Brilliant Trees was recorded August 1983 at Hansa in Berlin, and over about 6 weeks in London at the end of 1983 and the beginning of 1984. With the majority of vocal overdubs completed at The Church Studios in Crouch End, Sylvian and Nye then relocated to AIR Studios to begin mixing.[5]
Lyrically, the album includes references to writers, thinkers and artistic figures who were influencing Sylvian at the time, including Jean-Paul Sartre, Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau. For instance, the song "The Ink in the Well" references Cocteau's film The Blood of a Poet (1932) and Sartre's novel The Age of Reason (1945). Many of the lyrics also express Sylvian's searching explorations of spirituality in different forms.
For the recording of the album Sylvian decided to work with musicians he respected as a dedicated band, tailoring the arrangements around their involvement and giving them each a specific role, rather than hiring less passionate session musicians. A huge fan of Holger Czukay's studio album Movies (1979), Sylvian also invited Czukay to contribute to the album. Czukay supplied the innovative contributions of samples played back on a dictaphone, and became a close friend of Sylvian.[6]
Release
The album peaked at number 4 in the UK, the highest chart position of Sylvian's career to date,[2] and contains his biggest solo hit, "Red Guitar", which reached number 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.[3]
In 1994, the album was reissued in the US as Brilliant Trees / Words with the Shaman, which included the three part EP Words with the Shaman as bonus tracks; these songs were also included on the cassette-only album Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities (1985). In 2003, a remastered limited digipak version of Brilliant Trees was released. In 2006 it was reissued in a standard jewel-case. The album cover for both releases was altered to a cropped photo of Sylvian with new type fonts.
In February 2019, as part of a redesigned monochrome sleeved vinyl reissue batch of his 1980s albums, Brilliant Trees was released in a gatefold sleeve, once again with a new set of type fonts. No new mastering was done for this; the 2003 remaster was used.
Brilliant Trees was well received by the contemporary British music press. "Sylvian has grown up," wrote Sounds critic Carole Linfield. "He's left art school, gone through the grey and come out in a spectrum of pastel shades that entrance and enthral. Gone is the clichéd imagery that once haunted Japan... in its place is a solo artist who deserves more respect than his beautiful face often allows." In an enthusiastic review, Melody Maker's Steve Sutherland, who had previously been critical of Sylvian's work with Japan, concluded that "Brilliant Trees inadvertently attains the stature Sylvian's always sought. It's a masterpiece."[16]
Richard Cook for NME described the album as "private and intolerant – really, an astonishing statement from one in his position – but it is a transformation of thought into music which involves the finest skill, an uncanny talent."[17] Betty Page for Record Mirror described it as "all oh-so-fragile but meaty at the same time, obviously occasionally un peu pretentious, but very painstakingly crafted and built up with great care and affection."[12]
Track listing
All tracks written by David Sylvian except "Weathered Wall" and "Brilliant Trees", co-written with Jon Hassell.
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