Paradise Bound

Sylvian's first solo LP sees him begin to explore territory beyond his studio work with his group Japan and "brilliantly" showcases his highly poetic lyrics and ability to work with experimental musicians from the worlds of jazz, fusion and rock.

Lots of soul... ...a nice dash of funk... ...romance... ...love... ...class... ...a fresh variety of classic, timeless Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes that keeps itself a fair arm's-length from the ever-consuming maw of disco circa 1977. *Bonus: Great guitar and keyboard effects on "Feels Like Magic:!

More keyboards, fairlight and big production makes it sound very 1987, but the meat and potatoes sincerity of Wilcox still shines through on this blues-rocker. Just don't expect a classic stand-out single like on previous records.

Poorly written. Cold, unengaging art. Will be appealing for "glass-half-empty" types who are not very well read and have limited life experience.

It was on shaky ground after a while because it became apparent that she really didn't have the emotional stability to contribute to the undisturbed Zen atmosphere of her surroundings, -as she admitted to breaking down and crying regularly, for years, in front of lots of people. However, I still took it to the beach intending to finish it, but, when I reached page 150 and read: "I don't want to get married, and I probably won't - but not because I'm a nun. I don't want to get married because, frankly, I think it's a tool of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy that makes sense only if you want to protect your money and your stuff and your kids. If you don't have money and stuff and kids, there's little point to it" - She wrote all that after praising her parent's marraige. So, needless to say, I shook my head in disbelief a few times and decided not to finish it. Also, how she lays out her relationships with her masters tells me (and I am very, very intimate with Japan and the Japanese) that they took her on as their Zen burden/duty (her master told her not to tell anyone she was ordained for 10 years!) and ushered her through to the finish as humanely as possible. If she had been a man, she probably would have been thrown out. Read about male Japanese monasteries and you'll probably agree. - This book is very useful to psychiatrists and psychologists as resource material.