"Anthology" by JOHN HIATT - Forty Album Tracks from 1974 to 2000 featuring Guests Nick Lowe of Brinsley Schwarz and Little Village, Martin Belmont of Ducks Deluxe, Paul Carrack of Ace, Squeeze and Mike & The Mechanics, Glen Ballard of Argent, Benmont Tench of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, Mac Gayden of Area Code 615 and Barefoot Jerry, Ry Cooder, Rosanne Cash, Sonny Landreth and many more (7 August 2001 US-Only Hip-O Records 40-Track 2CD Career Anthology with Erick Labson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Have A Little Faith In Me..."

There are some artists/songwriters that should be huge. And in some ways - especially among other singers who know the real tunesmith deal when they hear it - they actually are. It's just that the public has been a tad slow in picking up on the good news (think John Prine, Shawn Phillips or even Randy Newman in the 60ts and 70ts). 

 

Indianapolis' JOHN HIATT is one of those artists. His first two albums on Epic Records - the debut "Hangin' Around The Observatory" and its follow-up "Overcoats" hit American record shacks in 1974 and 1975, but did little business. Unbelievably Hiatt would have to wait until the brilliant (and commercial) "Bring The Family" album on A&M Records in 1987 before he charted on Billboard - a full seven albums into his output. In fact, the year 2023 celebrates 50 years of recording for JH as that debut was put down in July 1973, the LP released January of the next year (1974).

 

It's also worth pointing out that when "Bring The Family" was issued in 1987 (early days for CD) - that digital outing had an ok-to-good reputation sound-wise. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab of the USA picked up on this and in Nov 1994 reissued "Bring The Family" on one of their Original Master Recording, Ultradisc II formats - and to much praise. But being a limited edition, it has been deleted years and steadily accruing huge price tags. So here on this 2001 2CD set - fans can at least get five of the "Bring The Family" album tracks in superior Erick Labson Remastered sound for online prices that are more than reasonable.

Which brings us to this fantastic-sounding US-only 2CD career overhaul from Hip-O Select issued in August 2001 (trading then as Hip-O Records). You get forty albums cuts from the 1974 debut right up to 2000's "Crossing Muddy Waters" CD album on Vanguard Records. There is much to savor...

 

US-only released 7 August 2001 - "Anthology" by JOHN HIATT on Hip-O Records 314 556 134-2 (Barcode 731455613421) is a 40-Track 2CD Career Retrospective of New Remasters that plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (78:08 minutes):

1. Sure As I'm Sittin' Here 

2. Hangin' Around The Observatory 

3. Down Home

4. Washable Ink

5. Slug Line

6. Radio Girl

7. Pink Bedroom 

8. It Hasn't Happened Yet

9. Spy Boy

10. Doll Hospital

11. My Edge Of The Razor

12. Riding With The King

13. She Loves The Jerk

14. I Don't Even Try

15. The Love That Harms

16. The Way We Make A Broken Heart (Duet Vocals with Rosanne Cash)

17. When We Ran

18. The Usual

19. She Said The Same Things To Me (Duet Vocals with Frieda Woody)

20. Lipstick Sunset

21. Thank You Girl

22. Have A Little Faith In Me

NOTES:

Tracks 1 and 2 from his US debut album "Hangin' Around The Observatory", January 1974 on Epic KE 32688 

Track 3 from his second US studio album "Overcoats", April 1975 on Epic KE 33190

Tracks 4, 5 and 6 are from his third studio album "Slug Line", August 1979 on MCA Records MCA-3088 

Tracks 7 and 8 are from his fourth studio album "Two Bit Monsters", October 1980 on MCA Records MCA-5123

Track 9 from the Original Soundtrack Album "Cruising" from 1980

Tracks 10 and 11 are from his fifth studio album "All Of A Sudden", April 1982 on Geffen GHS 2009

Tracks 12 to 15 are from his sixth studio album "Riding With The King", April 1984 on Geffen GHS 4017

Track 16 from the compilation album "The Best Of John Hiatt", August 1998 on Capitol CDP 7243 8 59179 2 9 - featuring Rosanne Cash on Duet Vocals - song recorded during the "Riding With The King" sessions in 1984 

Tracks 17 to 19 are from his seventh studio album "Warming Up To The Ice Age", September 1986 on Geffen GHS 24055 

Tracks 20 to 22 are from his eighth studio album "Bring The Family", May 1987 on A&M Records SP 5158 in the USA, Demon Records FIEND 100 in the UK

 

