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David Sylvian’s Do You Know Me Now? box set reviewed

Alexis Petridis on the 10CD collection

By Paul Sinclair

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86

David Sylvian / Samadhisound 10CD box set

A lot of early ’80s pop stars had pretentions that evidently extended further than the pages of Smash Hits and the studios of Top Of The Pops. They were the products of post-punk or art schools, not record company manufacture: left to their own devices, they were wont to make albums where hit singles shared space with the lengthy and the experimental, or start side-projects that might have been underwritten by their commercial success, but had no chance of replicating it.

But perhaps none of them ultimately ventured further away from the mainstream than Japan frontman David Sylvian: not even Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis travelled quite so far into the realm of abstraction as the music contained on Do You Know Me Now?, a 10 CD collection that compiles everything Sylvian released on his Samadhisound label between 2003 and 2014. Listening to its contents, you’re regularly struck by the feeling that his musical journey doesn’t resemble that of his early 80s contemporaries so much as it does that of Scott Walker, who undertook a roughly analogous path from the pop mainstream to the avant-garde outer reaches. But there’s one noticeable difference between them. There is literally no resemblance whatsoever between the music with which The Walker Brothers became 60s housewives’ favourites and the punishing sound of latterday Walker albums like Tilt or The Drift. That’s not quite true of David Sylvian’s oeuvre: if most of what’s on Do You Know Me Now? feels a world away from the music that made Sylvian famous, you can just about draw a line between the contents of 2003’s Blemish or 2009’s Manafon and Japan’s biggest hit, ‘Ghosts’, which – with its eerie, beatless and bass-less sound, its bursts of abstract electronics and occasional lapses into silence, felt like it was pushing at the boundaries of what a pop song could be, even as it occupied the Top 10.

You can just about draw a line between the contents of 2003’s Blemish or 2009’s Manafon and Japan’s biggest hit, ‘Ghosts’

Alexis Petridis

But, for all its weirdness, ‘Ghosts’ had a chorus: Do You Know Me Now? picks up Sylvian’s story at the point where he finally untethered both his career from a major label (Virgin, who, in fairness, had kept the faith from the moment Japan had split, releasing ambient collaborations with Can’s Holger Czukay alongside more straightforward song-based Sylvian albums) and his writing from standard verse-chorus structure.  From the moment his solo career began, Sylvian had made a habit of gathering leftfield musicians around him – Czukay, Robert Fripp, trumpeter Jon Hassell and Russell Mills among them – but his latest choice of collaborator seemed telling: Derek Bailey, the grand old man of free guitar improvisation, his music as challenging and devoid of obvious melody as it gets, his name in the credits virtually a guarantee that the contents would require a lot of commitment on the part of the listener.

And so it proved: Blemish, which opens this set, picked over the collapse of Sylvian’s marriage in utterly uncompromising style. It’s heavy going, both musically and emotionally, whether the glitchy, abstract accompaniment is provided by Bailey, electronica auteur Christian Fennesz, or Sylvian himself, although chinks of light occasionally appear amid the gloom, as on ‘Fire In The Forest’ (“there is always sunshine above the grey sky”), and an accompanying album of remixes occasionally finds other artists leavening the emotional load a little: such things are obviously relative, but Burnt Friedman’s remix of the title track and Sweet Billy Pilgrim’s take on ‘The Heart Knows Better’ tease out a sweetness that’s not immediately apparent in the originals. Nevertheless, it’s an album that requires the listener to immerse themselves completely – you really can’t listen to it in the background while you’re doing something else – but its soul-bearing intensity and the originality of the sound world it creates is the repayment: if you make the effort, you can find yourself lost within it. Something similar is true, perhaps even more so, of Manafon, which assembled another group of committed avant-gardists – including Bailey’s sometime collaborator Evan Parker on sax, pianist John Tilbury and Austrian electro-acoustic experimental band Polweschel – for an album that occasionally makes Blemish sound poppy: for all the velvety quality of Sylvian’s voice, the tracks often feel more like recitations set to abstract music than songs per se; there’s almost nothing the way of conventional melody and nothing at all in the way of standard rhythm. But it has a power entirely of its own, occasionally a quite devastating one, as on its meditation on terrorism, ‘Random Acts Of Senseless Violence’ or ‘The Greatest Living Englishman’’s rumination on a life unfulfilled. Again, an accompanying collection of “variations” on the album’s tracks is at least a little easier-going, although clearly easy-going isn’t really the point.

Blemish is an album that requires listeners to immerse themselves completely… but its soul-bearing intensity and the originality of the sound world it creates is the repayment: if you make the effort, you can find yourself lost within it.

Alexis Petridis

Blemish and Manafon are the dictionary definition of ‘Not For Everyone’, and the same is true of the 70-minute long When Loud Weather Buffeted Naoshima, recorded as part of an installation at a Japanese exhibition, which seems to sit somewhere between ambience, musique concrete and sound collage. But not everything on Do You Know Me Now? is so uncompromising: it’s a noticeably more varied collection in terms of light and shade than that. Another ambient album, There’s A Light That Enters Houses With No Other Light In Sight is noticeably more straightforward than When Loud Weather… setting the poetry of Franz Wright to warm piano tones, snatches of violin and gusts of dark electronics. World Citizen, a 2004 EP that saw Sylvian working once more with frequent collaborator Riyuchi Sakamoto offered a skewed, rather beautiful take on pop: the melody even shines through a distortion-heavy remix by Ryoji Ikeda. The work of Nine Horses, a collaboration between Sylvian,his brother, Japan’s drummer Steve Jansen and electronica artist Burnt Friedman, shares some of Blemish’s bleak tone lyrically, but sets the words to mid-paced songs that variously take in trip hop, jazzy acoustic modes, sparse electronic balladry and a fantastic guest appearance from Stina Nordenstem on ‘Wonderful World’. Sylvian’s route into the world of The Wire magazine wasn’t, it seems, an entirely straightforward path.

