Although "Everything And Nothing" functioned as a great sampler of Sylvian's output throughout the years, it is beyond doubt that it showcased him mostly as a vocalist. Another compilation released two years later may be treated as an answer to "Everything And Nothing"; an attempt to grasp the airy, camphor-like nature of his works' instumental layer through neat miniatures recorded on his own (like the disonant "All Of My Mother's Names" or "Answered Prayers" taken from "Gone To Earth"). There are also pieces composed together with Holger Czukay (a detail from "Plight (The Spiralling Of Winter Ghosts)" and with his Rain Tree Crow colleagues ("New Moon At Red Deer Wallow" or "Big Wheels In Shanty Town"). Similarly to "Everything And Nothing" some of instrumentals included here were modified to a greater or lesser extent. And so, "Wave" departed hugely from its original incarnation and evolved into a miniature where waves of dark synthesizer swashes break against Fripp's characteristic guitar parts. "Upon This Earth" has been slightly re-mixed but it is "Mother And Child" that deserves the full attention. The piece, now totally instrumental, was adorned with delicate, barely audible electronic background which brings out all the beauty in the well-known trumpet motif. The set includes also two pieces which had previously been only available to the owners of an exclusive "Everything And Nothing" tour programme. "The Song Which Gives The Key To Perfection" is a religious song by Sylvian's spiritual leader, Shree Maa (it is her voice that can be heard on "Praise"). It is worth noting that Sylvian perforned the piece in its original language. The title track, "Camphor", reveals the artist's growing fascination with heavily-processed electronic sound. A sign of the things to come... Apart from a single-CD standard edition, "Camphor" was also released as a beautiful limited edition digipack. The bonus CD found inside included a remixed version of the "Plight And Premonition" album in its entirety. The two long instrumentals were divided with "Mutability", although it has to be said that the 20-minute improvisational beauty was severly shortened to mere 7 minutes with its beginning and end spliced together in quite an odd manner... [  back to the top