Camphor

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Limited Edtion 2002 Compilation of Instrumental Tracks from the Former Lead Singer of Japan and Rain Tree Crow. 'wave', 'plight' and 'upon this Earth' were all Newly Remixed by Sylvian. 'red Earth', 'new Moon at Deer Wallow' and 'big Wheels in Shanty Town' were Originally Recorded by Rain Tree Crow. The Bonus Disc Includes Three Tracks Originally by Sylvian and Holger Czukay, Newly Remixed by Sylvian.

Camphor,David Sylvian,Virgin Records,Experimental Rock,Pop,Popular Music,Prog-Rock/Art Rock,Rock,Rock/Pop

Camphor

Tracks:

All My Mother's Names
Red Earth (As Summertime Ends)
Answered Prayers
The Song Which Gives The Key To Perfection
New Moon At Red Deer Wallow
Praise (pratah Smarami)
Wave (Version)
Mother And Child
Plight (The Spiralling Of Winter Ghosts) Detail
Upon This Earth
Big Wheels In Shanty Town
The Healing Place
Camphor
A Brief Conversation Ending In Divorce

Tracks:

Plight (The Spiralling Of Winter Ghosts)
Mutability (A New Beginning Is In The Offing) Detail
Premonition (Giant Empty Iron Vessel)

Album Details

Limited Edtion 2002 Compilation of Instrumental Tracks from the Former Lead Singer of Japan and Rain Tree Crow. 'wave', 'plight' and 'upon this Earth' were all Newly Remixed by Sylvian. 'red Earth', 'new Moon at Deer Wallow' and 'big Wheels in Shanty Town' were Originally Recorded by Rain Tree Crow. The Bonus Disc Includes Three Tracks Originally by Sylvian and Holger Czukay, Newly Remixed by Sylvian.

Customer Reviews:

Perfection on at least one track.......2003-08-08

"Everything and Nothing" is a much better Sylvian compilation, but "The Song that Gives the Key to Perfection" is nearly worth the price of this set alone. It's a stunning, haunting, spacious setting of a Hindu sacred text, with bare, exquisite accompaniment. I listened to this track after the death of a good friend and gained much solace from it. It's as sincere and as profound a track as you will find in modern music.

Not much bang for the buck.......2002-11-03

I should have heeded the reviews instead of buying every compilation Sylvian puts out. Guess I liked Everything and Nothing so much I thought this would feature a good mix of old and new instrumentals, plus a lot of remixes. Boy, was I wrong.

There's very little new here, aside from slightly reworked, prettier versions of Wave, a more accessibly jazzy Mother and Child, and The Healing Place. And that's it, out of 13 songs! Oh, yes, there's a new Indian praise hymn The Song Which Gives the Key to Perfection, and Camphor, which Sylvian used as the introductory music to his live concert tour this year. But if you bought the souvenir tour CD, you already own those tracks.

Not to mention the bonus CD features Plight and Premonition, not one of my favorites among Sylvian's admittedly spotty instrumental work.

If you're a diehard Sylvian fan like I am, you'll find all the rest of the songs from this compilation on Rain Tree Crow, Dead Bees On a Cake, Plight and Premonition, Flux and Mutability, and the instrumental side of Gone to Earth.

All I can say is, this is Sylvian's most disappointing output to date. Heed my advice: save your money for Everything and Nothing or the real album to come-- something I should have done.

I think I've been here before..........2002-08-21

Aaaaarrrrrrggghh. I can't believe I blithely purchase everything with David Sylvian's name on it. With the exception of a remix or two (Wave is nice, but did I really need another version?) and 'The Song Which Gives The Key To Perfection', I already have everything from other sources. Conceptually, it doesn't even work as a collection because there is no flow or consistent tone to the pieces. Ambient here, vocal there, experimental after that. Bleah.

In the same purchase from Amazon, I also ordered JBK 'Playing in a Room With People', so it was kind of a double whammy for me. Now I have 'Big Wheels In Shanty Town' on three CDs. If JBK and Sylvian love this piece so much to release it three times, perhaps this is proof that they should record another album together.

