''Weatherbox'' is a five-CD limited-edition box set by

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. The band's androgynous look and increasingly ...

, released in 1989. Only 5000 copies were produced. The set comprises Sylvian's first four albums: ''

Brilliant Trees ''Brilliant Trees'' is the first solo album by the British singer-songwriter David Sylvian, released in June 1984. The album peaked at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry for sales in e ...

'', '' Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities'', '' Gone to Earth'' and ''

Secrets of the Beehive ''Secrets of the Beehive'' is a solo album by British singer-songwriter David Sylvian and it was released on 19 October 1987 (in Europe, UK and America). The album peaked at no.37 in the UK album chart. The album was released in Japan on 21 Nove ...

''; and was, at the time, the only way to acquire all of the songs from ''Gone to Earth'' on compact disc. ''Weatherbox'' is notable for giving each disc entirely new artwork based around the

classical elements Classical elements typically refer to earth, water, air, fire, and (later) aether which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances. Ancient cultures in Greece, Tibet, and India had simil ...

. The second half of ''Gone to Earth'' was retitled ''Gone to Earth Instrumental'' for this box set. The song "Preparations for a Journey" from ''Alchemy'' was removed, despite being part of the original album, and replaced by two tracks issued as B-sides to the "Pop Song" single. ''Gone to Earth'' was quietly remastered for ''Weatherbox''. Also, the re-recorded "

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 s ...

(Version)" included on the original CD of ''Secrets of the Beehive'' was removed. The art for ''Weatherbox'' was designed by Russell Mills and Dave Coppenhall, and included a poster featuring Sylvian's discography on one side and art by Russell Mills on the other. The liner notes for ''Weatherbox'' were provided by Steve Lake, with photos by Russell Mills and Alistar Thain. A Japanese edition of the box set, with an additional 54-page booklet designed by Shinro Otake and Katsuhiro Kinoshita and the lyrics are printed both in Japanese and English, was also produced.

Track listing

''Weatherbox Sampler''

A CD sampler was released to promote the box set and is now itself a collectors item. It is housed in a slip-cased slimline jewel case and is notable for containing "

Pop Song Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

", a song that was not included in the box set itself, but released as a stand-alone single around the same time. "Pop Song" was later included on the compilations ''

Everything and Nothing ''Everything and Nothing'' is a compilation album by David Sylvian. Released in October 2000, the album contains previously released and unreleased, re-recorded, and alternate versions of tracks from Sylvian's twenty years with Virgin Records. ...

'' and ''A Victim of Stars 1982-2012''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weatherbox (Album) Albums produced by Steve Nye 1989 compilation albums David Sylvian compilation albums Virgin Records compilation albums