But, like that of Mark Hollis, it was a path that eventually led to silence. Manofon is, to date, the last vocal album that David Sylvian has released: the last album to bear his name, There Is No Love – a collaboration with Mark Wastell and Rhodri Davis to which he contributed a spoken-word performance, was released in 2017. A year later, he told an interviewer that he was “not currently thinking about a future in the arts”, although there have been flickers of artistic activity since: a photographic essay in 2021, a track on a Riyuchi Sakamoto tribute album last year, a guest appearance on Isabelle Adjani’s forthcoming solo album. Nevertheless, there’s no getting around the fact that Do You Know Me Now? feels like a full stop, albeit an extremely elaborate one: beautifully designed, complete with a 100 page book (Sylvian’s new essay within it gives no clue as to his future intentions) clad in a slipcase, and retailing for just shy of 150 quid. The music in it is strange and unique: unique enough that you leave it hoping it isn’t really the end it appears to be.

Samadhisound 2003-2014: Do You Know Me Now? was reviewed by Alexis Petridis for SDE. It’s out today.

Tracklisting

David Sylvian / Samadhisound 10CD box set

Samadhisound 2003-2014 David Sylvian / 10CD box set

    • CD 1: Blemish – David Sylvian
      1. Blemish (13:42)
      2. The Good Son (5:25)
      3. The Only Daughter (5:28)
      4. The Heart Knows Better (7:51)
      5. She Is Not (0:45)
      6. Late Night Shopping (2:54)
      7. How Little We Need To Be Happy (3:22)
      8. A Fire In The Forest (4:14)
    • CD 2: The Good Son Vs. The Only Daughter – The Blemish Remixes – David Sylvian
      1. The Only Daughter: Remixed by Ryoji Ikeda (5:49)
      2. Blemish: Remixed by Burnt Friedman (4:50)
      3. The Heart Knows Better: Remixed by Sweet Billy Pilgrim (5:29)
      4. A Fire In The Forest: Remixed by Readymade FC (5:05)
      5. The Good Son: Remixed by Yoshihiro Hanno (4:33)
      6. Late Night Shopping: Remixed by Burnt Friedman (2:51)
      7. How Little We Need To Be Happy: Remixed by Tatsuhiko Asano (4:35)
      8. The Only Daughter: Remixed by Jan Bang and Erik Honoré (5:28)
      9. Blemish: Remixed by Akira Rabelais (10:10)
    • CD 3 Snow Borne Sorrow – Nine Horses
      1. Wonderful World (6:02)
      2. Darkest Birds (5:03)
      3. The Banality of Evil (7:59)
      4. Atom and Cell (7:06)
      5. A History of Holes (8:02)
      6. Snow Borne Sorrow (6:23)
      7. The Day The Earth Stole Heaven (3:19)
      8. Serotonin (5:54)
      9. The Librarian (9:01)
    • CD 4: Do You Know Me Now? – David Sylvian / Ryuichi Sakamoto / Nine Horses
      1. World Citizen -Short Version (6:46)
      2. World Citizen – I Won’t Be Disappointed (6:06)
      3. World Citizen – Ryoji Ikeda remix (4:59)
      4. Money For All (4:08)
      5. Get The Hell Out (5:36)
      6. The Banality of Evil – Burnt Friedman remix (6:48)
      7. Wonderful World– Burnt Friedman remix (7:04)
      8. Birds Sing For Their Lives (7:02)
      9. Serotonin – Burnt Friedman remix (4:51)
      10. Money For All – Version (4:00)
      11. Get The Hell Out – Burnt Friedman remix (5:02)
      12. When Monday Comes Around (5:58)
      13. Do You Know Me Now? (4:20)
      14. Where’s Your Gravity? (5:37)
    • CD 5: When Loud Weather Buffeted Naoshima – David Sylvian
      1. When Loud Weather Buffeted Naoshima (70:00)
    • CD 6: Manafon – David Sylvian
      1. Small Metal Gods (5:48)
      2. The Rabbit Skinner (4:41)
      3. Random Acts of Senseless Violence (7:06)
      4. The Greatest Living Englishman (10:54)
      5. 125 Spheres (0:29)
      6. Snow White in Appalachia (6:35)
      7. Emily Dickinson (6:25)
      8. The Department of Dead Letters (2:25)
      9. Manafon (5:22)
    • CD 7: Died In The Wool – Manafon Variations – David Sylvian
      1. Small Metal Gods – Died In The Wool – Version (5:09)
      2. Died In The Wool (6:03)
      3. I Should Not Dare ( for N.O) (3:24)
      4. Random Acts of Senseless Violence – Died In The Wool version(6:24)
      5. A Certain Slant of Light ( for M.K.) (3:28)
      6. Anomaly at Taw Head (5:06)
      7. Snow White in Appalachia – Died In The Wool version (5:59)
      8. Emily Dickinson – Died In The Wool Version (3:35)
      9. The Greatest Living Englishman – Coda (3:06)
      10. Anomaly at Taw Head ( A Haunting) (3:12)
      11. Manafon – Died In The Wool version (4:05)
      12. The Last Days of December (6:16)
    • CD 8: When We Return You Won’t Recognise Us – David Sylvian
      1. When We Return You Won’t Recognise Us (18:15)
    • CD 9: Uncommon Deities – Jan Bang & Erik Honoré with David Sylvian / Sidsel Endresen / Arve Henriksen
      1. The God of Single Cell Organisms (3:37)
      2. The God of Sleeplessness (4:29)
      3. The God of Silence (4:19)
      4. The God of Smaller Gods (4:04)
      5. The God of Small Caresses (5:51)
      6. The God of Black Holes (3:57)
      7. The God of Adverbs (4:20)
      8. The Ruminative Gap (3:18)
      9.  The God of Crossroads (3:19)
      10. The God of Tiny Island (5:06)
      11. The God of Gradual Abduction (5:27)
      12. I Swallowed Earth for This (3:18)
    • CD 10: There’s A Light That Enters Houses With No Other House In Sight – David Sylvian / Franz Wright / Christian Fennesz
      1. There’s A Light That Enters Houses With No Other House In Sight (64:24)

