Some of Them Are Polled (ILM Artist Poll #55 - Brian Eno - RESULTS)

Cool results! I had 'St. Elmo's Fire' at #1 but never expected it to win.

Thanks WilliamC.

I enjoyed doing the poll! I hope everybody was ok with the lowkey no-bombast rollout. They can't all be big parties, and basically the data collection is worthwhile in and of itself, imo.

I didn't vote for any Roxy. They are among my favorite bands but I just couldn't in good conscience credit Eno with their early success, esp. since he didn't write any of those songs.

does everybody hate 'always returning'? it's the prettiest.

Mine

By This River
Golden Hours
Here Come The Warm Jets
Fullness Of Wind: Three Variations On The Canon In D Major By Johann Pachelbel
St Elmo's Fire
Needles In The Camel's Eye
Baby's On Fire
Spinning Away
On Some Faraway Beach
An Ending (Ascent)
Miss Sarajevo
Regiment
The True Wheel
Spider and I
King's Lead Hat
Driving Me Backwards
Burning Airlines Give You So Much More
Stars
Everything Merges With the Night
2/1
Weightless
Marseilles
1/1
Some Of Them Are Old
I'll Come Running
A Clearing
The Heavenly Music Corporation
Wind On Water
The Jezebel Spirit
Not Yet Remembered
Taking Tiger Mountain

Only TWO of you voted for Back In Judy's Jungle?!?!??!

Not interested in criticism from non-voters.

I didn't think I knew enough Eno to vote, but that wd've maybe been my number 1 (either that or the title-track)

Speaking of "The Big Ship," Eno pretty much owns that sort of wistful chord progression, doesn't he? Kind of his own variation on the doo wop progression. He comes back to it a lot in various projects, and explores a similar sort of ideas in "Spinning Away," or even the beginning of "Where the Streets Have No Name," say.

the big ship is the one we're all on, no?

What's the best widely available and affordable descriptive Eno book?

Descriptive?

Like I want lots of description, I dunno? Facts, local color, things of their time, correspondence, things I wouldn't otherwise know unless I read this book.

Speaking of "The Big Ship," Eno pretty much owns that sort of wistful chord progression, doesn't he? Kind of his own variation on the doo wop progression. He comes back to it a lot in various projects, and explores a similar sort of ideas in "Spinning Away," or even the beginning of "Where the Streets Have No Name," say.
Indeed, as in "An Ending (Ascent)," too.

I would like an Eno book that goes into lots of detail about studio sessions and different approaches and techniques used.

Best for those may be I want to say the Eric tamm book, or maybe More Dark Than Shark? Or Geeta's book, for that one album. a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff, the making of stuff, has come out in bits and spurts over the years, usually anecdotally.

Yeah, just pulled it out and the Tamm book is the most detailed about the actual process. Very technical/musicological at times.

Still, it's disappointing in terms of really saying much about his actual working methods.

For all his theorizing on Japanese gardens and such, honestly, I would be far more interested in a master class on how he processes sounds or programs his DX-7.

What's the difference?!

Apparently Eno and Jacques lu Cont are like the only two people in history to master programming the dx7.

Tracks

1) Here Come the Warm Jets
2) The True Wheel
3) The Big Ship
4) On Some Faraway Beach
5) Taking Tiger Mountain
6) Baby's On Fire
7) An Ending (Ascent)
8) Third Uncle
9) Spider and I
10) Needles in the Camels Eye
11) In Dark Trees
12) Discreet Music
13) Roxy Music - In Every Dream Home a Heartache
14) Music for Airports 1/1
15) Roxy Music - The Bogus Man
16) Eno Harmonia - Almost
17) Somber Reptiles
18) Sky Saw
19) Under Stars
20) Kings Lead Hat
21) Music for Airports 1/2
22) Roxy - If There is Something
23) Eno Byrne - The Jezebel Spirit
24) Mother Whale Eyeless
25) Becalmed
26) Here He Comes
27) Everything Merges With The Night
28) Eno Byrne - America is Waiting
29) Fat Lady of Limbourg
30) Julie With

Productions

1) Another Green World
2) Taking Tiger Mountain
3) Here Come the Warm Jets
4) Before and After Science
5) Discreet Music
6) My Life in the Bush Of Ghosts
7) Music for Airports
8) Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
9) Apollo
10) 801 (live)
11) Thursday Afternoon
12) Ambient 4 - On Land
13) No Pussyfooting
14) The Pearl
15) Another Day on Earth

