Friday, December 11, 2009

Brian Eno: Here Come The Warm Jets 1974 + Another Green World 1975


Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (born 15 May 1948), commonly known as simply Brian Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, music theorist and singer, who, as a solo artist, is best known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.

Eno studied at art school, taking inspiration from minimalist painting, but he had little musical education or playing experience when he joined the band Roxy Music as their keyboards and synthesisers player in the early 1970s. Roxy Music's success in the glam rock scene came quickly, but Eno soon tired of both conflicts with lead singer Bryan Ferry and touring, and he left the group after the release of For Your Pleasure (1973), beginning his solo career with the art rock records Here Come the Warm Jets (1973) and Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) (1974).
Eno extended his reach into more experimental musical styles with (No Pussyfooting) (1973) (a collaboration with Robert Fripp), the influential Another Green World (1975) and Discreet Music (1975). His pioneering ambient efforts at "sonic landscapes" began to consume more of his time beginning with Ambient 1/Music for Airports (1978) and later Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks (1983) which was composed for the documentary film For All Mankind. Eno nevertheless continued to sing on some of his records, ranging from Before and After Science (1977) to Another Day on Earth (2005).

Eno's solo work has been extremely influential, pioneering ambient and generative music, innovating production techniques, and emphasizing "theory over practice."[3] He also introduced the concept of chance music to popular audiences partly through collaborations with other musicians.[4] By the end of the 1970s, Eno had worked with David Bowie on the seminal avant-garde "Berlin Trilogy," helped popularise the American punk rock band Devo and the punk-influenced "No Wave" genre, and had begun to work frequently with Harold Budd, John Cale, Cluster, Robert Fripp and David Byrne, with whom he produced the influential My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981). He produced and performed on three albums by Talking Heads, including Remain in Light (1980), produced seven albums for U2, including The Joshua Tree (1987), and worked on records by James, Laurie Anderson, Coldplay, Paul Simon, Grace Jones and Slowdive, among others.



Here Come the Warm Jets is the debut solo album by Brian Eno. Produced by Eno, it was released on Island Records in 1974. The musical style of Here Come the Warm Jets is a hybrid of glam rock and art rock, similar to Eno's previous album work with Roxy Music but with songs that are more quirky and experimental. The album features various guest musicians, including Robert Fripp of King Crimson and members of Roxy Music, Hawkwind, Matching Mole, and The Pink Fairies. In developing the album's words and music, Eno used abstract methods such as dancing for his band members and having them play accordingly, and singing nonsense words to himself that would form the basis of subsequent lyrics.
Here Come the Warm Jets peaked at number 26 on the United Kingdom album charts and number 151 on the U.S. Billboard charts, receiving a number of positive reviews. It was re-issued on compact disc in 1990 on Island Records and in 2004 on Virgin Records, and continued to elicit praise. Critic Steve Huey of Allmusic stated that the album "still sounds exciting, forward-looking, and densely detailed, revealing more intricacies with every play".

Tracks

1. Needles in the Camel's Eye (Eno, Phil Manzanera) 3:11
2. The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch 3:04
3. Baby's on Fire 5:19
4. Cindy Tells Me (Eno, Manzanera) 3:25
5. Driving Me Backwards 5:12


6. On Some Faraway Beach (Eno, Manzanera) 4:36
7. Blank Frank (Eno, Robert Fripp) 3:37
8. Dead Finks Don't Talk (arr. Paul Thompson, Busta Jones, Nick Judd, Eno) 4:19
9. Some of Them Are Old 5:11
10. Here Come the Warm Jets 4:05


BABY' S ON FIRE


Baby's on fire
Better throw her in the water
Look at her laughing
Like a heifer to the slaughter

Baby's on fire
And all the laughing boys are bitching
Waiting for photos
Oh the plot is so bewitching


Rescuers row row
Do your best to change the subject
Blow the wind blow blow
Lend some assistance to the object


Photographers snip snap
Take your time she's only burning
This kind of experience
Is necessary for her learning

If you'll be my flotsam
I could be half the man I used to
They said you were hot stuff
And that's what Baby's been reduced to...

Juanita and Juan
Very clever with maraccas
Making their fortunes
Selling second-hand tobaccoes

Juan dances at Chico's
And when the clients are evicted
He empties the ashtrays
And pockets all that he's collected

But Baby's on fire!
And all the instruments agree that
Her temperature's rising
But any idiot would know that.




 
 BRIAN ENO - ANOTHER GREEN WORLD 1975
 


A universally acknowledged masterpiece, Another Green World represents a departure from song structure and toward a more ethereal, minimalistic approach to sound. Despite the stripped-down

arrangements, the album's sumptuous tone quality reflects Eno's growing virtuosity at handling the recording studio as an instrument in itself (à la Brian Wilson). There are a few pop songs scattered here and there ("St. Elmo's Fire," "I'll Come Running," "Golden Hours"), but most of the album consists of deliberately paced instrumentals that, while often closer to ambient music than pop, are both melodic and rhythmic; many, like "Sky Saw," "In Dark Trees," and "Little Fishes," are highly imagistic, like paintings done in sound that actually resemble their titles.
                                

Lyrics are infrequent, but when they do pop up, they follow the free-associative style of albums past; this time, though, the humor seems less bizarre than gently whimsical and addled, fitting perfectly into the dreamlike mood of the rest of the album. Most of Another Green World is like experiencing a

soothing, dream-filled slumber while awake, and even if some of the pieces have dark or threatening qualities, the moments of unease are temporary, like a passing nightmare whose feeling lingers briefly upon waking but whose content is forgotten. Unlike some of his later, full-fledged ambient work, Eno's gift for melodicism and tight focus here keep the entirety of the album in the forefront of the listener's consciousness, making it the perfect introduction to his achievements even for those who find ambient music difficult to enjoy.
By Steve Huey

TRACKS
 
          


01. Sky Saw    3:27
02. Over Fire Island    1:51
03. St. Elmo's Fire    3:01
04. In Dark Trees    2:32
05. The Big Ship    2:37
06. I'll Come Running    3:50
07. Another Green World    1:42
08. Sombre Reptiles    2:23
09. Little Fishes    1:32
10. Golden Hours    4:00
11. Becalmed    3:55
12. Zawinul/Lava    2:56
13. Everything Merges With The Night    4:03
14. Spirits Drifting    2:47

Flac Size: 211 MB

3 comments:

  1. The link is dead! Could you reupload it, please?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the Eno Kostas. It is great to hear a master producer like him work.

    ReplyDelete