Brian Eno corner

[7/4]

Harold Budd – Children on the Hill (Live ’82)

The recording that Kyle Gann blogged about a few years ago shows up on YouTube.

[Steve Reynolds]

The original Eno "pop" albums remain among the best recordings I've ever heard with my favorite being Taking Tiger Mountain (by strategy)

[Bluesnik]

I like Bowie's Low and Heroes, Another Green World, and above all Talking Heads' Remain in Light, which is wonderful. All (except for Another Green World) from the same years, that is late seventies, early eighties.

[7/4]

I like Bowie's Low and Heroes, Another Green World, and above all Talking Heads' Remain in Light, which is wonderful. All (except for Another Green World) from the same years, that is late seventies, early eighties.

Those years seem to be some of the best.

[imeanyou]

I've been an admirer of Eno's output for over 30 years, 'Remain In Light' was the moment when I sat up and took notice. I thought that was a pretty staggering recording at the time -I was 18 and ravenous for any kind of musical adventure. After the equally impressive 'Bush Of Ghosts' came out it was really a matter of going through Eno's back catalogue as well as following the major contributions he made to the work of other people (with the notable exception of U2 who always bored me to tears). I'd still say the 4 'vocal' offerings from the 70's are the ones I find most satisfying. 'Before And After Science' was the very first l.p. I played on my very first 'proper' hi-fi set up, and boy did it sound good! I wouldn't be without Bowie's 'Berlin trilogy' either.

[7/4]

I'd say I first heard of Eno through his collaborations with Bowie and Fripp in the '70s.

[A Lark Ascending]

I remember seeing him on The Old Grey Whistle Test when 'Virginia Plain' first came out (1972?). Did not get it at all. Little did I know that this was just the thin edge of the wedge!

My favourite is:

King Crimson played that prior to coming on stage in 72/73 - remember being spellbound by it at a couple of gigs. Remember playing it endlessly when it came out in late-73.

Came to enjoy some of the Eno Island albums later on.

Edited December 16, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[Dave Garrett]

My first exposure to Eno, and still a strong contender for my "desert island" album.

[Bluesnik]

Those years seem to be some of the best.

Yes, I think so too.

[7/4]

Oblique Strategies: Brian Eno’s Prompts for Overcoming Creative Block, Inspired by John Cage

[Scott Dolan]

7/4, I had never heard your sounds before today. Are you on the Erstwhile label, or just independent?

[7/4]

7/4, I had never heard your sounds before today. Are you on the Erstwhile label, or just independent?

No gtr music released at this point, hopefully this year - not on Erstwhile.

There's a microtonal string qt and a sinetone piece on two OgreOgress CDs and a microtonal synthesizer piece on an AFMM album.

[Scott Dolan]

Ok, cool.

Back on topic, some of my favorite Eno is the sonic landscaping he did for Paul Simon and David Byrne in recent years.

[7/4]

AMBIENT GENIUS

The working life of Brian Eno.

BY SASHA FRERE-JONES

Edited June 30, 2014 by 7/4

[clifford_thornton]

Only Eno LP I ever owned was Taking Tiger Mountain (US Island), which is great but I let it go to make some shelf space... oh well.

[7/4]

The All Saints re-issue program continues:

Announcing expanded reissues of 4 Brian Eno albums with rare and unreleased material from the archives:

http://brian-eno.net/reissues

Edited October 24, 2014 by 7/4

[Ligeti]

The reissue of the four Eno titles is pure evil - now I must buy them all again. Oh, wait - what a lovely evil!

Of those the odd man out if, of course, Nerve Net, which has vocals and a dance-oriented soundtrack. I have loved it since buying the CD on the day of release.

You know, I've a growing admiration for Eno. As I get older, and life naturally slows down, so my mind and heart has truly begun to open up to some of things he's done. I've always loved some of his recordings, Discreet Music, Music for Airports, Apollo etc. But despite surface appearances, i'm finding that deep listening exposes a lot of layers I'd hitherto failed to connect with. It's too easy to write he made ambiant music and it's slow and pastorial. Turns out it's so much more.

I do follow him avidly, but don't own everything. While in collaboration he can do good things, I'm never totally swung by his vocal albums - Nerve Net being an exception. I also don't mind if he never innovates again - he cut his own path, there's no need to do so again. I can't even sit here and pick out only one or two albums - his catalog is so vast and fruitful. I will say that, for me, the only way to listen to the music is on CD. The remasters were tatefully done, and silence and purity of tone are so essential to much of what he's done. Still, each to their own, as long as you're listening it's all good.

I also enjoy the fact that some are beginning to cover his works. Music for Airports has had at least two cover versions from Bang on a Can - Apollo was covered by Icebreaker etc. Which somehow reminds me that Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music was covered by Zeitkratzer.......

Anyhoo-how, suffice to say, Eno is fantastic.

[Ligeti]

Well, tonight I played Nerve Net through a couple times, and also dug out my copy of Shutov Assembly. This follows on from yesterday's airing of The Drop.

I have to say, both The Drop and Nerve Net are fascinating pieces. Maybe the shorter tracks on The Drop hurt it some, but not significantly for me. There are a lot of ideas on it, which i suppose runs contrary to his earlier ambient albums, It shares some commonality with Nerve Net, albeit the latter is more strident and focused.

Nerve Net just bops along. Some of it sounds rather mechanical at times, it's easy to forget that all of the pieces include myriad other performers bar two - one of which had a programmed drum session and the other being solo "Moon Piano" piece.

One thing about each of these three releases is the presentation. Shutov Assembly as it currently stands has a booklet that runs only four pages total - and there's almost no information given. Actually - all you get are the track titles and running times. If you think that's bad, The Drop has a single sheet of paper in it with no notes at all. Nerve Net has your basic information included, but doesn't elaborate.

What I'm trying to say here is - I'm very much looking forward to actually getting a booklet that might shed some lights on various things - inspiration etc.

I'm grooving at the moment to Wire Shock as I write this. I hear Adrian Belew, Talking Heads, Fripp..... lots of bits of things from elsewhere. Great stuff, imo.