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86 Comments

86 thoughts on “David Sylvian’s Do You Know Me Now? box set reviewed”

  1. I just got mine today. I haven’t played it yet, but apparently initial copies have a defective fourth disc. A replacement copy is included in a separate envelope, so at least someone spotted the problem before it was shipped to me here in Japan from the UK. I can’t imagine the hassle if I had to send it all back, so thanks to whoever took care of that at Universal. Anyway, it’s a nice package, and I’m looking forward to tearing into it.

  2. For me, it took some time to adjust to the turn he decided to take with Blemish. Fire in the Forest is my favorite off that album because it still has a bit of color. The following releases delved deeper and deeper into dissonance and noise rather than melody and song. We sing songs, we tune out noise. So, unfortunately, I tuned out for the majority of releases, even though I gave them all a fighting chance. I realize that David created what he did for the sake of creating something, and I respect, appreciate and admire that. But the art of crafting a well written song, with beautiful instrumentation and heartfelt lyrics is something that stays with you your entire life. I miss that. Orpheus has always been my favorite. It has beauty and color and speaks to us on a spiritual level. Most (not all) of the new work seems to be the absence of color.

  3. Hello,, I must ask, has anyone had any problems with shipping of this set ? I got a notification from SoundofVinyl at August 2. The box set has not arrived in Sweden as of today. Best regards Hans

      1. According to UMUK, there is still time , I will notify them on August 30 If the box set has not arrived by then. As of today, no shipping update on trackyourparcel.eu Best regards Hans

        1. Hi, did you receive the item? I have still received nothing and track and trace only mentions “prealerted”. I have contacted Universal but they have only reacted by asking questions instead of solving the issue.

          1. Hello, Sorry for a late answer. No, I have not received the box set yet. I managed to start a chat with Universal at August 21 that only led to to me waiting until August 28 to get in contact with Universal again. I have replied to their questions around If the adress is right, If I have been in contact with my local post office ( I have, but the Maersk tracking number does not work). So, I will get in touch on monday or tuesday so alert them again. The box set are still available for order at the site, so I hope that I receive it soon. Best regards, Hans

          2. Hello, I have now secured a copy of this box set. However, I needed to re order. In the process, I have communicated a lot with Universal. The 10% rebate coupon I used for the first order that eventually was sent back to Universal did not work the for the second order. So, this set has cost me lot of time and money,,, Best regards Hans

          4. Hello, I got an email saying that since my initial order was delivered back to the warehouse and since I had received my money in return, the order was from their side fulfilled. So, I made a new order and it was more expensive the second time ( first EUR 164 incl the 10% rebate, vs EUR 187 with DHL express shipping). Overall this buying experince was quite difficult. The box set was delivered yesterday. Best regards Hans

          5. Universal just made a refund of EUR 35 (see above). Thank you to Universal for this. Best regards Hans

          7. Hi. Long time SDE reader here. Although this is my first comment/post. I’m based in Copenhagen, Denmark, and having same problem as Hans originally. Last heard from Universal september 8th. Still waiting for the merch, a refund or even a reply from UMG…

          8. Hello, keep on contacting Universal. There is a possibility to a live chat with them, that will work better than waiting for an answer. So keep on contacting, I had in the end a positive experience around this. Best regards Hans

          9. Hi Hans. And thank you!
            They got back to me the day after I posted here. They are sending out a replacement as of today. Will update once it has arrived. Thanks again! Br, Jakob

          10. Hello, last comment on this issue ( I think). Aprox 10 days after delivery by DHL. I received an invoice for import tax and customs fee from DHL. I communicated to both Universal and DHL about this after paying the DHL invoice. It seems to be different tax add ons that i have paid. I must say , this has never occured with orders from Amazon UK or Amazon Japan. Best regards Hans

          11. Hans, thanks for the update. I finally recieved mine today. Also had to pay import taxes but not thru DHL. Appears Universal use different carriers for different countries, and for different releases. But there you go. All is well that ends well, i guess :) Best, Jakob

  4. Blemish was the last Sylvian album that really interested me. I thought The Only Daughter was total genius, but was then left aghast at Derek Bailey hacking his tuneless guitar over several tracks.

    It’s great that Sylvian expresses himself in his own unique way, but I just found that his work became so unmusical.

    There was still stuff for him to explore within conventional music, but maybe he’s right – popular music does have nothing left to say, and as a result neither does he.

  5. Paul, any idea why this box didn’t continue-on past 2014? there’s so little material in those years between then and now that it seems a shame to have disregarded it – although older songs such as “A Beautiful Country” and “I’m Too Mad To Let You Know” were released in circa 2017.

    1. It’s in the title. Samadhisound ceased functioning as a label after that year. The two songs you mention have never been given proper releases in any form, only shared as demos on social media.

  6. Whatever your specific opinion this has been one of the most interesting and enjoyable threads.

    I listened to Sleepwalkers twice last night. All the way through. Twice.

    I wrapped it up and sent it back for a refund, fortunately there was (no pun intended) a blemish on side 2 so I kinda felt justifiied as it was terribly crackly.

    I’d rather listen to Exorcising Ghosts for the 200th time than sit through that again.

    1. After reading some of the comments that scolded us “critics/old timers/inflexibles/narrow minded people”, or whatever moniker you want to use, I listened to Manafon and Blemish after which I listened to the Blemish remixes but after 10 mins had to stop.

