| David Sylvian Perspectives Search Site David Sylvian Dvds @ amazon.com (direct link) David Sylvian Books @ amazon.com (direct link) Price: £24.99 if delivered to a UK address. Buy here. UK Official Video 1985. PAL video filmed in and around Tokyo in November 1984 with a Yuka Fujji designed sleeve. This short film of around 20 minutes was shot over 2 days in and around Tokyo, Japan with the soundtrack also by Sylvian and features the voice of Jean Cocteau. Unnumbered. (Virgin. VVC622). I would have loved to have seen the faces of the Virgin execs when they were presented with this for the first time. They had been given Alchemy and as wonderful as it was it was hardly going to challenge Duran Duran in the charts (though for me it is one of the greatest ambient album ever made - far more rewarding than most of Brian Eno's work but I digress). Those Virgin chieftains, sitting around in an office, hoping against hope that it would somehow be in any way commercial friendly, and then seeing the 20 minutes or so of shimmering buildings in Tokyo with a moody soundtrack punctuated with the voice of Jean Cocteau. We will never know what their initial reaction was but we can guess as they chose to release it in a strictly limited form, 2,000 plus a few unnumbered ones. And to this day it has never been released on Dvd - strange when you consider how much re-issuing Virgin have done on his back catalogue over the years. This is the classic cover and whenever I think of Steel Cathedrals in my mind's eye it is this cover I see. The re-release done in 1989 to coincide with the release of the mythical Weatherbox had a Russell Mills designed sleeve which I don't think is as powerful as the original or mirrors the short film in so faithful a way. Steel Cathedrals came out of a trip Sylvian took to Japan at the end of '84 in order to make a documentary about himself. He was supposed to write and direct everything. He wrote only one section which was documentary - the rest were of things that interested him. The most successful part was Steel Cathedrals. He took the soundtrack to Virgin and they weren't interested. He enquired as to whether they would be interested in releasing it if he did a vocal side to back up Steel Cathedrals. They agreed but he felt the vocal side didn't match. What he ended up with was a vocal side to an album, the Steel Cathedrals soundtrack, and the Shaman EP. The vocal material began to make up Gone to Earth. This short film was shot in two days of November 1984 in, and around the outskirts of, Tokyo, Japan. A large part of the music was completed during that same month and recorded over a period of three days. I later updated the material in London, in an attempt to elaborate on the theme started earlier in Japan, and to further improve the quality of the soundtrack. DAVID SYLVIAN, AUG' 85 Condition: used - very good. Cover has slight wear around the edges. Probaly won't work on US video players so check before buying. Plus will send a set of Sylvian postcards. Condition: used - very good. Cover has slight wear around the edges. Probaly won't work on US video players so check before buying. UK customers (delivered to a UK address) can pay via paypal. Outside UK please click here. This will be sent out with a set of 4 Sylvian postcards. Address: Lenin Imports E-mail if you would like to be kept up to date via e-mail on your order status or would like to do a bank transfer. This will be sent out with a set of 4 Sylvian postcards. Address: Lenin Imports E-mail if you would like to be kept up to date via e-mail on your order status or would like to do a bank transfer. David Sylvian Dvds @ amazon.com (direct link) David Sylvian Books @ amazon.com (direct link) Top of Page |
