Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets Poll ~ Oh no Oh no Oh no Oh no Oh no!

allmusic: a "self-described non-musician [...] Eno championed theory over practice, serendipity over forethought, and texture over craft"

i think eno's theory of the "study as instrument" and his reliance on people who were competent enough to actually play guitar, drums, etc. distinguish him from zappa, who was a multi-instrumentalist and very much a control freak. whereas eno's well-documented use of chance methods sort of put him an a spot that's less studio-creep, more open to improvisation or at least input from the musicians he worked with (zappa almost always got full songwriting credit right from the start -- HCTWJ, at least, is different in that respect). it's also hard to imagine eno telling his band how to behave, what drugs not to take, etc.

as for the music, i guess you can call it misanthropic? you could point me to where that is, but i've never heard it. eno himself never comes off as such in interviews. he seemed / seems to be genuinely interested in humans and all the world has to offer. isn't that so? can you even imagine zappa being involved in something like the long now foundation? eno's politics are pretty right on.

i'll give you "mutant deconstructions" i guess, but i'd argue that's being generous to zappa. more like tasteless parodies. dude had zero sense of humor and, as has been discussed at length on other threads, his lyrics are full of just super gross sexism, homophobia, and machismo that is super direct and unpleasant.

eno's music is the opposite of misanthropic

yeah budo jeru OTM - Zappa and eno are not in the same wheelhouse.

I give you all that on Eno but I feel there is a definite bitter (manipulative, vulgar, yeah misanthropic) streak to Eno maybe up until AGW. Like early Roxy and solo albums are tastier than Zappa sure, but it's not that different of a wheelhouse. Ferry had enough genuine leading man gusto to tamper it a bit and the difference after Eno left is telling. Many moments on this album make me think of Hot Rats by sounds alone but also a certain feeling of being pulled on by a bullshiter. Like, the melodies on On Some Faraway Beach and the title track are genuinely pretty but he sort of plays against them in a cheap kitschy way as opposed to enhancing them as he started doing in all his later stuff. Like it's a difference, that we were talking about during the Talking Heads poll, between early and late Byrne. The nervous hateful wreck vs a guru. Eno wore the guru better but Byrne was a much more likable wreck.

Also I agree, Zappa is a dumbass both as a person and as an artist. Still, Freak Out and We're Only in It for the Money have moments where all his miserable bullshit sort of becomes poignant (Mom & Dad comes to mind). I actually prefer those to Here Come The Warm Jets.

Think of the pretty pars of Peaches En Regalia and tell me you don't hear the similarity! But ok, can probably phrase it all better once I clear my head a bit. But again, I would probably go on a "Still the Same is a million times better than On Some Faraway Beach" rant so I should shut up forever.

parts*

i feel like these early, overstuffed albums are brimming with affirmative exuberance rather than any kind of mockery or scorn. sometimes absurdism can feel hostile, but the dada lyrics here just seem like a way to untether the songs from any single meaning, allowing the album to retain some of the improvisational energy of the recording process

Eno is a masterful self-publicist, so we should take "non-musician" for the delicious nonsense it is. He plays excellent keyboards, although perhaps not in 1973.

i spent a year of my life living completely inside this album. just about literally. fave song at beginning: "needle in the camel's eye." fave song in middle: "on some faraway beach." fave song at end: "here come the warm jets."

since there's been hardly any mention of "blank frank," i'll add that i love how the hand percussion turns around on every verse, having played through the metric changes on the instrumental interludes as if they weren't there.

Dead Finks Don't Talk is a piss-take of Ferry, right?

In hindsight, I wonder if Eno knew of 'Maggot Brain' in how on the track 'Here Come the Warm Jets' he kinda keeps the drums completely out of the mix until the last part of the tune. I'd imagine there is a drum take on the whole tune, but either it was off or it just sounded better having the guitars, bass and synth on that front half and slow mixing in the drums. How it is mixed reminds me a bit of how Clinton created the studio Maggot Brain in that way.

between this and the Talking Heads poll this has been an Olympics record-breaking month for the amount of complete bullshit wittered on ILM

“Dead Finks is not about Bryan Ferry. After all the music was recorded and the words written, Chris Thomas (my producer and Roxy’s as well) said, ‘you’ll get me shot for that track. It’s obviously about Bryan.’ So I listened back to it and it obviously was. It was certainly something I hadn’t realised. Essentially all these songs have no meaning that I invested in them. Meanings can be generated within their own frame-work. It may be a very esoteric thing to talk about but I don’t think it’s entirely out of the question.” -- Brian Eno, 1973

Surely the faux Ferry inhabitance at 1.14 in "Dead Finks Don't Talk" is the best recorded on tape

It's dead on

I have on occasion taken off my earbuds during the title track to check if there actually is a bell going off somewhere. I love it. Also love two drum kits playing practically the same thing at the same time.

Like early Roxy and solo albums are tastier than Zappa sure, but it's not that different of a wheelhouse. Ferry had enough genuine leading man gusto to tamper it a bit and the difference after Eno left is telling.

It is that different of a wheelhouse(?) As for Roxy, Eno twiddled knobs + wore feather boas, it was Ferry's band.

Think of the pretty parts of Peaches En Regalia and tell me you don't hear the similarity!

I can't hear the similarity.

