Tuesday 23 August 2016

#78 DAVID SYLVIAN - Hammersmith Odeon, London 1988 (Flac)

Hammersmith Odeon,
London, England.
30th May 1988
Soundboard recording


 

The best available recording from the 'In Praise of the Shamans - an 80 day tour of the World' and one that is well known by fans. It is a show that deserves wider recognition, if you appreciate Roxy Music, David Bowie, Talk Talk or the Blue Nile, then this is a bootleg you will enjoy. An extremely high quality and classic performance, the brass instrumentation is inspired and fans of jazz will surely find something to savour in Mark Isham's haunting delivery.

In the late 1980's David Sylvian stopped making solo records and became more interested in collaborative work than in his own music, most notably with Holger Czukay (Can) and Robert Fripp (King Crimson). He underwent a personal crisis that had gathered momentum during this tour. He found himself unable to work alone and sought help through working with others. After professional help and meeting Ingrid Chavez, star of Prince's Graffiti Bridge, who would become his wife, he began working on his next solo album. The follow up to 1987's 'Secrets of the Beehive', it would finally be released in 1999, titled 'Dead Bees On A Cake'. 

This live set encompasses four tracks apiece from David’s four solo albums to date, including the complete 1985 single ‘Words With The Shaman’ beginning with the first two parts and closing the show appropriately with the final part ‘Awakening’. Mark Isham contributes a track ‘The Grand Parade’ from his new album ‘Castalia’.  This bootleg is a perfect snapshot of Sylvian's first solo live tour. I listened to it regularly for months, at the same time exploring David's solo catalogue. I owned two Japan LP's bought on release in the early 80's and like many never listened to his solo work, big, big mistake. If you enjoy this may I recommend your next audio experience to be the previously mentioned official releases. After these there is much more to explore backwards or forwards, from one of the most individual and under-rated back catalogues in popular music.

Disc One:
01. Ancient Evening (8:09)
02. Incantation (5:14)
03. Orpheus (5:04)
04. Before The Bullfight (9:24)
05. Taking The Veil (5:02)
06. Weathered Wall (5:51)
07. The Boy With The Gun (5:57)
08. Riverman (11:36)
09. The Grand Parade (Mark Isham) (4:32)
10. band introduction (1:29)
11. The Ink In The Well (5:05)
12. Nostalgia (6:52)

Disc Two:
01. Forbidden Colours/Backwaters (5:41)
02. Brilliant Trees (12:08)
03. Steel Cathedrals (8:15)
04. Let The Happiness In (7:37)
05. Gone To Earth (9:22)
06. Awakening (5:44)

Musicians:
David Sylvian - keyboards, guitar and vocals
Steve Jansen - drums and percussion
Richard Barbieri - keyboards
David Torn - lead guitar
Ian Maidman - bass and percussion
Robby Aceto - guitars and keyboards
Mark Isham - flügelhorn, trumpet, soprano sax and keyboards

The source files were affected by a lot of saturation clicks/crackles due to a non perfect analog to digital transfer process. These issues and some minor problems were repaired. This is the rdwm 2015 revision and the best source of this sublime show.


6 comments:

  1. Hello - if you're still out there. The first part of this (tracks 01 - 09) seem to have been 'officially' released on Spotify. I haven't heard this bootleg so I'm only going by track order, and the fact hat the Spotify release is a live recording. Link here: https://open.spotify.com/album/62npzTRj5AzDtTxJE9oWVY

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your input Member_D.
      When the blog started, streaming and Spotify were somewhat minor players in music distribution. As far as I know the show has not been released on a physical format (I could be wrong but I don't have the time to check everything, and as well as streaming there are numerous record store day special releases
      to also consider) Spotify streams are lossy, so the included 'bootleg' is lossless and therefore not as compressed sounding, plus you get the complete show. My views on the butchering of bootlegs by record companies are well known to regular readers. For those that don't If record companies etc. are going to release something then ffs release the lot - not just a few tracks here and there.

      Delete
    2. Agreed, and I doubt that Spottyfly got the artist's permission to release this (witness also the "artwork"), so God knows how it happens.
      Where can I get this bootleg btw?

      Delete
    3. I think the idea is that they pay the artists royalties per the amount of streams viewed. Thom Yorke is a high profile critic as he says are artists are n ot adequately rewarded. So you can imagine that new artists perhaps make next to nothing on it.
      The latest post will aid anyone looking for the best quality boots

      Delete
  2. Hello Guys ! where is the link to download this awesome concert? thanks

    ReplyDelete

>