''Words with the Shaman'' is a three-part instrumental suite 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. The band's androgynous look and increasingly ...

. It was recorded in London in 1985 and released as an EP the same year on

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

. It peaked at #72 in the UK single charts. As Sylvian described in a liner note, ''Words with the Shaman'' was "conceived as musical footnotes of themes started earlier on the album ''

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 ...

'' and ..developed as a collaborative group effort." ''Words with the Shaman'' was subsequently re-released with two additional instrumental tracks on Sylvian's compilation album, first only released on

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in th ...

'' Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities''. In 1989, the suite appeared on the second of four CDs in the ''

Weatherbox Weatherbox is an American indie rock band from San Diego, California, United States, led by singer/songwriter Brian Warren and currently composed of Warren and varied touring members. Discography Weatherbox was originally signed to Doghouse Reco ...

'' set. The 1991 US-reissue of Sylvian's ''Brilliant Trees'' album also contained ''Words with the Shaman''.

Track listing

# "Pt. 1 Ancient Evening" (Sylvian/Hassell) 5:14 # "Pt. 2 Incantation" (Sylvian/Hassell) 3:31 # "Pt. 3 Awakening (Songs from the Tree Tops)" (Sylvian/Hassell/Jansen) 5:19

Personnel

* David Sylvian – keyboards, guitar, tapes * Steve Jansen – drums, percussion, additional keyboards *

Jon Hassell Jon Hassell (March 22, 1937 – June 26, 2021) was an American trumpet player and composer. He was best known for developing the concept of "Fourth World" music, which describes a "unified primitive/futurist sound" combining elements of various ...

– trumpet * Holger Czukay – radio * Percy Jones – fretless bass

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Words with the Shaman 1985 singles David Sylvian songs Songs written by David Sylvian Songs written by Jon Hassell 1985 songs Virgin Records singles