Brilliant Trees

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Brilliant Trees
David Sylvian-Brilliant Trees (album cover).jpg
Studio album by David Sylvian
Released 25 June 1984
Recorded 1983–1984, London, Berlin
Genre Art rock
Length 39:37
Label Virgin
Producer David Sylvian, Steve Nye
David Sylvian chronology
Brilliant Trees
(1984)
Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities
(1985)Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities1985
Singles from Brilliant Trees
  1. "Red Guitar"
    Released: May 1984
  2. "The Ink in the Well"
    Released: August 1984
  3. "Pulling Punches"
    Released: October 1984
Alternative cover
1991 edition with Words with the Shaman
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4/5 stars[1]

Brilliant Trees is the first solo album by the British singer-songwriter David Sylvian, released in 1984.

History

Produced by Sylvian with Steve Nye, it was his first full length release after the break-up of his band Japan in late 1982 (though former Japan members Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri both appear on the album). The album peaked at no.4 in the UK, the highest chart position of Sylvian's career to date,[2] and contains his biggest solo hit, "Red Guitar", which reached no.17 on the UK Singles Chart. Additional musicians on the album included Danny Thompson on acoustic bass and Ryuichi Sakamoto on keyboards. Sylvian and Sakamoto had previously collaborated on the singles "Bamboo Houses" and "Forbidden Colours", and continued to collaborate at various points in their careers.

In 1991, the album was reissued in the US as Brilliant Trees / Words with the Shaman, which included the three part single "Words with the Shaman" as bonus tracks; these songs were also included on the cassette-only album Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities. In 2006, a remastered version of Brilliant Trees was released. The album cover was altered with a cropped photo of Sylvian for this release.

Track listing

All compositions by David Sylvian except where noted.

Side A
  1. "Pulling Punches" – 5:02
  2. "The Ink in the Well" – 4:30
  3. "Nostalgia" – 5:41
  4. "Red Guitar" – 5:09
Side B
  1. "Weathered Wall" (Sylvian, Jon Hassell) – 5:44
  2. "Backwaters" – 4:52
  3. "Brilliant Trees" (Sylvian, Hassell) – 8:39

Personnel

Production

  • Yuka Fujii - photography
  • David Sylvian - producer for Klangfarben Productions, mixing assistant
  • Steve Nye - record producer for Klangfarben Productions, sound engineer, audio mixing A1, A3 to B1, B3
  • P. Williams - sound engineer, mixing assistant mixer
  • Nigel Walker - mixing tracks A1, B2

References

  1. Hayes, Kevin. Brilliant Trees at AllMusic. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  2. David Sylvian (Official Charts Company)