CD2 (77:17 minutes):

1. Memphis In The Meantime

2. Thing Called Love

3. Tennessee Plates

4. Slow Turning 

5. Drive South 

6. Feels Like Rain

7. Paper Thin

8. Child Of The Wild Blue Yonder

9. Real Fine Love

10. Perfectly Good Guitars

11. Buffalo River Home

12. Angel Eyes

13. Cry Love

14. Shredding The Document

15. Don't Think About Her When You're Trying To Drive

16. Pirate Radio

17. Crossing Muddy Waters

18. Take It Down

Tracks 1 to 2 are from his eighth studio album "Bring The Family", May 1987 on A&M Records SP 5158 in the USA, Demon Records FIEND 100 in the UK

Tracks 3 to 7 are from his ninth studio album "Slow Turning", August 1988

Tracks 8 and 9 are from his tenth studio album "Stolen Moments", June 1990

Tracks 10 and 11 are from his eleventh studio album "Perfectly Good Guitar", September 1993

Track 12 from the live album "Hiatt Comes Alive At The Budokan?", November 1994 by John Hiatt & The Guilty Dogs

Tracks 13 and 14 are from the album "Walk On", November 1995

Track 15 from the CD album "Little Village" by Little Village, 1992

Track 16 from the album "Little Head", June 1997

Tracks 17 and 18 are from the album "Crossing Muddy Waters", October 2000 

 

The 16-page booklet features new June 2001 liner notes SCOTT SCHINDER mixed in with period photos and interviews with a clearly happily married man and a musical career he's proud of. But the big news is without doubt the talents of a Universal Audio Engineer I've raved about before - ERICK LABSON. As of 2023 I think he's amassed over 1,000 reissue credits including Buddy Holly, The Who, Neil Diamond, Wishbone Ash, The Mamas and The Papas, Etta James, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and the bulk of the Chess/Cadet/Checker catalogue. When this guy gets nears the tapes, magic is going to happen and it does here. I had the album "Warming Up To The Ice Age" when I was in the thralls of buying everything and anything I could get my hands on in 1985 - I wanted the riffing "The Usual". It always had a weedy punch - here it leaps and snarls as it was always meant to do. To the array...

 

I would be the the first to admit that as you play the start of CD1 and the end of CD2, a 5-star rating seems a tad high. And with that in mind it is unfortunately easy to hear why the early LPs came and went, the songs are good but never great or particularly memorable. It isn't until you get to the cod Rock 'n' Roll of "Doll Hospital", the hurting and pleading ballad "My Edge Of The Razor" and that very John Hiatt chug of "Riding With The King" (in the early 80ts) do you start to get really interested. I know these tracks from vinyl and to hear them now finally punching above their audio weight on these fantastic Remasters is a blast. 

 

You can feel the songwriting prowess growing with cool shuffles like "She Said The Same Things To Me" and his Indie-Punk-New Wave heart in the fab riffage of "The Usual" - a highlight on the "Warming Up To The Ice Age" album from 1985. But everything changed with the undeniable "Bring The Family" album produced with warmth by John Chelew in 1987. Even as the gorgeous melody of "Lipstick Sunset" plays - Ry Cooder playing a blinder as ever on Slide Guitar - you can hear all those years grafting and honing his songs come full circle to the absolute classic that is "Have A Little Faith in Me". Jewel did a cover of this impassioned piano pleader on the John Travolta movie "Phenomenon" soundtrack that brought its beauty to everyone's attention a few years later. 

 

British songwriting and humorist hero Nick Lowe of Brinsley Schwarz and later Little Village fame joined Hiatt's recording entourage for the "Bring The Family" album on Bass and Harmony Vocals. And dig that Ry Cooder guitar on "Thank You Girl" - gritty and chunky with the Remaster - so damn good. Bonnie Raitt covered "Thing Called Love" for her 1989 comeback album "Nick Of Time" on Capitol Records and once again - a cool woman brought Hiatt's songwriting brilliance to the masses. 

 

Hiatt's witty lyrics come roaring out of the sick-of-mandolins romp that is "Memphis In The Meantime" where he tells his girl that he needs to hear the guitars of a real band. Sonny Landreth adds his fabulous and unique slide guitar prowess to the rocking "Tennessee Plates". Although it was inexplicably perceived as a bit of a disappointment after the overall quality of "Bring The Family" - I love the four from 1988's "Slow Turning" album that are featured here. First up is the rollicking upbeat vibe to the title track "Slow Turning", then the very John Mellencamp big acoustic sound to the motor-running "Drive South". CD2 now provides us with his other undisputed classic - the slow shimmering guitars of "Feels Like Rain" - what a gem and sounding glorious too. 