After Everything and Nothing, Approaching Silence, and now Camphor, I'm ready for some new music.

Good........2002-08-16

The remixes are better than the originals. I don't see this as a failed ambient compilation at all. I would be bored if it were all ambient. Also, I like tracks where Sylvian doesn't sing once in a while. We need more of the yoga chants, too.

Messing with the goods.......2002-07-11

An ok but not stellar introduction to Sylvian's instrumental work. Another reviewer tore this as not succeeding as an ambient collection -- since several of the tracks are far from "ambient" this is not surprising. Perhaps, if Sylvian had stuck to a purely ambient retrospective this would have worked better. As it is, he has co-joined the squawk of his Miles-as-Pimp-era composition All My Mother's Names with serene and often beautifully woven pieces like Answered Prayers and Plight, and thrown in some of his arty but annoying stuff for good measure (Camphor, A Brief Conversation). The instrumental takes on songs are fine, and again I'm reminded what a phenomenal album the Rain Tree Crow project produced, but somehow it doesn't all hang together and there isn't much justification for material like The Song Which Gives the Key to Perfection when so much other material is around. Interested listeners would be better directed to some of the source material: Flux and Mutability is readily available as a budget item, the second half of Gone To Earth is hard to find and expensive but contains the best encapsulation of Eno's music for films next to the master himself, and the Rain Tree Crow album is superb.

Average customer rating:

Camphor
David Sylvian
Manufacturer: EMI Int'l
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | New Age | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Progressive Rock | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

New Age | Imports | Stores | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000063KG7
Release Date: 2002-06-03

Tracks:

All Of My Mother's Names
Red Earth (As Summertime Ends)
Answered Prayers
The Song Which Goves The Key To Perfection
new Moon At Red Deer Wallow
Praise (Pratah Smarami)
Wave
Mother And Child
Plight
Upon This Earth
Big Wheels In Shanty Town
The Healing Place
Camphor
A Brief Conversation Ending In Divorce

Album Details

2002 Compilation of Instrumental Tracks from the Former Lead Singer of Japan and Rain Tree Crow. 'wave', 'plight' and 'upon this Earth' were all Newly Remixed by Sylvian. 'red Earth', 'new Moon at Deer Wallow' and 'big Wheels in Shanty Town' were Originally Recorded by Rain Tree Crow.

Average customer rating:

The best composer ever

Sviridov: Chorus Concertos

Manufacturer: Russian Compact Disc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000004AQB
Release Date: 1995-12-12

Tracks:

Pushkin's Garland. Conserto For Choir On Verses: Winter Morning
Pushkin's Garland. Conserto For Choir On Verses: My Sweetheart
Pushkin's Garland. Conserto For Choir On Verses: Mary
Pushkin's Garland. Conserto For Choir On Verses: Echo
Pushkin's Garland. Conserto For Choir On Verses: Grecian Feast
Pushkin's Garland. Conserto For Choir On Verses: Musk And Camphor
Pushkin's Garland. Conserto For Choir On Verses: Reveille
Pushkin's Garland. Conserto For Choir On Verses: Natasha
Pushkin's Garland. Conserto For Choir On Verses: Raise Thee, Timid One
Pushkin's Garland. Conserto For Choir On Verses: Magpie Chatter
Concerto To The Memory Of A.A. Yurlov: Weeping
Concerto To The Memory Of A.A. Yurlov: Parting
Concerto To The Memory Of A.A. Yurlov: Choral
Three Choral Pieces Of The Music To A.K. Tolstoy's Drama 'Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich': Prayer
Three Choral Pieces Of The Music To A.K. Tolstoy's Drama 'Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich': Love Is Sacred
Three Choral Pieces Of The Music To A.K. Tolstoy's Drama 'Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich': Poem Of Confession
'Ikon' To Words By Alexander Blok: 'Ikon' To Words

Customer Reviews:

The best composer ever.......2002-01-18

I like Stravinsky, Rachmaninov, Mozart, Gershwin, but Sviridov is the best. It is so depressing that people in the west know nothing about him. The best composer ever!!