As a big fan of "Voices" ... I don't like this as much as "Voices." But I do like this.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 25 March 2020 01:33 (four years ago) link
It'd be a difficult record to top, but it's so obviously the same team & it's a grower
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 25 March 2020 03:23 (four years ago) link
/ new one is a grower
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 25 March 2020 03:48 (four years ago) link
Nice insight into the brother’s working methods here. https://www.npr.org/2020/03/23/820192284/roger-and-brian-eno-reveal-how-they-made-their-tranquil-new-album-together
Was pulling this up just as I saw this post. Agreed, it's very good.
Worth noting: starting around 9'00" the interviewer plays four short MIDI files of the same piece Brian emailed him that show how the track went from a melodic piano piece Roger sent him to a typically textured (treated) and layered piece with multiple parts and a slowed tempo yet ... still very much the piece Roger sent him.
There are so few examples of Brian sharing his actual working methods that this is pretty good stuff (hereis another he did a few years ago, demonstrating how he makes generative music -- the drum stuff a few minutes in shows how good he's gotten at this).
I really like this record.
― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 25 March 2020 16:57 (four years ago) link
Alright NIT, list your favorite Eno works from the last 30 years. I've got some listening time on my hands and I want to revisit some things I've skipped or didn't give enough attention.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 25 March 2020 17:43 (four years ago) link
You sure you want 30 years? I'd suggest going back 20 at most, to get past his really busy '90s.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 25 March 2020 17:52 (four years ago) link
(getting older thoughts)
when i hear "30 years" i still automatically think of 1980. oof
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 25 March 2020 18:05 (four years ago) link
Anyway, I'd say, of the last 20 years:
Someday World/High Life (both with Karl Hyde)The Ship (solo, more or less ambient_Reflection (solo, more or less ambient)Another Day On Earth (vocal)Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (with David Byrne)
If you're bored, Curiosities Vol. 1 and 2 has some neat stuff in it.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 25 March 2020 23:29 (four years ago) link
The Hyde stuff is great.
Was not a fan of the Byrne collab, except the single.
The Ship was pretty good, except when he sings.
― rawdogging the pandemic (hardcore dilettante), Thursday, 26 March 2020 01:44 (four years ago) link
cool to see that Eno uses Logic! (that second clip that Naive Teen Idol posted)
the guy interviewing him seems absolutely amazed, but it really isn't that complicated (for real), not much more than, say, discreet music
i like your list Josh! my faves of his recent era are similar. ranked:
LUXThe ShipReflectionFinding Shore
i really haven't enjoyed his vocal works, during my lifetime (83-), which is odd because i adore his canonic first four vocal albums
just settling in for a listen to the new one. i've appreciated Voices (especially since picking up a cheap LP a while back), so i'm very curious about what their combo sounds like 30 years later
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 26 March 2020 01:50 (four years ago) link
i need to listen to the Karl Hyde collabs more - they came out during a weird time for me and i didn't give them much time
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 26 March 2020 01:51 (four years ago) link
Favorite two post 90’s are ‘New Space Music’ (a title that dares you to take it seriously but the piece is seriously functional) and the Scape app
and probably ‘Mixing Colours’
Lux, Reflection and Lightness good too. Another Day On Earth has moments especially with the Japanese bonus track at the end
Fairly loyal and still listening to everything he does at least once
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 26 March 2020 02:14 (four years ago) link
hard disagree
since 2000, my favorite things have been the Eno/Schwalm 2001 shows, Music For Installations, The Ship, bits of Small Craft and Another Day, and probably Lux
I need to make time for the Hyde collabs, have barely skimmed them
― sleeve, Thursday, 26 March 2020 02:22 (four years ago) link
At the time the Hyde albums did little for me, too, for some reason. But when I re-listened a couple of years back I couldn't see what I couldn't see in them, they're pretty great.