 

"Paper Thin" is a rocker that again wouldn't be amiss on Mellencamp's "Big Daddy" album say - guitars from Sonny Landreth and Eagles original Bernie Leadon. We go big-eyed for the happy and catchy "Child Of The Wild Blue Yonder", but that is whomped by my fave-of-faves - "Real Fine Love" - both it and "Child..." from the underrated "Stolen Moments" album of 1990. And on it goes to other goodies like the lovely "Buffalo River Home", even if it does taper out a bit for me towards 2000. 

 

"What did I do...what did I say...to turn your Angel Eyes my way?" Hiatt sings on the cleverly chosen live version of "Angel Eyes" taken from his lesser-seen Budokan show with his band of the moment, The Guilty Dogs. Well, I am guilty, sign me up to the wild blue yonder and bring all the family too...

"Band On The Run: 25th Anniversary Edition" by PAUL McCARTNEY and WINGS – December 1973 Album on Apple Records featuring Denny Laine (March 1999 UK EMI/Parlophone 2CD Reissue with Greg Calbi and Geoff Emerick Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Let Me Roll It To You..."

 

There's a school of thought that says - latest is greatest - and in the main that often proves to be true. But "Band On The Run" is one of those occasions where I'd argue to sonically travel in the opposite direction, because to my ears this '25th Anniversary Edition' remastered by the mighty GREG CALBI and the album's original engineer GEOFF EMERICK in 1999 - thrashes the later more vaulted 2010 version. Here are more words from Picasso, rabbits on the run and suffragettes on Helen wheels...

 

UK released March 1999 - "Band On The Run: 25th Anniversary Edition" by PAUL McCARTNEY and WINGS on EMI/Parlophone 4991762 (Barcode 724349917620) is a 2CD Box set and breaks down as follows:

 

Disc 1 (44:47 minutes)

1. Band On The Run

2. Jet

3. Bluebird

4. Mrs Vandebilt

5. Let Me Roll It

6. Mamunia

7. No Words

8. Helen Wheels

9. Picasso's Last Words (Drink To Me)

10. Nineteen Hundred And Eight Five

"Band On The Run" was released December 1973 in the UK on Apple PAS 10007 and Apple 3415 in the USA

 

The album famously came out as a 9-track LP in the UK - but as a 10-track version in the USA. Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 made up Side 1 in the UK with 6, 8, 9 and 10 being Side 2. Tracks 1 to 10 make up the US album (it included "Helen Wheels").

 

"Helen Wheels" was released as a Non-Album UK 7" single with "Country Dreamer" as its non-album B-side (26 October 1973 on Apple R 5993 in the UK and 12 November 1973 on Apple 1869 in the USA).

 

Disc 2 (51:07 minutes):

1. Band On The Run (Dialogue Intro/Nicely Toasted Mix) 1:12 minutes

2. Band On The Run (Original Background/Dialogue Link 1) 2:17 minutes

3. Band On The Run (Band Rehearsal - 21st July 1989) 4:59 minutes

4. Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 2)/Mamunia (Original)/Denny Laine (Dialogue)/Mamunia (Original)/Linda McCartney (Dialogue)/Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 3) 4:22 minutes

5. Bluebird (Live-Version-Australia 1975) 00.55 minutes

6. Bluebird (Original) (Background/Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 4) 00:23 minutes

7. Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 5)/No Words (Original)/Geoff Emerick (Dialogue) 1:24 minutes

8. No Words (Original/Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 6)/Tony Visconti (Dialogue) 1:47 minutes

9. Jet (Original From Picasso's Last Words) (Background)/Al Coury (Dialogue) 2:55 minutes

10. Jet (Berlin Soundcheck - 3rd September 1993) 3:51 minutes

11. Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 8)/Clive Arrowsmith (Dialogue) 1:44 minutes

12. Nineteen Hundred And Eighteen Five (Original) (Background)/Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 9)/James Coburn (Dialogue)/Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 10)/John Conteh (Dialogue) 3:24 minutes

13. Mrs Vandebilt (Original) (Background)/Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 11)/Kenny Lynch (Dialogue) 2:10 minutes

14. Let Me Roll It (Cardington Rehearsal - 5th February 1993)/Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 12)

15. Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 13)/Mrs Vandebilt (Background)/Michael Parkinson (Dialogue)/Linda McCartney (Band On The Run Photo Shoot - Dialogue)/Michael Parkinson (Dialogue) 2:25 minutes

