― Joe (Joe), Friday, 10 February 2006 13:27 (eighteen years ago) link
"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 Waiting2. Mea Culpa3. Regiment4. Help Me Somebody5. The Jezebel Spirit6. Very, Very Hungry7. Moonlight in Glory8. The Carrier9. A Secret Life10. Come with Us11. Mountain of Needles
Bonus tracks:12. Pitch to Voltage13. Two Against Three14. Vocal Outtakes15. New Feet16. Defiant17. Number 8 Mix18. 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."
― weekly handle change (haitch), Friday, 10 February 2006 14:27 (eighteen years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 10 February 2006 18:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 10 February 2006 20:37 (eighteen years ago) link
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000E5N634.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
― telephone thing, Friday, 10 February 2006 22:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 10 February 2006 23:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― Myke. (Myke Weiskopf), Saturday, 11 February 2006 05:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― weekly handle change (haitch), Saturday, 11 February 2006 05:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― kit brash (kit brash), Saturday, 11 February 2006 06:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― Douglas (Douglas), Saturday, 11 February 2006 07:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Saturday, 11 February 2006 19:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― kit brash (kit brash), Saturday, 11 February 2006 22:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 11 February 2006 22:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 11 February 2006 23:53 (eighteen years ago) link
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.
― milton parker (Jon L), Sunday, 12 February 2006 00:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 12 February 2006 01:38 (eighteen years ago) link
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!
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Sunday, 12 February 2006 07:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 12 February 2006 14:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― StanM (StanM), Sunday, 12 February 2006 16:33 (eighteen years ago) link
Holger Czukay might have something to say about that.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 12 February 2006 16:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Sunday, 12 February 2006 16:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 12 February 2006 16:43 (eighteen years ago) link
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?
― StanM (StanM), Sunday, 12 February 2006 16:55 (eighteen years ago) link
*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.
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 12 February 2006 17:07 (eighteen years ago) link
http://kikka.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/images/enobyrne2.jpg
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 12 February 2006 17:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 12 February 2006 17:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 12 February 2006 17:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― Nick Holmes (nother), Sunday, 12 February 2006 17:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Sunday, 12 February 2006 17:52 (eighteen years ago) link
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.)
― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 12 February 2006 17:56 (eighteen years ago) link
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."'
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Sunday, 12 February 2006 18:27 (eighteen years ago) link
cunning tendacy = on the way to zagorairon bed = the friends of amos tutuolalate but not serious = les homes ne sauront jamaisinto the spirit womb = lot = the jezebel spirit (original)
― StanM (StanM), Sunday, 12 February 2006 20:24 (eighteen years ago) link
For better or worse, Moby's Play.
― Deluxe (Damian), Sunday, 12 February 2006 20:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 13 February 2006 00:10 (eighteen years ago) link
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.
― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 13 February 2006 00:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― milton parker (Jon L), Monday, 13 February 2006 00:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― Nick Holmes (nother), Monday, 13 February 2006 02:53 (eighteen years ago) link
Not to be too self-promoting, but I wrote a little bit about this here, although the second installment of the column will really get into the post-Eno/Byrne landscape in greater depth. I note that other posters here have covered some of the same key pieces as well.
― Myke. (Myke Weiskopf), Monday, 13 February 2006 05:19 (eighteen years ago) link
H8erz who bag on this record = teh suq, UR all ghey
― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Monday, 13 February 2006 11:52 (eighteen years ago) link
My ex-partner, whom I otherwise loved on several zillion counts, absolutely HATED my taste in music. He endlessly mocked my Steve Reich, Cocteau Twins, Kate Bush, and Stina Nordenstam, whom I otherwise need to listen to every day.
Needless to say, I did say ex-partner...
― Myke. (Myke Weiskopf), Monday, 13 February 2006 12:14 (eighteen years ago) link
― Nick Holmes (nother), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 19:48 (eighteen years ago) link
who has the skinny on the re-release?
― piscesboy, Tuesday, 14 February 2006 19:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 14 February 2006 20:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 20:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tyler W (tylerw), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 21:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― willem -- (willem), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 22:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 22:17 (eighteen years ago) link
The Ghosts record isn't considered a Talking Heads record, hence no DualDisc, Geir.
The story I'd heard is the one Naive tells, that as Eno became more and more involved with the band - and remember, he'd been around since their first LP - Harrison et al. got sick of being the backup for the Byrne and Eno Show.
― Brakhage (brakhage), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 22:27 (eighteen years ago) link
― willem -- (willem), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 22:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― StanM (StanM), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 22:36 (eighteen years ago) link
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/
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 14 September 2017 04:54 (six years ago) link
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
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 11 August 2022 17:07 (one year ago) link
that's really interesting, thanks!
― thinkmanship (sleeve), Thursday, 11 August 2022 17:12 (one year ago) link
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.
― Ashley Pomeroy, Thursday, 11 August 2022 19:30 (one year ago) link
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!
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Thursday, 11 August 2022 19:47 (one year ago) link
No Dunya Younes albums on Spotify
― curmudgeon, Friday, 12 August 2022 15:52 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR715ql1-Fk
― MaresNest, Friday, 24 March 2023 19:55 (one year ago) link
that is awesome
― tylerw, Friday, 24 March 2023 20:14 (one year ago) link