Taking Tiger Mountain By a Poll - Eno

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who will be second to "true wheel" when the results show up?

Poll Results

OptionVotes
"The True Wheel" (Eno, Phil Manzanera) – 5:11 24
Burning Airlines Give You So Much More" – 3:15 10
"Third Uncle" (Eno, arr. Brian Turrington) – 4:50 10
"The Fat Lady of Limbourg" – 5:05 5
"Back in Judy's Jungle" – 5:15 5
"China My China" – 4:44 5
"Mother Whale Eyeless" – 5:46 4
"Taking Tiger Mountain" – 5:333
"The Great Pretender" – 5:10 1
"Put a Straw Under Baby" – 3.25 0


Zeno, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 21:42 (eighteen years ago)

IMPOSSIBLE

"Mother Whale Eyeless" has a great chorus, but I'll go with Manzanera madness on "Third Uncle," followed by the title track.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 21:44 (eighteen years ago)

I was about to vote for "Cyndi Calls Me", but then realized it was the wrong album.

This album is great too, just that I need to listen to it more to decide which one is my fave track.

Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 21:57 (eighteen years ago)

if u think "cyndi tells me" is the best in "warm jets" you will love "tiger mountain" more - cause it's a little poppier and lighter,like "cyndi" is.

Zeno, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 21:59 (eighteen years ago)

"Burning Airlines Give You Much More". I'm a sucker for that doo-wop thing Eno does.

Euler, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 22:00 (eighteen years ago)

I vote Mother Whale Eyeless for the gorilla drumming and everything else. Like this album.

sonderangerbot, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 22:00 (eighteen years ago)

XXP: In fact I do like "Tiger Mountain" better, I guess it's more a matter of "Cyndi Calls Me" stickout out more to me for that particular exact reason.

Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 22:01 (eighteen years ago)

Mother Whale Eyeless!
I LOVE this album and haven't listened to it for ages.

zeus, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 22:02 (eighteen years ago)

Well this is the best album ever, so I don't know how I'm gonna choose. NO wait, of course I know. The correct answer is THE TRUE WHEEL.

we saw the lovers, the modern lovers....

dan selzer, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 22:03 (eighteen years ago)

Third Uncle

stephen, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 22:19 (eighteen years ago)

Dan, you have answered correctly. "The True Wheel" is Eno's finest TTM moment. Particularly big shout-out for Manzanera's classic one-note guitar solo...

Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 22:31 (eighteen years ago)

Tough one. "Burning Airlines," though "Back in Judy's Jungle" gives me goofy lolz and almost gets the vote.

Rock Hardy, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 22:45 (eighteen years ago)

"Back In Judy's Jungle", followed ever so closely by "Mother Whale Eyeless" (love it when Phil Collins enters in one channel towards the end with the whirlwind drumming) and "China My China" if the typewritter/guitar freakout middle wasn't so protracted.

Joe, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 00:22 (eighteen years ago)

It is almost impossible, but I went with "The True Wheel."

talrose, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 01:22 (eighteen years ago)

Classic all the way through. I'm picking "Fat Lady", though I doubt it will win. I love them barritone saxes.

Moodles, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 01:32 (eighteen years ago)

"Third Uncle," but great great album all around.

Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 01:41 (eighteen years ago)

title track

wanko ergo sum, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 02:31 (eighteen years ago)

True Wheel

iago g., Wednesday, 3 October 2007 02:33 (eighteen years ago)

Third Uncle ...err... thirded.

Trayce, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 02:33 (eighteen years ago)

i am heartened by all of the "mother whale eyeless" love here -- i thought that i was alone, that song usually is overlooked in favor of "third uncle," "fat lady of limbourg" or "the true wheel."

that said, i voted for "the true wheel."

Eisbaer, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 03:07 (eighteen years ago)

i also heart "china my china" not just for the typewriter/guitar freak-out but also for the weird synth loops and guitar feedback at the end.

