Everything and Nothing

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.com
A serial collaborator, Everything & Nothing draws material from the range of David Sylvian recordings, from 1991's Rain Tree Crow (with Japan members Richard Barbieri and Steve Jansen) to Ryuichi Sakamoto's 1986 album, Heartbeat, to his own '87 touchstone, Secrets of the Beehive. In a wonderful coup for devotees, this collection of singles, live recordings, and oddities 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's refreshing to hear him in a stripped-down setting. The opening "The Scent of Magnolia"--part electronica, part rock--glides with a subtlety that puts many practitioners in both fields to shame, while "Albuquerque" sustains a gorgeous balance between conceptual boldness and engaging melodiousness. Everything & Nothing is a good way to sample and celebrate a shape-shifter such as Sylvian as he ducks in and out of focus, between rugged ballads (the infamous "Ghosts"), avant-garde jazz ("God's Monkey"), and glossy pop. --Maxine Kabuubi

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2007-08-13 rating:
A fine overview of David Sylvian's vocal work.
When David Sylvian's twenty year relationship with Virgin Records came to an end, he delivered two compilations to them drawn from his catalog, a vocal compilation ("Everything and Nothing") and an instrumental one ("Camphor"). Both were initially released as limited editions with bonus discs and eventually saw wider release without the bonus disc. Together, they provide a fantastic overview of the bulk of Sylvian's work, and while some of his decisions (particularly with respect to the Japan material) may irk some of his longtime fans, the value of these sets-- both to the unitiated and old hands, is difficult to estimate.

"Everything and Nothing" is the vocal piece, two discs of superb material, drawn from Sylvian's albums and collaborations. Around a dozen or so pieces are new, unreleased or rerecorded, with a few rarities thrown in the mix as well. I could probably argue about track selection here and there, but really the set is incredibly well put together-- many of Sylvian's finest moments are captured here, from the triumph or "Orpheus" to the darkness of Rain Tree Crow's "Every Colour You Are", the deep funk of Robert Fripp-collaboration "Jean the Birdman", the off kilter techno-tinged "The Scent of Magnolia" or the downright bizarre (and brilliant) "Pop Song". It's really hard to overstate just how good this material is. For the longtime fans and collectors, a couple shelved tracks that had acheived legendary status get aired out here-- Japan leftover "Some Kind of Fool" and "Secrets of the Beehive" outtake "Ride". Quite honestly, both are quite as good as myth had built them up to be, something highly unexpected.

Sylvian did in a few cases choose to rerecord vocals, most notably on "Some Kind of Fool" and perhaps Japan's apex, "Ghosts". This stung quite a few folks who really loved this material. Personally, I've no issue with this.

The limited edition release came with a bonus disc-- a four track single for "The Scent of Magnolia" containing a nearly pointless edit of the title track (trimming about 30 seconds off of it. The remaining three tracks include remixes of "The Scent of Magnolia" and "Brilliant Trees", but the real value in the bonus disc comes in the studio recording of Fripp/Sylvian piece "The Blinding Light of Heaven". A fierce live piece, it picks up a midtempo lope and an unusual grace that you'd never guess could have been from this song based on the live recordings released. If you can find it, it's a wortwhile pickup. The limited edition (which this is not) is distinguisable by its third disc.

Whether the 2 or 3 disc variant of this, "Everything and Nothing" is a superb overview of David Sylvian's vocal catalog. Highly recommended.

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review by: date: 2005-09-04 rating:
Very Good Sound, Very Good Track Selections, Very David Sylvian!
You either love or hate DS's music; you either get it or you don't. For those of you that do get it, this is a very good compilation that is very representative of his life's work to date and includes his time at Japan e.g. "Ghosts" as well as his collaborative work with e.g. Ruichi Sakamoto "Bamboo Houses".

These two tracks also happen to be my favourites but the other tracks are also very good and the track order makes for very smooth listening, so much so that for a newcomer, the album sounds very cohesive and is a good listen. DS has a very unique style and this is a very good album to get to get to know the man and his music. Recommended.

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review by: date: 2005-08-09 rating:
Take a Pill Andrew Strong
If you don't like the artist for whatever reason don't bother
with a review. David Sylvian is one of the most unique artists past or present. I love his work and really respect him as a musician and person for that matter. This compilation will not please everyone and is intended for "new" listeners as an introduction to David's talent, after all a true fan will already have these tracks found on his various cd's and other recordings.

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review by: date: 2004-03-03 rating:
A worthy buy, or is it?
I had a couple David Sylvian tracks here and there and I liked them very much so I figured this CD was a good place to start investigationg David's music. It's a double edge sword that this album feels like a consisant 2 cd release instead of a collection of 15yrs of musical releases. It's good in the fact that the styles of the songs don't feel disjointed or make radical changes. Overall the cds are calmy, mellow and sometimes very good. But the bad side to this is that I can't believe that a musical artist can't innovate their style over 15yrs of music.

Some of the best tracks on this collection are rare pieces that appear on compilation cds or released on somebody else's CD.

Overall this is a worthy buy as I really like David's baritone voice which reminds me very much of the Aluminum Group's vocals but with better guitar work and very nice strings and/or horns worked into the music.


review by: date: 2003-09-19 rating:
powerful vision
a magnificent collection of golden songs from some other universe - where art takes precedence over commerce and true vision rules.

I have a slight problem with the packaging of this work. Everytime I open it the flimsy plastic center pieces designed to keep each cd in place, which broke apart, cause the cds to fumble around and possibly get scratched. The manufacturers should have the same standards that the music executives building homes in Malibu do! Provide us something that helps us better store our music.

Sylvian is an incredible musician/artist who should not be faulted. His catalogue is highly impressive and thoroughly satisfying.

Enjoy, but make sure you quickly preserve the songs before the packaging destroys them!

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