ALCHEMY - AN INDEX OF POSSIBILITIES
David Sylvian
•Crossover Prog
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3.25
| 57 ratings | 5 reviews | 11% 5 stars
Good, but non-essential |
Studio Album, released in 1985 Songs / Tracks Listing - Words With The Shaman : - David Sylvian / guitar, keyboards, digital percussion (5), synth & programming (7), tapes, co-producer
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DAVID SYLVIAN Alchemy - An Index Of Possibilities ratings distribution
(57 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(11%)Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(35%)Good, but non-essential (33%)Collectors/fans only (19%)Poor. Only for completionists (2%)
DAVID SYLVIAN Alchemy - An Index Of Possibilities reviews
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Collaborators/Experts Reviews
PROG REVIEWER
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
"Alchemy - An Index of Possibilities" compiles material from two different recording projects. The four tracks on Side A were written for and appeared in a Japanese autobiographical film and the 18:55 minutes long "Steel Cathedrals", which was commisioned by a tv-company. All tracks are ambient/experimental new age/world music, which is solely instrumental. There are a couple of vocal samples/chants/spoken word samples, but we are not graced by the warm melancholic vocals of David Sylvian.
It�s not exactly what you�d have expected from Sylvian at this early point in his solo career, and I have to give it to him, that he is an extremely bold man, who does only exactly what he wants to do, at any given time. The most interesting thing about that statement is that it�s actually not true for this particular project, as Sylvian was not initially interested in the project, but as he was offered money and needed them at the time, he agreed to deliver the music for the film. Virgin Records picked up on the new music, and chose to release "Alchemy - An Index of Possibilities".
While the music is certainly both well performed and well produced, the ambient repetitive nature of the music, make the tracks hard to tell apart, and to my ears "Alchemy - An Index of Possibilities" soon becomes pleasant background music. A 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR RIO/Avant/Zeuhl,Neo & Post/Math Teams
Alchemy is an athmospheric album with a strong ethnic/oriental flavour but with many relations with Krautrock, too. The mini-suit "Words with the Shaman", maybe because of the effort of the former CAN Holger Czukay has a strong connection with it, specially in the first part. The second part is more lectronic and sounds very 80s (fairlight(?) and electronic drumming). It makes me think to Richard Wright's "ZEE - Identity" because of the sounds and their darkness, but the ethnic element is still in evidence. The third part is very ambient, instead, even if the sound continues to be dated to the 80s. Not all the 80s were bad, of course, and this album represents a good moment in a bad period for music. The whole suite is probably more "newage" than progressive, but it's really good. The trumpet (flugelhorn?) of the third part reminds to Mark Isham.
A chord reminiscent of a Sitar opens "The Stigma Of Childhood". It's a musical mantra. Imagine a Tibetan temple on the Himalayan heights. The mystic calm that emanates from this track is great. Meditative. Between Mark Isham(Tibet) and Tangerine Dream(Zeit).
"A Brief Conversation Ending In" is contemporary classic, instead. The disharmonic sounds, mainly by keyboards and piano, are from a different level of reality. Stockhausen meets the Tangerine Dream.
Finally "Steel Cathedral" is the album's epic. A keyboard chord grows very slowly from silence. Little variations remind again to the early Tangerine Dream. No more newage. This is space rock and the reference is again Zeit. Background voices like in Vangelis "Mare Tranquillitatis" bring the listener to the outer space. Percussive accents join after 5 minutes, then the flugelhorn (or the trumpet?) enhances the experience. It's the sound of "Blade Runner Blues", but also of Mark Isham's Tibet. Since now the track developes with piano, guitar, percussions, without losing the original mood. Variation after variation we are now in a jazzy suite. The French voice that appears here and there is very appropriate while piano and guitar fill the blanks.
Let's add to the above that the lineup includes people like Robert Fripp and Ryuichi Sakamoto.
I'm sometimes too meditative and I pay a tribute to the fact that I've been addicted to newage for a period of my life, but I think that this is an excellent album that deserves a place in every prog discography.
4 stars
PROG REVIEWER
Without doubt it's the most overlooked of his recordings. This one trickles with Indonesian sweat as he continues directly from the last track on 'Brilliant Trees' from the previous year. Jon Hassell's flugelhorn sounds inspired, wrapping itself around Eastern vocals along with Steve Jansen's ethnic drum thumping.
For those who wished they could have heard a continuation of 'Brilliant Trees' - this is the one. It almost sounds like it should have been part of a double album.
'Steel Cathedrals' - the big 18min side two track is basically a forerunner to his work with Holger Czakay in '87. Only here it sounds far more Eastern and minimal. An Excellent but sadly overlooked recording.
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