I mean, I don't think it's crazy to see black humour and misanthropy in a rock song called "Baby's on Fire" that is literally about a woman on fire and written with this tone:

Baby's on fire
Better throw her in the water
Look at her laughing
Like a heifer to the slaughter

Baby's on fire
And all the laughing boys are bitching
Waiting for photos
Oh the plot is so bewitching

Rescuers row, row
Do your best to change the subject
Blow the wind blow, blow
Lend some assistance to the object

Photographers snip snap
Take your time, she's only burning
This kind of experience
Is necessary for her learning

Idk what the digression about Juanita and Juan is really about, though.

^ but Eno has never ever been misanthropic

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I listened to this album in the car for three days straight last week.

― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, April 3, 2017 11:01 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This was precisely what prompted me to poll it, randomly grabbed the cd out of a box and played it on the road for a couple of days. A week later my appreciation for it was completely revived and upgraded.
Shame someone brought Zappa into this, he's the last person on my mind when thinking about Eno. Always though of 'Baby's On Fire's lyrics as a critique on gossip/press/voyeurism/celebrity cult.

Perfect album, impossible to vote in my own poll, but will give it to the title track.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

wow, interesting spread, everything got at least one vote

I didn't realize the title track was as widely loved as it is. I always thought of it as a gem tucked away behind needle and baby's on fire.

Me neither! Expected Needles to walk this tbh. But the title track is such an immense anthem. One of the best album closing tracks I know.

(great turnout btw ty ilm)

The chaotic drums falling into place suddenly is a glorious moment.

^ Top 5 moments in art rock or pre-punk or whatever this is imo

Always though of 'Baby's On Fire's lyrics as a critique on gossip/press/voyeurism/celebrity cult.

I don't think this contradicts the idea that there is a misanthropic element in there. (Zappa critiqued those things too, tbf, not that it was the first comparison that came to mind for me either.)

Anyway, I didn't expect the title track to win either but it is also really satisfying.

Like, I think he's pretty scornful/misanthropic towards the laughing boys and the photographers but I also don't get a lot of compassion towards the woman from the narrator.

very satisfying results! my top 4 is the same as the results, it just depends on the day and listening context.

Providence-based brass band What Cheer? Brigade covers the title track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuL6yEHv7xA

I rarely vote, but voted title track.

On Some Faraway Beach sounds quieter than the rest of the album, which irritates me. Does anyone else get this?

Nope. Not on my cd at least.

how did i miss this?
i love the whole album for many of the reasons mentioned above, overstuffed exuberance included (driving me backwards is the only song i find genuinely irritating)
one of my bands covered warm jets too
if i had voted it would have been for "some of them are old" because of how it leads into title track, they are like one song to me <3
"baby's on fire" is probably my emotional favorite but i don't feel it needed my vote.

i didn't vote either but would've voted for dead finks to make sure it got at least one vote. surprised paw paw negro blowtorch got so few votes tbh. i def prefer all the weird rockers to the more melodic ballady stuff, though it's all great.

Maybe it's the way the drums are kept in the background that makes it sound quiet to me. It jars oddly.

Interesting to compare to the 2008 results from POLL: Favorite Track on Eno's "Here Comes the Warm Jets"

Needles In The Camel's Eye 21
Baby's On Fire 17
On Some Faraway Beach 11
Here Come The Warm Jets 11
Cindy Tells Me 9
The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch 9
Dead Finks Don't Talk 5
Blank Frank 4
Driving Me Backwards 2
Some Of Them Are Old 2

Same top 4 sequence, except that the title track shot forward from fourth to become the dominating favorite. Rest also looks the same, except TPPNB collapses from a nine-vote constituency to a lone voter. No idea what to make of either development but against an otherwise unchanging background it'd be interesting to think about reasons why.

One vote for Paw Paw is ludicrous. I didn't vote for it either, mind you. Almost did.

I also forgot to vote, love it all - when there was that ilm 70s rock poll a few years ago I had this album #1, it is easily my favourite "rock" album

if i had voted it would have been for "some of them are old" because of how it leads into title track, they are like one song to me <3

this was the reasoning behind my vote! :)

Blank frank is the siren, he's the air-raid, he's the crater
He's on the menu, on the table, he's the knife and he's the waiter

Eno: underrated singer and lyricist.

not underrated by me
i love his lyrics, they span the spectrum from ridiculous to poignant and are super fun to sing
and tbh i have never disliked his singing, though it probably isn't for everyone

blank frank is the messenger of your doom and your destruction

not underrated by me

Underrated by Eno for sure! Singing and particularly writing lyrics are among the things he's done the least in the past few decades.

Spider and I sit watching the sky
On a world without sound
We knit a web to catch one tiny fly
For our world without sound
We sleep in the mornings
We dream of a ship that sails away
A thousand miles away.

At least as of a few years ago — he talked about it on the Colbert Report and elsewhere — he was getting together with friends to sing on a weekly basis, an exercise in pure pleasure that he meant to keep fun and fresh by saying no recordings allowed. I don't think not doing something for public consumption necessarily means that he undervalues it. Maybe yes maybe no.

He loves singing! He does gospel, etc. Like this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_72UC9npjg

Just clearly he loves doing it more than he loves releasing albums with vocals and lyrics.

Some of them are old but it would help if you could smile
To earn a crooked sixpence you'll walk many crooked miles
And as you do, remember me, remember me.

one of my favorite bit of Eno lyrics.