barbieri's captured but also deleted comment on that thread is also worth reading.

his comment on the original post by SNB, that is.

where could that be read?

https://i.imgur.com/IjPPK8g.jpg

thankyou

Japan are like the last band I expected to have lots of drama kicked up years later on facebook.

Barbieri has always come across like a really good guy btw. I read an interesting interview with him recently. He sounds pretty broke considering he was in two fairly huge bands (Japan and Porcupine Tree) but also not at all bitter about things.

SNB never lets accuracy get in the way of a good story - but he can be very entertaining.

More music managers should follow his example of posting reviews of their most memorable meals:
http://www.simonnapierbell.com/restaurants.htm

Wow that was illumanating..,Sylvian seems to be quite confessional of late like he’s unburdening himself...maybe it comes as you get older...finally got round to listening to the tracks Gerald sent me...had most of them but a few gaps...the new tracks that appeared on his soundcloud account are great particularly ‘Modern Interior’ but ‘Blue Of Noon’ is sounding lovely especially this time of year...wish he release a new album of song based material...the one offs he’s released (If you think you know me now, I should not dare, A certain slant of light) are among his best work in years...

Barbieri has always come across like a really good guy btw. I read an interesting interview with him recently.

Don't suppose you have a link to that?
There's so much tension apparent Japan's best material. I had always assumed that it was because Sylvian was a harsh taskmaster, but the dysfunction described above throws a whole new light on the band's dynamics.

guessing this was the interview

Japan are like the last band I expected to have lots of drama kicked up years later on facebook.

You're kidding me, right!? Out of all of the bands of that era, Japan and Bauhaus would be top of the list.

Oh yeah

BTW to tide us all over while we we wait for another release, I just came upon this incredible song from his 2003-4 Fire in the Forest tour that is otherwise unreleased:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9vybTMXsFg&feature=youtu.be

It’s an amazing performance – and seemingly a really raw take on his divorce. Among my favorite things he’s done post-Blemish.

I'm getting an error with that link. What is the track/performance?

Just a random anecdote: A few weeks ago I was in a bar in Roppongi that seemed to be dedicated to and frequented by people who enjoyed early 80's music. The bartender decided to throw on something decidedly not early 80's: 'Adolescent Sex' by Japan. When I expressed my delight that I was actually hearing ANYONE EVER playing and enjoying this album in public, we sat and listened to the whole thing on a fantastic sound system. Such a wonderful little moment of life.

This this:

https://youtu.be/I9vybTMXsFg

It’s Wasn’t I Joe.

is that Ryoji Ikeda?

Masakatsu Takagi on live video projections. It was just DS and Steve Jansen playing the music.