Those two discs are indeed "everything and nothing" for there is not a better way to describe that small selection of tracks being just a humble representation of a long career. The set, released in 2000, presented Sylvian as an accomplished artist, always faithful to his aestethic ideals regardless of the price to be paid and whose music has a clearly defined aim: to blow people's hearts wide open.

Summing up his journey to the top, Sylvian decided to include material well-known from his previous albums but also a couple of pieces that would grasp the attention of his long-time followers. And so here we have such precious gems like "Ride" (beautiful, truly romantic ballad recorded with "Secrets Of The Beehive" in mind) or delicalety arranged "Some Kind Of Fool" (whose origins reach the Japan era). The album's opener, "The Scent Of Magnolia", certainly deserves a lot of attention and one may only wonder why the track was left out when the artist finally compiled the tracklist for "Dead Bees On A Cake". Some curios are also included i.e. "Thoroughly Lost To Logic" - a dark recitation highlighting the role of atmosphere in Sylvian's works. It has to be said though, that re-mixing some tracks or re-recording vocals may be seen as a slightly controversial move. The artist justified that with the need to unify the compilation as well as smoothen some production anachronisms. He was also worried that his voice which over the years dropped its manneurism but was still present on his early works like "Brilliant Trees", would significantly disrupt the album's integrity. And indeed, the compilation sounds incredibly coherent.

Right after the premiere, Sylvian decided to take "Everything And Nothing" on the road. Every evening he took his faithful audience on a sentimental journey into the corners of his musical universe.



P.S. "Everything And Nothing" was also released as a limited edition digipack containing an additional CD which apart from two versions of "The Scent Of Magnolia" included a studio version of "Blinding Light Of Heaven" (previously know from "Damage" live album) plus "Brilliant Trees" with re-recorded vocal track.




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