16. Helen Wheels (Crazed)/Paul McCartney Dialogue Link 14/Christopher Lee (Dialogue) 5:32 minutes

17. Band On The Run (Strum Bit)/Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 15)/Clement Freud (Dialogue) 1:01 minutes

18. Picasso's Last Words (Original) (Background)/Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 16)/Dustin Hoffman (Dialogue) 4:22 minutes

19. Picasso's Last Words (Drink To Me) (Acoustic Version) 1:11 minutes

20. Band On The Run (Nicely Toasted Mix)/Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 17) 00:42 minutes

21. Band On The Run (Northern Comic Version) 00:36 minutes

 

It's housed in a tasty hard-card mini box set with a beautifully laid-out 24-page oversized booklet and a repro of the foldout poster that came with original copies of the 1973 album. The booklet has the lyrics, release info, superb liner notes from noted Beatles chronicler MARK LEWISOHN and extensive reissue credits. The CDs use the 'passport' photographs and album cover as artwork - but the really big news is the GREG CALBI and GEOFF EMERICK remaster which is hair-raisingly good. The clarity offered here is amazing - and it hammers you the moment the title track "Band On The Run" opens. And it continues like that throughout - the hooky "Jet" and lovely "Bluebird" - the audio is hugely improved over anything that's gone before and better than the rather flat sound on the new remaster from 2010. "Let Me Roll It" just rocks like a madman too. And the band build up on "Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five" is huge.

 

Disc 2 is probably one of the best `albums being put together' CD Bonus discs that I've ever heard. There's fascinating stuff like GINGER BAKER of CREAM " (at his studios in Lagos) playing a fire-bucket filled with gravel as a maraca in the rehearsals for "Mamunia" with Denny Laine - GEOFF EMERICK the Engineer talking about the noise of the EMI pressing plant outside the back door as they were recording to 8-track - TONY VISCONTI talking about the string arrangements on "Band On The Run" - AL COURY talking about the American radio stations editing "Jet" as a single and how he did the same and gave the album an extra boost in sales in February 1974 and Hoffman talking about the magical moment "Picasso's Last Words (Drink To Me)" was written right in front of him about a story he suggested to McCartney on the last days of the 91-year old artist. It even includes dialogue from all the guys from the `break out' album cover shoot (taken at Osterley Park in West London) as well as the photographer CLIVE ARROWSMITH - Actor James Coburn, British Boxer John Conteh, Singer Kenny Lynch, British Chat Show Host Michael Parkinson, Actor Christopher Lee, British Gourmet Chef, Politician and TV personality Clement Freud and Actor Dustin Hoffman. The rehearsal for the brilliant riff of "Let Me Roll It" is superb - full of great Linda keyboards.

 

Perhaps it's the way that DISC 2 is displayed on the rear of the box - not really giving a full indication (as I've done above) as to what's on it - that saw this reissue disappear into a forgotten background. Dedicated to his wife and friend LINDA McCARTNEY - this is exemplary stuff - and absolutely kicking where it should be - on the audio front.

 

Made in such trying circumstances (they got robbed in Lagos and lost all their demo tapes) - "Band On The Run" has always been a McCartney solo gem.

 

"Your burning love...you mustn't hide..." - Paul McCartney sings on "No Words". Well now it's full potential is out in the open and if you're a fan - I'd travel for this version of it...

"Everything And Nothing" by DAVID SYLVIAN - Album Tracks, Single-Only Mixes, Alternate Versions and Previously Unreleased Outtakes from 1980 to 1999 and completed in 2000. Includes songs by Japan, Rain Tree Crow and Collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alesini and Andreoni, Robert Fripp of King Crimson and Mick Karn of Japan and Rain Tree Crow. Guests include Bill Nelson of Be Bop Deluxe, Bill Frisell, Keith Tippett, Trey Gunn, Ingrid Chavez, Mark Isham, Danny Thompson, John Taylor, Steve Tibbetts, Phil Palmer, Marc Ribot, David Bottrill, Anne O'Dell, Holger Czukay and many more (October 2000 UK Virgin 2CD Compilation with Bob Ludwig Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Every Colour You Want..."

I've been a monster admirer of ex JAPAN front-man and left-field singer-songwriter DAVID SYLVIAN for four-plus decades now - loving albums like "Brilliant Trees", "Secrets Of the Beehive" and "Dead Bees On A Cake". 