      It’s not that I am not allowing him to have artistic freedom or am intolerant to change. I’m not even wed to the past as much as suggested. I’ll give you another example to what my point is:

      If I go to a restaurant that serves excellent steaks and thoroughly enjoy the different ones, I keep coming back for more. One day, the chef decides out of artistic freedom, that he’s going to start serving goat steaks and then transitions to another type in the name of his gastronomic expression.
      Am I wrong to not say that the steaks taste like crap? Or am I bound to keep going back and not tell my friends and family about how bad the meat has become and I don’t plan on going back?

      Goat steaks are not my cuppa tea even when served by my favorite chef.
      (I don’t even know if this will be posted but it sure felt cathartic writing it).

    3. Of course, « terribly crackly » might have been the music too. :)

      I was holding off on commenting until my set arrived but it’s on a slow boat.

      The Samandhi Sound years are his The Wire magazine years. And there is nothing wrong with The Wire. (And everyone has the right to spend their money as they like.)

      I think a way to come to enjoy this era is to make a chronological playlist of all David Sylvian and then remove every song over ten minutes. (Gone To Earth is his only double album and most of his albums are around 40 minutes each.) You’ll have a solid eight hours and after a few listens you may start to appreciate a progression and denouement.

      I think the Björk career comparison is interesting. She has a « divorce » album too. And once released a greatest hits with three 10cm discs. :)

  7. I think David Sylvian is an amazing artist and always moving forward. His body of work isn’t necessarily immediately accessible when coming to his music years down the line, but like the comment below, I also found Japan through my sister in the late ‘70’s and have been a fan since. As an aside, I remember hearing The Colour of Spring by Talk Talk upon its release and just couldn’t get into it. A few years down the line I tried again and for the last thirty years or so has been sat beside my record player, within my top ten favourite albums.

  8. I was lucky enough to see him live in Madrid and I was in row 3. To describe the concert as amazing would be an understatement. My interest in him began because my older sister loved Japan and I bought her Quiet Life as a Christmas gift. I was hooked too.

    I have a lot of this and love Nine Horses but find the rest more challenging. The problem is some music and art in general needs more attention and investment to get the return. I haven’t invested the time I should have with the later albums but I hope that I can some day.

    I’d like to say his later work is indulgent but I haven’t given it the chance yet and I suspect it’s also the case for most of the people commenting here. As I said, I have 90% of the music, I loved Nine Horses but I haven’t really made the effort with everything else. I should.

    This looks great and I wish other artistes made the same effort with their catalogue. Top marks, he’s been a constant on my hifi in various guides since 1981 and I’ll get around to listening properly soon, I hope. Anyone who doesn’t have Nine Horses should get this…

    May I also say that people took the proverbial out of Weatherbox. He’s always been niche, exquisite and complex… I love him and if I didn’t have nearly all this music, this would be an instant buy.

    1. I would humbly hazard a guess that most of the regulars on SDE are adults and/or over 30. To suggest that they need to listen to an album x number of times to “get it” is ridiculous.

      I’d personally never write off an album I’d purchased after 1 or 2 listens but if after say 5 listens I don’t like it listening to it 55 times isn’t likely to make it any better.

      I’d agree that a listener can obviously pick up nuances from repetitive plays but that is working on the basis they liked something about an album or tune in the first place.

      1. Two or three times maximum, certainly at the start. I have re-visited albums much later on and found them rewarding if not brilliant after just not getting them first time ’round.

        Trying to think of albums I love now but just didn’t get at the time. The Dreaming certainly is one that took a while but I was only 15 at the time and kinda ignored it until I was well into my 30s, it is a Top 5 lifetime album easily now, but my teenage brain couldn’t cope.

        I think the problem now is that we have so much choice that if something doesn’t grab us straight away there is just no time for it to recover. Too little time, too many albums.

        To be fair I have a vinyl copy of “Sleepwalkers” turning up this afternoon and will see if I can re-find what others see in the 21st century material that I gave up on.

        But I have neither the time or the energy to force myself to try and get something when I have the FB3 and ABC waiting to be heard also. We shall see.

        2. This, Chris: “I think the problem now is that we have so much choice that if something doesn’t grab us straight away there is just no time for it to recover. Too little time, too many albums.”

          Spot on and well said. Most of the albums I love most now were multilayered, often more complex… Gone to Earth required work, I remember. And it was worth it.

          I didn’t do the same with Blemish. Maybe it is self indulgent as some say but I haven’t given it the chance it deserves so I’m unwilling to write it off. Or label it as self indulgent.

          I disagree with Trapdoor’s view. For example, I really didn’t like Beauty Stab when I first heard it but over time and a good few listens, it became more of a favourite than Lexicon. Same thing with Dazzleships and many others including Gone to Earth. Really, as you say, it’s up to us. My experience is that some albums do improve and reveal hidden pleasures with repeated listens.

          I’m not sure I need to “get” Blemish either to be honest. I have enough Sylvian that I love already. He’s brilliant. But, I’m still uncomfortable with terms like self indulgent (used by others, elsewhere, not you) as if it’s some kind of insult. Any kind of music making is by its very nature “self indulgent”, surely :)

  9. Nice packaging aside, it is surprising how many good songs got left out from this collection. I actually enjoyed quite a bit from the early 00’s however most of that material is not even here and was not released on a proper David Sylvian album. Sleepwalkers is a great alternate “best of” from this era, and not included here, and is recommended to those that think they hate everything he did post 2000. His collaboration with Blonde Redhead was great, not here, and the material he did with Tweaker, “Linoleum” and “Late Night Shopping” (remixed and released only as an mp3) are some of my all time favorites. And there was a very stark cover of Sondheim’s “Somewhere” which is both odd and beautiful…. I imagine some was left out due to licensing issues, but don’t be fooled, this really is very incomplete and only presents a more narrow scope of what made it onto the albums… This reminds me of a Promo folio press pack that one would get back in the big budget days…. To sell the artist, Just in case you bought these already and fell asleep listening and missed these. Who knows, perhaps he’s plotting a return. I hope so.

