Camphor [Limited Edition]

David Sylvian | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 18, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Limited Edition
• Label: Virgin Records Us
• ASIN: B000063KG8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #142,213 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. All My Mother's Names

2. Red Earth (As Summertime Ends)

3. Answered Prayers

4. The Song Which Gives The Key To Perfection

5. New Moon At Red Deer Wallow

6. Praise (pratah Smarami)

7. Wave (Version)

8. Mother And Child

9. Plight (The Spiralling Of Winter Ghosts) Detail

10. Upon This Earth

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Plight (The Spiralling Of Winter Ghosts)

2. Mutability (A New Beginning Is In The Offing) Detail

3. Premonition (Giant Empty Iron Vessel)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good overview of David Sylvian's instrumental work., August 13, 2007

By 

Michael Stack (North Chelmsford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Camphor (Audio CD)

When David Sylvian's twenty year relationship with Virgin Records came to an end, he delivered two compilations to them drawn from his catalog, a vocal compilation ("Everything and Nothing") and an instrumental one ("Camphor"). Both were initially released as limited editions with bonus discs and eventually saw wider release without the bonus disc. Together, they provide a fantastic overview of the bulk of Sylvian's work, and while some of his decisions (particularly with respect to the Japan material) may irk some of his longtime fans, the value of these sets-- both to the unitiated and old hands, is difficult to estimate.

"Camphor" is the instrumental piece, a single disc compilation of mostly instrumental works drawn from Sylvian's solo catalog and work with Rain Tree Crow. Along the way, there's a pair of songs not before commercially available (both were released on a CD Sylvian sold on tour the year before this came out) and three remixes.

The CD paints a fairly interesting picture of Sylvian as an instrumentalist-- right away it's pretty clear this eschews the usual ambient atmosphere with "All of My Mother's Names", a feature for guitarist Marc Ribot from 1999's "Dead Bees on a Cake". Ribot coughs up a churning freak of a solo that defies expectation and predictability and still, nearly 8 years after I first heard it, I'm in awe of the piece. But it's not ambient, and while the album will drift in an out of ambient sounds (i.e. "Answered Prayers", "A Brief Conversation Ending in Divorce"), the real beauty of the record is the breadth of diversity of the work on it, be it the rolling funk of Rain Tree Crow's "Big Wheels in Shanty Town", the traditional ambient sounds of "The Healing Place" or the noise excursion of the title track.

Of the new songs, "The Song Which Gives the Key to Perfection" is a Hindu chant gently delivered by Sylvian (and his only real vocal on the record) over a mild drone and electric piano. It works out to be a lovely piece, admittedly perhaps not everyone's (including my) cup of tea, but it's a nice enough listen. "Camphor" mixes a traditional ambient sound with what processed effects and noise and what sounds like someone spinning a radio dial. It's quite an intriguing performance, although admittedly some of its strength is in wrapping up in 3 minutes-- had it gone on long, I could see it getting annoying quickly.

The remixes are interesting-- two of them are remixes of vocal pieces-- "Wave" from "Gone to Earth" essentially ends up being presented as throbbing synths and Robert Fripp's superlative guitar playing (his performance on "Wave" is some of his best) and works nicely on its own. "Mother and Child" is equally intriguing, replacing Sylvian's vocal with a superb trumpet performance by Nils Petter Molvaer but otherwise largely leaving the original alone, although it seems Ryuichi Sakamoto's Cecil Taylor-esque soloing comes a bit more to the fore. Again, it works fantastically and proves quite effecting and powerful. The third piece is a slice out of one of his works with Holgar Czukay-- "Plight" gets edited from over 15 minutes to under 3-- the little pieces works ok, but it's more like an interlude than anything else.

Like any compilation, I could certainly argue the track listing (the inclusion of "Praise", a chant by Sylvian's guru and the notable lack of the stunning "Gone to Earth" piece, "Camp Fire: Coyote Country", which flattens me everything I hear it), but all in all, like its counterpart "Everything and Nothing" served for Sylvian's vocal work, "Camphor" is a fine compilation of his instrumental work. The limited edition bonux disc contains remixes of three pieces from the Sylvian/Czukay albums-- "Plight" and "Premonition" both get full treatments whereas "Mutability" gets trimmed down to just over 5 minutes. I listened to "Plight and Premonition" recently and quite honestly didn't note dramatic differences with the remix,but "Mutability", originally clocking in at over 20 minutes, was a piece I could never deal with because it couldn't sustain my interest, benefits from conciseness. Still, the bonus disc is likely only of interest to diehards and it's probably not necessary to seek it out.

Regardless of edition, for those new to Sylvian's work, "Camphor" is a fine introduction to his instrumental side during his tenure with Virgin. For older fans, this set may not be as valuable, but the music contained within is superb.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I think I've been here before..., August 20, 2002

By 

Matthew Davidson (Cambridge MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Camphor (Audio CD)

Aaaaarrrrrrggghh. I can't believe I blithely purchase everything with David Sylvian's name on it. With the exception of a remix or two (Wave is nice, but did I really need another version?) and 'The Song Which Gives The Key To Perfection', I already have everything from other sources. Conceptually, it doesn't even work as a collection because there is no flow or consistent tone to the pieces. Ambient here, vocal there, experimental after that. Bleah.

In the same purchase from Amazon, I also ordered JBK 'Playing in a Room With People', so it was kind of a double whammy for me. Now I have 'Big Wheels In Shanty Town' on three CDs. If JBK and Sylvian love this piece so much to release it three times, perhaps this is proof that they should record another album together.

After Everything and Nothing, Approaching Silence, and now Camphor, I'm ready for some new music.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not much bang for the buck, November 3, 2002

By 

Rese Jamora-Garceau - See all my reviews

This review is from: Camphor (Audio CD)

I should have heeded the reviews instead of buying every compilation Sylvian puts out. Guess I liked Everything and Nothing so much I thought this would feature a good mix of old and new instrumentals, plus a lot of remixes. Boy, was I wrong.

There's very little new here, aside from slightly reworked, prettier versions of Wave, a more accessibly jazzy Mother and Child, and The Healing Place. And that's it, out of 13 songs! Oh, yes, there's a new Indian praise hymn The Song Which Gives the Key to Perfection, and Camphor, which Sylvian used as the introductory music to his live concert tour this year. But if you bought the souvenir tour CD, you already own those tracks.

Not to mention the bonus CD features Plight and Premonition, not one of my favorites among Sylvian's admittedly spotty instrumental work.

If you're a diehard Sylvian fan like I am, you'll find all the rest of the songs from this compilation on Rain Tree Crow, Dead Bees On a Cake, Plight and Premonition, Flux and Mutability, and the instrumental side of Gone to Earth.

All I can say is, this is Sylvian's most disappointing output to date. Heed my advice: save your money for Everything and Nothing or the real album to come-- something I should have done.