Brian Eno

I was just out in the shop getting some work done, and listened to my 2 favorite Brian Eno albums back to back(Taking Tiger Mtn.. and Here Come the Warm Jets) and I got to wondering if He ever did anything that could even remotely relate to Tiki. I know Eno has a massive catalogue of ambient and experimental music. He's done Music for Films and Music for Airports etc.. anyone know if theres any Music for Jungles ?
Music for Rum Drinkers?
MAybe aLLthose paint fumes aRe sarting to git tome?

I'd say thayt My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is, if only conceptually, the closest he ever came to Exotica. And that's a stretch. Great record tho.

And as far as Music for Jungles, perhaps "In Dark Trees" from Another Green World could qualify.

Eno is the one musician/composer who has had the most profound effect on my life and artwork. I think the guy is absolutely brilliant, even if I'm not a big a fan of his later work, which to me has more of a distant, cold quality that borders on almost unpleasant. For warmth, humor and charm, you can't beat his "first four".

As for your question, the closest I can think of are these few songs:

"Over Fire Island" from the absolutely essential "Another Green World" has an exotica kinda rhythm, as well as my favorite Fripp (or any) guitar solo. If you like the first two albums, ANG and the next one, Before and After Science, are more sophisticated-sounding, but equally as brilliant. They are both must-owns.

Actually, now that I am listening to AGW (for the 8,043rd time), there are several exotica-influenced songs. "Sombre Reptiles" is a bossa-nova-ish slice of coolness, with wood block percussion and some Fripperness on top like a fresh mint garnish on the perfect mai tai.

The song "Zawinul/Lava" has a laid back piano riff with bird calls and strange percussion on it. It sounds very "future-primitive" to me.

"Silver Morning" from Apollo Atmospheres & Soundtracks has a country-ish (Hawaiian?) pedal steel. Eno's reasoning for why he used pedal-steel: NASA was based in Houston and most of the astronauts were from the south and all of them were into country music, so he thought it appropriate.

More into the ambient vein, Eno's "On Land" (Ambient 4) is a dark and moody collage of found nature sounds and electronic processing that has a mysterious exotic quality to it, but is far from "upbeat". Another phenomenal musician plays on it, Michael Brook. I cannot recommend any of his work highly enough. He actually has an ambient album with many exotic, percussive pieces called "Hybrid" that I listen to more often than any Eno ambient album. It even has a song called "Distant Village"! I gained HUGE respect for him when I saw him open for King Crimson around '96 and he blew them away. He was solo and did many of the songs on his albums live, with only the use of a guitar and simple loop/delay box the size of a lunchbox. It was one of the most amazing performances I've ever seen. And he actually crafts songs, not just moody drones that have no form or structure.

But back to Eno: One of his most exotic-sounding songs (though not "Exotica, per se) is the song "Evening Star" from the album of the same name. He did two collaborations with Robert Fripp at the same time as his first two solo albums. It's moody and droney and even cheery sounding without being maudlin, and wouldn't sound out of place late at night when the tiki bar is closing.

Yeah, My life in the Bush of Ghosts has got that whacky rythmic Byrne thing goin on.

Another Green World is one I haven't heard much. That might be in the ballpark.

One of my favorite stories about Eno was, he use to own a radio transmitter with a large antenna, before they had eight track recorders. While he was in the middle of mixing a song, he would play it over the airwaves, get in his car, and drive around while listening to it, to see if the mix was "just right" or not.

I love Brian Eno. Here Come the Warm Jets & Another Green World are two of my favourite LPs. There was a time back in the '70's when I lived in a little turn o' the century studio apartment I went to sleep each night listening to Fripp & Eno's Heavenly Music Corporation (& Swastika Girls).

Looks like I better get a copy of Another Green World.

I'd say "On Land" is the closest for my mood. But it's so bass heavy, you almost never hear it. Good for the volcano rumble...

More Eno stuff:

For a really fun listen, get Eno's "810 Live" album. It's essentially a live album of Roxy Music with Eno singing instead of Brian Ferry, right around 1975. They do nothing but Eno songs from the first 2 albums, as well as great covers of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "You Really Got me" (!)
(Edit: Oops, they actually do a few Phil Manzanera songs, not just Eno's. Haven't listened to it in a while.)

I also love Eno's collaborations with the German synth experimentalists Cluster. "The Belldog" from "Cluster & Eno" is one of my fave Eno songs ever.

There's also a great out of print book called "More Dark Than Shark" that features artist Russell Mills' collage paintings depicting every single song from Eno's first 4 albums. I seem to remember he did it as his master's thesis at Royal College of Art London. Nice work and a cool book if you can find it.

