Hypergraphia

[ob8]

My copy thankfully arrived today.

I totally agree with Foales, for my taste the book should have been at least an A4 size.

But i keep on hearing that size is not important

The content is too much to take in. even though a lot of the lyrics are so familiar. Beautifully presented as I have come to expect from David. Maybe he has been spending his time on this project instead of flexing those vocal muscles ?

The new material in there is certainly thought provoking, when I was reading a lot of the pieces I was immediately thinking of Ingrid. Rightly or wrongly.

A lot of lyrics/poetry are quite ambivalent and every listener or reader connects with them on a different level. I guess only David knows (or maybe he doesn't) who exactly the content is aimed at.

To my mind it's a thumbs up and something to distract me from his last release.

[javier]

Received today, really loving the content, and the beautiful design.

A couple of thoughts though - among the stunning imagery, atmospheric photography and montages, there are many pages with what look like ink blots or brush strokes (pp 70/71, 95, 142/143, 198/199, etc).
They don't seem to be images connected to the content at all, nor do they seem like section markers or signposts of some kind. Yet I can't imagine they're just redundant "filler". Does anyone know what their relevance might be?

Also noticed a slip-up with the date on p26, p27 and p303, which leads me to wonder if some previous section was removed and the earlier sections moved back.

[pradakid900]

Has anyone received one of the randomly- signed, unnumbered copies?

[after the bullfight]

I'm just awestruck. It's a beautiful document - a complete must have. I'm still working my way through the new pieces, but interested if anyone is aware of any solo songs/poems have been left out. I couldn't spot any myself, but I know the real experts lie on this forum

[shoop]

Some small details I noticed (and I apologise if any of this seems crass)... looks like Blue of Noon and Scent of Magnolia are missing! The small grammatical flub in Orpheus is fixed, and Wandermude is misspelled "Wandermunde"... maybe a jab at Matthieu?

'Trauma' and 'Last Night You Cursed Me' (I may have gotten that title wrong - it's not with me right now) are pretty heavy. I gasped out loud at the end of 'Trauma'.

All in all it's very overwhelming, but also addicting reading. If it's in transit and you haven't gotten it yet, you've got a lot to look forward to. I was one of the folx who got their US Amazon order cancelled, so I had to wait til payday to fork over the $160. Showed up in 48 hours, though!

[dconnery1966]

As said earlier did anybody get a randomly signed unnumbered copy ?

Dougie

[ronc]

Also noticed a slip-up with the date on p26, p27 and p303, which leads me to wonder if some previous section was removed and the earlier sections moved back.

From what I can tell, the dates for Step 6 should be 92-96 or so, and step 7 should be 98-03.

A shame about "The Scent of Magnolia" not being included. I'm not as concerned about "Blue of Noon" not being mentioned, as it is an instrumental after all.

Also, a couple of his published poems have been left out - one of the ones from Janus magazine, and "He'd made an assumption" from 2004.

Ron

[ronc]

The small grammatical flub in Orpheus is fixed...

Do you mean "temptations" vs "temptation's"? I'm not convinced the contraction reading is "correct". I certainly always heard the word as a plural, equating the harboured worries with multiple temptations. Only after receiving Hypergraphia did I realise there was an interpretation along the lines of "The temptation is to leave..."

A similar ambiguity for me occurred when I read the lyrics to "Every Colour You Are". I had always heard it as plural, past tense: my roads uncrossed (the roads I had been travelling on ceased intersecting with each other). But apparently it is singular, present tense: "my road's uncrossed" (my sole road is one that is not crossed) -- which, I admit, makes more sense.

[Tin Bird]

"...were fuel for the fire and straw for our backs...." instead of "was" which he sings in the song.

[ronc]

That raises an interesting question: should the printed lyrics follow what is sung, or what was meant to be/should have been sung?

Anyway, it seems the book is also missing "Earthbound (Starblind)" -- "Like a black crow standing on a sea of shells..."

Ron

[Tin Bird]

When Sylvian has subsequently sung the song live, he has changed the lyric as it is grammatically incorrect. One thinks that perhaps he was embarrassed by the error in the first place.

[Quiet Visitor]

Any idea if this is the e-book version: https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%87%E3%8 ... 6NVX720HWY

[hitch]

it is japan verion of the book:
http://www.sylvianbiography.com

[ronc]

I just noticed that although Hypergraphia has a dedicated "Died in the Wool" section, it does not include the lyrics for "I Should Not Dare", nor "A Certain Slant of Light".

[karnsculpture]

I just noticed that although Hypergraphia has a dedicated "Died in the Wool" section, it does not include the lyrics for "I Should Not Dare", nor "A Certain Slant of Light".

Both were written by Emily Dickinson