David Sylvian S/D

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.

Wasn't I Joe is a total classic.

His best unreleased track?

If not, it's damn close.

It's terrific. I'm still holding out some hope that one day we'll get to hear Sylvian's "watery, slowed-down" version of Propaganda's "Duel" that may or may not only exist in Paul Morley's head. (During PM's brief attempt to get Sylvian to produce them; he wrote the essence of p-Machinery, played on it, but that was about it).

Holy cow, new unheard Sylvian from one of my favorite periods! Thanks for posting this, any other unreleased gems floating around the ether?

Also, where's the sample from?

a beckett play, Eh Joe

yes, this is absolutely one of his best unreleased songs (though I guess that DVD of the performance was an official release? dunno. no idea if a studio version of this was ever attempted). It's also the most incredibly sad and depressing thing Sylvian ever recorded

why is The Healing Place from Gone to Earth the most listened to David Sylvian track on Spotify? was it in a movie or a tv show?

Inclusion on a Spotify playlist.
I think there are a couple of chill instrumentals w disproportionate play counts in his top 10, right?

yes, i wondered about that. I've only just started using spotify so i'm not sure how all of that works.

Silver Moon Over Sleeping Steeple has even more plays in the US. And I was asking myself just the same question this morning.

Happy 60th, Sylvo!

the RSD reissue of Dead Bees on a Cake with tracks he put on Everything and Nothing goes a long way toward redefining that album IMO, though it's weird he chose a photo of him an Ingrid for the cover; I know it's their 'love' album but given how awful the divorce sounded on Blemish...maybe he's feeling nostalgic. Anyway, the E&N tracks were so strong they really balance out the duffers here like "Krishna Blue". And let no one ever say the man doesn't know how to end an album: Darkest Dreaming is one of his very best songs.

Dead Bees on a Cake is one of the worst album title I've ever heard.

s

well true but the album is better than the title

they really balance out the duffers here like "Krishna Blue"

Totally disagree there. I'm a massive fan of everything Sylvian did & rank Krishna Blue as one of his very best songs.

I too think KB is one of his best, but really, not much sense in personal taste battles anyway. A good album is a good album. You may like one song more than another, but if you’ve lived long enough with it, one song leads to another there, so all will be good in the end.

I love the title, I think it’s terrific and suits the music to a T, pretty much as is always the case with Sylvian. He explained why he chose it well enough in period interviews some 20 years ago.
When the cd first came out, I was sorely disappointed - it took years to come around on it. I remember back then I thought the title and the original cover were the best things about it, and that they deserved better music.

Darkest Dreaming is one of his very best songs.

― akm,

Nice to see you single out Darkest Dreaming. Sometimes I think it might be my favourite song he's ever recorded, including Japan.

one thing to note though is that this RSD pressing is fucked, there are no fill issues on many of them (including my side 2). don't know if universal will take them back or not, but considering I paid thirtyfive pounds for it I hope so.

I remember back then I thought the title and the original cover were the best things about it, and that they deserved better music.

It's a constant ongoing argument I have with myself what I think David Sylvian's best is. The choice always changes, but the three things that are always in consideration are: Secrets of the Beehive, Rain Tree Crow, and Dead Bees on a Cake.

beehive vs gone to earth has been the eternal internal argument for me

i think "a fire in the forest" out-darkest-dreamings "darkest dreaming" for me

I sometimes think of Rain Tree Crow as Sylvian's attempt to make Laughing Stock.

"i think "a fire in the forest" out-darkest-dreamings "darkest dreaming" for me"

yeah those are the two closers I was thinking of. sublime.

I sometimes think of Rain Tree Crow as Sylvian's attempt to make Laughing Stock.

It was released a few months before Laughing Stock though. I think of it as more DS bringing his improv/chance approach from the Czukay sessions into his old band and seeing where that went. With a few gorgeous, conventionally constructed songs in there too.

to me it sounds much more like music in between ambient and world in the vein of what eno, byrne, gabriel, hassell etc. were doing in the 80s. "laughing stock" is a completely different beast i think. it has got this holy & spiritual vibe which i do not feel in "rain tree crow".

Huh. I bought RTC on release but only got into LS a few years later - shows what I know!
And yeah I remember the press and the liner notes being big on the improvised nature of the sessions. A pretty interesting way to reform a band, can't think of anyone else who did it that way.
And agreed, Alex, LS is the vision of a seer, whereas RTC is more abstract musings. Sylvian has always been exquisitely emotionally guarded, part of the allure I guess.

Still think the albums are in the same sonic territory, albeit polished for RTC and raw for LS.

https://www.groenland.com/product/david-sylvian-holger-czukay-plight-premonition-flux-mutability-2lp/

He's been doing his first interviews since 2012 or so lately for the Czukay reissue.
A long three-pager was just posted in a Japan facebook group from Electronic Sound mag. Plus, something in this month's Uncut too.

Also, his website's GDPR email could possibly refer to new music this year, if you're feeling especially optimistic. Just as likely it means nothing though!

"After what has been a brief break davidsylvian.com is once again updated and fully functional. There’ll be exciting news coming from the site throughout the year.
We would like to stay in touch with you regarding all new releases/rereleases, news and publications by, or concerning, David Sylvian."

His Twitter feed is intriguing.

i am excite

there was somethign posted to the japan/sylvian FB group this morning and then swifly deleted, didn't catch what it was but it was a red image with something about news coming about something this year?

Yeah. The red image is from the email that went out today. Text is in my post above.

His twitter feed is great. How else would you find out he's buddies with Anton Newcombe!

Found a pristine copy of the reissued Alchemy CD at Half-Price books yesterday, score. Based on the person upthread who hates it also hating the instrumental sides of Gone to Earth, which are my all-time favorite Sylvian sides, I'm guessing I'm going to like it!

You're in for a treat.

yeah that is good stuff

I'd rank most of Sylvian's instrumentals in the interesting-to-pleasant range, the exceptional ones are on Gone to Earth (and Japan records). They're a mostly more retiring than I prefer.

The few instrumentals on rain tree crow are pinnacle stuff IMO

"Red Earth" is a nice one on that record, a little more outgoing than the others.

So I've been listening to Alchemy the past couple of days and really enjoying it, but couldn't figure out why Words with the Shaman sounded so wacky... then I looked at the liner notes and oh, it's Jon Hassell! Should have guessed.

My fav tracks (predictably) are the Stigma of Childhood and Steel Cathedrals, it'd be worth the price for Stigma of Childhood alone.

By "wacky" you mean "awesome", right?

haha more like "I know this isn't David Sylvian or like Fripp or Nelson, who is doing this? (checks liner notes) ah of course, this is some Fourth World noises"

Twinkle3 ft David Sylvian and Kazuko Hohki - Upon This Fleeting Dream

https://cortizona.bandcamp.com/album/upon-this-fleeting-dream