New record, releasedate in sweden 29 feb

[Simonp]

Hi Baht

Just curious, where did you read about the length of the tracks?

S

[baht habit]

Hi Baht

Just curious, where did you read about the length of the tracks?

S

From one of the links so kindly provided by angel-a.

CD1:
Ghosts (Remix) 3’44
Bamboo Houses 5’28
Bamboo Music 5’40
Forbidden Colours 5’58
Red Guitar 5’10
The Ink In The Well 4’32
Pulling Punches 5’03
Taking The Veil 4’41
Silver Moon 6’09
Let The Happiness In 5’37
Orpheus 4’51
Waterfront 3’24
Pop Song 4’32
Blackwater 4’20
Every Colour You Are 4’45
Heartbeat (Tainai Kaiki II) 5’14

CD2:
Jean The Birdman 4’16
Alphabet Angel 2’06
I Surrender 9’25
Darkest Dreaming 4’01
A Fire In The Forest 4’07
The Only Daughter 5’28
Late Night Shopping 2’54
Wonderful World 6’02
The Banality Of Evil 7’59
Darkest Birds 5’01
Snow White in Appalachia 6’02
Small Metal Gods 5’06
I Should Not Dare 3’20
Manafon 4’01
Where’s Your Gravity?* 5’37

[silentwings]

I've always really liked that photo of David that appears to be the cover art - on a mountain in Nepal I think?

Another treat to look forward to....

[Chet]

The release of this compilation for the tour gives me hope that we might hear some older material being performed after all.

[humanracer]

It is a pretty solid compilation. E&N was good for rarities but missed out some of Sylvian's biggest hits and best songs. Here we finally have Bamboo Houses, Red Guitar, Taking The Veil and Forbidden Colours in one place. Of course Ghosts provides the overlap between the Japan and solo material. Only other track I would have included would have been something from Alchemy. Otherwise this is pretty comprehensive with disc 1 summing up the 80s period perfectly and disc 2 at the most eclectic later period. Good stuff.

[javier]

A good mix of the most accessible tracks over the years, with a couple of vaguely surprising inclusions (Alphabet Angel for example).

Certainly weighted towards the early solo years which might make it a nice way to educate new listeners who might otherwise find the later material difficult. This way they're led into in gradually.

I've made an iTunes playlist of the collection. Definitely a very smooth and easy listening selection.

Of course I won't be buying it though, with only the one new track.

[Six One Cynic]

We have seen David release compilations like this quite a few times over the last ten+ years, prior the advent of his tour, and it is often that DS does not play the songs his fans expect, rather the songs they deserve.

Of course I'm excited for the new track, and I never really tired of the old stuff so I'm definitely buying it for the first three tracks of disk one...I'd still like David to concentrate on the newer material he's released in the past few years for the live shows; I might just get up and walk out of if I hear "Forbidden Colours" and I'm not kidding.

[Six One Cynic]

I think that the VofS collection might appeal to people who liked Japan and stopped following David sometime after Brilliant Trees. Not sure E&N ever fitted that bill.

wow! are there any 'fans' in this community that are really like that? posting in this very thread?

[Blemished]

I think that the VofS collection might appeal to people who liked Japan and stopped following David sometime after Brilliant Trees. Not sure E&N ever fitted that bill.

wow! are there any 'fans' in this community that are really like that? posting in this very thread?

Not sure what your point is...it's obviously unlikely that anybody on this forum fits that bill. But there are plenty of people out there who lost track with David's work sometime around 1984. If there have to be compilations, at least this is one that might lure in some of that lost audience with the easier listening of side one and then, hopefully, to work into the more challenging recent material.

[karnsculpture]

There are definitely people out there who lost track of David's career in the 80s; I get a lot of mail from people wanting to get back into David's music and want to know where to start, "Victim Of Stars" is the perfect history lesson and will enable people to look deeper if they choose to.

However, David's preference for full album versions of songs is frustrating for the collector, though collectors will buy it anyway for the new song so he won't lose out on many sales.

There's definitely still a good Sylvian rarities and collaborations disc to be made.

[Stephenf]

I really do not see the point in something like this being released.
From retro to new i just don't get? As for the comments of people who lost touch with Sylvian during the 80's... that was a choice of the superfluous over the profound. It reminds me of people who discard their religion of birth at a young age only to find in later years a crisis within themselves that needs fulfilling so now they seek forgiveness, a re-birth and a sign that all is well so if the "price is right" come on down.

Also someone please explain how you can map and connect the lines from 'Bamboo' to 'Snow White'. I can just imagine the reaction from a novice sitting down to listen to it, his first experience and he puts the playlist in shuffle mode. As for E&N it was pre Samadhi and bears no relation to the current body of work which is vastly more objective, in- depth, precise and forward thinking both musically and socially than anything he has ever done.

