easier to vote for least favorite tbh
― Οὖτις, Monday, 3 April 2017 22:35 (seven years ago) link
True Shakey (Driving Me Backwards imho the only weak one on here). Still tho,
― On Some Faraday Beach (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 3 April 2017 22:36 (seven years ago) link
my my my
― a Brazilian professional footballer (wins), Monday, 3 April 2017 22:37 (seven years ago) link
Driving Me Backwards imho the only weak one on here
correct!
― Οὖτις, Monday, 3 April 2017 22:40 (seven years ago) link
Such a drag of a song on an otherwise perfect album. Torn between Faraway Beach, Dead Finks and Warm Jets myself tbh.
― On Some Faraday Beach (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 3 April 2017 22:47 (seven years ago) link
When I first saw the thread, I thought "hmm, definitely 'Needles in the Camel's Eye'" but looking at the tracklisting again, I'm now not quite sure.
― ...so music and chicken have become intertwined (Turrican), Monday, 3 April 2017 22:48 (seven years ago) link
the 9 solid songs all have some unique, stand-out characteristic that the others don't
― Οὖτις, Monday, 3 April 2017 22:51 (seven years ago) link
"Some Of Them Are Old" for that sublime slide guitar loop
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Monday, 3 April 2017 22:56 (seven years ago) link
I listened to this album in the car for three days straight last week.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 April 2017 23:01 (seven years ago) link
Anyway the first three songs are so phenomenal that I can't choose -- he's never topped them.
I think I voted "Baby's On Fire" last time so here's a vote for "Needles in the Camel's Eye."
― long dark poptart of the rodeo (Doctor Casino), Monday, 3 April 2017 23:04 (seven years ago) link
Never quite warmed to this one. It strikes me as vulgar at places. Like a bunch of Disney melodies with some Zappa-like scorn over it. The title track in particular reminds me of Hot Rats. Went with Needles in the Camel's Eye cause it's a good take on Bowie's take on the Velvets. Love Another Green World completely.
― gospodin simmel, Monday, 3 April 2017 23:18 (seven years ago) link
scorn? for who/what?
― Οὖτις, Monday, 3 April 2017 23:20 (seven years ago) link
I love AGW too, but the vulgarity -- a correct term -- is exactly what I love about it. IF you didn't know the biographical detritus, the record would still sound like a declaration of independence.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 April 2017 23:21 (seven years ago) link
yeah I agree that it is both vulgar and cartoonish *and* that these are strengths, not weaknesses. But Zappa/sarcasm/scorn I don't hear.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 3 April 2017 23:24 (seven years ago) link
I haven't listened to this one in a while. It's my least favourite of the big four pop albums. I want to go with Faraway Beach, but I have to relisten.
― jmm, Monday, 3 April 2017 23:24 (seven years ago) link
Never quite warmed to this one. It strikes me as vulgar at places. Like a bunch of Disney melodies with some Zappa-like scorn over it.
i used to share an office with a very soberminded korean in grad school, and one of the few times he commented on my music was 'warm jets': he wanted to know why i would listen to 'music for children' when i still appreciated mozart and schubert and whatever
― j., Monday, 3 April 2017 23:27 (seven years ago) link
AGW feels organic to me. The vulgarity there is the sort that comes out when you're at peace with yourself. On HCTWJ it sounds more like throwing shit on the wall and hence scornful. So like instrumental Zappa not vocal Zappa. That's why I mentioned Hot Rats.
― gospodin simmel, Monday, 3 April 2017 23:27 (seven years ago) link
Like I'll Come Running is also a vulgar and cartoonish song in a sense but it's completely beautiful and captivating. Something like On Some Faraway Beach sounds manipulative in comparison imo.
― gospodin simmel, Monday, 3 April 2017 23:31 (seven years ago) link
On Some Faraway beach is A warped version of " Still The One" by Bob Seger
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Monday, 3 April 2017 23:34 (seven years ago) link
Still the Same*. Prefer Seger and yes, that captures the distinction well actually.
― gospodin simmel, Monday, 3 April 2017 23:35 (seven years ago) link
I'd never call I'll Come Running vulgar!
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 April 2017 23:36 (seven years ago) link
My favorite album of his. Kind of an impossible choice. Probably "Needles" just because it floats in out of nowhere at full speed with vaguely annoying guitars and vocals that seem to be being improvised while they're being sung, and the song only really figures out what it's doing during the bridge. I bought the album at the Vassar College bookstore as a cut-out in like '86 or '87, knowing that "Eno" meant "important" but having been slightly underwhelmed by Desert Island Selection (one of the first CDs I ever bought). And then the song goes on to fade out before you can really get a grip on what just happened. Ultimately it hit me at the time as an incomprehensible blast of catchy weirdness from some other place...much more than anything else Eno ever did.
― dlp9001, Monday, 3 April 2017 23:37 (seven years ago) link
"Still The Same", yeah! I'm drunkish
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Monday, 3 April 2017 23:39 (seven years ago) link
Baby's On Fire was tempting, but it's a little too too. Same for a lot of the (wonderful) tracks on this album. Needles, more than many things he did, is just an odd dream that appears and disappears before you can really come to grips with it.
― dlp9001, Monday, 3 April 2017 23:40 (seven years ago) link
xxxp Well it is sort of radically earnest, which can strike random soberminded colleagues as vulgar. Not unlike Still the Same which I also love unabashedly.
― gospodin simmel, Monday, 3 April 2017 23:43 (seven years ago) link
Uh what?!?!? Even mentioning Zappa in the same breath as Eno is 0_o
― Bill Teeters (Tom D.), Monday, 3 April 2017 23:49 (seven years ago) link
"Cindy Tells Me" is a little scornful.
― My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Monday, 3 April 2017 23:50 (seven years ago) link
I really love this album, though. Voting "Baby's on Fire", not least for the Fripp solo.
― My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Monday, 3 April 2017 23:51 (seven years ago) link
Title track probably. When it comes down to it. Love this album though, I even like "Driving Me Backwards", although Kevin Ayers' "Song from a Bottom of a Well" did it first and better. "Cindy Tells Me" is a bit sneery, true.
― Bill Teeters (Tom D.), Monday, 3 April 2017 23:53 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, I like "Driving Me Backwards" too.
― My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Tuesday, 4 April 2017 00:13 (seven years ago) link
I don't. Other than that, this is one of my favorite solo Eno records and this poll is impossible. At least half a dozen I could pick.
― sleeve, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 00:25 (seven years ago) link
probably just gonna vote "Some OF Them Are Old" for the drones and slide guitar
― sleeve, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 00:26 (seven years ago) link
sleeve, my kind of people
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Tuesday, 4 April 2017 00:28 (seven years ago) link
also gotta disagree with Alfred here, side 2 >> side 1 although Fripp does kill it on that solo
the Dead Finks-Some Of Them Are Old-HCTWJ run is maybe my favorite half-LP-side out of all of his work
― sleeve, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 00:28 (seven years ago) link
It's tough but I went with Needles. The immediate runners up are Paw Paw, Finks, Cindy, and Baby -- but they're all pretty damn great.
― Blood On The Knobs, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 02:39 (seven years ago) link
For me it's between Needles and Blank Frank. The former is just a great driving pop song with careening guitars while the latter has that weird calliope thing in the middle that is just too demented.
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 03:02 (seven years ago) link
I didn't like Velvet Goldmine much, but "Needle" was used to perfect effect in it. That's kind of the only way I can elevate one of the first four songs above the rest - they're all excellent
― Vinnie, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 03:03 (seven years ago) link
"dead finks don't talk" for paul thompson's wonderful drum pattern and the hand claps that come in after the guitar solo in the "bless my soul" section. and yeah, the sequencing at the end is lovely. title track could be looped for hours; when the drums finally sync up it's a really nice moment.
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 03:06 (seven years ago) link
regarding vulgarity, i once read an eno interview wherein he confirms that the title is a reference to urolagnia. but that's rather oblique in my opinion and i simply can't understand where the zappa comparisons are coming from
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 03:11 (seven years ago) link
What can we say? The man loves his piss. Literally.
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 03:17 (seven years ago) link
thinking about it, this album really should be ranked in terms of moments rather than songs. i agree that the blipping, chirping slide guitar on "some of them are old" is one of the strongest parts of this record. but i also think the song itself lacks momentum ("remember me" part goes on forever it seems like), and then BOOM title track kicks in and it's total bliss (similar effect when the lyrics to "baby's on fire" come in, after that interminable intro). part of me thinks that the songs being boring or hackneyed or kind half-assed in terms of pop artistry is what makes the cool moments feel so sublime. the technique is more or less inverted on "another green world" -- the long droney bits make a song like "i'll come running" feel magical, in much the same way that i'll do backflips for some bottom-of-the-barrel 1960s top 40 single after a four-hour brötzmann binge or whatever
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 03:23 (seven years ago) link
the title track because of how the drums sneak up on you
― Treeship, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 03:34 (seven years ago) link
i don't think this album is nearly as good as the two that followed it.
― Treeship, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 03:37 (seven years ago) link
actually idk. i am listening to it again and some of the tracks i thought i didn't like are sounding very good.
― Treeship, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 03:56 (seven years ago) link
Treats me good just like an armchair
― salthigh, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 04:01 (seven years ago) link
i really think that the lines people point to that seem to suggest some kind of unsavory sexual politics on eno's part are best read in context. everybody knows the lyrics on this LP are total dada word salad free association and coupled with eno's sort of androgynous self-presentation, stuff like that "armchair" bit read more like an accidental satire of big macho rock lyrics, rather than some kind of sly pseudo-poetic misogyny-but-i'm-an-artist-haha, y'know?
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 04:16 (seven years ago) link
Huh i always thought it was "just like an object"
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 04:19 (seven years ago) link
Either way I always heard that libe as eno being the object/armchair
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 4 April 2017 04:20 (seven years ago) link
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.
― in twelve parts (lamonti), Wednesday, 5 April 2017 06:30 (seven years ago) link
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.
― Bill Teeters (Tom D.), Wednesday, 5 April 2017 09:03 (seven years ago) link
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 fireBetter throw her in the waterLook at her laughingLike a heifer to the slaughterBaby's on fireAnd all the laughing boys are bitchingWaiting for photosOh the plot is so bewitchingRescuers row, rowDo your best to change the subjectBlow the wind blow, blowLend some assistance to the objectPhotographers snip snapTake your time, she's only burningThis kind of experienceIs necessary for her learning
Baby's on fireAnd all the laughing boys are bitchingWaiting for photosOh the plot is so bewitching
Rescuers row, rowDo your best to change the subjectBlow the wind blow, blowLend some assistance to the object
Photographers snip snapTake your time, she's only burningThis kind of experienceIs necessary for her learning
Idk what the digression about Juanita and Juan is really about, though.
― My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Wednesday, 5 April 2017 13:56 (seven years ago) link
^ but Eno has never ever been misanthropic
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 5 April 2017 14:22 (seven years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Sunday, 16 April 2017 00:01 (seven years ago) link
― 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.
― On Some Faraday Beach (Le Bateau Ivre), Sunday, 16 April 2017 23:28 (seven years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Monday, 17 April 2017 00:01 (seven years ago) link
wow, interesting spread, everything got at least one vote
― sleeve, Monday, 17 April 2017 00:02 (seven years ago) link
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.
― Karl Malone, Monday, 17 April 2017 00:19 (seven years ago) link
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)
― On Some Faraday Beach (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 17 April 2017 00:36 (seven years ago) link
The chaotic drums falling into place suddenly is a glorious moment.
― On Some Faraday Beach (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 17 April 2017 00:49 (seven years ago) link
^ Top 5 moments in art rock or pre-punk or whatever this is imo
― albvivertine, Monday, 17 April 2017 01:00 (seven years ago) link
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.
― My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Monday, 17 April 2017 01:43 (seven years ago) link
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.
― My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Monday, 17 April 2017 01:45 (seven years ago) link
very satisfying results! my top 4 is the same as the results, it just depends on the day and listening context.
― Karl Malone, Monday, 17 April 2017 01:46 (seven years ago) link
Providence-based brass band What Cheer? Brigade covers the title track.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuL6yEHv7xA
― Jazzbo, Monday, 17 April 2017 11:12 (seven years ago) link
I rarely vote, but voted title track.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 17 April 2017 11:32 (seven years ago) link
On Some Faraway Beach sounds quieter than the rest of the album, which irritates me. Does anyone else get this?
― Duke, Monday, 17 April 2017 19:46 (seven years ago) link
Nope. Not on my cd at least.
― On Some Faraday Beach (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 17 April 2017 20:10 (seven years ago) link
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 tooif 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.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 17 April 2017 20:29 (seven years ago) link
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.
― na (NA), Monday, 17 April 2017 20:39 (seven years ago) link
Maybe it's the way the drums are kept in the background that makes it sound quiet to me. It jars oddly.
― Duke, Monday, 17 April 2017 20:40 (seven years ago) link
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 21Baby's On Fire 17On Some Faraway Beach 11Here Come The Warm Jets 11Cindy Tells Me 9The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch 9Dead Finks Don't Talk 5Blank Frank 4Driving Me Backwards 2Some 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.
― long dark poptart of the rodeo (Doctor Casino), Monday, 17 April 2017 21:19 (seven years ago) link
One vote for Paw Paw is ludicrous. I didn't vote for it either, mind you. Almost did.
― Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Monday, 17 April 2017 21:29 (seven years ago) link
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
― briscall stool chart (wins), Monday, 17 April 2017 21:50 (seven years ago) link
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! :)
― Karl Malone, Monday, 17 April 2017 22:50 (seven years ago) link
Blank frank is the siren, he's the air-raid, he's the craterHe's on the menu, on the table, he's the knife and he's the waiter
― Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 12 May 2018 15:50 (five years ago) link
Eno: underrated singer and lyricist.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 12 May 2018 16:32 (five years ago) link
not underrated by mei love his lyrics, they span the spectrum from ridiculous to poignant and are super fun to singand tbh i have never disliked his singing, though it probably isn't for everyone
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 12 May 2018 16:51 (five years ago) link
blank frank is the messenger of your doom and your destruction
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 12 May 2018 16:52 (five years ago) link
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.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 12 May 2018 18:17 (five years ago) link
Spider and I sit watching the skyOn a world without soundWe knit a web to catch one tiny flyFor our world without soundWe sleep in the morningsWe dream of a ship that sails awayA thousand miles away.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 12 May 2018 18:18 (five years ago) link
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.
― WilliamC, Saturday, 12 May 2018 22:41 (five years ago) link
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.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 12 May 2018 22:42 (five years ago) link
Some of them are old but it would help if you could smileTo earn a crooked sixpence you'll walk many crooked milesAnd as you do, remember me, remember me.
one of my favorite bit of Eno lyrics.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Sunday, 13 May 2018 02:41 (five years ago) link
"Driving Me Backwards" from the June 1, 1974 release is far superior to that on the proper album -- Ayers' cascading basslines add some real punch to the track.
― bodacious ignoramus, Monday, 14 May 2018 21:48 (five years ago) link
favorite Eno lyric is still "Splish splash, I was raking in the cash/The biology of purpose keeps my nose above the surface BUHHHHH"
― frogbs, Tuesday, 15 May 2018 13:37 (five years ago) link
It was his 70th birthday today, and I'm listening to the Warm Jets record and thinking, as much as I love his ambient work,that I would love to hear more of his singing and (lyrical) songwriting. That said, the 6-disc ambient set he released this year is great too.
Happy Brian Eno Day, all.
― davey, Wednesday, 16 May 2018 07:42 (five years ago) link
Happy belated birthday, Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno!
― Kanye O'er Frae France? (Tom D.), Wednesday, 16 May 2018 09:19 (five years ago) link
Belated happy birthday, Brian!
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 18 May 2018 18:51 (five years ago) link
so this was news to me
"Brian Eno recounts how he (allegedly) pissed in 'Fountain,' Marcel Duchamp's famous urinal, in his 1995 diary A Year with Swollen Appendices"
Brian Eno recounts how he (allegedly) pissed in 'Fountain,' Marcel Duchamp's famous urinal, in his 1995 diary A Year with Swollen Appendices pic.twitter.com/oUqGuB3TRb— priscilla page (@BBW_BFF) May 16, 2018
― two cool rock chicks pounding la croix (circa1916), Friday, 18 May 2018 19:03 (five years ago) link
in b4 Warm Jets joeks
warm jets jokes must have been going on for decades already?
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 18 May 2018 19:13 (five years ago) link
Yeah hard to get inb4 anything here, this album title famously refers to piss and eno has two separate piss anecdotes in his diary, he’s a piss guy
― type your stinkin prose off me, ur damned qwerty uiop (wins), Friday, 18 May 2018 19:27 (five years ago) link
Yeah I am new to Eno’s sexual proclivities sorry
― two cool rock chicks pounding la croix (circa1916), Friday, 18 May 2018 19:48 (five years ago) link
Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have changed my dn this morning.
― Now I know my ABCs. Next time won't you scream at me? (Old Lunch), Friday, 18 May 2018 19:52 (five years ago) link
The album cover features a photograph of a woman peeing!
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 18 May 2018 19:57 (five years ago) link
"Driving Me Backwards" is my fave (not sure if I voted here). never knew it wasn't rated/liked by others. and although I do love it Warm Jets is my least fave of the '4 vocal albums'.
as for sex, "ooo what to do in a tiny canoe" (Backwater) is my fave playful Eno sex lyric
― Paul, Friday, 18 May 2018 20:02 (five years ago) link
Correct answer is some of them ate old
― Exit stage left (Ross), Friday, 18 May 2018 20:10 (five years ago) link
brutal
― two cool rock chicks pounding la croix (circa1916), Friday, 18 May 2018 20:12 (five years ago) link