Howdy, howdy! It’s another midweek somewhere. Tonight’s selection is the title track from Brian Eno’s second solo LP, Taking Tiger Mountain. This would be a year before Eno would begin explicitly experimenting with what we know as ambient music. Some of the contours are already there.
Since I am not well-versed on the many nuances of music theory, I enjoyed (and still enjoy) discussing ambient music with people who actually study music theory for a living. A long time ago, I made some off the cuff statement within earshot of one of our university’s music professors about Eno’s more ambient work being right up there with the work of minimalists I’d heard. That definitely set the guy off. It was actually fun and enlightening to spend a good 15 or so minutes on the distinctions between art music (e.g., Steve Reich’s work) and popular music (which is where the likes of Eno would be categorized). Fair enough. Some get formal training in composition, and others may not even know how to formally write music. I did manage to squeeze in a question about whether the minimalists like Reich were intentionally blurring the lines between “art music” and “popular music”, although that question got pretty quickly dismissed. So it goes. I enjoy it all.
Peace and love.