  10. Oh, and I feel like the pretentious/self indulgent comments are over/unjustly used. Just because an artist strives to challenge themselves and do something different to satisfy their creative need, and not churn out the expected with “will it sell” being a major driver, does that make them self indulgent? Pretentious means someone trying to seem more significant/important than you think they are. I gather most are misusing and don’t understand the true meaning of this word.
    I’m not a huge fan of the work post Blemish, but just because It’s not my cuppa, I’m not going to call him pretentious or self indulgent.

    2. I Agree. ‘Pretentious’ and ‘Self-Indulgent’ are over-used and massively misunderstood terms – usually by people who can’t be bothered to try and and understand Art that they don’t immediately like. Self Indulgent is a ridiculous term in fact. Pretty much all art and music is self indulgent for the person making it- if they make good stuff people will want to indulge themselves in it too. I don’t think either apply here – he means it man! If he didn’t he’d have tried to revive Japan perhaps or made a very lucrative living touring his more commercial works – he took the less easy path it’s fair to say. I’m now imagining him going on and performing Ghosts, Quiet Life and Life in Tokyo at a Let’s Rock 80s festival in between Toyah and Go West…

      1. Yes, all art is self indulgent to a greater or lesser extent but please don’t try and use the we don’t understand it argument. I’ve listened to endless forms of music and I recognise self indulgent to the point of pretentiousness stuff when I hear it. The worst kind is where people force themselves to listen to something over and over until they “get it”. I’m glad I’ve grown out of that nonsense. Sylvian jumped the shark decades ago but if you like it good for you. It bores me rigid though.

    3. Some fans sound like they have a right to how an artist with a long career should sound or work within certain boundaries.

      For me, I’m probably sticking within the period of 1979-99 for Sylvian. I’m not overly familiar with all of it but own almost all of it. It’s enough for me.

      I struggle with a concept of listening to something purely to be challenged or working hard at listening to some music or an album more than a few times in order to “get it”. Find that a little absurd. Maybe that’s pretentious -taking the listening too seriously.

      On the other hand, no doubt I like some music that is challenging or unlistenable to others

    4. Your right Andrea’s! Better just to call Davids later work SHITE and leave it at that!
      I picked up a lavish cd book where he was talking about his new music and then the ( tunes) came on,,,it was just nonsense, it was then I realised why such a lavish package was 50p in a charity shop, could we maybe call his stuff vanity publishing or is that too harsh??
      Haven said that quite life is one of my favourite albums ever and has been since I first heard it in 81 or 2

    5. I’ve been listening to David Sylvian’s music (including Japan) since 1982, and have read many interviews he’s given. He often does sound pretentious when talking about his music—and I think it’s his choice of words. He often uses language that suggests a more academic approach, a distance between himself and the music.

      At the same time, I appreciate that he has a clear understanding of what his musical aims are, and is occasionally willing to articulate what they are.

  11. Have to agree with the “who is this aimed at?” comment below. If you’re a Sylvian fan, you’ll have the majority of this in nicely packaged CD cases straight from Samandi Sounds. You’ll also have all the related artwork you’ll need in the wonderful Hypergraphia!
    If you’re wanting to get back into Sylvian and his later period, Sleepwalkers is an amazing compilation picking up his later period collaborations, incl material off ‘Nine Horses’. Kicking off with ‘Playground Martyrs’ off Jansen’s ‘slope’ album (also incls the wonderful ‘Ballad of a Deadman’ duet with Jonas As), the track is in my opinion one of his best ever recordings. It will remind you of why you fell in love with his work in the first place.

    1. I skipped the original incarnation of Sleepwalkers. I’m the opposite of many expressing opinions so far, in that Blemish is my favorite latter-day Sylvian album, and I found Nine Horses and songs like “Playground Martyrs” and “Ballad of a Deadman” to be kind of dull.

      In any event, the box set gave me the opportunity to have much of the music it contains back in my collection again.

  12. Hey to all the ‘fans’ that just want David Sylvian to sing ‘proper’ songs again, find a new artist to be into. Gets really old to hear the same old thing on different pages completely dismissing anything from Blemish on. Is some of this a hard listen, yes, but I would not want him to create Brilliant Trees 2 just to appease fans, and quite frankly I don’t think pleasing the fans is on his mind at all, nor should it be. He is part of a small group of true artists that follow their own path. If you want the same old thing rehashed every so often the Rolling Stones are there for you.

    As to the price, I did not have many of these original cd’s, being imports and expensive. If you look at current prices (Discogs, eBay, etc.) for many of these this box set is a bargain and you get the slipcover, book, and new essay.

    1. Fair enough. Many artists do go off and do their own thing. Sometimes though still making music that can be enjoyed by many.

      Aerial and 50 Words for Snow spring to mind. I admit it is my problem and not David’s. He can make whatever music he chooses…. there will be some who love The Kick Inside and can’t stand the “self indulgent nonsense” of 50 Words. Sometimes artists just go on a journey.

      The point I am labouring to make is that some “off the beaten path” music is listenable to me and some isn’t.

      The album Dr. Calculus m.d.m.a. is as off the beaten path from that artists norm as 50 words is from Hounds… Just “somes I like and somes I don’t”. I can get my head around the weirdness of Dr. Calculus. I can get my head around the difference of 50 Words but the stretch for David post Dead Bees is too far for this listener. My loss? Certainly.

      I didn’t love David’s work any more or less than these other 70s / 80s artists either. I just couldn’t travel where David wanted to go. I don’t want Secrets of the Beehive 2 either because we have Secrets of the Beehive.

      I am not wrong and neither are you. It’s just opinions s’all.

