If Reagan Played Disco
Monday, August 01, 2005
Another Day on Earth
Brian Eno
Hannibal
Brian Eno's first 'song' album in over 20 years is understandably a highly anticipated event for fans and casual fans alike.
As one of the former, I agonized over buying this album for a number of reasons. I had no expectations of this being another quirky foray into his chatty, bizarre and frequently conversational lyrics, - he'd been heading away from that since Another Green World.
One of my fears was that perhaps Eno wouldn't have anything particularly interesting to say with lyrics, either artistically or intellectually, after all these years.
I'm very happy to report that I'm not disappointed in the least. One of the things I highly value in Eno's art is that you never really know what to expect, so suspending all preconceptions went a long way in my enjoyment in this process of (re)discovery.
Decades of creating beautiful - and sometimes unnerving - sound sculptures has honed his studio skills to razor sharpness. And that's evident from a casual, surface listening to most of the tracks; Eno is one of the few artists who can make sounds sound as if they are originating from inside the listener's head.
Lyrically, His songs deal with world events, global welfare and come from a perspective one would expect from someone involved with The Long Now Project, a think tank centered around very long-term (10,000 years!) global planning. Although some of the songs showcase his randomly generated- and in some cases, apparently computer generated - approach to lyric writing, many have beautiful, contemplative lyrics. How Many Worlds asks "How many people will we feed today/How many lips will we kiss today?/ If we wake up." over a piano and swelling mock string arrangement. Caught Between displays his always great sense of balancing words as a sound poem with a beautiful, engaging melody. The title track, Just Another Day on Earth is one of the most gorgeous- yet accessible things Brian Peter George St. Baptiste de la Salle Eno has ever produced- so much so that it'd be easy for me to forgive him if it made a dent on mainstream, MOR radio here in the states.
The album ends with a strange, seemingly computer constructed piece, called Bone Bomb, complete with apparently artificial fem-bot vocals, as if to remind us that he's every bit weird as he was the day he parted with Brian Ferry and company.
This is a marvelous addition to any Eno fan's shelf, nestled beside Warm Jets, Tiger Mountain, Green World and Before and After Science.
Hannibal
Brian Eno's first 'song' album in over 20 years is understandably a highly anticipated event for fans and casual fans alike.
As one of the former, I agonized over buying this album for a number of reasons. I had no expectations of this being another quirky foray into his chatty, bizarre and frequently conversational lyrics, - he'd been heading away from that since Another Green World.
One of my fears was that perhaps Eno wouldn't have anything particularly interesting to say with lyrics, either artistically or intellectually, after all these years.
I'm very happy to report that I'm not disappointed in the least. One of the things I highly value in Eno's art is that you never really know what to expect, so suspending all preconceptions went a long way in my enjoyment in this process of (re)discovery.
Decades of creating beautiful - and sometimes unnerving - sound sculptures has honed his studio skills to razor sharpness. And that's evident from a casual, surface listening to most of the tracks; Eno is one of the few artists who can make sounds sound as if they are originating from inside the listener's head.
Lyrically, His songs deal with world events, global welfare and come from a perspective one would expect from someone involved with The Long Now Project, a think tank centered around very long-term (10,000 years!) global planning. Although some of the songs showcase his randomly generated- and in some cases, apparently computer generated - approach to lyric writing, many have beautiful, contemplative lyrics. How Many Worlds asks "How many people will we feed today/How many lips will we kiss today?/ If we wake up." over a piano and swelling mock string arrangement. Caught Between displays his always great sense of balancing words as a sound poem with a beautiful, engaging melody. The title track, Just Another Day on Earth is one of the most gorgeous- yet accessible things Brian Peter George St. Baptiste de la Salle Eno has ever produced- so much so that it'd be easy for me to forgive him if it made a dent on mainstream, MOR radio here in the states.
The album ends with a strange, seemingly computer constructed piece, called Bone Bomb, complete with apparently artificial fem-bot vocals, as if to remind us that he's every bit weird as he was the day he parted with Brian Ferry and company.
This is a marvelous addition to any Eno fan's shelf, nestled beside Warm Jets, Tiger Mountain, Green World and Before and After Science.
# posted by Chardman @ 8:47 AM 