Work as other than lead artist

1) Born Under Punches - Talking Heads
2) Breaking Glass - Bowie
3) Crossyeded and Painless - Talking Heads
4) Heroes - Bowie
5) I Zimbra - Talking Heads
6) Suede - Eno's Introducing the Band
7) You know More Than I know - John Cale
8) Sing - Slowdive
9) Sound and Vision - Bowie
10) Exit - U2
11) Mongaloid - Devo
12) With or Without You - u2
13) Beauty and the Beast - Bowie
14) Always Crashing in the Same Car - Bowie
15) Stay Hungry - Talking Heads

I only realized now that Elmo's Fire never even made my list! Bit of an oversight but it's honestly not one of my all time favorites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vuf5taoy4Q

oh since nobody did

http://media.tumblr.com/8472cbbea6af9ad1ee80975114e92dac/tumblr_inline_mojj5eZNF81qz4rgp.gif

You know, I've not ever heard Brian Eno give a bad interview. I interviewed him once, briefly, and even that was endlessly fascinating. But really, the guy just seems like he's always thinking and engaged and able to get his ideas across in a spontaneous, funny, smart way. Like, this random interview:

http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/16575/1/brian-eno-bodybuilding-and-brazen-tunes

It's full of great stuff!

DD: Is there something ironic about putting on a piece as still as 77 Million Paintings in somewhere so unstill?
Brian Eno: Well, when I lived in New York I made my quietest music. The record On Land (1982) I made here. And one of the things you do when you make a piece of art is you try to make the world you'd rather be in. Do you know what I mean? You try to make up for the deficiencies of the place that you're in, because New York is a hellish place to live. It's so noisy and always broken and always being mended and abrasive and disturbing. So one of the things you want is to find a little place where, 'Swooh', you can breathe out for a minute.

[DD: Is it also a reaction to the increasing smallness of music?

Brian Eno: Yeah, I think it is. It's sort of a reaction against headphones, which I don't like. I don't like having the music pressed on to my head. I like feeling I'm walking around inside it.

This, alone, is intriguing and inspiring enough to fuel several different strains of creative activity, should one choose to embrace any of its ideas.

Spider & I was my number two. Such a beautiful song. The "We sleep in the morning" bit followed by that little wonky bass is one of my favourite musical moments ever. So sad.

It is basically a Syd Barrett song. The best Syd never wrote. My ballot:

1. The Big Ship (Eno)
2. Spider and I (Eno)
3. Here Come the Warm Jets (Eno)
4. Taking Tiger Mountain (Eno)
5. Julie With (Eno)
6. Becalmed (Eno)
7. The Belldog (Eno, Moebius, Roedelius)
8. The True Wheel (Eno)
9. Third Uncle (Eno)
10. Discreet Music (Eno)
11. The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch (Eno)
12. By This River (Eno)
13. Needles in the Camel’s Eye (Eno)
14. Burning Airlines Give You So Much More (Eno)
15. 1/1 (Eno)
16. Backwater (Eno)
17. On Some Faraway Beach (Eno)
18. Slow Water (Eno)
19. Baby’s On Fire (Eno)
20. Evening Star (Fripp/Eno)
21. Spinning Away (Cale/Eno)
22. Wehrmut (Cluster & Eno)
23. Another Green World (Eno)
24. Here He Comes (Eno)
25. Mother Whale Eyeless (Eno)
26. Deep Blue Day (Eno)
27. Everything Merges With the Night (Eno)
28. Back in Judy’s Jungle (Eno)
29. St. Elmo’s Fire (Eno)
30. An Ending (Eno)

Was going to vote but I don't know enough Eno. But True Wheel would have been my #1

