A reluctant pop star who once told his horrified manager Simon Napier-Bell he wanted “the profile of a French Left Bank poet”, David Sylvian made the transition from a teenage pinup (in new romantics Japan) to a serious solo artist look easy. The vehicle that made it possible was 1984’s solo debut Brilliant Trees, a slippery, stark departure from his past that coincided with a period of intense self-questioning and private cocaine addiction. One of the songs that failed to make the cut was ‘Blue Of Noon’, a beautiful instrumental Sylvian omitted because he always conceived it as a vocal track. Nonetheless, he worked closely with pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto composing its busily changing jazzy score, the late keyboardist recording his parts live in the studio to the textured drums of Sylvian’s brother Steve Jansen and Wayne Braithwaite’s unobtrusive double bass. Belatedly issued on the flip of a key track from 1987’s elegant Secrets Of The Beehive, it’s a whirl of evocation that gets more fragmented and freeform in the final third as subtle Sakamoto synths ladle on the mystery. Sylvian may not play a single note on ‘Blue Of Noon’ but his ethereal spirit runs through it.