Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
Rod the Mod finds his solo footing, headed for stardom, with the Faces in his wake.
6:00 AM GMT 22/06/2011
Features Disc of the day
David Sylvian
Brilliant Trees
(Virgin, 1984)
Japan man escapes pop world hubris to create a masterpiece of adventure.
Initially you created your image as a means of escape-cum-defence. Then it became a trap, leading the press - and the tabloids in particular - to fixate on you, labelling you "the most beautiful man in pop" and quite possibly Britain itself. With your group, you are at the height of your powers but this is not what you signed up for. So what do you do? In the case of David Sylvian, the answer was to walk away from his hit-making band and, like Scott Walker before him, to take that group's developing musical textures to their logical conclusion. The first fruits of this new, deeply personal approach manifested itself in Brilliant Trees.
Sylvian's liberation is exemplified by the list of collaborators on his solo debut - Danny Thompson (bass), Jon Hassell (trumpet), Kenny Wheeler (trumpet/flugelhorn), Ryuichi Sakamoto (synths) and Can's Holger Czukay (guitar, Dictaphone, French horn) among others - all of whom reflected the singer's deep listening tastes. The left-field posse built an album that still sits at the apex of progressive pop, mixing crepuscular funk with ECM ambience and deep electronica, and whose ambition is exemplified by the fluidity of The Ink In The Well (resplendent with Wheeler's solo), the majestic interplay on Red Guitar and the nod to Sylvian's past that is the knowing Pulling Punches. For all it's anti-pop tendencies, Brilliant Trees confirmed its creator's pop star status when it entered the UK charts at Number 3. "That was just people giving me the benefit of the doubt," he told this correspondent two years ago. "They soon knew better."
Phil Alexander
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 13/10/2010
Further Listening
Jon Hassell/Brian Eno – Fourth World Vol 1: Possible Musics (E.G., 1980)
David Sylvian – Secrets Of The Beehive (Virgin, 1985)
Talk Talk – Spirit Of Eden (EMI, 1988)
Previous Disc of the day
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Earl Brutus - Larky
Last salvo of Ginsters Pasty-Warholism from Britpop ramraiders.
12:04 PM GMT 08/06/2011
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Loudon Wainwright - T-Shirt
An overlooked small wonder from an unpredictable career.
6:00 AM GMT 03/06/2011
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Landscape - From The Tea-rooms Of Mars… To The Hell-holes Of Uranus
Dry computer club Futurists, upon hitting implausible chart paydirt.
6:00 AM GMT 17/05/2011
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-
Causa Sui - Summer Sessions Vol 1-3
Epic Danish jams, for when the neighbours get you down.
6:00 AM GMT 12/05/2011
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Comments
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I loved that album and bought it when it first came out. To be honest, i was never that big a fan of Japan, but this album totally knocked me out. Long may he live, create and prosper.
Posted by Jon Gothold at 6:49 PM GMT 13/10/2010 Report Abuse
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RE: Jon Gothold
Yes a great album and what a start to a wonderful career. He has produced some spellbinding music over the last 25 years and each record is just a piece in Sylvian's jigsaw mind of music.
Posted by Alan Legge at 7:10 PM GMT 05/06/2011 Report Abuse
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