Brian Eno - C or D?

Anyone know the details about "My Squelchy Life"? There's a number of rips out there in the void but some sound like they're the wrong pitch. Anyone have a source CD or a reliable listing for the track times?

The six "My Squelchy Life" tracks were released on the last CD of the Eno Vocal box set: http://www.discogs.com/Brian-Eno-II-Vocal/release/691819 . It seems like he started the album still in full "Wrong Way Up" mode, but eventually found the non-songlike space jazz instrumental pieces more interesting and went that way for "Nerve Net", and those six songs wouldn't have fit as well on that record (which is a shame, they're great)

There are two or three "Squelchy" tracks that are not on "Nerve Net" or the boxed set.

One from the boxed set is on Another Day on Earth...

That song, "Under," was actually from the "Cool World" soundtrack!

http://unheard78.blogspot.com/2010/10/brian-eno-my-squelchy-life.html

There are two or three "Squelchy" tracks that are not on "Nerve Net" or the boxed set.

Thanks for the link! Kind of looking forward to this. when 'vocal II' came out I borrowed it from a friend -- the rare stuff on disc 3 was the sole reason to invest in the whole box, and I passed on it. but I downloaded the tracks a few years ago and in an iTunes context I have really grown to enjoy them.

I think "Under" is one of the most lovely songs he has written.

yeah me too

just discovered The Demon of the Mines j-bonus track for "Another Day On Earth" and it is perfectly lovely

Just in case someone has never heard it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aU6xiTLLWY&feature=related

Incidentally, like Lanois' "The Maker," a song built around Willie Green drums leftover from the Neville Brothers sessions.

thx for the squelchy life link, josh! never heard this stuff...

I haven't heard "Under" in years. Cheers.

yesss thank u, haven't heard all of the squelchy stuff either.

Just in case someone has never heard it:

Agreed, this is great.

ok, I can see why he nixed "Squelchy" and developed it into "Nerve Net", some of these songs are going out of their way to stay casual, not as much of the sonic detail you expect from this guy. and it doesn't feel like a unified album the way "Another Day On Earth" did, but I definitely like these songs better than most of "Nerve Net"

I mean as a song "The Harness" could have been on "Taking Tiger Mountain", especially the vocals, I will only say thank you whenever he does a song like this

Thanks ILM for the excellent and immediate response, woohoo!

just discovered The Demon of the Mines j-bonus track for "Another Day On Earth" and it is perfectly lovely

Totally agree. Other than YouTube, this song is unfindable online, legit or otherwise. I gather a mix of it was in the Adrian Brody/Keira Knightly flick, The Jacket.

ok, I can see why he nixed "Squelchy" and developed it into "Nerve Net", some of these songs are going out of their way to stay casual, not as much of the sonic detail you expect from this guy. and it doesn't feel like a unified album the way "Another Day On Earth" did, but I definitely like these songs better than most of "Nerve Net"

Agreed. Squelchy Life/Nerve Net represent sort of an interesting era for him sonically (if less so artistically). The sound palette he used around that time was almost exclusively DX-7 (all those fuzzy, almost analog sounds, actually) (gulp) ROMpler (the dinky saxophone noodling on "Pierre in Mist" on NN) and live drumming.

I mean as a song "The Harness" could have been on "Taking Tiger Mountain", especially the vocals, I will only say thank you whenever he does a song like this

I'm a fan of Another Day on Earth's failed dreams. But "The Harness" is the most energized thing he's done in 20 years (ok, it was done 20 years ago, but still). Can't believe I didn't notice it when I heard Squelchy Life a few years ago. It's a great song.

all this talk of the Nerve net era makes me want to give a shout out to the song "The Roil, The Choke", which was on the maxi single of "Fractal Zoom" and is a beautiful tune with vocals.

I owned the "Ali Click" single almost twenty years ago. Is Nerve Net worth owning?

Maybe, if u can find it for under $5 which you probably can. I prefer the Squelchy Life tracks for the most part. There are some cool remixes on that Ali Click single.

I think this new album is a little too new age for my liking, the spoken word bits are a huge turn-off.... But no shots if its your thing!!! http://i.imgur.com/zi7hd.gif

Is Nerve Net worth owning?

Nerve Net is...ok. Some days I think I like it -- other days, I think it's where things started to go horribly, horribly wrong for Eno.

Agreed about "The Roil, The Choke" (which is on the record proper, not just the maxi single) -- that's a really nice song.

I still think one of his big problems is wrestling with modern technology.

taking modern culture (by strategy) -- by mark s of ILX fame:

http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/interviews/wire92.html

gotta stay away from this thread or i'll miss my flight -- i'm in line at the gate, we are boarding this plane to california

got an email today from someone who was actually at that derby/eno/winkies gig we posted. he says someone he went with has a better recording of it! but also that he's lost touch with him...but who knows, maybe it'll pop up one of these days.

