Cheap Blemish (Music) (David Sylvian) Price

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Customer Reviews of Blemish

New Beginnings for Avant Garde
Elegant and sophisticated are probably the two words most commonly used to describe David Sylvian's timeless masterpiece, Secrets of the Beehive. This was a time when everything appeared to be coming together for him in his music. After the breakup of Japan (Sylvian's seminal new wave band), he became even further introspective and began to approach music from a different angle. Since that time, there have been many hits and misses throughout Sylvian's solo catalogue, but Secrets of the Beehive undoubtedly remains his strongest material yet. A lot has changed since the time of that recording, and Sylvian delivers one of his most experimental and challenging albums thus far with Blemish.

Utilizing experimental guitarist Derek Bailey and glitch expert Christian Fennesz, it's easy to see that their influence here is relentless in coaxing Sylvian to focus on a more "left-field" experience. The album begins with the title track "Blemish," a beautiful 13-minute song that highlights his distinct voice and emanates with the experimental style of both Fennesz and Bailey. Probably the best track here, things tend to go up and down throughout the rest of the album. It's just as much of a letdown in some parts as it is breathtaking in others. "The Good Son" and "How Little We Need To Be Happy" take the meaning of the word "improvisation" to the end of the world and hurl it over the edge. The guitar on these two songs is more distracting than anything. Just as that is said, things appear to come back into play with songs like "The Heart Knows Better," "Late Night Shopping," and "A Fire in the Forest." It is here that the focus is more congruent with what we've come to appreciate about Sylvian's previous work. Unfortunately, when the album is allowed to wander, I am left with the dissatisfying feeling that this could have been one of this year's most compelling pieces of music.

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"Life's for the taking, so they say. Take it away."
I for one would like to express my admiration for David Sylvian; he has enough respect for his audience to avoid recycling his past work, instead offering something surprisingly stark and somewhat impenetrable (at least initially). It seems some fans feel betrayed, screaming "where are the gorgeous, multi-layered melodies?!" I don't feel that way. As others have noted, Sylvain has delved into atonal territory before--some bits of "Rain Tree Crow", "Gone To Earth", "Pop Song" and so forth. There is melody here, though it's mostly supplied by the voice. And David's pipes have rarely sounded better, gaining a warmth with age that just wasn't there in his Japan days. Obviously this isn't music for the masses, but that's not the point. I guess I was lucky to have my head blown apart by Scott Walker's "Tilt" when I was fifteen years old; after a while, it stopped sounding so unbearably alien and paved the way for my move away from the mainstream. If not for Scott, I probably wouldn't be able to enjoy an album like "Blemish" for the great, difficult beast it is, while turning my back on the drivel that seems to have risen to epidemic levels. There are still living artists creating music that's vital, and for that I'm very thankful.

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Don't make this your first
I've listened to this a few times. It's basically David singing with somewhat annoying guitar loops repeating over and over again. The lyrics are kind of cool. If you are really into him, this might be one for you to pick up, but if not, try "gone to earth" or "dead bees" first.