      1. I love Dr Calculus. Perfume from Spain and Killed by Poetry and, well, anything from Designer Beatnik is just fab. There’s something utterly joyful about that record and I don’t know whether it’s because I can imagine Stephen Duffy laughing as he did it or because I was a spotty 15 year old high on hormones and bursting with life. That Designer Beatnik is not on CD yet is astonishing. Found music, classical music running backwards with snippets of mundane audios like oh yes, we went to the temple and potatoes how wild almost always brings a smile to my face. I actually prefer Dr Calculus to Art of Noise. One is good, the other is very good indeed. Oh God, those knitting patterns almost killed me…

    2. Hmm, please enlighten us to the “new artist” that’s capable of sounding like classic David Sylvian. I think people are frustrated that their favorite artist abandoned making the music they love. Remember, fans become fans for a reason, when that magic ends people have a reason to be upset. Leonard Cohen made a career of doing consistent work, and I have complete respect for him and his output.
      Sure, artists experiment, look at the Beatles or John Lennon putting out sound collages, far out stuff, but they ALSO didn’t abandon what made them famous and also still put out accessible music that people wanted. It’s a fine line the artist name becomes a brand used to sell product, and you expect a certain something from that brand, if the “artist” delivers something off brand, well….

      1. Of course, one could argue that Sylvian spent his post-Japan career rebelling against the notion of being a “brand”, and all the expectations that represents.

  13. I was a bit bewildered at, on Manafon “…an album that occasionally makes Blemish feel poppy”. Blemish being where I gave up on Sylvian.

    Still regarding Mark Hollis it took a long time to get into his solo album. I struggled with the sparseness of it but eventually saw it’s brilliance.

    Which gives me hope, if I purchased this box set I could also get into its entire content after a couple of decades.

  14. Apart from the Nine Horses album and the Sleepwalkers compilation – which are both very good indeed – I more or less lost interest after Dead Bees On a Cake. This looks very nice but I just don’t have the time, patience or, most importantly, enough interest to bother with it.

  15. I’ve been a fan since the Japan days, some of his Virgin era solo stuff is some of my favourite ever stuff but for this timeline, It was a struggle. The 1st time I heard “Blemish” I hated it. What happened to one of my favourite ever artists? It was’nt good! But, I gave it time & yes, you can get engrossed in it. In a way , it’s a perfect antidote to what I deem “Cornflake disposable shite” that one hears on the radio, should you chose to listen to mainstream radio.

    Some of this instrumental stuff is just fantastic, a really rewarding listen.

    For me, I only had about half of the content so it was more of a reason to buy it, not like “Weatherbox” where I had all the content already. When this was announced, I think it took me half an hour to decide to buy it & I’m glad I did, there is hours & hours of immersion here & the book is pretty special too.

    Part of me wants another album of “Proper” songs, but, It’s not really going to happen so I’d be happy with anything as good as “Approaching Silence” or “There’s a l.ight …” in the future.

    A lot of money?, Yes, in these times, but, I have a feeling this is one of the best things I have bought this year.

  16. As a fan of David Sylvian but not an obsessive, this package looks extremely nice but extremely unnecessary. This one in particular really seems to cater to only an audience that can easily afford and be willing to buy content they already own, and content not really considered to be the artist’s best at that. I’m all for supporting artists I love, but I would’ve rather seen an elaborate package done like this for Japan. And let’s be honest here, more than anything I think all of his fans really just want to hear David sing ‘songs’ again along with maybe sing live once in a while where perhaps we could buy tickets and see him in person. Anyway, all the best to David and those who buy this box set!

  17. I just had a quick listen / skip thru my original disc 4 and can’t immediately spot the problem that necessitated a replacement disc. I should say I didn’t listen to the entire disc and not in ideal conditions so forgive me if I have missed something obvious…
    Overall this is the perfect encapsulation of an incredible body of work, beautiful.

  18. I’m often baffled by these kinds of retrospective reviews. Yes, the music should be reviewed and evaluated with fresh ears but there should be acknowledgment somewhere that it’s very expensive and contains lots of previously released material. It’s not aimed at the casual fan, it’s aimed at the hardcore fans who will have 99% of this so what’s the point? I’m wagering that AP didn’t have to shell out almost 150 quid for it. To me DS falls into the Julian Cope category, whilst he might have hated the restrictions of the major label he was on, at least it forced him to make decisions that, in the eyes of fans, benefited the music, and like Cope, once he released his own stuff , it was at least 50% self indulgent nonsense because nobody was there to edit him (one of my friends has the same opinion of latter day Neil Young). Artists need somebody around them to go “That’s rubbish, try again”. There’s a reason “Approaching Silence” was $2.99 in the bargain bin of my local record shop. I have almost all of this and cannot justify the hefty price tag for a large book and the tiny amount of music i don’t have.

    1. Well that’s a matter of opinion, isn’t it? I’m not a DS hardcore fan, but I can’t see any exponential increase in pretentiousness from when Sylvian started self-releasing: there seems a pretty straightforward through-line of creativity and exploration from 1984 to present day.

      It’s a grim view you’re setting out – that the marketplace dictates not just how successful something is but whether or not it’s any good. That artists who don’t bend to the rules for their whole lives are failures; the example of New Order [who did their best work pushing against marketplace rules and regulations and their very worst when embedded right in the centre of it] kind of collapses that myth anyway.

      BTW, ‘Approaching Silence ‘ is wonderful – who gives a shit if your local shop couldn’t flog it at full price?

      1. Daddy chill! I picked up Approaching Silence in a bargain bin too. An Our Price just outside of Liverpool Street train station. By no means a local record shop, but a bargain bin nonetheless.

