ewe2
21-02-2006, 04:26 PM
All the cards turn to words
All the words float in sequence
Noone knows what they mean
Everyone just ignores them -- Skysaw
Unlike the very public revolutions of the Beatles and Led Zepplin, Brian Eno's revolution was quiet and seemingly obscure but no less implacable. Another Green World is quite likely to slide rather inconspicously by the innocent listener who will notice some odd noises and some nice tunes and pay no further heed. What this album did to innocent musicians was rather more noticeable. They made small screaming noises, obsessively replayed certain tracks and fell into the class of hoplessly enthusiastic acolyte or the outraged cynic. This album, furthermore was written following the dictates of the Oblique Strategies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies), which are applicable to much more than songwriting or music production, but are an oracle for any kind of endeavour. Essentially any significant choice during writing and production of this album was determined by them.
SkySaw explicitly sets this out with an gobsmackingly gorgeous freeform Percy Jones bass squiggle, while Phil Collins calmly bats around the beat. We trot into Over Fire Island, a demented little two-step over which Jones continues to squiggle and then Brian sings St Elmo's Fire, while Robert Fripp takes us to alien guitar nirvana. In Dark Trees is authentic ambience, paranoid guitar and claustrophobic beat, The Big Ship a more open but no less intense mood and then the whimsical I'll Come Running, patiently waiting for those dreams to pull you under his door.
Another Green World brings us back to serene ambience, with the busy Sombre Reptiles and the innocent Little Fishes. For many Eno fans, Golden Hours is one of his finest moments, both dotty lyric and music perfectly in sync:
The passage of time
Is flicking dimly up on the screen
I can't see the lines
I used to think I could read between
Perhaps my brains have turned to sand
Becalmed is a classic Eno ambient piece, with his trademark wobbly synth which would become a centrepiece of Apollo. Zawinul/Lava is a simple repeating motif that extracts the maximum harmonics each passing turn. Everything Merges With The Night is the last "song" sung here by Eno, a gentle drift of a song which oddly stops and starts simultaneously. Spirits Drifting wraps it all up with a mood caught between floating and grief.
Coming to grips with this album can be a long process, as it takes advantage of your mood and simply reflects it (a trick Eno honed to perfection), so seeing it clearly is quite difficult unless you get ruthlessly analytical, in which case you lose its undeniable charm. So flop around for a few listens and don't expect to immediately grasp it. Use the more conventional songs as handholds for the more slippery ambience, which is possibly what Eno intends. Let it sneak up on you and catch it from the corner of your mind's eye. A strange beast, no? But worth the trip to see.
All the words float in sequence
Noone knows what they mean
Everyone just ignores them -- Skysaw
Unlike the very public revolutions of the Beatles and Led Zepplin, Brian Eno's revolution was quiet and seemingly obscure but no less implacable. Another Green World is quite likely to slide rather inconspicously by the innocent listener who will notice some odd noises and some nice tunes and pay no further heed. What this album did to innocent musicians was rather more noticeable. They made small screaming noises, obsessively replayed certain tracks and fell into the class of hoplessly enthusiastic acolyte or the outraged cynic. This album, furthermore was written following the dictates of the Oblique Strategies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies), which are applicable to much more than songwriting or music production, but are an oracle for any kind of endeavour. Essentially any significant choice during writing and production of this album was determined by them.
SkySaw explicitly sets this out with an gobsmackingly gorgeous freeform Percy Jones bass squiggle, while Phil Collins calmly bats around the beat. We trot into Over Fire Island, a demented little two-step over which Jones continues to squiggle and then Brian sings St Elmo's Fire, while Robert Fripp takes us to alien guitar nirvana. In Dark Trees is authentic ambience, paranoid guitar and claustrophobic beat, The Big Ship a more open but no less intense mood and then the whimsical I'll Come Running, patiently waiting for those dreams to pull you under his door.
Another Green World brings us back to serene ambience, with the busy Sombre Reptiles and the innocent Little Fishes. For many Eno fans, Golden Hours is one of his finest moments, both dotty lyric and music perfectly in sync:
The passage of time
Is flicking dimly up on the screen
I can't see the lines
I used to think I could read between
Perhaps my brains have turned to sand
Becalmed is a classic Eno ambient piece, with his trademark wobbly synth which would become a centrepiece of Apollo. Zawinul/Lava is a simple repeating motif that extracts the maximum harmonics each passing turn. Everything Merges With The Night is the last "song" sung here by Eno, a gentle drift of a song which oddly stops and starts simultaneously. Spirits Drifting wraps it all up with a mood caught between floating and grief.
Coming to grips with this album can be a long process, as it takes advantage of your mood and simply reflects it (a trick Eno honed to perfection), so seeing it clearly is quite difficult unless you get ruthlessly analytical, in which case you lose its undeniable charm. So flop around for a few listens and don't expect to immediately grasp it. Use the more conventional songs as handholds for the more slippery ambience, which is possibly what Eno intends. Let it sneak up on you and catch it from the corner of your mind's eye. A strange beast, no? But worth the trip to see.