My Top 30 Eno tracks:
----------------
#1. Here He Comes
02. An Arc Of Doves (Budd/Eno)
03. The Plateaux Of Mirror (Budd/Eno)
04. Delta Rain Dream (Hassell/Eno)
05. Among Fields Of Crystal (Budd/Eno)
06. Julie With
07. The True Wheel
08. Beauty Queen (Roxy Music)
09. The Big Ship
10. The Lost Day
11. Ba-Benzélé (Hassell/Eno)
12. Above Chiangmai (Budd/Eno)
13. Mother Whale Eyeless
14. St Elmo's Fire
15. The Belldog (Eno/Moebius/Roedelius)
16. Do The Strand (Roxy Music)
17. Everything Merges With The Night
18. Driving Me Backwards
19. Taking Tiger Mountain
20. Not Yet Remembered (Budd/Eno)
21. Still Return (Budd/Eno)
22. For Your Pleasure (Roxy Music)
23. The Pearl (Budd/Eno)
24. Virginia Plain (Roxy Music)
25. Ikebukuro
26. I'll Come Running To Tie Your Shoes
27. Burning Airlines Give You So Much More
28. Slow Water
29. The Carrier (Eno/Byrne)
30. Charm (Over "Burundi Cloud") (Hassell/Eno)

Top 15 Productions:
-----------------
#1. Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror - Budd/Eno
02. Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
03. Another Green World
04. Fourth World Vol. 1: Possible Musics - Hassell/Eno
05. Ambient 4: On Land
06. The Pearl - Budd/Eno
07. Before and After Science
08. Remain In Light - Talking Heads
09. Fear Of Music - Talking Heads
10. My Life in the Bush of Ghosts - Eno/Byrne
11. Voices - Roger Eno
12. Apollo - Eno/Lanois/R.Eno
13. After the Heat - Eno/Moebius/Roedelius
14. More Songs About… - Talking Heads
15. Power Spot - Jon Hassell

Top 15 tracks other than lead artist:
-------------------------------
#1. Roger Eno - Reflections On I.K.B.
02. David Bowie - NeuKoln
03. Laraaji - Meditation #2
04. David Bowie - Moss Garden
05. David Bowie - V2 Schneider
06. David Bowie - Always Crashing In The Same Car
07. Talking Heads - Seen And Not Seen
08. Talking Heads - The Great Curve
09. Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
10. Jon Hassell - Air
11. Harold Budd - The Real Dream Of Sails
12. David Bowie - Art Decade
13. David Bowie - Warsawa
14. David Bowie - Blackout
15. David Bowie - Look Back In Anger

Listening to the four pop albums again in prepping for this poll, I am heartened by how well this music continues to age.

Tracks:

1 By This River
2 The True Wheel
3 Spider And I
4 Here He Comes
5 The Big Ship
6 Julie With…
7 Mother Whale Eyeless
8 Everything Merges With The Night
9 One Word (with John Cale)
10 Sky Saw
11 On Some Faraway Beach
12 I'll Come Running
13 No One Receiving
14 Cindy Tells Me
15 Another Green World
16 China My China
17 Backwater
18 Deep Blue Day
19 Taking Tiger Mountain
20 How Many Worlds
21 Dead Finks Don't Talk
22 St. Elmo's Fire
23 Put A Straw Under Baby
24 Burning Airlines Give You So Much More
25 King's Lead Hat
26 The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch
27 This
28 Needles In The Camel's Eye
29 Golden Hours
30 Baby's On Fire

Productions:

1 Before and After Science
2 Remain In Light (Talking Heads)
3 Another Green World
4 Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
5 Here Come The Warm Jets
6 Fear of Music (Talking Heads)
7 Wrong Way Up (with John Cale)
8 My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (with David Byrne)
9 Apollo Atmospheres and Soundtracks
10 Achtung Baby (U2)
11 Discreet Music
12 Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (with David Byrne)
13 Music For Airports
14 More Songs About Buildings and Food (Talking Heads)
15 Another Day On Earth

When I was relatively young - say, 15, I'd guess - someone gave me a cassette with "Another Green World" on one side and "Rain Dogs" on the other. I used to drive around listening to them, never once considering that both are pretty unusual car albums. Anyway, I never considered either album odd or exotic, at least not at the time. But then one day, not too long ago, within the past few years, something unscrambled in my head and I suddenly realized, huh, yeah, these albums are pretty strange. But I think strange really works in their favor in the "not dated" sense. They try so hard to do something different that they're totally at odds with the sound of the times (even though, sure, they absolutely sound very much of their time).