I love his voice, full stop, so pretty much love everything he sings on. In fact, the only thing of his that I can't recall at all, really, is the Paul Simon album, which is hilarious, because if you look at his wikipedia entry ... no one's bothered to update it in there, either!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Eno_discography#Productions,_mixes,_and_guest_appearances
Speaking of which, I've posted this several times, I'm sure, but this remains my favorite Eno what-the-hell-is-he-doing-there? deep cut:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr5EHyGBsgg
Forget what the Walkabouts were doing on Sub Pop in 1991, how the heck did Eno come to work with them?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 March 2020 02:46 (four years ago) link
These are good suggestions! I did a Spotify list of late period Eno gems some years back but here are some of the songs that haven’t been mentioned too much elsewhere:Brian Eno "The Harness" -- from the unreleased My Squelchy Life, this has the instrumentation and production of Nerve Net but the melody could be from 1975. Eno and Cale "One Word" -- this whole record is great, and "Spinning Away" is the Eno classic here, but this is probably the best fusion of the two's sensibilities -- they harmonize brilliantly together, the lyrics are great, the call and response chorus is killer and the "miles and miles away" climax is a rush. "The Woodbridge Mix" is a great and widens the soundfield a bit. Bryan Ferry "I Thought" -- this is a gorgeous duet to close a great return to form record for Ferry. They never even sang together in Roxy!David Byrne "One Fine Day" -- one of Eno's great hymns. Byrne sings the lead and wrote the lyrics but you can really imagine Eno belting this one out (and his harmonies are classic). There are a bunch of fun tunes on this record, but this one is so pure.Brian Eno "And Then So Clear" -- Another Day on Earth is the first record of his where Eno sounded sad to me. This tune uses a pitch effect on his vocals but it's really gorgeous.U2 "Moment of Surrender" -- poss. the great lost U2 song. The record it's from, (No Line on the Horizon), completely stiffed but this tune is almost perfect. Bono's vocal is really raw (in a good way) -- and the textures are really engaging and diverse. There's a great story online about how they did this song -- basically it came together almost fully formed in the midst of a really difficult recording process for the band. It pretty much started with Eno kicking around doing weird rhythm stuff.Eno and Schwalm "More Dust" -- Drawn From Life is sort of a forgotten entry in Eno's canon, a little trip-hop with these quasi-Bollywood string lines playing the melodies. I don't love the whole thing but it all comes together on this track with a great lonesome steel guitar melody doubled by the strings.I need to check out “New Space Music.”
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 26 March 2020 03:16 (four years ago) link
Reflection is amazing, one of my absolute favorites of his
― brimstead, Thursday, 26 March 2020 03:50 (four years ago) link
Forget what the Walkabouts were doing on Sub Pop in 1991, how the heck did Eno come to work with them?― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, March 25, 2020 7:46 PM (one hour ago)
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, March 25, 2020 7:46 PM (one hour ago)
from http://www.hearsaymagazine.co.uk/chris_eckman/:
Presumably most of your guest-spots and co-writing stems purely from a desire to get together with friends and see what happens. Is this generally how it works? How did Brian Eno and Natalie Merchant wind up on Scavenger for instance?I have often been asked 'why don't you work with this person, or why don't you write songs with that guy?' and to be honest that sort of speculation has never led to any of the collaborations we have been involved with. Usually you just meet someone, you like the jokes they tell when they drink, and then you end up working with them at some point in the studio. I mean you can go down the list: The Tindersticks called us about touring, eventually we ended up meeting them in a bar; Mark Lanegan and Scott McCaughey and Gary Heffern and Terry Lee Hale and Ivan Kral or Warren Ellis from the Dirty Three we all knew from bars and clubs. Peter Buck was introduced to us by a mutual friend and his future wife, and she owns a bar! Brian Eno miraculously stopped by a studio where we working, we started drinking, and in a few hours he was fooling around on the keyboard and singing backup vocals. Natalie Merchant is about the only person we ever actually tracked down—she was a friend of Scavenger's producer Gary Smith—and frankly it is the only collaboration that we have done that I ever felt strange about. The producer simply wanted her name on the album, which is the worst possible reason to work with someone.
