At last a David Sylvian best of that does what it says on the tin. While the Everything & Nothing compilation of a decade or so ago was a wonderful piece of work it was wholly subjective, based on not what was the 'best of' per se but a kind of 'best of' filtered through the mind of the artist. Thus there was no Red Guitar, Ink in the Well or even Forbidden Colours. Victim of Stars puts this right and it is an outstanding body of work with the added bonus of a new recording, Where's Your Gravity?, exclusive to this release. Each track comes in chronological order; it is like a map from A-B in the world of a musical maverick.
31 tracks of ethereal and differing beauty. Some hook you in immediately; others take their time on you. Disc 2 is a kind of dark side to the more catchy Disc 1 which, of course, holds the more commercial tracks. Not that the release is perfect. The opening Ghosts is not the classic Japan track but Sylvian's remaking or 're-vocalling' and I for one enjoy the former far more - for me it is the one song in the world that should never be retouched or revisited. And Forbidden Colours is not the original-do-not-touch-or-you-will-destroy-version but Sylvian's more sombre version.
But these are minor gripes. It's as near to perfect as perfect can be in this world and serves as a timely reminder to what an astonishing body of work Sylvian has produced in nearly 30 years.
What an artist!
Track Listing:
Disc One
Ghosts (Remix)
Bamboo Houses
Bamboo Music
Forbidden Colours
Red Guitar
The Ink In The Well
Pulling Punches
Taking The Veil
Silver Moon
Let The Happiness In
Orpheus
Waterfront
Pop Song
Blackwater
Every Colour You Are
Heartbeat (Tainai Kaiki II)
Disc Two
Jean The Birdman
Alphabet Angel
I Surrender
Darkest Dreaming
A Fire In The Forest
The Only Daughter
Late Night Shopping
Wonderful World
The Banality Of Evil
Darkest Birds
Snow White in Appalachia
Small Metal Gods
I Should Not Dare
Manafon
Where's Your Gravity?
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