Search - David Sylvian :: Everything & Nothing

A Significant Collection from an Important Artist

Stephen Silberman | SF, CA USA | 10/20/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Everything & Nothing" is Sylvian's "best of" collection of the last 20 years' work. It goes as far back as a couple of forward-looking tracks recorded with Japan (with newly-recorded vocals), including "Ghosts"; and encompasses out-takes from "Dead Bees on a Cake," his most recent album. It's a significant body of work by one of the most subtle, exploratory, and frankly spiritual singer-songwriters of our era. Many of the songs -- such as "Orpheus" and "Scent of Magnolia" -- engage issues of integration in the deep psyche in ways that Jungian thinkers like James Hillman and Marie-Louise Von Franz would have admired; several of the lyrics seem addressed to what Jungians call the "anima mundi," the Soul of the World -- often embodied in a beautiful woman (or in a fiery spiritual male figure, such as the "Riverman" in another tune.) Like Eno, Sylvian is a curator of sounds rich and strange, provided for the sessions by his old bandmates in Japan, as well as such illustrious guests as Jon Hassell, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, David Torn, and others. One of the best tracks on this collection, "Cover Me with Flowers," teams Sylvian up with Steve Tibbetts, an ECM recording artist who should be more widely known. I'm not sure this album functions all that well as a "best of," in the sense of "If you own only ONE David Sylvian album, buy this." If you did that, you'd be missing songs that are at least as good or better than anything here, such as "Red Guitar," "The Ink in the Well," "Taking the Veil," plus many of the instrumental compositions that fleshed out his albums "Gone to Earth" and "Words with the Shaman."The many out-takes -- comprising at least half of this 2-CD set -- raise an interesting question about Sylvian's artistic choices. Many of the out-takes from "Dead Bees on a Cake" are better than the album itself. Certainly "The Scent of Magnolia" is a more compelling song than "I Surrender," the rather smug, self-satisfied, and musically inert (that Sade guitar lick and all) single from that album that also appears here. "Cover Me with Flowers" is also superior to most of the "Dead Bees" tracks. The very best song recorded for those sessions -- a complex masterpiece called "Les Fleurs du Mal" -- seems to have suffered the fate of being just a B-side on one particular EP "I Surrender" release, and is not rescued from obscurity here. (It's worth seeking out!)But there's a gravity and a powerful arc to this sequence as Sylvian has sculpted it. A bonus EP included with the import version only contains two different mixes of "Magnolia," with a great tune called "The Blinding Light of Heaven," as well as the title track from Sylvian's best album, "Brilliant Trees," with a slightly reworked vocal. Fans of Eno, Fripp and Hassell should check out Sylvian, and "Brilliant Trees" and this collection are fine places to start.I can't say enough about the fragile track "Come Morning," which was featured on an album by Nicola Alesini, "Marco Polo." In a single verse, Sylvian attains the exquisite, compressed, profound insight of the great poets, with the sounds around him as perfectly arrayed as the flowers in a wild garden. It's hard not to weep from the beauty and wisdom contained in this one tune."

Not quite everything, but certainly not nothing

Kevin O'Conner | 10/26/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Everything And Nothing is a well-balanced overview of the vocal side of David Sylvian's post-Japan career. While there's bound to be some arguing over what was and was not included, all of Sylvian's major album projects - the four solo albums, Rain Tree Crow, and Sylvian/Fripp - are represented, as are collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mick Karn, and Alesini & Andreoni. Then, of course, there some unreleased tracks, as well a couple of Japan tracks (one of which was previously unreleased).The only real missteps are the new version of "Ghosts", ruined by a re-recorded vocal track that lacks much of the emotional tension of the original, and stripped by the removal of its intro, which in the original version sets the mood for what follows; and the remixed version of "Bamboo Houses", which includes a couple of superfluous elements either not found or not emphasized in the original mix.Otherwise, despite being a compilation, Everything And Nothing is a welcome return to form. The outtakes from the Dead Bees On A Cake sessions are often more interesting than what made it onto the album, particularly "The Scent Of Magnolia" (which should have been a single) and "Cover Me With Flowers". The remixed versions of "Heartbeat (Tainai Kaiki II)" and "The Golden Way" are both sparser than the original mixes, with "The Golden Way" in particular given an edge that the original lacked.The songs that are not otherwise remixed or given new vocal tracks benefit from remastering, particularly the Rain Tree Crow tracks ("Blackwater", "Every Colour You Are" and "Cries And Whispers"). "Laugher And Forgetting", which segued into "Before The Bullfight" on Gone To Earth, here segues into the remixed version of "Buoy", the 1987 collaboration with Mick Karn that subsequently appeared as the b-side of "Let The Happiness In".Listeners who found themselves disappointed by last year's Dead Bees On A Cake should find Everything And Nothing to be well worth the wait."

A stunning compilation

Dave | Jamesville, NY USA | 11/17/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Perhaps more than any artist of his time, David Sylvian epitomizes the description of avant-garde. With music ranging from shimmering gossamer to densly opaque, the thread of his creativity remains consistent. There simply is no one to compare him to - his nuance of sound and poetic eclecticism stand as a body of work that defines its own genre. If there is any downside to this compilation, it is the apparent effort to make his music more accessible by remixes that take the edge off some of his more experimental material. Though one could justifiably say that all of his music is, in any form, experimental. Nonetheless, followers of Sylvian's brilliance will not be disappointed. Those willing to expand their musical horizons can not help but find this work simultaneously challenging and engaging. In all his permutations, David Sylvian remains a true follower of his muse, rich with otherworldly spirit and anima, yet grounded in the here and now. Those not familiar with his work, and willing to embrace the unusual, will find in Sylvian a compelling musical adventurer."