Everything & Nothing
A serial collaborator,Everything & Nothingdraws material from the range of David Sylvian recordings, from 1991'sRain Tree Crow(withJapanmembers Richard Barbieri and Steve Jansen) toRyuichi Sakamoto's 1986 album,Heartbeat, to his own '87 touchstone,Secrets of the Beehive. In a wonderful coup for devotees, this collection of singles, live recordings, and oddities also features the complete version of the lost Japan tune "Some Kind of Fool," intended forGentlemen Take Poloraids. However, as so much of what Sylvian achieved with Japan was built on artifice, it's refreshing to hear him in a stripped-down setting. The opening "The Scent of Magnolia"--part electronica, part rock--glides with a subtlety that puts many practitioners in both fields to shame, while "Albuquerque" sustains a gorgeous balance between conceptual boldness and engaging melodiousness.Everything & Nothingis a good way to sample and celebrate a shape-shifter such as Sylvian as he ducks in and out of focus, between rugged ballads (the infamous "Ghosts"), avant-garde jazz ("God's Monkey"), and glossy pop.--Maxine Kabuubi