David Sylvian

One way to make the world a little greener would be to ban junk mail. I had a month's worth to bin, this morning, some genuine post to open, plus a handful of parcels.

The biggest one contained this, David Sylvian's new boxed set, 'Do You Know Me Now?', which contains all of his solo albums that were released on his own label, samadhisound, plus a few collaborations.

He is the musical artist whose career I have followed most closely, I think, starting with his career in Japan, a band whose merit and accomplishments are rarely mentioned. In five years, they released five albums from the nondescript 'Adolescent Sex' through to their masterpiece, 'Tin Drum'. I cannot think of another band, except perhaps The Beatles, that made such a rapid and extraordinary artistic progression.

(Actually, I've literally just remembered that I wrote about them here for The Song Sommelier.)

Sylvian's solo career has been equally interesting, and I think hit its peak with the release of 'Blemish' in 2003, which is the first album in this collection. It's an incredible, beautiful album, although not easy listening. At least not at first. 

This boxed set is very much a luxury item for me; I already have all the tracks on it, I think. I'll need to go through and check. But the packing is lovely and there's an accompanying book, which I wanted.

It saddens me a bit that Sylvian appears to have retired now, although I think it's brave for an artist to decide that their work is done. 

Let me leave you with the song that the set takes its name from, 'Do You Know Me Now?'