Brilliant Trees

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Brilliant Trees
Brilliant Trees cover
Studio album by David Sylvian
Released 1984
Recorded 1983-1984
Genre Rock
Length 44:34
Label Virgin
Producer David Sylvian, Steve Nye
Professional reviews
David Sylvian chronology
Brilliant Trees
(1984)		 Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities
(1985)
Alternate cover
1991 edition with Words with the Shaman
1991 edition with Words with the Shaman

Brilliant Trees is David Sylvian's first solo album, released in 1984. Produced by Steve Nye and David Sylvian, the album peaked at no.4 in the UK, the highest position of Sylvian's career to date. It also contained his biggest solo hit, "Red Guitar", a #17 hit on the UK Singles Chart. Additional musicians on this record included Danny Thompson on acoustic bass and Ryuichi Sakamoto on keyboards. Sylvian and Sakamoto had previously collaborated on the singles "Bamboo Houses" (1982) and "Forbidden Colours" (1983).

The record itself revealed a remarkable change of direction for Sylvian. A musical palette containing extracts of Jazz, Ambient and radio noise, to lyrics influenced directly from Sylvian's reading of Jean-Paul Sartre.

In 1991, the album was reissued as Brilliant Trees / Words with the Shaman, containing all of the Brilliant Trees tracks plus the three parts from the 1985 12" single/cassette Words with the Shaman, also included on the album Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities.

[edit] Track listing

Side A:

  1. "Pulling Punches" (David Sylvian) – 5:02
  2. "The Ink in the Well" (Sylvian) – 4:30
  3. "Nostalgia" (Sylvian) – 5:41
  4. "Red Guitar" (Sylvian) – 5:09

Side B:

  1. "Weathered Wall" (Sylvian, Jon Hassell) – 5:44
  2. "Backwaters" (Sylvian) – 4:52
  3. "Brilliant Trees" (Sylvian, Hassell) – 8:39

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Production