David Sylvian

David Sylvian - Weatherbox (1989) {5CD Box Set + DVD, Virgin Records DSCD1 rec 1983-1987}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 961 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 478 Mb
DVD5 -> 1.63 Gb | All Regions | PAL 4:3 | Dolby AC3, 2 ch | ~ 26m | ISO Image
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 180 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1983-87, 1989 Virgin Records | DSCD1
Rock / Experimental Rock / Art Rock / Ambient

DAVID SYLVIAN Weatherbox (Rare 1989 UK deluxe 5-CD box set spanning David's career and his many collaborations. Includes the releases: Brilliant Trees, Alchemy, Gone To Earth, Gone To Earth - Instrumental [Exclusive to this box set] and Secrets Of The Beehive. Also includes a 60 page booklet which documents each release and all the musicians involved plus fold-out poster. The artwork and design is by Russell Mills and Dave Coppenhall with sliding lid on the top of the box. The accompanyment by the likes of Bill Nelson, Sakamoto, Jansen/Barbierri/Karn, Russell Mills, Robert Fripp, Michael Brooks et al bears testimony to just how many TALENTED ARTISTS are influenced and eager to work w/ Mr. Sylvian.

Rain Tree Crow - Rain Tree Crow (1991) {Digitally Remastered, Virgin 094636306629 rel 2006} (David Sylvian related)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 249 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 115 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 238 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1991, 2006 Virgin Records Ltd. | 0946 3 63066 2 9
Rock / Art Rock / Experimental Rock / Experimental Ambient / Alternative

Rain Tree Crow is the result of a collaboration between former Japan members David Sylvian and Mick Karn. Sylvian and Karn teamed with keyboardist Richard Barbieri and Steve Jansen, adding guitarists Phil Palmer and Bill Nelson for their self-titled debut. Like a mellower, new age-oriented version of Japan, Rain Tree Crow explores stark soundscapes that sound alternately beautiful and desolate. Although it is a bit too challenging to provide a good introduction to Sylvian and Karn's music, the album remains fascinating for their fans.

David Sylvian's Manafon (2009) appeared as a collection of disciplined art songs that relied on his collaborators to inform not only their textures, but their forms. Those players - Jan Bang, Evan Parker, John Tilbury, Dai Fujikura, Erik Honoré, Otoma Yoshide, and Christian Fennesz among them - created airy, often gently dissonant structures for Sylvian's lyrics and melodic ideas. Died in the Wool (Manafon Variations) re-employs these players (with some new ones) in the considerable reworking of five of Manafon's compositions. There are also six new songs that include unused outtakes, and two poems by Emily Dickinson set to music and sung by Sylvian. The new music here relies heavily on Sylvian's association with Fujikura: he composed, arranged, and conducted chamber strings that are prevalent…

Longtime friends and collaborators David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto released their work via David's Samadhi Sound label. Sylvian and Sakamoto worked together for the first time in 1982 when they wrote the double A side "Bamboo Music/Bamboo Houses". "World Citizen" was created as part of a project called 'Chain Music' instigated by Ryuichi. "Its skewed pop recalls Bowie's Hunky Dory, and pinpoints the human cost of superpower recklessness, prompting a standing ovation for pop music's most mercurial refusenik-turned-prodigal son" - The Guardian (on a live performance of World Citizen). Sylvian and Sakamoto have not released a record together for 21 years, which makes this a very special release.

For his second proper solo effort, the former Japan front man delves deeper into the experimental rock, tape loops, and soothing atmospherics he would perfect on Secrets of the Beehive. The first side of this haunting and moody double album features Robert Fripp and some of his former bandmates helping out, while the second is exclusively instrumentals recorded alone. For the uninitiated, Sylvian is a fearless and stylish artist with few peers and one whose wanderlust is as challenging as it is beautiful to behold.

Streamlining the muted, organic atmospheres of the previous Gone to Earth to forge a more cohesive listening experience, Secrets of the Beehive is arguably David Sylvian's most accessible record, a delicate, jazz-inflected work boasting elegant string arrangements courtesy of Ryuichi Sakamoto. Impeccably produced by Steve Nye, the songs are stripped to their bare essentials, making judicious use of the synths, tape loops, and treated pianos which bring them to life; Sylvian's evocative vocals are instead front and center, rendering standouts like "The Boy With the Gun" and the near-hit "Orpheus" - both among the most conventional yet penetrating songs he's ever written - with soothing strength and assurance.

Restrained, passionate, and absolutely beautiful.
"Forbidden Colours" is a 1983 song by David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The song is the vocal version of the theme from the Nagisa Oshima film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. It appears on the film's soundtrack album and was released as a single on Virgin Records in 1983 (the second collaborative single release by Sylvian and Sakamoto, following 1982's "Bamboo Houses").

For an album of only seven tracks, Brilliant Trees is an eclectic affair fusing funk, jazz, and ambient. Its best pieces are the moody jazz of "Red Guitar," the dusky atmosphere of "Weathered Wall," and "Brilliant Trees" itself, both of which feature the woozy trumpet of Eno collaborator and fourth-world pioneer Jon Hassell. The record also showcases guest players like Holger Czukay. All in all, Brilliant Trees is an impressive debut and an outstanding achievement.