Amazon.co.uk Review
Following 1999's
Dead Bees On A Cake,
Everything and Nothing is a collection of singles, live sessions and oddities from the David Sylvian back catalogue. Since severing connections with cult 1970s/80s band,
Japan, Sylvian has continued to probe the underbelly of rock/pop with often arresting results. Many of the songs here have been reworked for this collection but these updated interpretations don't detract from any of the tender, deeply melancholic poetry of the originals. A serial collaborator,
Everything and Nothing draws upon material from all his albums, including 1991's
Rain Tree Crow (with Japan members Richard Barbieri and Steve Jansen), the 1986 Ryuichi Sakamoto album
Heartbeat and 1989's
Secrets Of The Beehive. In a wonderful coup for cult followers,
Everything and Nothing also features the complete version of the lost Japan tune "Some Kind Of Fool", intended for
Gentlemen Take Poloraids. However, as so much of what Sylvian achieved with Japan was built on artifice, it is refreshing to hear him in a stripped down arena. The opening "The Scent of Magnolia"--part electronica, part rock--glides with a subtlety and nous that puts many practitioners in both fields to shame, while "Albuquerque" sustains a gorgeous balance between conceptual boldness and engaging melody.
Everything and Nothing is a good way to sample and celebrate Sylvian in shape-shifting form. He ducks in and out of focus, between rugged ballads (the infamous "Ghosts"), avant-garde jazz ("God's Monkey") and--on a couple of tracks where the multi-instrumental backing is dropped for synthesisers--a successful glossy pop. --
Maxine Kabuubi
CD Description
EVERYTHING AND NOTHING is a two-disc set of "best of" tracks from David Sylvian's career (including some with former band Japan), previously unreleased recordings, and re-recordedor otherwise alternate versions of other tracks (initial copies also included a third disc of remixes and further alternate versions). Most collections spanning such a length of time (20 years!) are spotty at best, but Sylvian's career hasbeen unusually consistent, both in terms of direction and quality, and EVERYTHING AND NOTHING is guided by a clarity ofvision absent from most compilations. Listening to it is more like hearing a new David Sylvian record than a random sampling from his catalogue. HIghlights include the usual suspects; "Blackwater", "Ghosts", and "Godman", all standouts on the albums from which they were culled. Alongside those tracks, though, is the true meat of the collection. Among the best are the breathtaking "The Scent of Magnolia", "Some Kind of Fool"--recorded for Japan's seminal GENTLEMEN TAKE POLAROIDS album but unfinished at the time--and an alternate version of "Weathered Wall" (from BRILLIANT TREES) that far and away outstrips the original. An essential purchase for Sylvian fans.
~ David Sylvian
~ David Sylvian
~ David Sylvian
~ David Sylvian
~ David Sylvian
See all 29 tracks on this disc