And did you know "King's Lead Hat" (from Before & After Science) is an anagram for "Talking Heads?

/Eno geek

Tiki-bot

[ Edited by: Tiki-bot on 2005-01-31 19:11 ]

...and I guess we ought to mention Oblique Strategies as well, since we're now completely off topic. I have a great little application on my desktop (only 188 kbytes!) that pops open a window with an oblique strategy in it every time I click the icon. Great for creative blocks...

It just told me t take a breeak, so I am outta here!

On 2005-01-31 19:08, Tiki-bot wrote:
More Eno stuff:

For a really fun listen, get Eno's "810 Live" album.

Tiki-bot meant "801 Live".

Indeed good advice! But fair warning, listening to it will you give dyslexia.

And speaking of the Oblique Strategies, if you want the actual cards, I ordered mine from http://www.enoshop.co.uk/ . They also sell a number of limited edition Eno recordings.

I listened to an excellent interview with Brian Eno just last night on Radio 4 (UK) He was interviewed by Alan Moore, the comic artist.

I checked it out and it's up for a few days here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/atoz/index.shtml#c

You need to find the programme 'Chain Reaction' and click on 'Listen'.

Trader Woody

More Eno that I still cling to (the vinyl, but also available on CD):

Diamond Head - Phil Manzanera. Miss Shapiro is a warm-up from Warm Jets, but the whole album is great.

June 1, 1974 - Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Nico & Eno (ACNE) live recording - superb.

Low - David Bowie & Eno. Side B is Eno-inspired Bowie at it's best.

On 2005-02-15 19:07, Shipwreckjoey wrote:
June 1, 1974 - Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Nico & Eno (ACNE) live recording - superb.

Is that the session with "Deutchland Uber Alles?" I played that alot back in my College Radio days.

On 2005-02-15 19:07, Shipwreckjoey wrote:
Low - David Bowie & Eno. Side B is Eno-inspired Bowie at it's best.

A little further off track, but I love Nick Lowe's answer EP "Bowi."

There is another artist named Jon hassell, who has collaborated with eno in the past..

His debut album was late 60's/early 70's and called "earthquake Island"...and although the music is similar to some of the jazz fusion that was just starting ariound that time, (like electric era miles Davis, or Return to forever)this particular album was very tropical-oriented, and the liner notes exhort the listener to enjoy the "lush, tropical scenery"

The music is dark and scary, though..and more like Voodoo then tiki.

his later albums also had very interesting titles, like "surgeon of the nightsky restores dead things by the power of light" (or something similar.)

Jon hassell is a trumpet player, but developed his peculiar style by studying with an Indian Singer. He calls his music "4th world music" as it represents "the cultural interface between technology and the third world"

His last album was a return to more real trumpet playing (His previous stuff featured electronically treated trumpet) and featured Ry Cooder and a great indian bansuri player..he did several songs in homage to Duke Ellington's "caravan", (perhaps one of the first exotica songs.)

All his stuff is ambient and otherworldy, and very electronic yet primitive at the same time.

If you like Eno, look up Jon hassell. The only problem is that aside from the internet, it might be hard to find his stuff in record stores.

One of my favorites was an album he did with a group of drummers and balafon player from Burkina faso.....very, very cool!

On 2005-02-15 19:07, Shipwreckjoey wrote:

Diamond Head - Phil Manzanera. Miss Shapiro is a warm-up from Warm Jets, but the whole album is great.

Low - David Bowie & Eno. Side B is Eno-inspired Bowie at it's best.

Diamond Head is a great album, and you're right, Miss Shapiro is excellent. The live version of it is on 801 Live, also.

I read somewhere that the Eno instrumental side of Low was there because Bowie was too strung out to work. Seems his Berlin sessions (Low & Heroes) were a particularly low point for him, and his "recovery" album from that experience became Scary Monsters.

And Jon Hassel is a very interesting artist that takes some getting used to. Often when I hear his playing I don't even realize I'm hearing a trumpet. It's almost as if he creates a nasal whining sound and pushes it through the trumpet. Very unusual and otherworldly. I believe he also appears on Eno's Ambient 4: On Land.

Whilst perusing my local Tower Records yesterday I happened upon a French CD release of June 1, 1974. I bought it and am pleased to say the music has held up very well and the sound quality of the CD is much better than I expected (sorry FFL no "Deutschland Uber Alles" but a stirring rendition of "Heartbreak Hotel" makes up for it). Looked for 801 but no dice (I guess that woulda been pushin' it).

