Eno/Byrne's My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts Reissued?

"Something fishy's going on when unassuming swell-heads like these dabblers start releasing their worktapes. As cluttered and undistinguished as the MOR fusion and prog-rock it brings to the mind's ear, this album has none of the songful sweep of Remain in Light or the austere weirdness of Jon Hassell, and the vocal overlays only intensify its feckless aura. C+"

That's rich. Xgau has never been more off point.

But I AM ugly.

It appears that Nonesuch will revisit the classic Brian Eno/David Byrne album, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. But wait..there's definitely more. This will be an expanded version. I don't know about you but that was one of my favourite albums for quite a long time. In fact, I still listen to it from time to time, so you already know what a madman I'm going to be awaiting this one. Someone straitjacket me. My Life In the Bush of Ghosts arrives on March 28. Watch these pages for info as it becomes available.

"The CD contains remastered versions of the original album tracks (sans "Qu'ran", which was only available on the first issues of the album and removed for later pressings because of sampled parts from the Quran) plus previously unreleased bonus tracks:

1. America Is Waiting
2. Mea Culpa
3. Regiment
4. Help Me Somebody
5. The Jezebel Spirit
6. Very, Very Hungry
7. Moonlight in Glory
8. The Carrier
9. A Secret Life
10. Come with Us
11. Mountain of Needles

Bonus tracks:
12. Pitch to Voltage
13. Two Against Three
14. Vocal Outtakes
15. New Feet
16. Defiant
17. Number 8 Mix
18. Solo Guitar with Tin Foil

When MLITBOG was originally released, a bootleg LP surfaced with some unreleased tracks (including the original version of "Jezebel Spirit" with Kathrin Kuhlman smaples) and alternative versions with weird titles. It's not sure if these tracks are featured on the new CD or if this is 'new' unreleased material."

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000E5N634.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

there were four non-album tracks on the original bootleg, including the Kuhlman version of 'jezebel spirit' (and I'd be surprised if that track is one of these new tracks). so there's lots of new stuff here, even for those who already have the lo-fidelity bootleg.

Well, I've got both "Q'uran" and "Very, Very Hongro" on my version and it's not like the disc I have is some Holy Grail -- it's just the normal Sire edition. I was wondering if it might've had something to do--oh, I dunno--with the fact that it's 2006, there's a perceived war against Islam going on, and the likes of France and Denmark are being burned to the ground.

The thing about Bush of Ghosts is that it's exactly what the fanboys say it is and what the critics gripe about as well. Which is to say that it's this largely unprecedented fusion of musics and cultures while also being a tinny, unholy mashup that isn't the sum of its parts.

I'd argue that latter part of that probably wasn't intentional--there's no denying it does sound like it was thrown together by a couple of nerdy white guys who know their electronics a hell of a lot better than they do their African music--but the record is more about authenticity than it is authentic. I mean, fuck taking "Music in the World of Islam" or Dunya Yusin without permission -- the whole Bush of Ghosts concept was thieved from Jon Hassell!

Holger Czukay might have something to say about that.

Talking-heads.net has this info on that bootleg:

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts outtakes (45 min) (CD “Ghosts”)

Interview with Brian Eno - Mea Culpa - Into the Spirit Womb (orig version of “The Jezebel Spirit”) - Regiment - The Friends of Amos Tutuola - America is Waiting - The Carrier - Very Very Hungry - On the Way to Zagora - Les Hommes ne le Sauront Jamais - A Secret Life - Come With Us - Mountain of Needles

But there seems to be yet another version(scroll down) with these extra tracks (was that pink thing the cover of the first edition?) :

- Cunning Tendacy (sic)
- interview
- Iron Bed
- Late But Not Serious
- Lot (= Into the spirit womb = the jezebel spirit original)
- The Carrier (about a minute longer, extra vocals in the middle)

(found these online, so they do exist) - I presume this second one is also a bootleg?

*cough*

I listened to this album over and over when it came out. Now I wouldn't exactly call it horrible, but I don't think it's very good. It mostly is of historical interest, without deserving any lost classic status. Also, I think this was a case where having heard Eno providing background on the source material in an interview contributed a lot to my enthusiasm for the record.

If you want to hear recitation of the Qur'an, it's not hard to find recordings. Putting a lame rhythm track underneath does not improve it (though I am a little sad it is being left off the album under pressure--see the Danish Muhammad Cartoon thread). I prefer solo recitation, rather than the sort of group recitation that appears on the samples on this album. (The latter really seems to be more about communal worship, while the solo recordings tend to have more artistry to them.)

Samira Tewfic is on this too, though I only properly discovered her in 1993/4. Now there's someone who needs to be reissued, seriously.

http://kikka.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/images/enobyrne2.jpg

I tend to associate all those evangelist-sampling songs (stuff like Front 242) that were popular a little bit later with this record, not that there is necessarily a direct line of influence. (I'm sure you could find earlier examples.)

Shocklee/Bomb Squad, mentioned upthread.

Qur'an was taken off the record years ago, I doubt current events had anything to do with it.

