"Red Guitar" is a song by the English singer-songwriter

David Sylvian David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt; 23 February 1958) is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan (band), Japan. During his time in Japan, Sylvia ...

. Released in May 1984, it was his debut solo

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

(not counting his two earlier singles with

Ryuichi Sakamoto was a Music of Japan, Japanese musician, composer, keyboardist, record producer, singer and actor. He pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the Synthesizer, synth-based band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his ...

) and taken from his first solo album ''

Brilliant Trees ''Brilliant Trees'' is the Solo album, debut solo studio album by the English musician David Sylvian, released on 25 June 1984 by Virgin Records. The album peaked at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified Gold Record, Gold by the ...

''. It peaked at no.17 on the UK Singles Chart.

Reception

Reviewing the song for ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...

'',

Dylan Jones Dylan John Jones OBE (born 1960) is an English journalist and author. He served as editor of the UK version of men's fashion and lifestyle magazine '' GQ'' from 1999 to 2021. In June 2023 Jones became the new editor-in-chief of the London ''Ev ...

wrote "through the mesh, through the ferns, behind the mask and out on his own we find the reluctant pop-star David Sylvian, taking yet another MOODIST pose on the single sleeve. Not a stunning debut by any means, but an adept performance, even if it has got too many atmospherics and

Aladdin Sane ''Aladdin Sane'' is the sixth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released in the United Kingdom on 19April 1973 through RCA Records. The follow-up to his breakthrough '' The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from M ...

piano fills". Dave Rimmer for ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' made it Single of the Fortnight and wrote "by all accounts one of the least weird tracks on the forthcoming solo LP, this is quiet, un-

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

-like, almost jazzy". However, Karen Swayne for '' Number One'' wrote that "Japanophiles won't be disappointed. There's no great change in style, but it's still all a bit self-consciously arty and angst-ridden" and that "Sylvian's voice is a

Ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

derivative, and tends to drone on in a melancholy fashion without ever really getting anywhere".

Music video

The music video was directed by

Anton Corbijn Anton Johannes Gerrit Corbijn van Willenswaard (; born 20 May 1955) is a Dutch photographer, film director, and music video director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2,Pitman, Joanna"The silent partner" ...

, whose work on Propaganda's " Dr. Mabuse" led Sylvian to approach him. It was inspired by and an homage to British photographer

Angus McBean Angus Rowland McBean (8 June 1904 – 9 June 1990) was a Welsh photographer, set designer and cult figure associated with surrealism. Early life Angus Rowland McBean was born in Newbridge, Monmouthshire, Wales on 8 June 1904, elder child and ...

. Sylvian had seen McBean's portrait of actress

Flora Robson Dame Flora McKenzie Robson (28 March 19027 July 1984) was an English actress and star of the theatrical stage and cinema, particularly renowned for her performances in plays demanding dramatic and emotional intensity. Her range extended from qu ...

from 1938 and wanted to base the video off of it. The

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

video featured an appearance by McBean

lipsyncing Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements ...

to a verse of the song, as McBean only agreed to the use of his Robson portrait so long as he was credited in the video and so it was decided that he should make an appearance.

Track listings

7" # "Red Guitar" – 4:24 # "

Forbidden Colours "Forbidden Colours" is a 1983 song by David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The song is the vocal version of the theme from the Nagisa Oshima film ''Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.'' It appears on the film's soundtrack album and was released as a si ...

" (version) – 5:53 12" # "Red Guitar" (full length version) – 5:06 # "Forbidden Colours" (version) – 5:53

Personnel

– vocals, synthesizer, cover *

Ronny Drayton Ronny Drayton (May 19, 1953 – February 7, 2020) was a guitarist based in the New York City area and Monroe, New York. Born and raised in South Jamaica, Queens, New York City, Drayton started out playing drums at St. Clement The Pope Middle ...

– guitar *

Phil Palmer Philip John Palmer (born 9 September 1952) is a British rock sideman and session guitarist who has toured, recorded, and worked with numerous artists. He is best known for his work with Eric Clapton and Dire Straits. Biography Palmer grew up ...

– guitar * Wayne Brathwaite – bass guitar *

– piano *

Steve Nye Steve Nye is an English music producer for several artists. Career Nye started out as a tape op at AIR Studios in London in 1971, where producer Rupert Hine discovered him. There he got into engineering (and later producing) many well-known ...

– additional synthesizer, engineer *

Steve Jansen Steve Jansen (born Stephen Ian Batt, born 1 December 1959) is an English musician, composer and record producer. Biography Jansen was a founding member of the band Japan (band), Japan, along with his brother David Sylvian (vocals, guitars and ...

– drums, percussion *

Mark Isham Mark Ware Isham (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician and composer. A trumpeter and keyboardist, Isham works in a variety of genres, including jazz and electronic music, electronic. He is also a prolific and acclaimed composer of Film ...

– trumpet * Peter Williams – engineer * Allan Soh – cover * L. Easton – cover * Simon Gargette – cover

Chart positions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Red Guitar 1984 songs 1984 debut singles David Sylvian songs Songs written by David Sylvian Virgin Records singles