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May 15, 2005
It's Eno's world; the rest of us just live in it
Brian Eno (full name: Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno) turns 58 today. This should probably be a national holiday. No, wait, a world holiday.
Those of us of a certain bent feel about Eno much as Catholics feel about the Pope. Why do we love Eno so much?
- He has a cool name. Try saying it. “Eno.” Doesn’t it sound cool?
- He was a founding member of Roxy Music; during this period, David Bowie says, he was “an alarmingly glamorous young man.”
- He produced the following albums, among others: Bowie’s Low, “Heroes,” and Lodger; Talking Heads’ More Songs About Buildings and Food, Fear of Music, and Remain in Light; Devo’s Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo; Ultravox’s Ultravox; and a bunch of albums by U2 (but we forgive him for that).
- Between 1974 and 1977 he recorded four experimental pop albums—Here Come the Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), Another Green World, and Before and After Science—that remain crucial discoveries for every hipster egghead college kid.
- He invented ambient music.
- With David Byrne, he recorded My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, using African rhythms and found sound to create one of the all-time stoner masterpieces.
- He uses a set of cards called “Oblique Strategies” to help generate ideas.
- Did I mention that he has a cool name?
So if you own any Eno, I recommend pulling it out and listening to it today. If you don’t, I recommend you get some immediately.
Somebody's birthday
Posted by bill at May 15, 2005 6:21 PM
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Comments
Admittedly, that's a bit of a cheap shot. U2 has made some excellent music over the years, and I especially like "Zooropa"--although it comes awfully close to being a Brian Eno solo album with U2 as backing band. On the other hand, I could go a thousand years without hearing "The Joshua Tree" again and it would still be to soon.
And anyway, aren't you a little sick of U2's mega-rock-star, holier-than-thou, God's-gift-to-the-masses act? I mean, don't you feel like their whole schtick is a bit tired? It's 2007, my friend. There's some other band you could be spending your time defending on random blogs.
But, sorry if I hurt your feelings. I'll try to be more judicious in the future.
Posted by: Bill at November 25, 2007 12:13 PM
"a bunch of albums by U2 (but we forgive him for that)."
Honestly I think that's an gratuitous, inappropriate and inproperly superficial comment.
I suppouse you haven't heard anything from that bunch of masterpieces,or even read about them in any serious publication.
Those are worldwide respected albums (including "Passengers" , released and composed by U2&Eno) and critically acclaimed, adored I must say (excuse my poor English) by people obviusly wiser than us.
I suggest you to hear U2's 1993 album Zooropa. Thats a little example of what I'm saying.
Best regards: Javier.
Posted by: Javier at November 24, 2007 9:04 AM