David Sylvian x Ryuichi Sakamoto ----- Forbidden Colours
In June 1983, DAVID SYLVIAN and RYUICHI SAKAMOTO released the single FORBIDDEN COLOURS.
Where in the '70s and early '80s, David Sylvian seemed to go with the flow, riding the cultural currents quite effectively, by the mid-80s he seemed to be, like all truly pioneering musicians, working against the current.
As the late '80s descended into frivolity and defensive irony, Sylvian had the nerve to be serious, the realism to acknowledge that it didn't matter all that much, and the application to learn something. To proclaim the cultural bankruptcy of the period was to state the obvious, to subvert it was another matter.
The FORBIDDEN COLOURS (the vocal version of the soundtrack to Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, by Ryuichi Sakamoto); the first solo LP Brilliant Trees; Alchemy: An Index Of Possibilities (the cassette featuring the EP 'Words With The Shaman' and the soundtrack 'Steel Cathedrals'); and the second LP Gone To Earth, complete a body of work galvanised by the discipline of self-application, haunted by the echo of solitude.
Sylvian had gone both further out and deeper in than any of his contemporaries.
The wounds on your hands never seem to heal
I thought all I needed was to believe
Here am I, a lifetime away from you
The blood of Christ, or the beat of my heart
My love wears forbidden colours
My life believes
Senseless years thunder by
Millions are willing to give their lives for you
Does nothing live on?
Learning to cope with feelings aroused in me
My hands in the soil, buried inside of myself
My love wears forbidden colours
My life believes in you once again
I`ll go walking in circles
While doubting the very ground beneath me
Trying to show unquestioning faith in everything
Here am I, a lifetime away from you
The blood of Christ, or a change of heart
My love wears forbidden colours
My life believes
My love wears forbidden colours
My life believes in you once again