 

I've always looked forward to where his adventure with soundscapes would go to next - brilliant and myriad excursions into collaborations with quality types like Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alesini and Andreoni and Robert Fripp of King Crimson - never mind his stints with JAPAN and RAIN TREE CROW. However, in my addled and aging disgracefully mind, our whole-foods wholesome DS has also made cack - some albums and heavy sounds I can't actually play (I collected them anyway). 

 

But there's just something about this utterly brilliant and perfectly compiled retrospective from 2000 that hits every marker and I go back to it so often. Great song choices, altered versions that feel better, beautiful Bob Ludwig mastering. When I worked at Reckless in Berwick Street in Soho (a busy joint) - we only had to play outtakes like "The Scent Of Magnolia" or "Ride" on CD1 and hungry punters would be grapple-hooking the elevated serving counter wanting some of that speaker caviar we were just playing. 

And the list of exceptional collaborations/contributions Sylvan has done in his solo career stretches back with abandon - Guitarists Robert Fripp of King Crimson, Bill Nelson of Be Bop Deluxe, Bill Frisell, Phil Palmer, Steve Tibbetts, David Torn, Marc Ribot, Trey Gunn and Rob Dean - Keyboardists Keith Tippett, John Taylor and Tommy Barbarella with Horn Players Mark Isham, Mel Collins and Kenny Wheeler. Also in the mix is Pentangle's Double Bass player Danny Thompson, Can's Holger Czukay, arrangements by Anne O'Dell, duets with Keyboardist, Arranger and songwriter Ryuichi Sakamoto, Euro programming with Alesini and Andreoni - and all of it with the vision-achieving assistance of Engineers like David Bottrill and Steve Nye (to name but a few).

 

Fans will know that there is a 3CD variant of October 2000's "Everything And Nothing" on Virgin CDVDX2897 (Barcode 724385019524) that offers a further 4-Track Bonus Disc of Rarities and all of it presented (unsaid) on lurid 24-carat gold digital chariots. But for now I want to concentrate on the standard 2CD variant in a mere jewel-case - a forgotten compilation that in January 2023 I've seen online for under three quid (talk about 'big dids for small quids'). 

 

There's a whole mess of new and old on here that's been mightily tinkered with, so some manly explanation is needed. Let's have at our Ambient Hero...

 

UK released 9 October 2000 - "Everything And Nothing" by DAVID SYLVIAN on Virgin CDVD2897 (Barcode 724385001727) is a 29-Track 2CD Compilation that plays out as follows: 

 

CD1 (72:00 minutes):

1. The Scent Of Magnolia 

(Previously Unreleased "Dead Bees On A Cake" album outtake from 1999, completed in 2000, Spoken Vocals by Ingrid Chavez)

2. Heartbeat (Tainai Kaiki II) 

(Collaboration, from the Ryuichi Sakamoto album "Heartbeat" on Virgin Records America in 1992, Bill Frisell on Lead Guitar, Ingrid Chavez on Vocals)

3. Blackwater 

(From the 1991 "Rain Tree Crow" album by Rain Tree Crow on Virgin Records, featuring Steve Jansen, Mick Karn and Richard Barbieri of Japan - Lead Guitar by Bill Nelson of Be Bop Deluxe)

4. Albuquerque (Dobro No. 6)

(Previously Unreleased "Dead Bees On A Cake" album outtake from 1999, completed in 2000)

5. Ride 

(Previously Unreleased "Secrets Of The Beehive" album outtake from 1987, completed in 2000, features Phil Palmer and David Torn on Guitars, Danny Thompson on Double Bass with Mark isham on Trumpet, Paino by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Drums/Percussion by Steve Jansen)

6. The Golden Way 

(Collaboration, from the album "Marco Polo" by Alesini & Andreoni (Nicola Alesini and Pier Luigi Andreoni), released by Materiali Sonori in 1995)

7. Ghosts

(With Japan, from their fifth album "Tin Drum" released by Virgin in Nov 1981)

8. Pop Song 

(Single Version from the October 1989 UK 3" CD-single on Virgin VSCD 1221)  

9. Every Colour You Are

(From the 1991 "Rain Tree Crow" album by Rain Tree Crow on Virgin Records, Slide Guitar by Phil Palmer)

10. Wanderlust

(From the 1999 album "Dead Bees On A Cake", featuring Tommy Barbarella)

11. God's Monkey 

(From the collaboration album "The First Day" by Robert Fripp (of King Crimson) and David Sylvian on Virgin Records in 1993)

