Album Review by EDF
Bring together 20 years of David Sylvian, solo cuts and other tracks taken from the time he was with Japan, this double CD collection reminds us of the fact that Sylvian has been unjustly overlooked by the powers that be who are in charge of radio and TV music programming.
Sylvian’s music is best described as mood music, while not to everyone’s taste, the quality of music and musicianship is of the highest quality, especially when the likes of Robert Fripp turns up on a number of tracks. Tracks like ALBUQUERQUE (DOBRO #6) and POP SONG might be a bit trying for some listeners, but RIDE is both musically and lyrically perfect. Sylvian’s vocals have always bordered in between David Bowie and Scott Walker, while his delivery can be very hypnotic. This is especially true of the classic GHOSTS, which is included here.
While some collections are just churned out as a money making exercise by record labels, others are released as an end of a record contract. While this might or might not be the case with Virgin Records, the serious music lover should seek this collection out. As an artist who is original with his approach to song writing, hopefully he will be rediscovered.