I have often been asked 'why don't you work with this person, or why don't you write songs with that guy?' and to be honest that sort of speculation has never led to any of the collaborations we have been involved with. Usually you just meet someone, you like the jokes they tell when they drink, and then you end up working with them at some point in the studio. I mean you can go down the list: The Tindersticks called us about touring, eventually we ended up meeting them in a bar; Mark Lanegan and Scott McCaughey and Gary Heffern and Terry Lee Hale and Ivan Kral or Warren Ellis from the Dirty Three we all knew from bars and clubs. Peter Buck was introduced to us by a mutual friend and his future wife, and she owns a bar! Brian Eno miraculously stopped by a studio where we working, we started drinking, and in a few hours he was fooling around on the keyboard and singing backup vocals. Natalie Merchant is about the only person we ever actually tracked down—she was a friend of Scavenger's producer Gary Smith—and frankly it is the only collaboration that we have done that I ever felt strange about. The producer simply wanted her name on the album, which is the worst possible reason to work with someone.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 26 March 2020 04:18 (four years ago) link
Yeah, I'd heard that "Eno stopped by the studio" thing, and ... sure, but what a weird story. It looks like that album was recorded in Seattle and mixed in Connecticut. I wonder if someone else Eno was working with at the time was in one of those studios? Anyway, the song just happens to be a perfect fit, sounding like an outtake from "Another Green World" or something of that era.
Hmm, now that I think about it, it's possible Eno was on a ... lecture tour? Here's a review my dude Mark did of his appearance in Chicago in 1990.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-10-16-9003260701-story.html
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 March 2020 14:09 (four years ago) link
Finding Shore is really good
― Joey Corona (Euler), Thursday, 26 March 2020 14:12 (four years ago) link
BTW, I know this has been posted, too, but if anyone missed it, here's footage of Eno at work in 1973:
https://www.facebook.com/darren.k.lock/videos/vb.600379516/10157109373779517/?type=2&theater
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 March 2020 14:13 (four years ago) link
Eno and Cale "One Word" -- this whole record is great, and "Spinning Away" is the Eno classic here, but this is probably the best fusion of the two's sensibilities -- they harmonize brilliantly together, the lyrics are great, the call and response chorus is killer and the "miles and miles away" climax
so otm
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 26 March 2020 14:16 (four years ago) link
Remember this oil by Augustus John?These are the ones I found in RomeVery few things I keep for longWhen does your plane leave for Cologne?is one of my favourite lyrics by anyone ever
― felt jute gyte delete later (wins), Thursday, 26 March 2020 14:19 (four years ago) link
"Lilac" on High Life is another high point along the same lines
those Eno/Hyde records are interesting b/c Hyde has done very little as a solo artist. I don't hear any Underworld at all in those albums.
― frogbs, Thursday, 26 March 2020 14:24 (four years ago) link
Eno is an underrated lyricist, possibly because so much of his stuff is surreal and/or seemingly random. But then you hit something like "Spider & I" and it's just so concise and evocative:
Spider and i sit watching the skyOn a world without soundWe knit a web to catch one tiny flyFor our world without soundWe sleep in the morningsWe dream of a ship that sails awayA thousand miles away.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 March 2020 14:27 (four years ago) link
always loved this part of "Kings Lead Hat"
Splish splash I was raking in the cashthe biology of purpose keeps my nose above the surface BUHHHHHH
― frogbs, Thursday, 26 March 2020 14:55 (four years ago) link
Agreed – his lyrics on Before and After Science are an esp. good juxtaposition of the surreal and evocative.
since 2000, my favorite things have been the Eno/Schwalm 2001 shows,
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 26 March 2020 15:38 (four years ago) link
one of my favorite ever lyricists ~
but if you study the logistics and heuristics of the mystics you will find that their minds rarely move in a lineso it's much more realistic to abandon such ballistics and resign to be trapped on a leaf in the vine
!!!
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 26 March 2020 15:39 (four years ago) link
Even gibberish like "Miss Shapiro:"
All the peasants in the squaresAt their tables and their chairsSet to salvage certain numbersFrom the wonder of the tundraAnd the muses in the gloomCounting needles in their roomsOn the carpet in the cornerIn a kind of secret slumberWhile the in formation rainSlashed the dirty window pane to the square.
