BRILLIANT TREES

This is David Sylvian's debut and he has a couple of former members of his old band JAPAN helping him out, namely Richard Barbieri and Steve Jansen. Cool to see Holger Czukay from CAN helping out as well with French horn, guitar and affects. I will say right off the top that this isn't nearly as good as "Secrets Of the Beehive" where I really think it he found his sound. There are songs here though that made me think of that album.

"Pulling Punches" is my least favourite because it's so very eighties sounding. It's uptempo and kind of funky at times. "The Ink In The Well" is more relaxed. Some prominant double bass in this one. Acoustic guitar stands out and we get some flugelhorn before 3 minutes. "Nostalgia" reminds me of "Secrets Of The Beehive" with that atmosphere and great song writing.

"Red Guitar" opens with drums, bass and guitar as vocals join in then piano. Trumpet 3 1/2 minutes in. "Weathered Wall" opens with slow but heavy drums as Barbieri comes in on synths. Vocals 1 1/2 minutes in. Some good atmosphere in this one. "Backwaters" features more of that excellent atmosphere that recalls "Secrets of the Beehive". Drums after a minute followed by vocals. "Brilliant Trees" is laid back with vocals and trumpet. I'll again mention the atmosphere that makes this sound so good, much like many of those NO MAN records.

So a good album that seems to be lacking what made "Secrets Of The Beehive" so great.