Brilliant Trees

Brilliant Trees
Studio album by David Sylvian
Released	25 June 1984
Recorded	1983–1984, London, Berlin
Genre	Art pop
Length	39:37
Label	Virgin
Producer	David Sylvian, Steve Nye
David Sylvian chronology
Brilliant Trees (1984) Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities (1985)
Singles from Brilliant Trees
"Red Guitar" Released: May 1984 "The Ink in the Well" Released: August 1984 "Pulling Punches" Released: October 1984
Alternative cover
2003 remastered edition

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Smash Hits	[1]
Allmusic	[2]

Brilliant Trees is the first solo album by the British singer-songwriter David Sylvian, released in 1984. The album peaked at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry for sales in excess of 100,000 copies.

History

Produced by Sylvian with Steve Nye, it was his first full-length release after the break-up of his band Japan in late 1982 (though former Japan members Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri both appear on the album). The album peaked at no.4 in the UK, the highest chart position of Sylvian's career to date,^[3] and contains his biggest solo hit, "Red Guitar", which reached no.17 on the UK Singles Chart. In 1994, ten years after its release, the album was certified Gold by the BPI for sales in excess of 100,000 copies.^[4]

Additional musicians on the album included Danny Thompson on acoustic bass and Ryuichi Sakamoto on keyboards. Sylvian and Sakamoto had previously collaborated on the singles "Bamboo Houses" and "Forbidden Colours", and continued to collaborate at various points in their careers.

In 1991, the album was reissued in the US as Brilliant Trees / Words with the Shaman, which included the three part single "Words with the Shaman" as bonus tracks; these songs were also included on the cassette-only album Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities. In 2003, a remastered version of Brilliant Trees was released. The album cover was altered with a cropped photo of Sylvian for this release.

Track listing

All compositions by David Sylvian except where noted.

Side A

1. "Pulling Punches" – 5:02
2. "The Ink in the Well" – 4:30
3. "Nostalgia" – 5:41
4. "Red Guitar" – 5:09

Side B

1. "Weathered Wall" (Sylvian, Jon Hassell) – 5:44
2. "Backwaters" – 4:52
3. "Brilliant Trees" (Sylvian, Hassell) – 8:39

Personnel

• David Sylvian - lead vocals, guitar, piano (treated), tapes, synthesizer, percussion instruments
• Steve Jansen - drums, synthesizer, percussion
• Holger Czukay - French horn, voice, guitar, dictaphone.
• Wayne Braithwaite - bass guitar tracks A1, A4
• Ronny Drayton - guitar tracks A1, A4
• Richard Barbieri - synthesizer track A1, B1
• Danny Thompson - double bass track A2
• Kenny Wheeler - flugelhorn tracks A2, A3
• Phil Palmer - guitar tracks A2, A3
• Steve Nye - synthesizer tracks A3, A4
• Ryuichi Sakamoto - synthesizer, piano track A4, B1, B3
• Mark Isham - trumpet track A1, A4
• Jon Hassell - trumpet B1, B3

Production

• Yuka Fujii - photography
• David Sylvian - producer for Klangfarben Productions, mixing assistant
• Steve Nye - record producer for Klangfarben Productions, sound engineer, audio mixing A1, A3 to B1, B3
• P. Williams - sound engineer, mixing assistant mixer
• Nigel Walker - mixing tracks A1, B2

References

1. Rimmer, Dave (7 June 1984). "Album Reviews". Smash Hits. EMAP Metro. 6 (12): 19.
2. Hayes, Kevin. Brilliant Trees at AllMusic. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
3. David Sylvian (Official Charts Company)
4. British Phonographic Industry online database Archived 2013-02-06 at WebCite