My list is just what mostly gets hit up / dragged into modern itunes-era playlists; I'm not saying these are better than tracks from the four rock albums, just that its been a very long time since I needed to listen to any of them

Eno - Thursday Afternoon
Eno - 2/2
Cluster & Eno - Ho Renomo
Hassell / Eno - Charm (Over "Burundi Cloud")
Eno - Ikebukuro
Eno / Lanois / Eno - An Ending (Ascent)
Cornelius Cardew - Great Learning Paragraph Seven
Eno - Spider And I
Eno Moebius Roedelius - The Belldog
Roxy Music - Ladytron (Live on Old Grey Whistle Test 1972)
Eno - St. Elmo's Fire
Hassell / Eno - Chemistry
Eno Moebius Roedelius - Broken Head
Cale / Eno - Spinning Away
Eno - The Demon Of The Mines
Eno - The Big Ship
Budd / Eno - A Stream With Bright Fish
Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets
Eno - Becalmed
Eno - The Great Pretender
Eno - Driving Me Backwards
Harmonia / Eno - By The Riverside
Eno - The Harness
Eno - The True Wheel
Eno - By This River
Byrne / Eno - Come With Us
Eno - Chamber Lightness
Eno - 8m1 (The Lovely Bones)
Eno - Iced World
Eno / Wobble - Garden Recalled

Love the Lovely Bones track – other than watching (enduring) it during the movie, I hadn't heard it.

And another voter for "The Harness"! My favorite from My Squelchy Life by a good distance.

I'd kind of love to do a ballot of lesser-known Eno cuts. I had a few on my real ballot but it would be great to see every recommend their 10 favorite obscurities. Can try to brainstorm a few today if others are interested.

Milton, thanks for repping the ambient side with me! I wished I'd made room for "Chemistry", probably my fave (not my face or have) Percy Jones ever and a great opening for that album.

i'd like to see some lists of memorable rarities!

also no one mentioned "for all mankind" again -- i did watch it again the other day and was reminded that it's really great if you like a collage of old footage/audio related to space travel and the music of brian eno
and i do

SONGS

1. No One Receiving
2. Spider & I
3. Baby's On Fire
4. I"ll Come Running
5. One Word
6. This
7. Re-Make/Re-Model
8. Empty Frame
9. Another Green World
10. Burning Airlines...
11. King's Lead Hat
12. Backwater
13. Becalmed
14. Chance Meeting
14. Back From Judy's Jungle
15. Editions of You
16. The True Wheel
17. Cindy Tells Me
18. Sky Saw
19. Your Blue Room
20. St. Elmo's Fire
21. Through Hollow Lands
22. The River (Eno-Cale)
23. Taking Tiger MOuntain
24. Weightless
25. DBF
26. Life is Long
27. Spinning Away
28. No Control
29. Needles in the Camel's Eye
30. Discreet Music

ALBUMS

1. Here Come The Warm Jets
2. Another Green World
3. Wrong Way UP
4. Discreet Music
5. Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
6. Apollo
7. More Songs About Building sand Food
8. Outside
9. Laid
10. Zooropa
11. Achtung Baby
12. No Pussyfooting

COLLABORATIONS

1. Gun
2. Listening Wind
3. Say Something
4. Lemon
5. The Fly
6. Heroes
7. The Unforgettable Fire
8. Artists Only
9. Viva La Vida
10. Sometimes
11. Boys Keep Swinging
12. Art Decade
13. Barracuda
14. African Nite Flight
15. The Great Curve

For a guy who thought 30 was too much, that's an excellent ballot, Alfred.

Will be thinking of rarities more later today. Already listened to Curiosities II on my morning commute.

thanks, NTI!

a lot of good rarities posted on the noms thread. I meant to convert all the odd eno youtubes ppl posted to mp3s if I had a spare afternoon...

I listened to a lot of previously unheard (by me) Eno for the poll, and I think my favorite has been Music for White Cube - http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/brian_eno_music_for_white_cube_duke_street_1997/

Eno has recorded himself two or three hundred times singing a single falsetto note held for as long as possible. In each instance he has tried, unsucessfully of course, to attain the same pitch. In this way the fallible human voice becomes the raw material for a sophisticated infallible software programme. This programme (called KOAN) allows Eno to impose about 150 possible instructions on the recorded notes in order to generate unique combinations of harmony, rhythm, tempo, vibrato and pitch. The resulting compositions have then been selected and recorded on CD.

Music for White Cube consisted of four CD stations which each played a unique CD cut with eight distinct tracks. Each CD station randomly selected and simultaneously played these tracks constantly producing unique combinations so that visitors never heard the same piece of music repeated. Like the generative system from which it derives, this symphony continually remakes itself in time.

