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Product Description
(2CD) Radical re-works of songs from 2009 'Manafon' album + 6 new pieces
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Another remix type album that again in most instances improves on the original ideas,the album itself stays well within the mood it sets and demands undivided attention to be really appreciated.The added disc 2 has a instrumental album and is closer to the realms of soundscapes,unfortunately this doesn't appeal to myself.The art work is again different and insinuates a fresh approach one I dont feel is entirely executed in the album itself.Mr Sylvian is always very listenable but I'm not sure how far the improv'improve on ,can be taken.
62 of 74 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Fact: David Sylvian has the most beautiful voice in popular music
Fact: Sylvian is prone to frame this voice with discordant unsettling music.
`Blemish' and `Manafon' were not really for me. Maybe my ear is not discerningly avant garde enough for these productions or maybe, and I prefer to believe this more likely, I simply view these albums as wasteful. Sylvian's voice can melt the hardest of hearts but in competition with a cacophony of sound it cannot shine.
I bought this album because the `Blemish' remix offering produced quite a few gems and I was hoping this might be the case with `Died in the wool'. Alas, not so.
Sylvian's voice is very much to the fore here but the music, free form strings and electronica, is consistently clattering incoherently away in the background. Admittedly, the music is far lower in the mix than the vocals but it is nonetheless a constant distraction and ultimately, for me, makes the album unlistenable.
The simplest way to stress my view is to imagine David Sylvian standing in the kitchen of a busy restaurant singing acapella!
I expect many will dismiss this review because they fall into the avant garde category and see traits in the music that I do not. Fair enough! Let it be known however that I do love the man and the greater body of his work. Though I dislike this album I respect his ongoing efforts to test musical boundaries and I can therefore award no less than 3 stars.
Fact: Sylvian is prone to frame this voice with discordant unsettling music.
`Blemish' and `Manafon' were not really for me. Maybe my ear is not discerningly avant garde enough for these productions or maybe, and I prefer to believe this more likely, I simply view these albums as wasteful. Sylvian's voice can melt the hardest of hearts but in competition with a cacophony of sound it cannot shine.
I bought this album because the `Blemish' remix offering produced quite a few gems and I was hoping this might be the case with `Died in the wool'. Alas, not so.
Sylvian's voice is very much to the fore here but the music, free form strings and electronica, is consistently clattering incoherently away in the background. Admittedly, the music is far lower in the mix than the vocals but it is nonetheless a constant distraction and ultimately, for me, makes the album unlistenable.
The simplest way to stress my view is to imagine David Sylvian standing in the kitchen of a busy restaurant singing acapella!
I expect many will dismiss this review because they fall into the avant garde category and see traits in the music that I do not. Fair enough! Let it be known however that I do love the man and the greater body of his work. Though I dislike this album I respect his ongoing efforts to test musical boundaries and I can therefore award no less than 3 stars.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
IMO Manafon is like a beautiful sculpture that's been smashed to bits and left in fragments on the floor. At first it appears like an incoherent mess but as you pick among the shards you suddenly begin to discern that something of remarkable beauty has been created - in some places just a collection of intriguing elements, in others alien and yet oddly coherent patterns. For the most part, Manafon is a challenging listen, but I think definitely worth the effort. It's sparse, a bit dark and sometimes austere but for me, there's also a feeling of richness and joy, or perhaps it's simply the exhilaration of stepping into a world that we don't often get to experience. Died in the Wool, as a kind of companion piece to Manafon, opens up different avenues to explore within the Manafon world, here we see/hear more detail, a little bit more colour, a little bit more depth and texture that Manafon left obscured in shadows and silence. To my ears Died in the Wool is a more accessible starting point, it offers a bit more in the way of conventional musical form (useful if, like me, you're not really an aficionado of free improvision) 'I Should not Dare' is especially lovely.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An excellent album
David Sylvian at his very best - an excellent album worth every penny.
The stripped-back music makes the most of the lyrics and vocals
The stripped-back music makes the most of the lyrics and vocals
Published 4 months ago by Cedric
Terrible disappointment from the Boy Sylvian
I heard a track from this CD on Radio 3 and loved it and very ill-advisedly rushed to Amazon to download the whole album. Big mistake. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Jane Napier
This for you Scott RIP Mate
There a good things and even better things i could say,but i am going
to leave it at that,after reading other reviews on this,anyway i gave it
5 stars so i will let you... Read more
to leave it at that,after reading other reviews on this,anyway i gave it
5 stars so i will let you... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. D. Connery
The heart knows better.......
Blemish and then Manafon divided the cult of Sylvian. Those who wanted him to remain their own personal Jesus felt betrayed and those who applauded risk taking, boldness,... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Thomas Jerome Newton
He's going from strength to strength!
David Sylvian's career has been characterised by constant change - occasionally punctuated by a sudden sharp jolt (think Obscure Alternatives to Quiet Life or Tin Drum to Brilliant... Read more
Published 11 months ago by DB2011
Still relevant at 53; more so than ever
It's heartening to see an artist so far into his career, still capable of polarising the listening public with new work. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Acme Review Service
Depth and perception
Sylvian has created a masterpiece out of the remnants of his previous release, Manafon. Stark, unique and brooding, this is a stunning album of grandiose proportions destined for... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Morgan Yule
Beyond An Ordinary Boundary
David Sylvian 's avant garde music, wounded noises, tasteful sounds, poetic words, subtle meanings, delicate styles still remain the most beautiful in the world.
Published 12 months ago by Richard Hampe
It shocases his restless discipline in expanding his music's...
David Sylvian's MANAFON (2009) appeared as a collection of disciplined art songs that relied on his collaborators to inform not only their textures, but their forms. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Gabriel Ruff
Really just a little too self-indulgent.
I, like most reading this, have followed David Sylvian for years. I was challenged by Blemish, then the remix album, and again by Manafon, but with those I could see the point. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Grouchie
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