thevistablogger

Ghosts – live

‘some sense of nostalgia’

Sometimes it’s difficult to remember why you made a particular decision. Especially one that you wish you could change afterwards… It was late 1982 and I was in the final year at school. Important exams were looming the following year which would determine whether I would achieve my ambition of going to university, and if so, which one I might attend. My fascination with Japan had developed in the preceding months as the singles ‘Ghosts’ and ‘Cantonese Boy’ had been lifted from Tin Drum, catching my attention and drawing me to the album. The plethora of Hansa singles had got me exploring the back catalogue, and I was guided through by an enthusiastic friend.

Sometime in the weeks before Japan’s series of six concerts at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, my friend had some important news for me. He had a contact who had bought tickets for a number of the London shows, but had now decided not to attend them all. There was a spare ticket and I could buy it! Continue reading “Ghosts – live”

The Day the Earth Stole Heaven

a ‘kind of playful love song’

The first fruits of David Sylvian’s collaboration with Burnt Friedman were heard on a 2005 three track vinyl ep entitled Out in The Sticks, in a line-up that also headlined ex-CAN drummer and past collaborator, Jaki Liebezeit. Sylvian appeared on only one of the cuts, contributing vocals to the original version of ‘The Librarian’ (see here for a discussion with Burnt themed around that track). Continue reading “The Day the Earth Stole Heaven”

Pollen Path

‘the chaotic nature of life on earth’

Some of the tracks destined for Dead Bees on a Cake had their first origins even before David Sylvian hit the road with Robert Fripp for The Road to Graceland tour, the first date taking place in Tokyo in October 1993 only weeks after David and his wife became parents. Continue reading “Pollen Path”

Beautiful Country

‘a return to more traditional forms of songwriting’

When David Sylvian released the Sleepwalkers compilation featuring collaborative tracks from the first decade of the 2000s, he told radio host Joe Silva that his aim was to ‘show something of a companion body of work to the solo work that I’ve been doing with Blemish and Manafon.. ..People have been saying I’ve been moving further and further away from melody, traditional melody and traditional forms of popular music. But I wanted to show that this wasn’t necessarily the case. I’ve never really moved that far away from it because I’ve always got my toe dipped into that stream as well as working with more abstract forms.’ Continue reading “Beautiful Country”

World Citizen – Chain Music

‘Duality is an illusion’

The terrorist attack that took place on 9/11 in 2001 shook the world to its core. I’m certain we all remember where we were when we heard the news and saw the pictures from New York on TV. For Ryuichi Sakamoto the events were literally “close to home”. Just days after that devastating event he wrote a column in the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun entitled ‘My Viewpoint’, which began: Continue reading “World Citizen – Chain Music”