[ Edited by: Shipwreckjoey on 2005-02-17 17:55 ]

Not saying that it's his best, but Before and After Science is my favorite Eno album.

I like it for the reason that it was greatly influenced by Krautrock (he even had Dieter Moebius, Has Joachim Roedelius and Jaki Liebezeit on it). Along with David Bowie's Low (featuring Eno), it stands as one of the best English-language Krautrock albums.

To go back to the primitive motifs of Jon Hassell's music, seek out other Eno collaborator Michael Brook's Hybrid.

It has quite a bit of jungle percussion and atmosphere to it. His other albums are great, but Hybrid is the only one that I would recommend for a primitive setting.

Michael Brook is one of my all-time faves, and I cannot recommend "Hybrid" enough. It almost qualifies as a sort of "tribal ambient" album. I have all his stuff and have to say, if he ever plays live near you, drop everything and go. The amazing thing is that he plays his own compositions live - and solo! Without pre-recorded tapes! And with only a guitar! He puts other, more flashy guitarists to shame.

He's hands down the most amazing solo avant gard player I've ever seen, and his songs have a real warmth and discernacle structure to them, but aren't smarmy and new-agey. In his live show, he uses a tiny sampler box mounted on the mic stand and a couple of pedals. He then plays each part into the sampler and loops and echoes it, layering on new rythms and melodies all the while. It's really phenomenal to see and hear. I'd always thought his stuff was heavily produced and dubbed and processed, but no.

Another album of his I can't recommend enough is "Night Song", which he co-produced with Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan. Khan's amazing Pakistani devotional singing and Brook's music are a gorgeous match made in musical heaven. This is in my top 3 all-time most beautiful albums.

But back to Eno: I was just listening to Devo's first album again and you can really hear the influence Eno had on that album (not unusual considering he produced it). His sound is especially recognizable on the 2 bonus tracks on the CD re-release. They are very avant-punk and are great. If you only know Devo from their later stuff, I highly recommend this one.

I got to see Brook in Chicago, a few years ago. He was opening for David Sylvian and was part of Sylvian's band!

A great show!

For my 1000th post, I may as well contribute something absolutely non-Tiki.

Hence... I knew that Sylvian was going to come up in this thread sooner or later, since Jon Hassel and Michael Brook both played on a bunch of his stuff and were part of his touring bands in various years.

I used to be the sound engineer at the Park West in Chicago - the Sylvian show that Astrosurf saw there was my last gig there before I quit. I wanted to leave the job three months earlier, but stuck around just to have the opportunity to work with Sylvian. Along with Devo and Eno, Sylvian is one of my all time musical gurus.

Secrets of the Beehive.
Gone to Earth.
Brilliant Trees.

Can't touch that stuff.
Awesome.

I think the coolest thing about Eno is his ability to bring out the best in the bands he produces. I think the record he did with Talking Heads is their best album, and the first Devo album remains a masterpiece. He even helped revitalize a then-stagnant U2 in the early 1990s.

I think the trilogy that Eno did with Bowie (Heroes / Low / Lodger) is Bowie's best work, and was followed by the also-genius Scary Monsters - which is Eno-less, but which is also full of other Eno-collaborators such as Robert Fripp (who, in turn, keeps working with Sylvian!).

Seems to me that for these guys, making records are like ordering Chinese food: one artist from column A, one from column B, one from column C, and Eno for dessert.

And a mai tai, please.

See, you can bring ANY topic back to Tiki.

Sorta.

Aaahhh!!!!

Thank you for taking me back to that show at the Park West, tikibars!

[ Edited by: astrosurf on 2005-03-19 17:40 ]

[ Edited by: astrosurf on 2005-03-19 17:41 ]

I saw Sylvian at the Wiltern in L.A. around '87 and it was stunning. His band was essentially his band from "Japan", minus their amazing bassist, Mick Karn. Didn't see Brook play with him, but did get to hear (now big-time movie composer) Mark Isham do all the horn work. It was stunning. I have always been a fan of Steve Jansen's drumming (Jansen is Sylvian's brother) and it's one of the things I remember most from that show. I don't think Sylvian's work holds up as well over time as Talking Heads or Eno's, but there are quite a few gems from those albums you list. I highly recommend his live album with Japan, "Oil on Canvas". It almost doesn't sound live at all, and it's lusher and more densely produced than their studio albums. I even have the VHS of that concert somewhere.

