release date: Jul. 5, 1993
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]
producer: David Sylvian, David Bottrill
label: Discipline Global Mobile - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "God's Monkey" - 2. "Jean the Birdman" - 3. "Firepower" - 4. "Brightness Falls" - 6. "Darshan (The Road to Graceland)" (4 / 5) (live)
[ full album ]
1st collaboration album by David Sylvian & Robert Fripp. The album is released after several other collaboration projects following his probably best-received solo album Secrets of the Beehive (1987). Before this he made two albums with Holger Czukay (1988 and '89) and one in '91 with multi-artist Russell Mills (who also designed the cover art for Sylvian's '86 album Gone to Earth and Dead Bees on a Cake, 1999), and he contributed on former Japan bassist Mick Karn's second solo album from 1987, a Ryuichi Sakamoto album in '91, the first and only Rain Tree Crow studio album (featuring all former members of Japan) in '91, AND on an album by French composer Hector Zazou in '92, which means: he was extremely productive, although he wouldn't release a new studio album until 1999.
The music on The First Day is yet again "something else" one could be tempted to suggest. Sylvian works his own ways but it's evident that with a progressive rock and jazz fusion guitarist it has to be different from Sylvian's previous releases. It wasn't an immediate favourite but it kept growing on me and simply has its special moments. Initially, I found it fuelled with too much jazz fusion and a certain ambient touch but frankly, I stopped hearing that long ago. All tracks have that Sylvian laid back art pop attitude and then Fripp adds a jazz rock elegance, that both points to his prog rock legacy but on the other hand gives it all a touch of magic with his heavy distorted notes. Especially "Jean the Birdman" and "Firepower" are very fine compositions, but "Darshan (The Road to Graceland)" with its playing time of more than 17 minutes is the album's brilliant stone.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]
