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Brian Eno - C or D?

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I went through the archives, and I don't see this one anywhere.

So, have at it.

James Morris (HorrayJames), Thursday, 22 January 2004 14:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic because he was the 70s avant-garde. Classic for Another Green World and Before And After Science, classic for his collaboration in Bowie's Berlin trilogy, classic for his record label which released the likes of Gavin Bryars, classic for so many things.

Jonathan Z., Thursday, 22 January 2004 14:41 (twenty-two years ago)

here come the warm jets is the best pop album made by anyone (as of today).

Phoebe Dinsmore, Thursday, 22 January 2004 14:44 (twenty-two years ago)

yesterday i opened up the copy of here come the warm jets i had out of the library to find that in addition to the actual cd was a cdr copy of it. which was nice.

i remember the ambient stuff being way better than i expected, too, though i haven't heard it in a while.

toby (tsg20), Thursday, 22 January 2004 14:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Love 'another green world' and 'before and after science' (the last track on the latter was the last thing I heard that made me all warm and fuzzy inside). Like the ambient stuff.

Didn't care for 'heroes' from the one listen I gave it a couple of years ago.

Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 22 January 2004 14:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Absolutely classic. Love his music (95% of it), love his productions (not just Talking Heads but also U2 and, damn it, James!), love his collaborations (with Bowie, John Cale, Harold Budd, Daniel Lanois...). Lately his ambient work has been a little bland but it's no less theory-based than some of the stuff in the '70s. His work with self-generating music may be more interesting than the results, but who knows what application it may have in a few years?

And I'm a sucker for the Wall of Eno vocals he adds to everything he works on. For a somewhat limited singer, he harmonizes with himself really well, from his one man band "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" to more recent stuff like "Someday" (that beautiful James song from the very underrated "Laid").

Anyone ever hear the NPR piece on "Once in a Lifetime," which details just what Eno brought to the track? He basically added the call and response chorus, worthy of the co-write credit. Eno also gets co-writer credit on "Heroes."

Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Thursday, 22 January 2004 14:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic....if only for "Backwater" and "Needle in the Camel's Eye".

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 22 January 2004 15:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic. It's hard for me to get interested enough in the question to argue the point, because I kind of take it for granted. That doesn't mean everything he has touched has turned to gold, but here are some reasons I rate him highly:

1. Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) (the only solo Eno album I am enthusiastic about in its entirety), as well as individual tracks on some of his other albums (especially Before and After Science).

2. His touch as producer on what are often the best albums of the bands he's worked with: Remain in Light, Bowie, Devo (I forgot this--using allmusic as a cheat-sheet now), etc.

3. Collaborations with: Fripp (although I would say say that Fripp carries most of the weight there--but still, I think Eno's presence counts), Jon Hassel, etc.

Etc. because I have to go.

3.

Rockist Scientist (rockistscientist), Thursday, 22 January 2004 15:26 (twenty-two years ago)

4. Even some of his theoretical musings are worthwhile, especially that talk on using the recording studio as an instrument.

Rockist Scientist (rockistscientist), Thursday, 22 January 2004 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Didn't he admit to drinking his own urine recently? The man's not well.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 22 January 2004 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic, of course! "Julie with..." and "By This River" remain two of the prettiest songs I've ever heard.

anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Thursday, 22 January 2004 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Takign Tiger Mountain, Another Green World, Before and After Science, the synth climax on Virginia Plain, Remain in Light, Low, On Land and providing most of the redeeming features to make U2 a thousand times more bearable than every other vague anthem-monger are enough to qualify him as utter classic no matter how over-rated Warm Jets and Airports are and how crappy his solo output has been for about 20 years.

fcussen (Burger), Thursday, 22 January 2004 15:41 (twenty-two years ago)

He drank his own urine in the "A year with swollen index" (or whatever) book from 1995, he'd watched a film, had a bottle of wine and couldn't be bothered to move to take a leak, so peed in the empty wine bottle, then wondered what it tasted like. As you do. I seem to remember this was related to his tale of finding a way to piss in Duchamp's toilet, or something like that.

Of course, the man and the vast majority of his music, and his influence, is classic. Couldn't live without "Taking tiger mountain" or "Music for airports" amongst others. Those two boxed sets are two of the best investments I've ever made.

Rob M (Rob M), Thursday, 22 January 2004 15:44 (twenty-two years ago)

That Passengers album ain't so bad either. Of its time 'n' all but still...

fcussen (Burger), Thursday, 22 January 2004 16:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Been enjoying the hell out of Eno/Cale Wrong Way Up recently. It's a little dated in that 80s-ish "Let's Incorporate African Pop into Western Pop" kind of way, but all the simple songs get to me.

Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 22 January 2004 16:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic.
"The Big Ship" from Another Green World puts me in a trance. Don't drive to it.

Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Thursday, 22 January 2004 17:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Plus there's all that stuff I enjoyed a lot at one time, even if I'm not into it now, like My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.

Plus the Obscure Music series, which has some good titles.

Rockist Scientist, Thursday, 22 January 2004 17:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I think one of the reasons i like him so much is that I am a child of Napster and the incessant dilettantism and boundary-pushing is something I can realte to.

fcussen (Burger), Thursday, 22 January 2004 17:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic. Here Comes The Warm Jets is the REAL Alien rock. Fuck Ziggy.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 22 January 2004 18:11 (twenty-two years ago)

If for nothing else "Another Green World"

Its just so coool. Weird pop and ambienty bits floated against each other in the nicest way, and my four year old loves to sing "I'll come running" which has got to get him some points somewhere.

hector (hector), Thursday, 22 January 2004 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)

1972-1985 inclusive, everything he touched. including the interviews, many of which are up on enoweb, but I'd buy a book that compiled them.

then, suddenly, like a switch being thrown...

when 'wrong way up' came out an interview disc was distributed to radio, where he's sounding and dull, then at the end he begins talking about the recent birth of his daughter and how unimportant the theoretical side of music had become to him, and how now he just wanted to relax and play tunes. which makes me happy for eno the man, but keeping up with the last decade of releases has been a punishing experience.

'spinning away' from 'wrong way up', still excellent though

(Jon L), Thursday, 22 January 2004 19:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Unbelievable songwriter--I was in a one-off Eno cover band a couple of months ago, and we could not BELIEVE how much mileage he got out of incredibly simple structures. I mean, "The True Wheel"--that song has _four chords_ in it, and it sounds like the lushest deepest most complicated thing ever. "Third Uncle" has one.

Douglas (Douglas), Thursday, 22 January 2004 20:16 (twenty-two years ago)

already embarrassed about my grumbly post. if I ever say anything about the 90's output, it's only because the 72-85 stretch is so bafflingly inspired. if I ever lost my record collection I'd be buying most of these back first.

(Jon L), Thursday, 22 January 2004 20:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I mean, "The True Wheel"--that song has _four chords_ in it, and it sounds like the lushest deepest most complicated thing ever.

"Uh-oh!"

Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 23 January 2004 02:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Strange, I've just sung through "The true wheel" in my head and can only count three... oh, just got to the end part where the fourth chord comes in. Sorry. My God, what a song!

"Ding ding!"

Rob M (Rob M), Friday, 23 January 2004 08:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Anyone that even cosiders sayind "dud" is loco. Amazing, influential, smartest man in music, etc. I want him to be my dad.

anode (anode), Friday, 23 January 2004 12:27 (twenty-two years ago)

five months pass...
One thing I don't think I've said about Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy is that I got a copy* around the time that I had just about lost my belief in Christian doctrine, so it took on kind of a heavy symbolic weight of the scarey, uncertain, world of religious disbelief. (Obviously I hadn't only listened to Christian music up until then. That's not the point.) I want to exmphasize, this is a symbolic purpose I was giving it: I don't think it has much to do with the album itself (although it is kind of interesting in light of some things I've read by him essential outlining an anti-fundamentalism--of whatever source--stance). Just the cover itself took on a certain weight, and I wasn't totally happy about it. It didn't look like an especially happy world (and I've never been unambivalently attracted to hipster jadedness, if I've ever been attracted by it at all), but it seemed somewhat inevitable that I would be joining it. Graphically, it was: the cover of Taking Tiger Mountain vs. the dull blue cover of Cornelius Van Til's Defense of the Faith (given to me by my brother-in-law). I think I was more visually oriented then. Anyway, book covers or album covers could easily become suffused with an emotional coloring.


*I can't remember if I bought a copy or received it as a gift, but probably the latter. I used to get my older brother to buy me "weird"** records for my birthday and Christmas.

**I think he thought it was weird anyway (judging by his response to what I listened to on the radio), but I think he was a little amused to watch me growing up and getting into punk and new wave, and new bands he hadn't heard of, or other stuff that seemed esoteric to him. I think he may have bought me this album, the first Psychedelic Furs album, and Fripp's Let the Power Fall, and some a John Coltrane collection, all at my request. Now I'm getting all sentimental about my older brother. I miss being close to my family, and it's all Brian Eno's fault--well, not exactly.

Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 21 July 2004 01:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Inspired by o. nate, sort of.

Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 21 July 2004 01:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic!

James Slone (Freon Trotsky), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 02:32 (twenty-two years ago)

that was a great post, rockist. thanks.

M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 02:36 (twenty-two years ago)

xpost Interesting story rockist. Still, Taking Tiger is Brian Eno at his worst/most/annoying (lyrically) to me. What about the lyrics hit home for you?

artdamages (artdamages), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 02:38 (twenty-two years ago)

It wasn't the lyrics, it was more the entire package (literally). I don't have a functional copy of the album right now, so I haven't heard it for a while.

Possibly the fact that I often couldn't make out the lyrics or didn't know what he was talking about contributed to my liking the songs. "With Burgundy, Tizer and Rye/Twelve sheets of foolscap: don't ask me why." I'm still largely in the dark about these lines, for example. I think I only found out what foolscap is in the last few years and I've already forgotten the details.

I kind of like the lyrics to "True Wheel." I am looking at a lyrics page now, and I find myself saying, oh, is that how it goes? I really am not even hearing what he's saying a lot of the time.

Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 21 July 2004 02:51 (twenty-two years ago)

The lyrics are not the first thing I noticed about TTM(BS) either. I mean some of the lines (e.g., "burning airlines give you so much more") kind of stick in my mind, but I think that's more a function of being wedded to a good melody. I was in a bar where this guy I know works and he was playing songs from his iPod over the stereo. At one point I asked him, Is this the Thinking Fellers? And he said, no it's Brian Eno. Then later another song came on, and I asked him if it was the Swell Maps. Again it was Eno. It turns out both songs were on TTM(BS). That's when I knew I needed to hear the rest of the album.

o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 03:28 (twenty-two years ago)

wow, yeah, hearing eno (after soo much indie stuff) really is amazing (and it seems like he just pulled half of it out of his ass) xpost

artdamages (artdamages), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 03:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic, for all his instrumental music from the start to the end, and for 'A year With Swollen Appendices' (in my opinion anyway)

the music mole (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 03:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm curious: is there anyone reading this thread who's never listened to Eno? Anyone been inspired to after all the hosannas here?

Douglas (Douglas), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 04:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I really haven't heard enough !!

Sonny A. (Keiko), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 04:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I find "Put A Straw Under Baby" hilarious (as a fallen catholic). Taking Tiger Mountain is the only of his solo/pop records I like. for his ambient work - Music For Airports, Discreet Music, and the Fripp/Eno ones are great.

sherm, Wednesday, 21 July 2004 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

i have two eno records.

music for airports = nice but forgettable, put aside after a couple of listens.

apollo = stunningly beautiful, one of my most played albums in recent times.

with this in mind, what next?

weasel diesel (K1l14n), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I had only heard some of his ambient stuff up until a few months ago! (not couting roxy music!)

artdamages (artdamages), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 16:47 (twenty-two years ago)

x-post

try no pussyfooting, with fripp.

peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 16:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I rate his first 4 rock LPs classic. "Tiger Mountain" contains some of the best words I know. "Before and After Science" is very strong, esp. the "rhythm" side. As for the later stuff, I like "Nerve Net" and his collab with Cale "One Way Up." Not such a big fan of a lot of his ambient music, fine as it is. I'd put "Green World" and his Jon Hassell collab from '80 at the top of the list myself. Reading his diary I do get the impression he's a pretentious little guy, but he's done a lot so I suppose he earned it.

eddie hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 16:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic, for most of the reasons already stated. If you're interested, there is an excellent, but long, article by Lester Bangs on Eno. You can read it here:

http://www.furious.com/perfect/bangseno.html

erv (Abe Froman), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 21:04 (twenty-two years ago)

classicclassicclassicclassicclassicclassicclassicclassicclassicclassic

a musical genius, the godfather of Ambient, the mastermind of warm synthesis, although the cause of a lot of shit (ie damp snares in 80s music from Low) still one of the true heads!

A let me emphasize his Ambient series - i don't understand why anyone hasn't yet. On Land, man! and lets not mention the second side of Day of Radiance with Laraaji (the first side i admit being...well). Most of my feelings on Before and After Science, Another Green World have meen mentioned.

And on a last note, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is fucking ingenius record :)

Rob McD (Rob McD), Thursday, 22 July 2004 04:58 (twenty-two years ago)

1st three solo albums are indespencable, punch your mom in the throat and steal money from her purse to buy these records, you need them. solo album #4 before and after sicence was an over considered creative disaster and not worth your hard earned record money, this record was why he stopped making rock records. after this you need anything he did with Harold Budd, you need Low by David Bowie, Oh Jesus Christ do you need Low by David Bowie, rob a bank get Low by David Bowie, pilfer from the sunday collection plate, knock over an old lady, buy a copy of Low by David Bowie, assasinate George W for Al Queda bounty money, decapitate a government contractor... whatever you need to do, get a copy of Low by David Bowie, you need Ambient 4: On Land, and Apollo, AM2 Plateau of Mirrors. Buy copies of Brian Eno and the vertical color of sound by Eric Tamm, and A Year With Swollen Appendices by Brian Eno, as these books will make your life infinitely more mysterious and interesting and delicious. Do what you need to do, I cannot force your hand, but seriously get the books, you will thank me later.

Disco Nihilist (mjt), Thursday, 22 July 2004 08:24 (twenty-two years ago)

christ, I drink a bunch of alcohol and then a bunch of coffee, and all of a sudden I cannot spell.

seriously, listen to the title track from Taking Tiger Mountain or the first track on Warm Jets and get back to me, you will be a convert y0.

Disco Nihilist (mjt), Thursday, 22 July 2004 08:27 (twenty-two years ago)

You know what else I think? I think Kate Bush's The Dreaming bears a strange resemblance to Taking Tiger Mountain, thematically (all the secret agent drama, the Asian references). The lyrics aren't goofy the same way as Eno's, and the albums certainly don't sound the same, but the imaginary scenarios seem a bit similar (even if Eno's are more indeterminate).

Rockist Scientist (rockistscientist), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I like The Dreaming again. I like almost everything at the moment. My brain may be overheated.

My neighbors must wonder what's up when they walk by my apartment door and hear me playing music with English lyrics.

Rockist Scientist (rockistscientist), Thursday, 22 July 2004 20:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't understand how anyone could be so hostile toward before and after science. I don't much like the first couple songs but c'mon, the second side is beautiful. julie with? by this river? these are undeniable!

kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 22 July 2004 21:10 (twenty-two years ago)

absolutely, anthony. the second side of before + after science is the music i'd like to hear in my dreams.

alex in mainhattan (alex63), Thursday, 22 July 2004 21:16 (twenty-two years ago)

There was an expanded Apollo?!?

Milton hated the new stuff as I recall but I kind of enjoyed it.

Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 22 May 2026 04:05 (two months ago)

one month passes...

Have there already been two different edits of the Eno doc on the Criterion Channel? I watched it last night but I wasn't sure when they're replacing the edit. I was wondering how different the contents are.

eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Monday, 20 July 2026 03:15 (one month ago)

Oh wait, I misread what you said. Did you see it again or were you just asking? Because it sounds like they change it when the month changes.

birdistheword, Monday, 20 July 2026 04:15 (one month ago)

Yes, different cuts in June and July. There's a lot of repeated material, but some differences. June had some U2 stuff that July didn't have, July had Portsmouth Sinfonia and My Squelchy Life sessions...I should have taken notes, but didn't think of it.

get your printable keyboard workout plan for ILXors over 50 (WmC), Monday, 20 July 2026 04:16 (one month ago)

Thanks — I missed the June version, then. I'm wondering whether it's worthwhile to "tune in" for each variant, but I guess I'll try again in August and judge from that.

eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Monday, 20 July 2026 16:43 (one month ago)

The July edition has an awesome nearly 10-minute bit of Eno and Cale working on Wrong Way Up's "One Word."

boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 20 July 2026 16:59 (one month ago)

omg

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Monday, 20 July 2026 17:09 (one month ago)

ooh nice
i like that u2 bit in the version I saw where after a ridiculously histrionic vocal take, eno says: "er very nice, bono, let's try the next one with a bit more passion?"

tylerw, Monday, 20 July 2026 17:29 (one month ago)

Preserved from the June version: Eno's explanation of how certain vocal parts in TH's "The Great Curve" emulated Fela's arrangements ("They're horn parts as vocals").

boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 20 July 2026 17:32 (one month ago)

ha I know exactly what part that is

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Monday, 20 July 2026 17:51 (one month ago)

two weeks pass...

Yep

Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 5 August 2026 16:10 (two weeks ago)

Eno C or D? It's quite simple actually --- a friend of mine has a instagram/facebook page called 'ENO Before He Was BRIAN And Became Boring' so basically, all Eno up to (or through, depending on your taste) 'Before and After Science' is ENO, and therefore is in every way one of pop's GREATEST OF ALL TIME --- after that he became BRIAN and starting hanging out with that bore David Byrne and producing U2 and James and Coldplay and prattling on about The Long Now and being BALD. (As always, there is an exception: 'Ambient 4: On Land' is one of ENO's greatest records, probably because Robert Quine is supposedly on it somewhere although I've never heard him -- a great album, tho not as great as the Roxy LPs, the first three solo albums, and, of course, 'Seven Deadly Finns' / 'R.A.F.' https://www.instagram.com/enobeforehewasbrian?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

marjory gatorade, Wednesday, 5 August 2026 21:59 (two weeks ago)

far out magazine:

Brian Eno’s 13 favourite albums:

Court and Spark – Joni Mitchell
‘Glider’ – My Bloody Valentine
The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground
Grande Liturgie Orthodox Slave – Chœur Bulgare Svetoslav Obretenov
Heartland – Owen Pallett
Afrodisiac – Fela Kuti & The Africa 70
Early Works – Steve Reich
Plantation Lullabies – Me’Shell Ndege Ocello
Fresh – Sly and the Family Stone
‘Go Where I Send Thee’ – The Golden Gate Quartet
Umut – Arif Sag
Farid El Atrache – Farid El Atrache
The Dynamic Reverend Maceo Woods and The Christian Tabernacle Choir in Concert – Reverend Maceo Woods and The Christian Tabernacle Choir

i hope it's giving fgti a nice boost

shaking babies (map), Wednesday, 5 August 2026 22:26 (two weeks ago)

wait that's 4 years old lol. maybe it's still boosting.

shaking babies (map), Wednesday, 5 August 2026 22:27 (two weeks ago)

ok so far out reposted the (slightly smaller) list a few days ago and meshell ndegeocello posted a thank you letter to eno on facebook. but it's unclear if eno was directly involved in this repost or not - far out seems a little sus tbh.

shaking babies (map), Wednesday, 5 August 2026 22:33 (two weeks ago)

marjory gatorade I basically agree with your friend despite appreciating BRIAN as well (but not nearly as much)

Doctor Madame Frances Experimento, LLC", Thursday, 6 August 2026 03:04 (two weeks ago)

Doctor Madame Frances Experimento, LLC --- I basically agree with him as well, although I go back and forth on whether or not Eno or Brian is responsible for 'Before and After Science' (somehow I think of that album as I do Bowie's 'Scary Monsters': Side 1 of both I love, then between sides, something bad happens, and Eno Becomes Brian --- and Bowie becomes Golden Blonde 80s Bowie--- although I much prefer the beautiful quiet mood of Side 2 of the Eno record to the ear-bashing bombast of Side 2 of Scary Monsters. (Which is made all the more frightening in that I truly believe Side 1 of Scary Monsters to be one of Bowie's great song sequences.) I realize that this talk about 'Sides' is something that only people that bought/heard the records back in the original vinyl times probably have a visceral feel for, but it is quite odd how an artist could lose their way in the space between the 2 sides of an albums (again, it's more pronounced in Bowie --- but I tend to see similarities between those particular Eno and Bowie records ... maybe because it was the first Eno-less Bowie record in some time, but also there's something about the placements of the somehow similar 'Up The Hill Backwards' / 'Backwater' as Side 1, Track 2 that seems like a secret correspondence between otherwise unrelated records

marjory gatorade, Thursday, 6 August 2026 04:25 (two weeks ago)

From Damien Love's interview with Mark Howard for Uncut’s coverage of Bob Dylan's then-new Bootleg Series installment Tell Tale Signs in 2008:

I really remember recording ‘Man In The Long Black Coat.’ Malcolm was playing a Yamaha DX7 that Brian Eno had mastered – he had all these sounds built in. Brian had come in on the Neville Brothers record and given us a bunch of sounds for the DX7, and one of the sounds was this crickets sound. Actually, on the Neville Brothers’ Yellow Moon record, I’d found this six-storey apartment building on St. Charles Avenue where we lived and recorded, and they have these bugs in New Orleans, cicadas, that make this high-pitched sound. When Brian came in with his cricket sounds, he would play this melody, and then these cicada bugs would repeat it back. It became really creepy. He would do it again, and they’d do it again, and he’d make the melody a little harder, and they would follow it, and so we were like, ‘Brian Eno is communicating with the insects, oh my God.’

birdistheword, Thursday, 6 August 2026 05:21 (two weeks ago)

(so in 1989, Eno was still very much cool IMHO)

birdistheword, Thursday, 6 August 2026 05:25 (two weeks ago)

(or I guess Brian)

birdistheword, Thursday, 6 August 2026 05:27 (two weeks ago)

Hahaha, awesome.

TheNuNuNu, Thursday, 6 August 2026 10:00 (two weeks ago)

He's been bald or balding, at the very least, his entire career fwiw.

Happiness is a warm gurn (Tom D.), Thursday, 6 August 2026 11:07 (two weeks ago)

As a younger sawdust lagoon, I would not have dated anyone who considered side 2 of BAAS to represent some kinda drop in quality. Sorry. Although I might have tolerated them for friendly drink in a bar. I mean, at least they would have actually known who (Brian) Eno was.

sawdust lagoon, Thursday, 6 August 2026 11:55 (two weeks ago)

Oh, and I mentioned it on the Spider-man thread, but in the new movie there is a scene where Zendaya's character is listening to music on headphones while she works, and the song is "St. Elmo's Fire."

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 6 August 2026 13:04 (two weeks ago)

yeah "Teenage Wildlife," "Scream Like a Baby," and "Because You're Young" are major Bowie, down to the weird chords and often bad singing.

boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 6 August 2026 13:18 (two weeks ago)

Going through another phase with Richard. I started as I usually do with his post-comeback material and was re-reading the wild Syrobonkers interview where he describes the context for the “Richard…yep” sample in “4” – apparently he was talking n his tank sampling some stuff and his father interrupted him.

It’s such a small moment—I’m not sure I ever even noticed that sample before in the midst of all the wild snare rushes— but it really encapsulates the warmth underlying so much of his music, certainly compared to contemporaries like Autechre. The sample actually plays (at least?) twice – once midway and again before the close. It’s obviously not the only time RDJ brought his parents directly into his music – there’s also the birthday voicemail they left him on Drukqs and, on a darker note, the post/track he did in the wake of his father’s passing sometime around COVID.

But there’s something especially touching about this sample. Even just the way you can hear him distractedly but dutifully answering his dad—pause, “Yep”—as he goes about his business is a reminder that his unusual closeness with his family was a key source of inspiration and support. That this is the opening track on his eponymous release

Oh, and I mentioned it on the Spider-man thread, but in the new movie there is a scene where Zendaya's character is listening to music on headphones while she works, and the song is "St. Elmo's Fire."

I noticed this as well.

That Dylan story rules.

Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 7 August 2026 04:44 (two weeks ago)

Oh god, sorry for mistaken old post there. Carry on.

Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 7 August 2026 04:45 (two weeks ago)

A few cricket mentions in Eno credits. On "Lodger" he's credited on "African Night Flight" with "Effects (Cricket Menace)." Bowie described it as “little crickety sounds that Brian produced from a combination of my drum machine (I would, and still do, use one to write with when I’m on my own) and his ‘briefcase’ synth." Some crickety sounds on "Ali Click,' too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbAevt3qCxY

Josh in Chicago, Friday, 7 August 2026 13:18 (two weeks ago)

Some crickety things at the end of this, too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZGKxuw69Rg

Josh in Chicago, Friday, 7 August 2026 13:26 (two weeks ago)

Eno C or D? It's quite simple actually --- a friend of mine has a instagram/facebook page called 'ENO Before He Was BRIAN And Became Boring' so basically, all Eno up to (or through, depending on your taste) 'Before and After Science' is ENO, and therefore is in every way one of pop's GREATEST OF ALL TIME --- after that he became BRIAN and starting hanging out with that bore David Byrne and producing U2 and James and Coldplay and prattling on about The Long Now and being BALD.

Your friend is delusional, I listen to Ambient 1, Ambient 4, Apollo, Thursday Afternoon a lot more than the first four albums. He also produced the best U2 album (Unforgettable Fire), then there are all his collabs with Harold Budd... make me choose and I'll go with BRIAN without hesitation. They're better albums.

fluffy tufts university (f. hazel), Friday, 7 August 2026 14:32 (two weeks ago)

Making fun of an artist for being bald feels like 1999 era ilm.

every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in f (President Keyes), Friday, 7 August 2026 14:35 (two weeks ago)

If I had to pick a demarcation line it would be before and after the DX7. But he's made compelling stuff from the start and really hasn't let up being interesting and, more importantly, interested. His intellectual and musical curiosity has never waned.

I will say it's been a while since he produced something of note (that is, as a producer), but he's always full of surprises.

Josh in Chicago, Friday, 7 August 2026 14:38 (two weeks ago)

Wrong Way Up is an effective rebuttal to this "he stopped writing songs" nonsense

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Friday, 7 August 2026 17:32 (two weeks ago)

Reflection is probably his 2nd, 3rd, or 4th best ambient album imo

brimstead, Friday, 7 August 2026 18:14 (two weeks ago)

Reflection is indeed one of his finest ambient albums. There's a sense of unease about it, which is unusual for his ambient music.

A fun thing to do is listen to the LP at 33.3 (rather than 45rpm) and play it along with a digital version. Makes for an excellent soundbath.

Blood On The Knobs, Friday, 7 August 2026 20:47 (two weeks ago)

Eno C or D? It's quite simple actually --- a friend of mine has a instagram/facebook page called 'ENO Before He Was BRIAN And Became Boring' so basically, all Eno up to (or through, depending on your taste) 'Before and After Science' is ENO, and therefore is in every way one of pop's GREATEST OF ALL TIME --- after that he became BRIAN and starting hanging out with that bore David Byrne and producing U2 and James and Coldplay and prattling on about The Long Now and being BALD.

c'est bullshit

boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 7 August 2026 20:48 (two weeks ago)

hadn't realized how long it's been since he's produced someone outside his normal stable.

I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Friday, 7 August 2026 21:12 (two weeks ago)

Yes, otm re playing Reflection at 33!

And I forgot about Neroli which is amazing as well.

brimstead, Friday, 7 August 2026 21:15 (two weeks ago)

Capital One must be fans:

https://i.ibb.co/4wqjLphR/ENO.jpg

birdistheword, Thursday, 13 August 2026 20:02 (one week ago)

Laticap Eno

every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in f (President Keyes), Thursday, 13 August 2026 20:04 (one week ago)

uh, Latipac Eno, that is

every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in f (President Keyes), Thursday, 13 August 2026 20:05 (one week ago)

Disappointingly, Eno responds to questions quoting ENO lyrics with "I didn't understand your request because I'm still learning. But I can tell you about your accounts and recent purchases, and you can also pay your credit card bill with me."

birdistheword, Thursday, 13 August 2026 20:14 (one week ago)

Oh what could be my destiny, another rainy day?

birdistheword, Thursday, 13 August 2026 20:14 (one week ago)

offers oblique strategies for solving common banking and financial issues.

beard papa, Thursday, 13 August 2026 20:30 (one week ago)

if they change their motto from "whats in your wallet" to "splish splash I was raking in the cash" I would actually get their card

frogbs, Thursday, 13 August 2026 20:35 (one week ago)

I actually don't have their card. What happened is they swallowed up Discover and I have to go through their portal now.

birdistheword, Friday, 14 August 2026 00:12 (one week ago)

offers oblique strategies for solving common banking and financial issues.

― beard papa, Thursday, August 13, 2026 4:30 PM (three hours ago) bookmark flag link

Honour thy bank's error as a hidden intention

mick signals, Friday, 14 August 2026 00:25 (one week ago)


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