Don't get me wrong here, i loved 'Japan" but that was 30 years ago and i was 14!!!!!!

[Blemished]

I'm no fan of compilations. In David's case, I'll buy them if they offer either new tracks (Sleepwalkers, VoS), hard to find tracks (E&N) or possibly a unique element of packaging (eg Weatherbox).

The other reason is to support the artist in producing new work - for Samadhisound that is a no brainer - it's more questionable with this, but from other comments it seems David will profit.

But think of it from EMI's point of view. David is a well-respected artist who was a huge star for a period in the early 1980s and with a strong and ongoing catalogue of recordings. Yet he is perhaps less well known than he could be - compared to the likes of Scott Walker, Mark Hollis - and probably sells fewer records as a result.

On purely commercial grounds, therefore, it makes sense for EMI to have a compilation available that might lure in new listeners or those that got lost on the journey. And, as Paul confirms, the latter group do exist. There is also the chance of a new audience in younger listeners who might not have heard of David. If they like the compilation that would probably lead to sales of the EMI-owned albums.

In terms of sequencing, this compilation follows a fairly standard idea - the 'hit' / easier listening on the first disc and the more challenging work on disc two. It provides a way of new fans growing into the later material.

Stephen's point about shuffle listeners is fair enough and maybe more valid for the way younger listeners approach things. Personally speaking though I think it would be really bizarre to play a CD in shuffle mode on first listen.

[humanracer]

I really do not see the point in something like this being released.
From retro to new i just don't get? As for the comments of people who lost touch with Sylvian during the 80's... that was a choice of the superfluous over the profound. It reminds me of people who discard their religion of birth at a young age only to find in later years a crisis within themselves that needs fulfilling so now they seek forgiveness, a re-birth and a sign that all is well so if the "price is right" come on down.

Also someone please explain how you can map and connect the lines from 'Bamboo' to 'Snow White'. I can just imagine the reaction from a novice sitting down to listen to it, his first experience and he puts the playlist in shuffle mode. As for E&N it was pre Samadhi and bears no relation to the current body of work which is vastly more objective, in- depth, precise and forward thinking both musically and socially than anything he has ever done.

Don't get me wrong here, i loved 'Japan" but that was 30 years ago and i was 14!!!!!!

Well of course it is only your opinion that the new work is superior. Personally I think Sylvian has never bettered Gone To Earth but this is my own personal view. What is "precise" and "forward thinking" to one person is "pretentious" and "bland" to another. That is not to say I feel that way about the new stuff, I am just using it as an example.

I will buy this compilation because I only have the first four albums so this will be a good chance for me to get the highlights of the later material as I have no desire to buy the full albums. It is also nice to have a comprehensive overview. And I think you might find the material is more cohesive than you think, showing at least an interesting musical evolution.

You could argue the same about Ryuichi Sakamoto. A lot of fans of his soundtrack and classical work might not be happy at the material being lumped in with this synthpop stuff but his compilations are usually quite cohesive.

I love compilations and think they provide good overviews of an artist, if compiled correctly. Queen's Greatest Hits is a good example. And like I said above, new is not always better to me.

[humanracer]

I'm no fan of compilations. In David's case, I'll buy them if they offer either new tracks (Sleepwalkers, VoS), hard to find tracks (E&N) or possibly a unique element of packaging (eg Weatherbox).

The other reason is to support the artist in producing new work - for Samadhisound that is a no brainer - it's more questionable with this, but from other comments it seems David will profit.

But think of it from EMI's point of view. David is a well-respected artist who was a huge star for a period in the early 1980s and with a strong and ongoing catalogue of recordings. Yet he is perhaps less well known than he could be - compared to the likes of Scott Walker, Mark Hollis - and probably sells fewer records as a result.

On purely commercial grounds, therefore, it makes sense for EMI to have a compilation available that might lure in new listeners or those that got lost on the journey. And, as Paul confirms, the latter group do exist. There is also the chance of a new audience in younger listeners who might not have heard of David. If they like the compilation that would probably lead to sales of the EMI-owned albums.

In terms of sequencing, this compilation follows a fairly standard idea - the 'hit' / easier listening on the first disc and the more challenging work on disc two. It provides a way of new fans growing into the later material.

Stephen's point about shuffle listeners is fair enough and maybe more valid for the way younger listeners approach things. Personally speaking though I think it would be really bizarre to play a CD in shuffle mode on first listen.

Very good points. Weatherbox is out of print and E&N was more a collection of odds and ends and rarities. This is a much better compilation. I am 30 and first heard David Sylvian on the radio in 1995 when Red Guitar was played. This compilation is ideal for me.

[baht habit]

is this only for sweden?

I can't verify the accuracy but I read on a website that this compilation was only being released in Europe. I can't imagine it not being available in Asia but I can understand why it will not be scheduled for release in the US.