Based on looking at Amazon, I believe it was taken off the second edition vinyl issue, put back on the first CD, and taken off again more recently. BTW, here's an odd tidbit for a little perspective, courtesy of an Amazon reviewer:

'I initially heard of it thanks to a recommendation by Pink Floyd's keyboardist Richard Wright, in a 1996 interview given to Record Collector Magazine.
Mr. Wright (who incidentally also thinks highly of Remain in Light) describes his first reaction to the album, presumably on its initial release: "This knocked me sideways when I first heard it--full of drum loops, samples and soundscapes, stuff that we really take for granted now, but which was unheard of in all but the most progressive musical circles at the time."'

cunning tendacy = on the way to zagora
iron bed = the friends of amos tutuola
late but not serious = les homes ne sauront jamais
into the spirit womb = lot = the jezebel spirit (original)

For better or worse, Moby's Play.

like Ned hinted at, Hassell does not have the copyright on cross-cultural tape collage -- Czukay / Dammers' 'Canaxis' 1968, Richard Maxfield's 'Bacchanale', 1963, and James Tenney's 'Viet Flakes' 1967, all worth mentioning in reviews if you're going to get archival on us -- none of those are pop, though even there there's precedent in Czukay's 'Movies' from 1979.

Hassell overstates his case, he already had amazing solo records out & there's no confusion as to who was doing what, though yeah it would have been great if he'd been in on the sessions for this record.

I'd venture that the difference between Harrison and Byrne in this case has more to do with the type of "recontextualization" they're interested in -- with Harrison it seems like it had more to do with experimentation and spirituality, with Byrne it seems to be more about anxiety and dislocation.

.... pretty please....?

How is this album a more "intelligent" use of world music elements?

-- Tim Ellison (thefriendlyfriendlybubbl...), April 26th, 2006.

This is only tangentially related, but Jon Pareles and David Lewiston (Nonesuch Explorer series dude) were just on Soundcheck on WNYC talking about what "world music" is and George Harrison figured heavily in the discussion. The really interesting bits, though, are the parts where Lewiston talks about his first trip to Bali to record gamelan music:

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/episodes/2006/05/10

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WSwpm0N8yMA/T8TAFLnG1mI/AAAAAAAAANY/tEZrq_u-Wxw/s1600/scan0001.jpg

http://mywalloftapes.blogspot.com/2012/05/life.html

still hissy, mastered very quiet, but still, better fidelity than the Ghosts bootleg

Unfortunately, that's gone.

I recently pulled this out again as I got interested in finding out how Eno was using his AMS DMX delay box to do the cut-up vocals on this (that's been unsuccessful).

But a few days ago, I found an interview from 1980 with Eno in which he talks about MLitBoG a bit -- and plays a few rough mixes he'd done of "America Is Waiting" (sans vocals, which he calls "Garbage Disco"), "Mea Culpa" (just the synth arpeggio and vocals), and a very early version of "The Carrier" (I think -- I get some of those tracks on the second side mixed up). Pretty interesting stuff:

http://ubu.com/sound/eno.html

oh, cool, think i've just heard an excerpt of that interview. thanks!

Rough mixes supposedly from a cassette Byrne gave to a guy when he was living in Alphabet City in the late 70s/early 80s. By far the best quality boots I've heard of this material.

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=1121

Holy shit, this sound pretty familiar:

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

Admittedly late but what am I missing here, Josh? Is that supposed to be a groove Eno and Byrne appropriated?

Kind of reminiscent of Regiment?

No resemblance at all. A groove's a groove's a groove.

So this is being reissued again, on vinyl this time, with additional bonus tracks:

http://hhhhappy.com/my-life-in-the-bush-of-ghosts-set-for-vinyl-reissue-with-new-surprises/

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/aug/11/better-late-than-never-how-brian-eno-and-david-byrne-finally-laid-a-musical-ghost-to-rest

that's really interesting, thanks!

The Rolling Stone article mentioned towards the end is fascinating as well:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/my-life-in-the-bush-of-ghosts-252823/

I was expecting "sampling isn't real music" but it's a lot more nuanced, and encapsulates all of the criticisms that were levelled at world music many years later. Eno and Byrne just brush it off in their article.

So, I guess people from the past weren't a bunch of stupid racists after all. It also reminds me that I haven't read anything at all by Marshall McLuhan. He was huge before I was born, but when I was young it was all No Logo and whatever else you were supposed to pretend to read to be hip. McLuhan was a bit old-hat back then. I learn from the internet that he wasn't a real Marshall. That was just his name.

I never thought that Pareles review was able to land a convincing blow. Like: "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts does make me wonder, though, how Byrne or Eno would react if Dunya Yusin spliced together a little of 'Animals' and a bit of 'The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch,' then added her idea of a suitable backup. Does this global village have two-way traffic?"... Is he really suggesting he thinks they'd be upset? Seems like they would each have died to hear what that would have sounded like!

No Dunya Younes albums on Spotify

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR715ql1-Fk

that is awesome