DAMAGE - LIVE (WITH ROBERT FRIPP)

It dawned on David Sylvian (Japan) and Robert Fripp (King Crimson) that a creative partnership might be nice: 1993's excellent "The First Day" was the fruit. Putting together a high-quality touring band, they went on the road and "Damage" tells the tale. As well as live treatments of a big chunk of the studio album, several songs from Sylvian's "Gone To Earth" are included (Fripp collaborated on that under-rated 1986 album too). There is even a song from the (also under-rated) almost-Japan "Rain Tree Crow" (1991). Throughout, the musical energy ebbs and flows around Sylvian's languid voice; guitar textures are woven by Fripp and Michael Brook, while the rhythm section of Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto are limber and powerful (Fripp would work with them extensively in the later KC ProjeKcts). Despite the aching melancholy that characterises much of Sylvian's singing, this is not a grey album at all, more a day of many seasons. www.vinylconnection.com.au