"we" not the royal "we", sleeve and me.

wow, good to know!

new collab on Warp is at my radio station but I only played one track so far.

still haven't listened to this new one. I disagree that nerve net is where it all went wrong, it is a very fine album. certainly better than almost everything that came after. I like shutov assembly as well, one of his best ambient records.

i sadly agree, though, that after those first 10 years (71/72 - 81/82, or thereabouts), his career has become a series of small but increasing disappointments. he's never returned to the astonishing pop experiments with which he began his career, which is fine, his choice, but he also seems to have lost his knack for finding interesting, challenging artists working at or toward their peak powers to produce and with whom to collaborate. i respect U2, and his work with that band was obviously important to all concerned, but those albums were never important to me, personally. recent productions for the likes of laurie anderson, david bowie, sinead o'connor, david byrne and grace jones might look good on paper, but rarely resulted in inspired music.

― also we’re divorced now and i hate this movie. (contenderizer), Friday, July 8, 2011 3:38 PM (1 month ago)

okay fair enough, but if you remove any identifying details, this could describe like 95% of all artists ever, right?

for ex --

i sadly agree, though, that after those first ___ years (___ - ___, or thereabouts), his career has become a series of small but increasing disappointments. he's never returned to the astonishing ________ experiments with which he began his career, which is fine, his choice, but he also seems to have lost his knack for _________________ and with whom to collaborate. i respect _____________, and his work with that band was obviously important to all concerned, but those albums were never important to me, personally. recent ____________ might look good on paper, but rarely resulted in inspired music.

― also we’re divorced now and i hate this movie. (contenderizer), Friday, July 8, 2011 3:38 PM (1 month ago)

ALL MUSIC EVER ^^^

genuis fades with time.... r.i.p.

Yeah, you sort of blend every criticism of Eno into one deliberate binary choice, when all of it actually took place over a much longer time horizon. There's the "Eno doesn't make pop records anymore" argument which started around 1978 (and, frankly, ignored his contributions to the pop records he produced). There's the argument that his output lost steam (true -- but more obvious following Thursday Afternoon; he was still cooking from 1981-1985 or so). And it's only really been the last 15-20 years that his choice of collaborators became predictable (around 1993-94 with the James and Bowie).

None of which is to suggest your conclusion is wrong -- just that it happened more organically and less by "choice" than you argue. It's called getting older. Also, from the Cale collab, to the odd bewitching cut (from "The Harness" from My Squelchy Life to "More Dust" from the Schwalm record) to (IMO) quite a bit of Another Day on Earth, there's plenty of evidence that the guy hasn't completely lost it and may still have a trick or two up his sleeve yet.

The Cale/Eno album is my last outright fave but the Squelchy Life tracks from the vocal box are killer too. What would be on a best-of since Eno/Cale, I.e. the last 20 years?

I do agree that in general, most artists really only have one good decade in them, and many only half a decade. Eno's a little different because I think everyone wants to know what would have happened had he continued to make albums like Before and After Science for the next ten years instead of getting bored with the art form.

He's going to be on the Colbert Report tomorrow night.

Getting ready to listen to the Sound Opinions ep with him on it, I'm wondering just how audible DeRo's orgasms will be.

there was a pretty good interview w/ eno in the last issue of tape op. the guy is a quote machine!

Never realized until this moment that the backing vocals on some Talking Heads records (particularly "Once In A Lifetime") are mostly Eno. Only took me 25 years to figure that one out.

yeah he's pretty prominent as a vocalist on remain in light

I still love Strange Overtones.

That Tape Op intvw IS good! One of my fave Eno intvws period because they get to talking about the process of making music and little is said of cybernetics, systems, etc.

I'm wondering just how audible DeRo's orgasms will be.

Trevor Horn's sampling them for a future recording.

yeah for a "not very good" vocalist I do dig Eno's vocalizing quite a bit

in particular the line "the biology of purpose keeps my nose above the surface buhhhhhhh" always makes me smile

or I AM THE SEA OF PERMUTATION

didn't he admit that his lyrics are mostly nonsense and that his words are chosen based almost solely on how they sound?

"Now we're on the telephone, making final arrangements, ding ding!"

I have huge gaps in my musical knowledge, and eno is one of them, like I haven't really closely listened to anything he's produced or any of his solo albums, but for the past month I've been digging in and the dude is a beast

I've never listened to the beach boy's''' smile either, until last wk, don't know what's blown my mind more

sounds like you're having a good week

lol, i'd say so!

He's good on the Sound Opinions ep, and I want to say Greg takes the lead on a lot of the interview.

BTW, I've loved this guy for decades, but something special clicked when I heard some in depth radio bit on the best songs ever or some such list, and it focused on "Once in a Lifetime." Specifically, what state it was in when Byrne brought it to the studio, and then what Eno added to make it what it is (and earn him the co-write credit). The entire call and response chorus was his idea! Byrne wanted to keep it static, like the verses for the duration of the entire song.

I still love Strange Overtones.

― Turangalila, Wednesday, November 9, 2011 10:09 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark