Weatherbox (album)

Weatherbox is a five-CD limited-edition box set by David Sylvian.^[1] Only 5000 copies were produced in 1989 and they quickly sold out. A Japanese version was also produced.^[2] The set comprises Sylvian's first four albums: Brilliant Trees, Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities, Gone to Earth and Secrets of the Beehive. The "Gone To Earth" discs were remastered for this edition, but the sound quality of the other albums is identical to the original discs.

For this release, each album was given entirely new artwork with an elemental theme. Because Gone to Earth featured one disc with vocals and the second without, the second disc was retitled Gone to Earth Instrumental for this set. (At the time of release, the full 10 track version of this disc was only available on CD within this box outside Japan, and would remain so until 2003.) Alchemy's subtitle, "An Index of Possibilities", was removed from this set. The song "Preparations for a Journey" from Alchemy was removed, despite being part of the original album, and replaced by two tracks issued as B-sides to the "Pop Song" single. (See below.) Also, the re-recorded 'Forbidden Colours' (1984 b-side version) included on the original CD of 'Secrets Of The Beehive' was removed.

The art for Weatherbox was designed by Russell Mills and Dave Coppenhall, and included a poster featuring Sylvian's discography on one side and art by Russell Mills on the other. The Japanese box came out with an additional 54-page booklet designed by Shinro Otake and Katsuhiro Kinoshita. All the lyrics are printed both in Japanese and English, with liner notes by Steve Lake and photos by Russell Mills and Alistar Thain.

Track listing

All compositions by David Sylvian except where noted.

Disc 1: Tree: Brilliant Trees

1. "Pulling Punches" – 5:01
2. "The Ink in the Well" – 4:29
3. "Nostalgia" – 5:39
4. "Red Guitar" – 5:07
5. "Weathered Wall" (Sylvian/Jon Hassell) – 5:40
6. "Backwaters" – 4:49
7. "Brilliant Trees" (Sylvian/Hassell) – 8:35

Disc 2: Stone: Alchemy

1. Words with the Shaman - "Pt.1 Ancient Evening" (Sylvian/Hassell) – 5:15
2. Words with the Shaman - "Pt.2 Incantation" (Sylvian/Hassell) – 3:29
3. Words with the Shaman - "Pt.3 Awakening - Songs from the Treetops" (Sylvian/Hassell/Steve Jansen) – 5:18
4. "The Stigma of Childhood (Kin)" – 8:30
5. "A Brief Conversation Ending in Divorce" – 3:31
6. "Steel Cathedrals" (Sylvian/Ryuichi Sakamoto) – 18:58

Disc 3: Earth: Gone to Earth

1. "Taking the Veil" – 4:40
2. "Laughter and Forgetting" – 2:40
3. "Before the Bullfight" – 9:45
4. "Gone to Earth" (Robert Fripp/Sylvian) – 3:01
5. "Wave" – 9:13
6. "Riverman" – 4:53
7. "Silver Moon" – 6:07

Disc 4: Water: Gone to Earth Instrumental

1. "The Healing Place" – 5:27
2. "Answered Prayers" (Bill Nelson/Sylvian) – 3:09
3. "Where the Railroad Meets the Sea" – 2:51
4. "The Wooden Cross" – 4:59
5. "Silver Moon over Sleeping Steeples" – 2:21
6. "Camp Fire: Coyote Country" (Fripp/Sylvian) – 3:50
7. "A Bird of Prey Vanishes into a Bright Blue Cloudless Sky" – 3:15
8. "Home" – 4:30
9. "Sunlight Seen Through Towering Trees" – 2:59
10. "Upon This Earth" (Fripp/Sylvian) – 6:24

Disc 5: Light: Secrets of the Beehive

1. "September" – 1:17
2. "The Boy with the Gun" – 5:18
3. "Maria" – 2:50
4. "Orpheus" – 4:48
5. "The Devil's Own" – 3:11
6. "When Poets Dreamed of Angels" – 4:45
7. "Mother and Child" – 3:12
8. "Let the Happiness In" – 5:33
9. "Waterfront" – 3:22

Promo disc

A CD sampler was released to promote the box set and is now itself a collectors item.^[3] It is housed in a slip-cased slimline jewel case and is notable for containing "Pop Song", a song that was not included in the box set itself, but released as a stand-alone single around the same time. It was later included on the compilation Everything and Nothing.

1. "Pop Song" – 4:30
2. "Pulling Punches" – 5:01
3. "Red Guitar" – 5:07
4. "Taking the Veil" – 4:40
5. "Orpheus" – 4:48

References