      2. Funny you should mention New Order as I was listening to a Hooky interview yesterday who pretty much echoed that sentiment. Tony Wilson said to the band they were lucky the UK taxman took so much money from them in the early days as it led to them producing their strongest albums. Whereas when big bucks came in and they could spend as much time as they liked recording (I’d hazard a guess somewhere between Technique and Republic) everything obviously went downhill.
        Some will of course defend Get Ready and Music Complete but the initital tightness of the band’s sound is missing with or without Hook (on the latter).

        There is a fine line between over indulgent tosh (which Sylvian perhaps can fairly be accused of) and a decent solo career that steers away from the sound of the band/s that made you famous.

        Artists like John Foxx and Peter Murphy seemed to manage it without totally disappearing up their own backsides (barring a few albums by both of course, no-one is perfect).

        1. I hold a similar view re Peter Gabriel. His solo work prior to So (ie when he owed regular albums to the label) varies from Good to Stellar. As soon as So became a mega-hit however and he could afford to slow down he did exactly that**, and the material became a lot over-indulgent/over-produced as a result.

          **Since So in 1986 he’s managed only TWO (!!) studio albums of new material. And before anyone asks, no I’m not counting soundtracks orlive reissues or covers albums or any of that orchestral reimagining bollocks. Because it’s bollocks.

      3. Exactly, and it was a bargain to begin with as the Ember Glance (where 2 of the 3 tracks first appeared) has always been hard to find and very expensive. Don’t think all artists need someone there to tell them the work isn’t up to par, whose ‘par’ anyway? David Sylvian hasn’t put out so much work that it’s a case of dilution.

      5. I love “Approaching Silence” .It’s probably one of my favourite ever pieces of music!! It does’nt demand your attention, you can do the housework to it & in actual fact, I had a perfectly fine afternoon nap to it earlier. I think I paid less than a fiver for it on Amazon years ago.

    2. I’d say Approaching Silence was $2.99 in the bargain bin of your local record shop because (a) it was released six years too late, (b) two of the pieces on that album were from the previously released Ember Glance: The Permanence of Memory, and (c) it was probably in less than ideal condition. (And possibly (d) your local record shop didn’t know what they had.)

      1. Well spotted/heard Kevin. I actually suspected that track initially. The remix is a bit noisy/crackly deliberately. Also when it gets going it’s a bit glitch-hop too. I imagined some suit at Universal heard it and thought it was screwed up when in reality, that’s how it’s supposed to be!

  20. I kind of fell off the Sylvian wagon after Dead Bees on a Cake and Plight and Premonition, so I am really looking forward to this arriving later this evening.
    I wonder if there might be plans afoot to capture the period between this and Weatherbox, encompassing Plight & Premonition, Flux + Mutability, maybe even Rain Tree Crow, Ember Glance, and the wonderful Dead Bees on a Cake? Hopefully, licensing issues will not prevent something from happening with the first four of those five.
    I suspect that the collaborations with Robert Fripp would require separate treatment, but they would be equally eagerly anticipated.

      1. Grönland reissued Plight & Premonition and Flux + Mutability in remastered form in 2018 (though Plight & Premonition is Sylvian’s 2002 remix that was included on the 2-disc edition of Camphor).

        The two tracks from Ember Glance were included on Approaching Silence.

        Rain Tree Crow was remastered in 2003—really the only album of the original Virgin-era Japan LPs that benefitted from remastering. Personally, I’d like to see the Japan albums all properly remastered as straight 96 kHz/24-bit transfers, just like Universal Japan’s Culture Club reissues—no added EQ or compression.

  21. I love this set entirely – all of David Sylvian’s albums I adore. It wouldn’t be for a casual listener who stumbled on Japan’s “Ghosts”

  22. It arrived today… beautiful boxset and scored it for only 95 euro’s here in The Netherlands and indeed there is an replacement disc 4 … but why, I don’t know yet!

  23. I have just received my copy and much to my surprise it also included a replacement CD for Disc 4 … I haven’t had time to actually listen to any of the CDs yet, so I would be grateful if anyone could shed some light on why there is a replacement CD … what is the issue? Apart from that, the box set’s aesthetic is quite simply beautiful … perfect. My only disappointment is the actual content/CDs … like many fans, I feel that there should have been something more for the ardent fan … there isn’t, apart from the aesthetic of the whole package. And if I’m honest, that is the principle reason why I purchased it … certainly not for its content, cos I have 95% of everything!

    1. I wish they hadn’t used white type on a silver background for the first page of Adrian Shaughnessey’s essay. It’s really hard to read unless the light hits it just right.

  24. For me the best of Sylvians 21st century stuff is the youtube-only cut from a live gig he did playing a song named “Wasn’t I Joe?”. Wonderful!
    Here, there and somewhere a nice collab (e.g. Messenger w/ Redhead Blonde) and the very good Snow Borne Sorrow album. That’s it.
    Though this box set looks so nice and I love DS; I still do sway not buying it. Maybe it will grow to my ears later when I’m sixty-four? Do I know it now?

  26. Sorry if I am being critically negative here,but in my view Mr Sylvian has gone on a long musical journey from creating fabulous and engaging music while working under strict pressure deadlines to producing turgid boring music while working under no pressure deadlines.This arc of decline is that of his own artistic self- indulgence colliding with his rather pompous propensity to take himself and his art way too seriously,with a complete lack of any light heartedness or sense of humour ever being present.Sorry if this is harsh but for a guy who wrote such genius accessible songs like Ghosts his more recent stuff on this release is comparatively dire and painfully boring .

  27. The latter part of Sylvian’s career, can’t help but draw comparisons to Scott Walker, but in that same breath, as different the artists are, I would also compare both of them to Michael Gira, who embodies both sides of what Walker and Sylvian veered towards.
    I think Sylvian liked being a pop star and as music changed and perhaps his priorities, after leaving Virgin, it seems he lost a bit of himself, each record more difficult and more distant, or perhaps that was his way of clearing the house and finding peace at last, finally resting at a point where no one would beg for more. There are some really good songs in this era, standouts being his collaborations: like tofu, he takes on the flavor of what is next to him, “Dead Bees On A Cake” sounded like Ingrid Chavez etc… his gold is making music to escape into, blissful soundscapes, with his rich narrative vocals, and then there is this, there is a lot of tin here, who knows, maybe it was fun making these difficult later records, sure, he has my respect, but I don’t really experience fun listening to difficult music.