12. Let The Happiness In

(From the album "Secrets Of The Beehive" released by Virgin Records in 1987)

13. I Surrender

(From the 1999 album "Dead Bees On A Cake")

14. Thoroughly Lost To Logic

(Previously Unreleased 1991 recording, co-write and featuring Keith Tippett on Piano, finished 2000) 

 

CD2 (67:38 minutes):

1. Jean The Birdman 

(From the collaboration album "The First Day" by Robert Fripp (of King Crimson) and David Sylvian on Virgin Records in 1993)

2. Cover Me With Flowers 

(Previously Unreleased "Dead Bees On A Cake" album outtake from 1999, completed in 2000, features Steve Tibbetts on Guitars)

3. The Boy With The Gun

(From the 1999 album "Dead Bees On A Cake", features Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Torn and Danny Thompson)

4. Riverman

(From the Japan 2LP set "Gone To Earth" on Virgin Records in September 1986, features Robert Fripp of King Crimson on Guitars and Mel Collins on Saxophone)

5. Apama And Nimisha (Dobro No. 5) 

(Previously Unreleased "Dead Bees On A Cake" album outtake from 1999, completed in 2000, features Bill Frisell on Dobro)

6. Midnight Sun 

(From the album "Secrets Of The Beehive" released by Virgin Records in 1987, features Marc Ribot on Guitar, String Arrangements by Ryuichi Sakamoto)

7. Orpheus 

(From the album "Secrets Of The Beehive" released by Virgin Records in 1987, features Mark Isham, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Phil Palmer and danny Thompson)

8. Some Kind Of Fool 

(Previously Unreleased, taken from Japan's sessions for their fourth album "Gentlemen Wear Polaroids" released Nov 1980 on Virgin, finished in 2000, Violin by Simon House and Vocals by Ingrid Chavez)

9. Cries And Whispers
(From the 1991 "Rain Tree Crow" album by Rain Tree Crow on Virgin Records, featuring Steve Jansen, Mick Karn and Richard Barbieri of Japan)

10. Godman

(From the 1999 album "Dead Bees On A Cake", features Mark Ribot on Guitar, Steve Jansen on Loops with Ingrid Chavez on Vocals)

11. Laughter And Forgetting 

(From the Japan 2LP set "Gone To Earth" on Virgin Records in September 1986, features John Taylor on Piano and Kenny Wheeler on Flugelhorn)

12. Buoy 

(Collaboration, from the Mick Karn solo album "Dreams Of Reason Produce Monsters" released 1987 on Virgin Records, also featuring Steve Jansen of Japan)

13. Weathered Wall

(From David Sylvian's debut solo album "Brilliant Trees" released June 1984 on Virgin Records, features Jon Hassell on Trumpet, Ryuichi Sakamota and Barbieri on Keyboards with Holger Czukay of Can on Recorders)

14. Bamboo Houses 

(Original Version by Ryuichi Sakamota and David Sylvian released 1982 on Virgin Records, features Steve Jansen)

15. Come Morning 

(Collaboration, from the album "Marco Polo" by Alesini & Andreoni (Nicola Alesini and Pier Luigi Andreoni), released by Materiali Sonori in 1995)

 

The 16-page booklet acts a pictorial for our photogenic musical troubadour (and wife Ingrid) with full track-by-track credits across the centre pages and beyond. It's kind of hard to read the thick and fast small print, but the BOB LUDWIG Mastering is the star here. This 2CD set sounds gorgeous even when the music is deliberately grunged up or programmed to bleed. But what gets me (for someone so closely associated with King Crimson and even Roxy Music Prog and Indie of old) - is the musicality that seeps through the softer stuff - "Every Colour You Are", "Heartbeat" and even the beautiful simplicity of the 'Dobro' snippets/numbers. 

 

There's something for everyone here - Japan fans getting a newly turned out songs from the "Gentlemen Wear Polaroids" period of 1980 and the now forgotten 1986 double "Gone To Earth" - later lovers being treated to the seemingly endless creativity that surrounded both "Secrets Of The Beehive" (1987) and "Dead Bees On A Cake" (1999). I didn't (admittedly) have the two Euro CD cuts with Alesini & Andreoni on CD1 and CD2 - so nice one there. And I can never get enough of "I Surrender" and "Weathered Wall". 

 

I dare say, David Sylvian and his (almost) non-songs will not be for everyone. But those who love their songsmiths penning the pretty side of leftfield and ambient mood will be making tea, dunking the digestives and planning another 'Everything And Nothing' deep dive. I love it. Prada indeed...