Eisbaer, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 03:09 (eighteen years ago)

"Back in Judy's Jungle"

marmotwolof, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 03:10 (eighteen years ago)

Love that kinda yawning guitar bit repeated along with crazy feedback bits on "China My China," not to mention how it opens out of radio static — the pseudo-mundanity breaks out into something transcendent by song's end. As a kid it got me all excited with this you've-left-earth feeling, and then the album let me gracefully down with the title track, thinking of which almost makes me want to cry somehow. Nostalgia for something that never happened, probably.

xxxpost

eatandoph, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 03:12 (eighteen years ago)

'the true wheel' is like the giddy high point of all this early eno stuff. the last two songs sound so exhausted compared to it!

haitch, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 04:39 (eighteen years ago)

Voted "True Wheel," though I've found myself listening to "The Great Pretender" a lot, and it was originally my least favorite. I hate not to vote for "Taking Tiger Mountain" - it sounds like an old man, reflecting back on the one great accomplishment of his life.

clotpoll, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 05:55 (eighteen years ago)

Yo, it's the title track all the way. The 5.5 most beautiful minutes in popular music!

Davey D, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 07:33 (eighteen years ago)

For me, the "best tune" concept doesn't fit this album. If one song's an apple, another's an orange, knowwhatImean? I will say that "Mother Whale Eyeless" and "The True Wheel" are the only two I had to listen to again to remember how they go.

Rich Smörgasbord, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 12:52 (eighteen years ago)

"Burning Airlines"

aldo, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 12:56 (eighteen years ago)

I remember China, My China, being my favorite, so that's what I'm gonna vote, but this reminds me to listen to the album again when I get home.

I eat cannibals, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 17:35 (eighteen years ago)

The True Wheel. Eno's best song.

kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 18:24 (eighteen years ago)

the one that has the "...and this is the sound that they heard" followed by bizarro synth solo

Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 18:31 (eighteen years ago)

That's "Back In Judy's Jungle". For a long time I had a hard time getting into this album, because I didn't like that song at all, and it's the second song on the album. I'm glad to read something about what's good about that song, because I just listened to it again and thought it was terrible, a real momentum killer after the first song. Luckily it picks up again with "The Fat Lady of Limbourg".

Euler, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 18:38 (eighteen years ago)

oh I like the whole vibe of it - the plucky British lads going off to a foreign land to be massacred, whistling all the while. Its like a psychedelic war movie.

Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 18:39 (eighteen years ago)

still hard to argue that anything is better than the True Wheel on this one

Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 18:41 (eighteen years ago)

right now I'm thinking "Great Pretender" or "Third Uncle," need to give this one a full relisten though. Awesome album.

Curt1s Stephens, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 18:48 (eighteen years ago)

True Wheel which has the greatest lyrics ever.

Bill in Chicago, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 19:20 (eighteen years ago)

^^^ cosign

moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 19:45 (eighteen years ago)

the true wheel easy

sleep, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 19:55 (eighteen years ago)

The True Wheel

Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 20:50 (eighteen years ago)

I played air piano to it at a bar!

Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 20:50 (eighteen years ago)

wow!

da croupier, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 20:54 (eighteen years ago)

"China My China", 'cause you can sit at your computer keyboard and play along during the typewriter solo. But I can't overlook "Third Uncle" (Velvets add a 2nd drummer and go prog) or the engulfed-and-consumed-alive-by-aphids climax of "Great Pretender" or Phil Manzanera.

Myonga Vön Bontee, Wednesday, 3 October 2007 21:48 (eighteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

ILX System, Thursday, 4 October 2007 23:01 (eighteen years ago)

I was just listening to this album! This is really hard. So many good songs. But "Burning Airlines" it is.

Tom D., Friday, 5 October 2007 12:34 (eighteen years ago)

I voted for Third Uncle, which I didn't even realise was a Brian Eno song til I heard this album - I have the Bauhaus cover but didn't know it was a cover.

Colonel Poo, Friday, 5 October 2007 13:26 (eighteen years ago)

"didn't even realise was a Brian Eno song til I heard this album "

ahead of it's time,like many other eno songs from that period.
nobody sounded like that in the early 70s.

Zeno, Friday, 5 October 2007 13:34 (eighteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ILX System, Friday, 5 October 2007 23:01 (eighteen years ago)

Wow, 67 votes is about twice what I expected.

Rock Hardy, Saturday, 6 October 2007 00:16 (eighteen years ago)

sratisfying results at last.

Zeno, Saturday, 6 October 2007 00:34 (eighteen years ago)

Results like this make me question my typical deference for the ILM crowd.

christoff, Monday, 8 October 2007 14:26 (eighteen years ago)

I've always found it quite uplifting...

Number None, Sunday, 10 November 2013 23:17 (twelve years ago)

imago is a true man

nostormo, Sunday, 10 November 2013 23:19 (twelve years ago)

i find not uplifting nor sad. just beautiful.

nostormo, Sunday, 10 November 2013 23:22 (twelve years ago)

I find the effect more, well, affecting on the second side of "Before and After Science." "Spider & I" ...

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 11 November 2013 00:51 (twelve years ago)

x2

Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 12 November 2013 00:24 (twelve years ago)

ending the album with that track is incredible. a stroke of incredibility.

mother whale eyeless is the underrated gem on this album though.

tɹi.ʃɪp (Treeship), Tuesday, 12 November 2013 00:32 (twelve years ago)

treesh i feel we have similar sincerities if unsimilar insincerities

imago, Tuesday, 12 November 2013 00:34 (twelve years ago)

I find the effect more, well, affecting on the second side of "Before and After Science." "Spider & I" ...

― Josh in Chicago,

this song slays me

the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 12 November 2013 00:38 (twelve years ago)

<3 to you from america, imago. i'm sorry you're having a hard time.

tɹi.ʃɪp (Treeship), Tuesday, 12 November 2013 00:38 (twelve years ago)

cheers fella. it's getting better every day ^_^

let's see who can finish their book first k

imago, Tuesday, 12 November 2013 00:39 (twelve years ago)

spider & i was lovely but ttm (the song) is fucken cosmic. can't even begin

imago, Tuesday, 12 November 2013 00:40 (twelve years ago)

The title track is so great EXCEPT for when that guitar line does that annoying chromatic descending melody rather than the part where it blends magnificently into the piano melody.

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 12 November 2013 02:13 (twelve years ago)

no way

tɹi.ʃɪp (Treeship), Tuesday, 12 November 2013 03:22 (twelve years ago)

one month passes...

I've been enjoying the living hell out of Mother Whale Eyeless lately. I never gave it much of a chance because of all the other great songs on this album but it's so great. This whole album has pleasantly odd/never boring lyrics.

mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Saturday, 4 January 2014 16:45 (twelve years ago)

There's a pie shop in the sky

jmm, Saturday, 4 January 2014 17:05 (twelve years ago)

Ha I just listened to mother whale yesterday. It's my favorite on the record. When the boppy organ barges in my happiness is unstoppable.

yes, i have seen the documentary (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 4 January 2014 17:48 (twelve years ago)

Try listening to Mother Sky --> Mother Whale Eyeless. It's my new recipe for exuberance.

mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Saturday, 4 January 2014 17:56 (twelve years ago)

no i might break something

yes, i have seen the documentary (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 4 January 2014 18:16 (twelve years ago)

Back in Judy's Jungle and True Wheel for me

Iago Galdston, Saturday, 4 January 2014 18:26 (twelve years ago)

nine months pass...

she clutches the tray
and then we talk just like a kitchen soufflé
nothing ventured, nothing gained

cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Friday, 10 October 2014 16:09 (eleven years ago)

When my colleagues from Shenzhen were here last month we took them walking around Chelsea and when we went into the hipster artist flea market mother whale eyeless was playing

a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Friday, 10 October 2014 17:35 (eleven years ago)

that's awesome. did it add to everyone's enjoyment of the flea market?

i have been listening to this album on repeat in my car for at least a week and i have a new appreciation for 'the great pretender' and also decided that 'third uncle' was so named because of its relationship to mother sky. it sounds kinda like robot mother sky on speed.

cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Friday, 10 October 2014 17:56 (eleven years ago)

Is it kitchen soufflé or kitchen-sink play?

JoeStork, Friday, 10 October 2014 18:01 (eleven years ago)

i have no idea -- that's why i posted it
it totally sounds like kitchen soufflé to me and i enjoy the lol wut eno-ness of it

cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Friday, 10 October 2014 18:03 (eleven years ago)

I've never managed to catch half the words in that song and I've listened to it a billion times

lool at the herrlich (wins), Friday, 10 October 2014 18:03 (eleven years ago)

i have listened to it a billion times too and only just now heard kitchen soufflé
i love how he uses the sound of words rather than their meaning and STILL manages to write songs that kinda make enough sense
it's a technique that is close to my <3

cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Friday, 10 October 2014 18:07 (eleven years ago)

just relistened to this, I loove the part where it goes "and this is the sound that they heard..." on "Back in Judy's Jungle"

are there any other albums remotely like this one?

Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Friday, 10 October 2014 18:10 (eleven years ago)

There are moments in the first 4 Kevin ayers that sound akin. Also search "A Stitch in Time" off one of Anthony Moore's solo records, very very tiger mtn

a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Friday, 10 October 2014 18:18 (eleven years ago)

were I to vote now it would probably be for BIJJ

but there is not one track here that is anything other than excellent

Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Friday, 10 October 2014 18:23 (eleven years ago)

argh who am I kidding, title track

idk

Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Friday, 10 October 2014 18:24 (eleven years ago)

two years pass...

pulled this out tonight for the first time in years. i'm usually an AGW guy. i'd forgotten just how awesome this disc is. pretty sure i voted for the fat lady of limbourg in the poll. tonight, maybe mother whale eyeless or china my china.

that's not my post, Tuesday, 1 November 2016 06:01 (nine years ago)

Now we're on the telephone
Making final arrangements
ding ding

frogbs, Tuesday, 1 November 2016 14:37 (nine years ago)

"Taking Tiger Mountain" – 5:33 3

this is sick and wrong!

rip van wanko, Tuesday, 1 November 2016 14:44 (nine years ago)

I still listen to this all the time, but this thread revival has inspired me to listen to it again.

Aristotle error-admitting beer (_Rudipherous_), Tuesday, 1 November 2016 15:21 (nine years ago)

Everything getting a vote except "Put a Straw Under Baby" = OTM

a passing spacecadet, Tuesday, 1 November 2016 15:26 (nine years ago)

mother whale eyeless still takes it for me. maybe the most roxy-sounding thing on here. nothing beats the switchup 2 minutes in ("In my town, there is a raincoat under a tree..."), which i've raved about elsewhere on ilx i think. one of eno's career best moments imo

I look forward to hearing from you shortly, (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 1 November 2016 15:32 (nine years ago)

it really blows my mind that this is from 1974 - same year as like Relayer, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Rock Bottom, etc. etc...just sounds like it's from a totally different world

frogbs, Tuesday, 1 November 2016 15:41 (nine years ago)

put a straw under baby is great and deserves at least a few votes

na (NA), Tuesday, 1 November 2016 15:52 (nine years ago)

yes, if only for the Robert Wyatt backing vocals

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 1 November 2016 16:02 (nine years ago)

one year passes...

So was it ever unveiled who Randi and The Pyramids are? (credited w/ (backing) vocals on 'The True Wheel' ["we are the 801!"]? I know he named her/the lot after a girl he was seeing back then and says he dreamt up the name, but who is the woman singing that?

Le Bateau Ivre, Sunday, 12 November 2017 21:36 (eight years ago)

Multitracked Polly Eltes?

Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 12 November 2017 21:47 (eight years ago)

Could be! We know she's on Mother Whale Eyeless, but I've never come across any source attributing the True Wheel vocal to her?

Le Bateau Ivre, Sunday, 12 November 2017 21:50 (eight years ago)

one year passes...

it really blows my mind that this is from 1974 - same year as like Relayer, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Rock Bottom, etc. etc...just sounds like it's from a totally different world

― frogbs, Tuesday, November 1, 2016 11:41 AM (two years ago)

Spot on! Feel like this album is its own genre.

Wally P. Doyle, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 16:58 (six years ago)

eno was a massive jerk for abandoning that genre tbrr

imago, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 17:00 (six years ago)

ooh look at me i invented ambient

imago, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 17:00 (six years ago)

otm

file of unknown origin (bendy), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 17:03 (six years ago)

xp have you heard "Wrong Way Up"? also some stuff on "My Squelchy Life" is a bit similar, none of it is as bonkers and multilayered though

Book Doula (sleeve), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 17:06 (six years ago)

title track, bitches

Famous Anus (rip van wanko), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 17:24 (six years ago)

was just thinking about this album yesterday because i was super feeling the lyrics to "mother whale eyeless"
his pop songs have more replay value for me than, say, the apollo soundtrack

weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:11 (six years ago)

Not heard xxp! Thanks...

imago, Wednesday, 30 October 2019 18:14 (six years ago)


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