Smoky broads and smoky windows in the squareCome come charmer come on over for the dayDisappearing cocoa forests flash and dieFortunes crumble all demolished in the bay.
Over forty pointed peopleIn the perfect pointed steepleLooked to see the lucky numberYes the wonder of the tundraHad come up to fame and fortuneSinging his tune, my tune, your tuneWooing daughters of the giftedOn the carpets of the courtroomsWhile the tickets were expensiveThe show was quite relentless in the square.
Smoky broads and smoky windows in the squareCome come charmer come on over for the dayDisappearing cocoa forests flash and dieFortunes crumble all demolished in the bay
Dalai llama lama puss pussStella marls missa nobisMiss a dinner Miss ShapiroShampoos pot-pot pinkies pamperedMovement hampered like at christmasHa-ha isn't life a circusRound in circles like the archersAlways stiff or always starchyYes it's happening and it's fatteningAnd it's all that we can get into the show.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 March 2020 15:55 (four years ago) link
― frogbs, Thursday, March 26, 2020 bookmarkflaglink
"Lilac" in particular is the high point of both Eno/Hyde albums, in my opinion. That might be my favorite Eno thing of the last 20 years.
Trying to get into this new Eno/Eno album. Weirdly I like it on headphones at night, but when I listen to it during the day while working, it feels too retro, kinda hokey to me.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Thursday, 26 March 2020 19:20 (four years ago) link
I think I would not have liked it even ten years ago; Eno’s taste for midi glock, celeste & string synths can get treacly for me. Could not do that new Apollo album, and there are definitely a few tracks on this I left off the playlist, but it saves the best for the end
I’ve probably just made the decision to like it, but it has something to do with the fact that Eno’s midi tastes are now recognizably his as a person, that when he applies them to what are unmistakably his brother’s piano lines, which I find sentimental but not manipulative, then it becomes a record that only these two could have made. having Apollo / Voices / MFF3 in the bloodstream since they came out helps. Or maybe my nervous system is just shredded this week and music like this and Mozart are all I can take, even most Monteverdi is too aggressive for me right now
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 26 March 2020 19:44 (four years ago) link
There's no question this record hits the spot right now (I would recommend you give the second disc of Apollo another shot however -- if you aren't comparing it to APOLLO, it's actually quite good on its own terms).
I think a big piece of why the new record works is that Brian's MIDI tastes have also gotten more processed and shaded as he's moved from hardware to softsynths. Thinking back to Nerve Net's "Pierre in Mist," where he dinks around on an M1 ROMpler sax sound ... or the entire sound palette on The Drop 5 years later ... those records sound like what they were: MIDI presets he treated with this Eventide H3000 signal processor. No matter how many swirling pitch-shifted reverb tails he would smother them in, it was still a MIDI conga, or tamborine or a piano.
The sounds he uses today are all generated from and processed in his computer -- and while that's not everyone's cup of tea, for Eno the result is far more integrated. A track like "Wintergreen" starts off sounding like an electric piano but then shades of an acoustic piano sound joins in a few minutes in and ... well, it sounds great. (I've never been convinced, FWIW, that he was the master of the DX-7 we're told he was ... most of his sound design for that is bell sounds which are by far the easiest sounds to create).
I would also agree that Roger's melodic sensibility (like Tom Rogerson's or Harold Budd's for that matter) really jibes nicely with these sounds. None of those records are mawkish.
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 26 March 2020 20:34 (four years ago) link
those are two good posts, i welcome more eno(s) process talk. i have nothing to contribute since i've been using the new record as attempted toddler-lulling music (without much success) in these trying times
― adam, Friday, 27 March 2020 14:36 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k66nGplNRmQ
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 27 March 2020 14:38 (four years ago) link
Haven't dug into the making of this one yet, but the Tom Rogerson album was pretty High Concept.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bnYGfa90dc
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 27 March 2020 14:41 (four years ago) link
(xp) I've got one of those albums, maybe I should listen to it myself.
