David Sylvian - Manafon

[missouriman]

Im not a fan of Manafon, I feel its too minimalistic. Which is a shame because i love the lyrics and when put to a full musical accompaniment they really stand out ala the Modesto Muñiz remix of small metal gods. I really hope David gets Modesto Muñiz to remix Manafon after the original has been out a few months as its defo something i would purchase!

Again with the Muniz thing? STOP! That guy is killing me here. No Muniz. A Muniz Free Zone. It is like Flock of Seagulls instrumental balls music. Muniz may be a musician, but he does not cut it with me. If he dares touch Manafon he is finito.

[Chet]

totally agree
modesto has nothing to do here
he would never ever get a request from David to do any type of treatement of Manafon or anything else.
perriod

[missouriman]

totally agree
modesto has nothing to do here
he would never ever get a request from David to do any type of treatement of Manafon or anything else.
perriod

Thank you, Chet. I thought it was just me. I keep seeing crazy people trashing David's work and suggesting Snr. Muniz will somehow rescue Manafon from the dung pile... If you are thinking anything other than 2009 you need to wake the heck up. Be here now. Be in the moment. It is NOT 1982 or 87 or any other 'vintage' year of Sylvian. We are waiting for Manafon (except Chet cos he got it already) and I for one am truly grateful he has moved on. It is not Blemish or SBS or GTE or anything else. I love all those too, but I am NOT sitting there pulling my hair out (or what's left of it) moaning for melody, orchestral sweeps, Torn/Isham/Hassell/Fripp solos. I want to hear something I have NOT heard and I want to hear how David does it. I need to be choosy about my company more. On these forums it is like reading somebody else's mail. Once the thrill has worn off, the real fear of getting your ball cocks chopped off sets in.

[neonico]

totally agree
modesto has nothing to do here
he would never ever get a request from David to do any type of treatement of Manafon or anything else.
perriod

Once the thrill has worn off, the real fear of getting your ball cocks chopped off sets in.

im watching he he he

[Astronaut]

... if you dismiss something without having been an audience of it for more than a few snippets/trailers and then rashly condemn it, I don't think I could value that person's opinion because it isn't based on informed judgement. [...] I don't think the direction an artist takes merits anger. For my own part, I think Sylvian is an incredibly brave 'artist''; it takes guts to produce work that you know a lot of people just aren't going to like. [...]
And that's my tuppence worth over. I shall now get my coat. I will be standing in the gutter if anyone wants me.

Well if you're there Camphor, I'm with you 100%

Again with the Muniz thing? STOP! That guy is killing me here. No Muniz. A Muniz Free Zone. It is like Flock of Seagulls instrumental balls music. Muniz may be a musician, but he does not cut it with me. If he dares touch Manafon he is finito.

Ha ha ha - LMAO! And just how, exactly, do you plan to 'finito' Modesto? Does it involve ball cock choppage???

[missouriman]

... if you dismiss something without having been an audience of it for more than a few snippets/trailers and then rashly condemn it, I don't think I could value that person's opinion because it isn't based on informed judgement. [...] I don't think the direction an artist takes merits anger. For my own part, I think Sylvian is an incredibly brave 'artist''; it takes guts to produce work that you know a lot of people just aren't going to like. [...]
And that's my tuppence worth over. I shall now get my coat. I will be standing in the gutter if anyone wants me.

Well if you're there Camphor, I'm with you 100%

Again with the Muniz thing? STOP! That guy is killing me here. No Muniz. A Muniz Free Zone. It is like Flock of Seagulls instrumental balls music. Muniz may be a musician, but he does not cut it with me. If he dares touch Manafon he is finito.

Ha ha ha - LMAO! And just how, exactly, do you plan to 'finito' Modesto? Does it involve ball cock choppage???

I am as dumb as a bag of rocks, but I am persistent and if Immodest Muniz does anymore naff remixes ( which as far as I can tell only dear, young, nubile Neonico gyrates too ) I will have to get me some tickets to Spain and seek and destroy his Pro-Tools. Better them than his ball-cocks. "I only want to be loved"

[digimarsh]

Remember The Last Temptation of Christ and the condemnation that the fundamentalist Christians received for condemning it without actually having seen it? In fact I was in London at the time, had some time to waste and this guy approached me; 'have you heard about the gospels?' he said. I thought; ok I have some time to kill, I'll give you a chance. I asked him at one point what he thought of the film. 'Demonic' he said 'Real demonic'. I then asked him if he'd seen it, to which he said no. I'm sorry to say this, but my opinion is; if you dismiss something without having been an audience of it for more than a few snippets/trailers and then rashly condemn it, I don't think I could value that person's opinion because it isn't based on informed judgement. But it's always ok to dislike something or disagree with the direction an artist is taking- but I think you have to experience it first. OR avoid it and say 'not my cup of tea thanks'. I don't think the direction an artist takes merits anger. For my own part, I think Sylvian is an incredibly brave 'artist''; it takes guts to produce work that you know a lot of people just aren't going to like. Having said that, I haven't heard it. I bet those snippets are totally mis-leading and it's actually a dub RnB soul mash up. Or not as the case may be.

And that's my tuppence worth over. I shall now get my coat. I will be standing in the gutter if anyone wants me.

A fairly large dose of common sense here i would say, lets reserve judgement untill we have had a chance to listen in full to the album,

[inkinthewell]

I wonder if (and hope that), like what happened with the Derek Bailey sessions, the Manafon sessions will be released.

[Chet]

yes...
that would be just fantastic

[Adrian]

drool.
seriously; slobber drool!

[Paperback Jack]

Just read Ian Penman's review in 'The Wire': "Manafon is the first time David Sylvian has seriously disappointed me in (gosh) 30 years." Uh oh! That was unexpected.

[becky]

Oh dear! Guess that review won't be posted up on the Samadhisound website then!

[Simonp]

Just read Ian Penman's review in 'The Wire': "Manafon is the first time David Sylvian has seriously disappointed me in (gosh) 30 years." Uh oh! That was unexpected.

Has this review been published yet? I'm surprised by this. I thought The Wire would give it a glowing report. Can't say I'm surprised actually. While Manafon features some of The Wire's favourite musicicans, they are barely audible on Manafon. When I heard that Keith Rowe was appearing on the album i was horrified but it's almost impossible to make out what his contribution is. I'm not dissing the record by any means. I completely love it and haven't stopped listening to it but they are so far down in the mix you can't help feeling, what's the point?

[Paperback Jack]

Yes, Simon, that's the gist of the review. Why use this cadre of super session players when you're just going to sing all over it? I detected a whiff of this in the interview last month and wondered if there was the feeling that Sylvian had diluted EAI? I've still to hear the record in full but trust it gives much more than Penman's wounding assessment.

It should be in the shops any day. I have a digital subscription and will gladly post here. Is that allowed?

[Simonp]

Can you post it here? I'm curious as to what else it says. I'm sure it wouldnt be a problem. I've been listening to Manafon for about a week now. Great stuff but i was expecting something a little more out there. It's not half as challenging as I'd expected. In fact I think Blemish is a far harder work to like let alone love. It's interesting that only John Tilbury's contributions are so prominent in the mix when all the other artists are barely noticeable