Brian Eno - C or D?

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

Best song of his this century

Oliver Stone agrees.

it's definitely one of the strangest, craziest songs ever to become a rock radio staple.

Also, David Byrne's voice sounds so lovely in it. You'd think his voice wouldn't become so nicely high-pitched with age.

oh oops, i meant "once in a lifetime" is "one of the strangest, craziest songs ever to become a rock radio staple."
not strange overtones. which is great, but not a rock radio staple by any stretch.

no matter how much I listen to Remain in Light this is always what i'll associate the song with:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jbya4kxC6E

Just a reminder, re: Strange Overtones, that Byrne sings pretty much the entirety of Take Me to the River at the top of his register, too.

Also, because it often falls between the cracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5RYptkzbjY

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

Sad this is out of print

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0xZUjAGX9I

Listening now, the problem I have with a lot of those installation pieces he released as a listening experience was that he uses recordings from so many earlier records. For instance, think this is the third time I've heard "Ikebukuro" from The Shutov Assembly.

Really liking his new ambient record 'Lux' -- I'm surprised by how much I like it.

Everyone seems to be talking about it as a return to form. Not having heard it, Geeta, why do you think?

That sounds very promising. I've been stuck in bed recovering from surgery and enjoying playing around with the new 'Scape" iPad app - seems like a lot of possibility there.

I'd never heard Phil Manzanera's "Diamond Head" until tonight and, HEY, Eno's singing on "Big Day" and "Miss Shapiro"! And, my, they're excellent tracks from his prime vocal period. Are there any other guest vocal appearances worth mentioning?

it's not really a guest appearance since they were a band, but I love that 801 live album and the vocals on rongwrong

"The Belldog?" His other stuff with Cluster?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEaOUoKI-T8

"Belldog"/Cluster OTM, also see "Broken Head" and "Tzima N'Arki" from the same record

there's always the 801 Live album as well, and Robert Wyatt's "Heaps Of Sheeps"

gah sorry Sufjan... at any rate, Eno is NOT on the 801 studio album iirc.

"Ms. Shapiro" is so awesome.

You mean Wyatt's "Shleep"? I don't see a listing for Brian's vocals on it.

According to wikipedia, Brian Eno has a vocals credit on "A Change Is Gonna Come" on The Neville Brothers' "Yellow Moon"

must just be the atmospheric oooohs and aaaaahs

Eno's credited with 'vocal chorus' on Heaps Of Shleeps. Listening to it, it could only be him - incredibly distinctive, utterly un-Americanised, undisguisedly well-to-do English singing voice. He's turned up in some capacity on both subsequent Wyatt albums, but the only other time he sings, I think, is on Forest, from Cuckooland.

I love those modern Wyatt albums. I have a feeling Manzanera does quite a lot to make them possible, with studio time and things. If I had a studio, I'd let Robert Wyatt use it whenever he wanted too.

A couple other vocal tours de force to pluck out of mostly intrumental albums:

'Luneberg Heath'
'The Roil, the Choke'

Eno sings significant backup on almost everything he's ever produced, and certainly many guest appearances. But not many lead vox on albums by others.

My fave, oft-posted random Eno appearance in here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr5EHyGBsgg

There's an alternate Eno mix with, um, more Eno. But this could fit right on "Another Green World."

This is pretty cool, though I don't know if any of the vox are Eno's:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzEpiVbkC38

A favorite of these Eno vocal backups is Sikter's "Time and Space" which sounds like some godawful Primus song until the skipping, jittering Enossified chorus. How he ended up on this is beyond me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYfnjhOkMas