Welcome back, music lovers. The last two weeks have focused on Brian Eno as a solo recording artist and as a collaborator with other recording artists. This week, I will conclude my brief tour of Eno’s work by highlighting some of his efforts as a producer. Let’s start out with a track from Lodger which was responsible for turning me on to Eno in the first place:
“I am a DJ, I am what I play. I’ve got believers believing me.”
I’ll have more over the next couple days as time permits. My schedule has been especially tight this week, so posts might be a bit lighter.
Tips and recs are appreciated. Now to figure out what to do next week. Any requests for the next midweek cafe?
Any requests? I request cover versions.
To mark (not celebrate) 2018 officially being the fourth warmest year on record, I’m serving Flamin Hot Cheetos Tequila Shots – Tipsy Bartender.
The bartender is taking requests.
Here’s the video I was thinking of posting for the Super Bowl if Vol. 101 had still been on the rec list on Sunday, Beer Tower.
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Life During Wartime studio:
Live:
Fear of Music was one of three albums Eno produced for Talking Heads. This track is one I heard quite often on the radio when I was an early teen.
A sampler of tracks from No New York, which documented New York’s short-lived (but highly influential) No Wave scene:
The scene in the last posthumously released episode of Parts Unknown included Bourdain and Lydia Lunch enjoying a meal together and discussing the old scene – she did not seem especially nostalgic. She’d moved on, although avant-garde as always. Bourdain seemed painfully nostalgic.
But I digress.
This was a scene that would pave the way for the relatively more mainstream sounds of Sonic Youth, a free jazz revival in the 1990s, as well as a now-well-established Japanese Noise scene – and so on. No New York was not appreciated when it was first released, but in hindsight it was a brilliantly abrasive document of an era and a harbinger of things to come.
By comparison to the No New York compilation, Devo’s Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! was quite mainstream.
This song sounded great on SNL near the start of the series’ 4th season. Just sayin’.
The John Foxx era of Ultravox never did take off commercially, which seems quite the shame. They released three LPs before some major personnel changes made them safe for consumption (or something like that). This track is from their first album, with Eno doing some studio assistance (Steve Lillywhite was the producer).
Anyway this was a brilliant song.
This was recorded right as Eno was really turning his attention to ambient music. The tracks are noteworthy for the appearance of Marion Brown, a jazz saxophonist who was still at the height of his powers. I believe Harold Budd had appeared on one of Marion Brown’s mid-1970s releases on Impulse! right before that label was shuttered.
Anyway this is an especially lovely track.
The first Penguin Cafe Orchestra LP I am aware of was issued on Eno’s Obscure label, which existed briefly I believe in the mid to late 1970s. He is credited as executive producer, and it is unclear aside from that action what involvement he had. Another curio from back in the day:
Eno and Daniel Lanois have partnered on numerous occasions as co-producers. Their partnership is especially noteworthy on a number of U2 albums, which would be the obvious choice for a selection. So I will do non-obvious. Here’s the title track to Michael Brook’s album, Hybrid
It definitely sounds very mid-1980s.
Laurie Anderson circa the mid-1990s. Eno produced Bright Red, with Anderson as co-producer. They also co-wrote the music to some of the tracks, including this one.