sylvian - worst to best

[Tin Bird]

Sure, if you are a Crimson fan that makes perfect sense. Sounds closer to them than typical Sylvian. I didn't hate it or anything, just not what I am in to typically. I mostly don't care for I guess what would be considered standard or classic "rock". I'd listen to the Residents before The Rolling Stones. To each his own... That said, I am a huge Beatles fan so go figure…

[Foales Arishes]

Meniere's is a bear isn't it? How long have you had symptoms?

My father suffered from this for many years, but the more horrific symptoms eased over a few years, until he suffered no more {apart for some hearing loss}... But, I vividly remember him having several episodes and gabbing any solid object as his world turned up side down. I'm slightly worried I may get it, as I already suffer from tinnitus and sometimes get a sudden imbalance in my hearing that makes me feel like I'm off-balance.

I hope you guys cope with it ok


As for this silly little worst/best game... nah, can't be arsed, and who gives a toss anyway?

[Tin Bird]

I hope you don't get it...it really sucks and is completely life changing. That said, I still work and do my thing, just some days are really hard.
As for thee game... I think we are just trying to find something to talk about.

[javier]

Don't like, don't care:

adolescent sex / quiet life / obscure alternatives / gentleman take polaroids

Ranking (least to most favourite):

uncommon deities
tin drum
approaching silence
ember glance
died in the wool
wandermude
blemish
manafon
alchemy - an index of possibilities
brilliant trees
rain tree crow
damage
when loud weather buffeted naoshima
snow borne sorrow
there…with no other house in sight
plight and premonition
flux + mutability
dead bees on a cake
secrets of the beehive
the first day
gone to earth

[javier]

I'd definitely have rated Blemish and Manafon higher, were it not for the many tracks I absolutely detest.
For example, Blemish without the Derek Bailey tracks would leap up the list significantly.
Similarly if Manafon didn't contain the Rabbit Skinner, Greatest Living Englishman, etc.

[Tin Bird]

I agree w you. Imagine this album:

Small Metal Gods
Blemish
The Only Daughter
Snow White in Appalachia
Emily Dickinson
The Heart Knows Better
Late Night Shopping
Do You Know Me Now?
A Fire in the Forest

Would have been one of my favorite albums of his....think I'll make a mixtape!

[Tin Bird]

...and before we get a slew of "you just don't get it..." comments about Dereck Bailey... look, I am totally cool w improv of all stripes..I think it is cool for what it is. I am sure Bailey was a brilliant guitarist in just about any genre he tackled. For me personally, someone being great at an instrument is neat to appreciate, but it does not interest me all that much. There's always someone better than the next guy. Masturbating with a guitar, or drum set or whatever simply does not impress me. Mick Karn, one of my fave bass players, layed down some wicked good bass lines...so what? I like songs. Well crafted, with brilliant melodies, insightful lyrics, and clever production...I don't care how great an individual is at playing an instrument. One of the reasons I am not a huge Fripp fan either. I like Bill Nelson's cool, eclectic songs like Hope for the Heartbeat, Another Day Another, Ray of Hope, Glow World...etc not because his guitar playing is so great (which it is) but because the songs themselves are great.
What does Sylvian play? Guitar, keyboards...etc. is he a virtuoso at anything? No! But you would be hard pressed to find a more genius songwriter..Ghosts, Orpheus, Blackwater, Thalheim come to mind....
I like left field, experimental pop music…I do not like atonal, random guitar chords…it’s not pleasing to the ear and I think folks try a little too hard to like it.

[javier]

Imagine this album:
.
.
...think I'll make a mixtape!

Yes, just goes to show that more is not always better. Such an improvement by chopping out the atonal stuff. I agree, really not pleasing to the ear...

[Chad]

ah come on ... keith rowe is a fuckin genius. he really gets down at about 1:47

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb-GPdnfbyI

[Tin Bird]

I like this actually...I just don't want Sylvian speaking over it...

[javier]

ah come on ... keith rowe is a fuckin genius. he really gets down at about 1:47

Well, he shows on the video that he's an experimenter, an improviser. But that doesn't mean it's something I'd ever choose to sit down and listen to!

Sort of like watching an artist at work - it can be fascinating to observe them playing with materials and working towards something. But it's the actual finished work that one generally wants to return to and look at again and again - not the half-finished sketch.

Now, once Sylvian has taken all the random sound fragments of these improvisers and edited them into a finished soundscape, having made a multitude of conscious choices, working towards an end piece, then it can be very interesting, evocative, etc.

But the individual fragments aren't in themselves of interest to me whatsoever. Sit down and listen to an hour of sine waves, or scraped guitar strings, or amlifier buzzes? No thanks!

[Chad]

I payed to see Fred Frith throw sh*t at a guitar for 45 minutes once. I got to shake his hand and talk about gravity for a bit. The coffee was good too.

[natsume]

In other news...

Happy Birthday David!

[Baysman]

Very hard to list worst to best for 2 reasons. Music / Art is a very personal thing to all. One mans piss is another mans Picasso. And secondly....how can one compare the " Brilliant Trees " album to " Plight & Premonition ". Two very different landscapes. I love them both for different reasons.

The answer comes back to the individuals personal artistic and musical taste.

Personally I have found David's work for the last decade or so a real challenge, but then he releases the track " Do You Know Me Now ".....for me a real career highlight. It's his right to make his artistic statements, and it's our choice to follow them or not.

Very interesting list choices though. Play on

[after the bullfight]

Browsing old threads to try and manage insomnia, found a need to give my opinion!
Fascinated that some rate the First Day so highly. For me, that's a low period between the great 80s work and the innovative post-Blemish stuff. Do still love some of the non-album work (Damage, Earthbound).

there's a light....
uncommon deities
when loud weather buffeted naoshima
adolescent sex
approaching silence
ember glance
first day/damage
wandermude
Obscure alternatives
rain tree crow
blemish/the only daughter
dead bees on a cake
flux and mutability
snow borne sorrow
tin drum
brilliant trees
manafon/died in the wool
plight and premonition
gentlemen take polaroids
quiet life
alchemy
gone to earth
secrets of the beehive

In terms of over/underrated

Halloween, swing, cantonese boy, steel cathedrals, wave (original), premonition, golden way, transit, messenger, heart knows better, the librarian, manafon (track) are all favourites of mine that - I have the impression - all not always of others

Overrated - ghosts, pulling punches, let the happiness in (weakest moment of beehive imo), blackcrow hits shoeshine city, 20th century dreaming, cafe europa, krishna blue, godman