So, as a recent arrival (n00b) I entered in lots of "favourite band" type names into the box on my profile page ... but there's never enough space, right? If you're like me, you either enter 3 or 4 of your most favouritest ever bands/artists and leave it at that, or else you get in the zone of not wanting to leave anyone out and so you keep adding names.
And it's always kind of arbitrary, and I guess I sub-consciously leaned towards SG-"type" bands (recent, alterna-type stuff), and I left out some more dinosaury (erm, or is that *ahem* "old skool" now?) names like, I dunno, Led Zeppelin or whoever.
But anyway, I entered as many names as I could think of ..and then ran out of space!
So what I might do is blabber a little bit about a few of the names I left out and don't have space to include in my list.
1. Brian Eno
So, OK, Eno first came to notice with the original, space-glam version of Roxy Music that put out the first two, mind-fucking Roxy LPs in the early 1970s. He was at the forefront of using keyboards & synthesisers to just make weird noises in the middle of pop songs, and he just LOOKED so damn wild. It's funny to consider how Bryan Ferry started out with him, looking wild but also kind of suave, and as time went on, Ferry kept getting less and less wild and more and more suave until he became the be-suited lounge lizard we all know him as today.
Meantime, Eno went from over-the-top wild/camp, to becoming the ascetic, serious, chrome-dome we know HIM as today. Ferry evolved, but Eno radically CHANGED. One extreme to another.
His four "pop" albums from the 1970s (i.e. they have songs!, and vocals!) are just must-haves, in my book. "Here Come The Warm Jets" had wonderful pop songs on it, simple yet weird (or weird yet simple); any guitar band worth its salt would have a blast covering something like "Needle in the Camel's Eye", while "On Some Faraway Beach" makes you feel like you're dancing on the golden sands.
"Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy" seemed to have more thoughtful/introspective moments on it, although Eno's humour and whimsy still kept appearing. "The Fat Lady Of Limbourg" sounds sombre, but the words are hilarious, while "Mother Whale Eyeless" pre-figured in its lyrics several band-names that would appear later as real bands (801, A Certain Ratio). And when I listen to "Put A Straw Under Baby" I no longer hear the out-of-tune scrapings of the Portsmouth Symphonia, I just hear a beautiful lullaby.
"Another Green World" had gorgeous melodies ("Everything Merges With The Night") nestled cheek by jowl with synthesiser instrumentals ("Spirits Drifting") and trademark Eno quirky pop ("St. Elmo's Fire").
"Before and After Science" might just be one of the most beautiful records ever made, at least Side 2 with the supremely gorgeous "Julie With..."
["I am on an open sea,
Just drifting as the hours go slowly by.
Julie with her open blouse
Is gazing up into the empty sky"]
I was once falling asleep while listening to that song, and I was half-dreaming that I was in a small boat, bobbing gently over clouds on its way up to heaven. It's that beautiful a song, I swear. The songs that follow are awesomely pretty too.
Eno is also known for his ambient music (music for airports, anyone?), and his amazing production/collaboration track record. David Bowie. Robert Fripp. David Byrne, with and without Talking Heads. (He produced their amazing "Remain in Light" album, the one that Radiohead were inspired by when creating "Kid A".) He produced Devo's debut "Are We Not Men?", and has collaborated on several of U2's opuses, probably most famously their "Achtung Baby" set.
I want to get a set of his Oblique Strategies cards too!
Learn to love him.
http://www.jahsonic.com/BrianEno.html
http://fusionanomaly.net/brianeno.html
http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/
PS: Melbourne SG-member's get together coming up! Woohoo! I'll bore them all senseless with Enotalk!
And it's always kind of arbitrary, and I guess I sub-consciously leaned towards SG-"type" bands (recent, alterna-type stuff), and I left out some more dinosaury (erm, or is that *ahem* "old skool" now?) names like, I dunno, Led Zeppelin or whoever.
But anyway, I entered as many names as I could think of ..and then ran out of space!
So what I might do is blabber a little bit about a few of the names I left out and don't have space to include in my list.
1. Brian Eno
So, OK, Eno first came to notice with the original, space-glam version of Roxy Music that put out the first two, mind-fucking Roxy LPs in the early 1970s. He was at the forefront of using keyboards & synthesisers to just make weird noises in the middle of pop songs, and he just LOOKED so damn wild. It's funny to consider how Bryan Ferry started out with him, looking wild but also kind of suave, and as time went on, Ferry kept getting less and less wild and more and more suave until he became the be-suited lounge lizard we all know him as today.
Meantime, Eno went from over-the-top wild/camp, to becoming the ascetic, serious, chrome-dome we know HIM as today. Ferry evolved, but Eno radically CHANGED. One extreme to another.
His four "pop" albums from the 1970s (i.e. they have songs!, and vocals!) are just must-haves, in my book. "Here Come The Warm Jets" had wonderful pop songs on it, simple yet weird (or weird yet simple); any guitar band worth its salt would have a blast covering something like "Needle in the Camel's Eye", while "On Some Faraway Beach" makes you feel like you're dancing on the golden sands.
"Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy" seemed to have more thoughtful/introspective moments on it, although Eno's humour and whimsy still kept appearing. "The Fat Lady Of Limbourg" sounds sombre, but the words are hilarious, while "Mother Whale Eyeless" pre-figured in its lyrics several band-names that would appear later as real bands (801, A Certain Ratio). And when I listen to "Put A Straw Under Baby" I no longer hear the out-of-tune scrapings of the Portsmouth Symphonia, I just hear a beautiful lullaby.
"Another Green World" had gorgeous melodies ("Everything Merges With The Night") nestled cheek by jowl with synthesiser instrumentals ("Spirits Drifting") and trademark Eno quirky pop ("St. Elmo's Fire").
"Before and After Science" might just be one of the most beautiful records ever made, at least Side 2 with the supremely gorgeous "Julie With..."
["I am on an open sea,
Just drifting as the hours go slowly by.
Julie with her open blouse
Is gazing up into the empty sky"]
I was once falling asleep while listening to that song, and I was half-dreaming that I was in a small boat, bobbing gently over clouds on its way up to heaven. It's that beautiful a song, I swear. The songs that follow are awesomely pretty too.
Eno is also known for his ambient music (music for airports, anyone?), and his amazing production/collaboration track record. David Bowie. Robert Fripp. David Byrne, with and without Talking Heads. (He produced their amazing "Remain in Light" album, the one that Radiohead were inspired by when creating "Kid A".) He produced Devo's debut "Are We Not Men?", and has collaborated on several of U2's opuses, probably most famously their "Achtung Baby" set.
I want to get a set of his Oblique Strategies cards too!
Learn to love him.
http://www.jahsonic.com/BrianEno.html
http://fusionanomaly.net/brianeno.html
http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/
PS: Melbourne SG-member's get together coming up! Woohoo! I'll bore them all senseless with Enotalk!
VIEW 12 of 12 COMMENTS
koleeta:
thanks for being there and lending an ear.
gingerlie:
hahahahahaha. okay, now that was funny.