The Good Son Vs the Only Daughter

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2007-07-24 rating:
Ahem...
What do you imagine when you hear the words "remixes" and "David Sylvian"? Well, it's hardly likely to be Disco Dave, I know. But maybe, like the "Darshan" remixes, a pleasantly ambient groove, perhaps. Think again.

A previous reviewer titles his review "easier on the ear..." (than the original). If that is true then gawd help the original.

This is like listening to 9 versions of "A Brief Conversation Ending In Divorce" with lyrics. Discordant and disageeable musical doodles, nothing more.

Okay, much as I love Dave's back catalogue, his albums always take a number of listenings before coming into their own. But this dirge? I don't feel encouraged to play it even twice.

What was he trying to do? He may be an artist not a pop star but honestly, who wants 9 variations of "The Scream" hanging on their wall?

I wouldn't recommend this mini album of remixes to anybody except the diehard fan. A total disappointment. Two stars is generous, believe me, and you can put those down to sentimental reasons.

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review by: parfait_amour date: 2005-06-21 rating:
More traditional than Blemish...
As many listeners to Blemish have found, the original had an extremely personal and apparantly unhappy foundation.
Its production meant decent tunes lost out to keeping faithful to raw emotion.

Never one to publish what is expected, David Sylvian gave us a sparse and challenging record; Here those songs have been reworked to mostly postive results, giving back more traditional tunes to accompany his distinctive voice.

Standout track for me is `How little we need`, which with the new arrangement really emphasises how weary his voice sounds.

Hopefully, Blemish proved to be cathartic and he can move on to an equally energised ,but more positive, future output.

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review by: stipesdoppleganger date: 2005-05-01 rating:
Challenging re-working of the Blemish album
I have a friend who finds my constant championing of David Sylvian highly amusing, viewing him as an indulgent morose narcissist wallowing in synthetic misery so naïve dolts like me can lap it slavishly up. And lap it up I invariably do. Somehow I don't think this remix album of Blemish is going to make him change his mind. Sylvians wonderful burr of a voice croons over a series of sparse arrangements utilising electronica and occasional "real" instrumentation. The result is 50 minutes of extremely challenging listening but one that rewards your patience and attention to detail.
Ryoji Ikeda, s version of "The Only Daughter" incorporates spectral trails of violin and viola with protean wisps of flute and French horn. A forlorn clarinet is interwoven throughout Burnt Friedman's remix of "Blemish" with occasional static crackles of guitar. "Every night is Wedding night" on the superb Sweet Billy Pilgrim version of "The Heart Knows Better" with its semi-industrial backing juxtaposing with soothing brushed chords. Music box chimes dominate Readymade FC, s "A Fire in the Forest" while "Late Night Shopping" remixed by Burnt Friedman juggles odd squirts of discordant noise with handclaps and backing vocals. Tatsuhiko Asano, s remix of "How Little We Need To Be Happy" at times is faithful to the original, but at other times reminds me of Talk Talk's " Laughingstock" in it's random but compelling use of ephemeral instrumentation. There is another remix of "The Only Daughter" by Jan Bang and Erik Honore with lovely fluctuating trumpet and bizarre electronic noodles. The extra version of "Blemish" by Akira Rabelais" is over ten minutes long with quavering layers of electronic resonance and Sylvians vocals high in the mix. It sounds beamed in from another dimension with its implacable alien soundscapes.
The only version that doesn't quite gel for me is Yoshirhiro Hanno,s remix of" The Good Son" which is all over the place with tangled clumps of guitar and spongy thuds of electronic percussion but every thing else is madly gripping and an intangible narrative runs through this whole album which makes it better listened to in one sitting .
This may be a device, as is often the case with remix albums to keep the punters happy till Sylvians next work becomes available, but on the evidence of The Only Daughter there may well be a clamouring for more re-workings of his back catalogue. I'd love to see what they could do "Secrets of the Beehive". That would cause, if you can forgive the weedy pun, a real buzz.

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review by: andyjones30 date: 2005-02-09 rating:
Easier on the ear than the original
There were some Sylvian fans who though that "Blemish" was self-indulgent and unlistenable. I disagree strongly with that sentiment, but can understand it. This album of remixes is much easier to listen to, while keeping in the spirit of the original. It's wonderful stuff, an ideal companion to "Blemish". Buy it, and buy it now.


review by: Paul date: 2005-02-08 rating:
Blemished Ears (Blemishless music).
Sylvian has personally commisioned 9 remixes from stars in IDM and electronica, to create one of the most staggering remix albums I've heard for a long while (I usually don't deliver such hyperbole, but in this instance I have to).

Where Bjork's
" Telegram " failed, here sylvian's conception and openness to electronica has been right on the money for the spare electronic narratives to be recontextulised in completely different ways. Sylvian's "Blemish" was released two years to universal critical acclaim, but here, the songs are completely remoulded, as if each piece operates on new melodic rules. Tatsuhiko Asano's remix of " How little we need to be Happy, is in particular mind-blowing, taking in jazzy electronic twists and turns of the voice, while Burnt Friedman scores well with his take on Blemish. Just buy it and view it as an equal companion piece to Sylvian's masterpiece.

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