Gone to Earth is technically the third solo album by David Sylvian, released in 1986. However, David Sylvian’s website davidsylvian.com states that Gone to Earth is “David Sylvian’s second solo album proper,” and that the previous release is an “intermediary album.”
History
The album is a two-record set featuring one record of experimental rock songs with vocals and one consisting entirely of ambient instrumental tracks. Guest artists include Robert Fripp and Bill Nelson. It was recorded in part at The Manor Studios in Oxfordshire, England, with producer Steve Nye. The album peaked at no.24. in the UK albums chart and has been certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry for sales in excess of 60,000 copies. Sylvian's record company were not particularly interested in his instrumental compositions, and funded the recording only of the songs on Disc 1 of the set, with Sylvan funding and recording the instrumentals on Disc 2 in his own time. Sylvian was unhappy wth the version of "Wave" on the album. This song originally had a different title and lyrics. Ultimately Sylvian would re-record it. Sylvian, as on his earlier solo albums, continueded to reference artists, writers and thinkers who were influencing him, though here he utilised the technique of using, within certain songs, snippets of the voices of particular figures. These include J.G. Bennett, Robert Graves and Joseph Beuys. The song "Laughter and Forgetting" was partly inspired by Milan Kundera's novel The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, though only via the lyrics, and not via the 'voice snippet' technique. Russell Mills 's cover art was largely inspired by Sylvian's then-current interest in Rosicrucianism and Gnosticism, particularly the writings of Robert Fludd. Original UK, US and Japanese CD pressings omit four of the instrumentals: "Silver Moon Over Sleeping Steeples", "Camp Fire: Coyote Country", "A Bird of Prey Vanishes Into a Bright Blue Cloudless Sky" and "Sunlight Seen Through Towering Trees". Later Japanese CD editions and the Weatherbox set both included the complete album on two discs. In 2003, the album was re-released in a double-disc format that mirrors the original vinyl release, and included three bonus remixes, while shortening the intro to "Before the Bullfight". In February 2019, as part of a redesigned monochrome sleeved vinyl reissue batch of his 80's albums, Gone To Earth was released as a double album with a b/w picture of Sylvian replacing the original artwork. No new mastering was done for this; the 2003 remaster was used.
Critical reception
Gone to Earth was well received by the contemporary British music press. Sounds' Chris Roberts praised the album: "it's the perfect realisation of artist converting image to mood, subverting fantasy to super-reality. Delicate, but with the strength of legions, it's an Eighties masterpiece and conceivably his finest approximation of distilled beauty ever... is almost as breathtaking as it is life giving."
Track listing
;Original vinyl and Weatherbox CD pressings For Weatherbox, Disc 1 included sides A and B, while Disc 2 included sides C and D. ;Original CD pressing ;2003 CD pressing
Personnel
David Sylvian – lead vocals, keyboards, guitar electronics