I lost interest with Sylvian's later work, but he also did some awesome experimental stuff with Holgar Czukay on a couple limited EPs. His collaborations with sound installation artist & painter Russel Mills were also very interesting and are contained in a book/CD set called "Ember Glance - The Permanence of Memory". I also love his other Collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Robert Fripp. Wow, those days of fey, avant-art-rock seem like so long ago!

As for Eno and Talking Heads, Eno produced their first 4 or 5 albums, as well as the landmark "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" with Byrne. I read that Eno was one of the reasons the Heads broke up. The rest of the band thought they had become the "Byrne/Eno Band" with them as merely backup musicians.

Funny you mention the connections thing. I spent many years branching out along the musical trees that many of these artists were connected to. It was a pretty reliable way to find more music that interested me. It was somehow all the more enjoyable because I would imagine an artist I liked (it kinda all started with 70's Bowie) and following the musical trail he blazed through the musical avant garde. Those were the days.

BTW, totally off the track here: If anyone is interested in the unreleased Fiona Apple album, "Extraordinary Machine", get it here:
http://www.geekdreams.com/mp3/fiona_apple/
or shoot me a PM if the link dies. She's just another gifted artist screwed over by a record company who's not interested in her anymore because she's not Brittney or Ashley, who made a quirky & strange pop album 2 years ago that was shelved indefinitely due to its "uncommerciality". It seems unlikely that Sony will ever release it now, but here it is for your enjoyment.

Happy listening!

I've been hearing rumors about a Roxy Music reunion, that an album is planned, plus at least one show at the Isle of Wight Fest, and that BRIAN ENO IS TO BE PART OF THIS!

Contact Music says:

Legendary rockers ROXY MUSIC have reformed to record their first album since 1983.

Frontman BRYAN FERRY has joined PHIL MANZANERA, ANDY MACKAY, PAUL THOMPSON and BRIAN ENO for the reunion.

The project marks the first time Eno has worked with Roxy Music since 1973's FOR YOUR PLEASURE disc and will be the first album Roxy Music have recorded since AVALON twenty-two years ago (83).

The LOVE IS THE DRUG band, who briefly reformed for a live performance in 2001 without Eno, have also announced a gig at Britain's ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL on 11 June (05).

21/03/2005 02:54

Interesting - thanks for the heads-up, FF.

Okay, I'm confused. Will the "Love Is The Drug" band also be called Roxy Music? Will Brian Ferry sing with them too? Will both incarnations be at the same festival? Will they play simultaneously on separate stages?

Thanks for the heads up Dr. FFL. I haven't been to any kind of Roxy Music related show since about 1988 for Bryan Ferry's Bete Noire tour performance at the SDSU Ampitheatre.

Speaking of Eno and Sylvian, I've always been surprised they never collaborated together. In addition to the Sylvian albums tikibars suggested, there's also still some gems on Dead Bees on a Cake (many of the songs on this one are inspired by his own guru, "the hugging saint" Amma.) And even the one album released by the reunited members of Japan, Rain Tree Crow, contains one of my all time favorites: Blackwater. I got to see him perform that one last time I saw him at the Wiltern in LA a few years ago. Here's a photo I shot at that show:


Also saw Michael Brook at the 93(?) show for the tour he did with Robert Fripp. (Got some pics of that somewhere too.)

If anyone is interested in checking out other musicians "related" to Sylvian, may I suggest a Yahoo Group called YMO Rare:
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/ymorare/

More recently, do check out his vocals with Blonde Redhead called "Messenger". It's being played on indie stations like KCRW here in LA.

As for Eno, I remember my first intro to his stuff (had already heard the name for years) when I was a teenager and used to listen to this obscure ambient music program at 5 or 6 in the morning once a week. One week they used the whole hour to play just one piece and it turned out to be "Thursday Afternoon" by Eno. I still have the recorded program on tape cassette and it's still great.

VG took me to David Sylvian's last LA show but I don't remember much as I fell asleep.

Here's a collaboration I would like to see:

Eno and Shane MacGowan

How about "On Some Faraway Beach" off Here Come the Warm Jets (on Island Records no less)? It puts me in a tropical mood.

Here's one print of 4 that were inserts in the original English issue of Before and After Science (on Polydor). It's titled The Road to the Crater. Some South Pacific Island perhaps?

My favorite album is hard to choose but Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy was my first so it's hard to top. But his albums Tiger Mountain, Warm Jets, Before and After Science, and Another Green World are all masterpieces.

Eno live (non-musical) appearance:

http://www.skirball.org/index.asp?s=program&p=einstein_prog.asp&a=eno