DAVID SYLVIAN - Red Guitar

David Sylvian’s early solo career (Forbidden Colours, Red Guitar, River Man, Orpheus, Brightness Falls) David Sylvian’s solo career got off to an auspicious start with the help of former Yellow Magic Orchestra member Ryuichi Sakamoto. Sakamoto had written the musical theme for Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, a World War II film in which he starred opposite David Bowie, and he needed vocals and lyrics for it. What Sakamoto and Sylvian created together was an instant classic, with Sylvian playing beautifully off of Sakamoto’s Satie-inspired melody with lyrics of spiritual and romantic yearning. The track solidified Sylvian’s position in the world of British pop music. From that same MOJO interview, he said, “It opened a door. I thought, ‘OK, I’m ready,’ and I started writing Brilliant Trees.” As he began composing that solo album, he hewed closer to a pop aesthetic, beginning with “Red Guitar,” an upbeat tune featuring Sakamoto on piano. ut as the first chapter of his solo career continued, he balanced out his more easily accessible work with experimental compositions. Sometimes that dichotomy was as blatant as with his second full-length Gone To Earth, a double LP that put slow-moving, rapturous pop songs like “River Man” on one disc and a set of ambient instrumentals on the second. Sylvian combined the two elements on follow-up Secrets of the Beehive where even the sea shanty-like “Orpheus” is cut through with droning strings and graceful synth tones. Throughout the ’80s Sylvian cultivated creative relationships with a flock of other forward-thinking artists, including former Can bassist Holger Czukay, Be-Bop Deluxe leader Bill Nelson, and jazz musicians Kenny Wheeler and David Torn. King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp even asked Sylvian to join his band. When that offer was rejected, they instead collaborated on The First Day, an album of loud, funk-infused rock that includes the Hendrix-inspired “Brightness Falls.”