    1. Michael Gira certainly belongs and it’s the same family and goals (creating his own label to release music with complete freedom, experiment and sign other artists who share the same ideas) but I’d say he’s very different because he created the Swans, they disbanded and he re-formed the band in 2010 and I think the albums he released last decade (the seer, to be kind and the glowing man) constitute his best work. Absolutely fantastic trilogy.
      Usually it’s the opposite (like the Pixies for example, they will never release an album as good or better than Surfer Rosa or Doolittle).

      I also don’t think Gira went as far as Sylvian or Walker in his experimental music. The glowing man album is an incredibly good and powerful album. I would recommend it and I think lots of people can enjoy it. Even someone who never heard about the Swans can enjoy it. It’s simple, you play the first track and I’m sure most would continue the experience until the end. I wouldn’t recommend Blemish and I’m sure 90% would stop listening after the first track.

      I like David Sylvian a lot but I think he should have tried to find a better balance between creativity, experimental music and melodies. When he released the compilation Everything and Nothing in 2001, he mentioned a lot of people he trusted and worked with at Virgin left over the years (industry was in crisis). I think he had a lot of freedom at Virgin but as it was a mutual trust, when they didn’l like the path he took they probably found a way to talk to him and guide him through the process. When he became his own boss, it became different, he slowly drifted and lost his compass. And then he became ill and stopped making new music or touring.

      Even if it’s a different situation, it’s not that far away from Prince’s relationship with Warner. Prince created his own label Paisley Park for him and his friends (Sheila E. and others) but it was funded by Warner. Although he made some good albums after leaving Warner in 1993, it was not as good as his 80s albums.

      1. It’s fairly common for the tastes of artist and audience to diverge over time. The audience wants to hear the artist they started listening to early on, whereas the artist doesn’t want to keep doing the same thing over and over. David Sylvian is certainly no exception.

        Prince, it has to be said, packaged his post-imperial period albums in some seriously crappy cover art (even the stuff he let Warner Bros. put out—e.g., Chaos and Disorder, Old Friends 4 Sale). Except maybe The Rainbow Children, which at least had decent cover art (I don’t remember what the inside looked like).

  28. I was as big a fan of Sylvian’s work as I thought I could be right down to the 1983 haircut and super fringe. Japan. Brilliant. Every bloody note. Solo work up to Dead Bees. Lapped it up. Secrets of the Beehive is a lifetime top 5 album for me. Note for note possibly the best thing he’s ever done. Then Blemish and I fell right off the wagon. Sadly this whole box encapsulates places I couldn’t go with David.

    There was something about the Rain Tree Crow project that is always a point of light. It says to me that it wasn’t David that was the problem. It wasn’t improvisation that was the problem. It was the people he worked with that I couldn’t get my head around. Working with the much missed Mick, Steve and Richard, even on an improvisational basis brought the goodies. Between them they can lift the miserable dirge that is (on paper anyway) Blackwater up to the heights, approaching the beauty of Orpheus. If, as Alexis does above you want to talk drawing lines you can go from Tin Drum to RTC without forcing a diversion.

    Nothing I have heard, and I have tried, nothing this century has even got close. Nothing penetrates. Maybe it’s that I just can’t get past the brilliance of Polaroids, Quiet Life and Tin Drum. Where Exorcising Ghosts reigns supreme as a compilation and Oil on Canvas is peerless as a live album. Maybe if I didn’t have this baggage, maybe if I wasn’t stuck with Silver Moon or Taking the Veil I could engage. But time is short, if I couldn’t do it in real time 20 years ago I don’t think I will be able to now. I do hope this set is rewarded with people who love it and cherish it. But, sadly, it’s beyond my abilities to love something like this when the man soundtracked a decade or more of my formative years.

    1. I feel almost the same, Japan was a great part of my youth, as were his erly solo abums, and Secrets of the Beehive is pure magic, but I actually bought some of his later works, refusing to give up on him, so I already have most of what is in the box. Can’t say I play it a lot, though, but if you want to give it a chance, go for Nine Horses and Snow Borne Sorrow, or the Sakamoto collaboration, they are the ones most like his earlier work.
      Looks like a beautiful package, though.

    2. Both you and the author articulate it well though I wasn’t as attached to the early Japan as you are. My introduction to him started with Brilliant Trees. I have previously posted my sentimental attachment to his work on this forum as it pertains to Sylvian being the anthem to my relationship with a woman I loved deeply.

      My gratitude goes out to Alexis for articulating the sentiment around this so eloquently. It almost feels like a requiem for a friend who died prematurely. A friend who you rode bikes with, who you shared your secrets with, one you put his arms around you when you mourned the loss of a love. At least to me.

      1. Indeed Green, back in ’94 when I started dating my now wife of 28 years I made a mix tape (TDK SA90 – still got it) of my favourite emotional and love songs. Only one artist got two tracks. Silver Moon and Orpheus. When youthful romance (or lust) is soundtracked by a particular artist or era it is tough (impossible?) to shake off, even after almost three decades.

        Some of my best “work” was soundtracked by the self titled “Lilac Time” album with Return to Yesterday and Black Velvet doing a lot of heavy lifting for my nascent 20 year old personality. It was love, for a time. Pretty sure that’s what the curtains will close to come the reckoning. These things stay with us. They matter.

      2. Very well put. A great comment to a great review of a beautiful release.
        ‘a requiem for a friend who died prematurely’ wow, that is exactly my feeling, thanks for putting words to it.

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