― Bridge Over Thorley Waters (Tom D.), Friday, 27 March 2020 14:41 (four years ago) link
Looks like A Year With Swollen Appendices is getting a 25th anniversary (gah) reissue:https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/brian-eno-book-extractFun little essay in there about how things are different today.
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 12 November 2020 12:43 (three years ago) link
Gah indeed... Nice though, pre-ordered!
― A Scampo Darkly (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 12 November 2020 13:09 (three years ago) link
During a recent house move, I found two copies of this. One completely knackered and held together with tape, the other pretty beat up, the binding really wasn't very good. I re-read and enjoyed it and would like to read another one, although not 2020 preferably.
― Maresn3st, Thursday, 12 November 2020 13:44 (three years ago) link
I have my old copy, is there anything new here but the intro (that's reproduced in that GQ link)?
Anyway, this is a really pleasant revive because I was going to bump this about 12 hours ago. I was talking with one of my kids about something, and next thing I know I'm streaming "An Ending (Ascent)." Then I dig up a repost of that unofficial "extended" version, an hour long version of the track. But as I listened I skimmed over the (recent) comments in all their earnest, honest, ridiculous glory and almost immediately got a little weepy. It's amazing the power certain piece of music can have, and what they mean to people. Stuff like:
I wish this world was a better place. I live here in Colorado and everyone hates each other here. I never see anything good anymore. This song just reminds me everything is going to be ok
This hits differently at night under the stars😔 life seems to slow down and you sit there and think how life is taken for granted every day, I wish I could go back to my child hood 😔😔 and see all my friends and family
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWsTPNMYiuU
Predictably the reactions to the original and "original" extended versions posted are just as sad and profound and appreciative and ott. One comment is simply "I miss my mum."
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 12 November 2020 14:06 (three years ago) link
what happened to slocki's sad youtube thread?
thought this revive would be about the Film Music compilation set to be released.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 12 November 2020 16:32 (three years ago) link
I have his PDFs somewhere compiling them.
― dan selzer, Thursday, 12 November 2020 17:26 (three years ago) link
Roger and Brian Eno Announce New Album Mixing Colours🕸Missed this. Roger and Brian have their first joint album out on Deutsche Grammophon, March 20. First track is up:📹
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 6 December 2020 13:48 (three years ago) link
Funny, I've been relistening to this album today and it's even lovelier and more mysterious than I recalled. Made me very proud when my daughter came downstairs, listen to a second of the music, then asked me if it was Brian Eno!
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 26 January 2021 21:58 (three years ago) link
Josh, by this evidence, you are a father who’s doing it right.
― Guys don’t @ me because I tazed my own balls alright? (hardcore dilettante), Wednesday, 27 January 2021 02:00 (three years ago) link
This is a few years ago, and yes I know I glued Eno's synth on the wrong way, don't know how I made that mistake.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g8l9lma5crnx9bp/IMG_4442.TRIM.MOV?dl=0
Opal is almost 4 now and more inclined to listen to the Frozen soundtrack, but this was a proud parenting moment for me.
― dan selzer, Wednesday, 27 January 2021 06:10 (three years ago) link
Opal? Is her middle name Editions EG?
― Hideous Lump, Wednesday, 27 January 2021 11:49 (three years ago) link
It’s Judith. The Opal is actually a Syd Barrett reference despite the different spelling.
― dan selzer, Wednesday, 27 January 2021 12:57 (three years ago) link
Dan, I was thinking of your post as soon as Josh posted his. I must be doing something wrong with my girls because they mostly think I’m a dork for playing this stuff.
― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 27 January 2021 13:24 (three years ago) link
NTI, you are also a father who’s doing it right. Keep the faith.
― Guys don’t @ me because I tazed my own balls alright? (hardcore dilettante), Wednesday, 27 January 2021 13:40 (three years ago) link
Lol, to be fair, my older daughter is 16! She's learned that Eno can be good for studying.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 January 2021 14:10 (three years ago) link