Did we talk about lucky leif and the longships?

I love "Against The Sky" on The Pearl but wasn't sure whether to include it in original or "An Echo Of Night" form.

"The Lost Day"* has always been my jam from On Land, but I listened in greater detail than usual to the album rather than as background or falling asleep music and the (subtle!) tunes of a few other tracks became more apparent, so I'll be listening for them. partly because of the addition of Hassell (4/1) or Material (4/2), I feel like the side closers work a little against the mood of the first 3 on each side which are more of a piece, but it's pretty perfect as is.

*also like Eno's lost day concept: the things that didn't come to be. which could be read as the road not taken, in contrast to Another Green World aka the ultimately fertile other road (or art process) taken. but in "the lost day" I think Eno was nostalgic for better(?) futures that failed to materialize: other green potentials (or even things we didn't get to do).

wasn't surprised that Karl Hyde and Eno started working together cos the chords in "Born Slippy" reminded me of "Always Returning".

Choice rarity, inexplicably amended to recent editions of "Wrong Way Up."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEQBDyTjF7U

Another incredible song, inexplicably on Cale's Eno-produced Dylan Thomas tribute:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQCbepdIe3o

Eno (and some Eno cohort, like Percy Jones and Phil Collins) is on this. I believe Eno plays "The Wolf:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4iP5YAePYU

And come to think of it, no one really rates the Ultravox album he produced, right? An early misfire (though not a bad record).

Found this, too:

http://musicformaniacs.blogspot.com/2012/12/album-du-jour-9-eno-lost-70s-pop-album.html

(Sorry for all the piecemeal posts)

The first Ultravox! album is sheer fucking genius

multi-xp: hilarious! I was just about to post the William Bell cover - what do people think of it? I remember Eno saying he loved the tune, but I felt he'd gone too far into decorative resignation by stripping the soul/yearning out. not a million miles away from what Ferry did in recasting songs (though without the comedy of Hard Rain).
speaking of which, doesn't Eno's singing on "Spinning Away" sound very Ferry c.Avalon?
my highest Roxy vote was for "Beauty Queen" which is so much more Ferry than Eno (and allegedly was drowned out live by Eno fans), but it's my fave Roxy Eno-era or otherwise.

"The Soul Of Carmen Miranda" may be the best late-Cale song. shoulda remembered to pick that for Eno involvement.

Ten quick ones:

More Dust – Eno/Schwalm – Hawaiian guitar beauty, this made my actual ballot)
What Actually Happened? – Nerve Net gem, all dirty drums and Eno processed vox speaking about a "recovering rapist."
The Harness – My Squelchy Life cut, probably the best vocal track he's done since WWU. Could've been on the four classic albums. Also on my actual ballot.
Grey Promenade – Roger Eno. Milton had this on his and it narrowly missed mine. The treatment on the piano is to die for.
Stars – The closer on Apollo, this is just a slowed down Under Stars but it's amazing. Also on my ballot!
Wire Shock – Another Nerve Net cut. Probably his best post TH rhythm track. Brass section at the end is outstanding.
Still Return – Budd/Eno, closer of The Pearl, and really just another slowed down cut (the opener, Late October).
Aubade – Harmonia '76. Gorgeous closer, with Eno and/or Roedelius doing organ textures, Rother playing a stately melody and Dieter processing the drum box. Some days, this is my favorite track from the album, and one of the three (amazing) cuts that only made it to the reissue.
The Shade – Eno/Moebius/Roedelius, the combination of the Roedelius piano, lonely synth melody and harmonized Another Green World guitars make this probably my favorite Eno cut w Cluster (Harmonia '76 has a nice demo of this called "When Shade Was Born").
Tension Block – a menacing groove from MFF III w Lanois.

Still Return:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH0zEgYviJ8

so I relistened to Before And After Science in full and found that side 1 held up better than I remembered - the grab-bag effect helps the album still feel fresh, full of ideas/directions - you can hear early seeds of Remain In Light on "No One Receiving" and "Kurt's Rejoinder". also it's a great yin/yang album (e.g. madcap vs serenity). and I was a bit unkind upthread to "Through Hollow Lands" - side 2 really is a supreme Eno side.
should be higher on my albums list.