Brian Eno, David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
|
List Price: Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
Free Music Review: in the Bush of Ghosts
Hit: 4 Stars
I think I ought to counter the effusive responses here and put in my opinion, for what its worth. Yes, this album does sound ahead of its time, and yes, there is some beautiful music on here. But first of all, this re-issue muddles the track listing of the original album (to its detriment), and further, the album is not quite as consistently brilliant as everyone here makes out, especially with an extra "side" of bonus tracks.
The opening track, America is Waiting, I can't help comparing to the opener on Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet, which was clearly influenced by its scratchy-funk-meets-TV-sermoniser cut-up. But whereas PE's track was brutally, discordantly funky, Eno and Byrne's version just sounds disjointed and a little bit lightweight- I guess its not easy for middle-class white boys to sound too damn funky. Anyway, things really get going with the beautiful Mea Culpa, (the original album opener) with its subtle, multi-tracked world-music percussion, which builds slowly and satisfyingly. Then comes the album's highlight, Regiment, with its funky, proto-trip-hop bassline set against strangely moving African vocals, and a slightly askew sample. Great stuff. The next two tracks don't do anything for me; Jezebel Spirit is often singled out as a highlight, but for me, the dated-sounding 80s slap-bass just sounds a bit lightweight.
Side 2 is the best side. No more dated slap-funk bass, and the emphasis is shifted less towards funk, and more towards polyrhythmic and percussive textures. Very, Very Hungry has a very interesting staccato rhythm, but the highlight of this side is wistful The Carrier, with its plaintive vocals once again married perfectly to Eno and Byrne's sampled soundscapes. Mountain of Needles is also beautiful, an almost completely ambient track which depends for its effect on its glistening percussive timbres. This was originally the album closer, and rightly so, as its understated textures and blissful ambience serve to cleanse the palette. Unfortunately, becuase this is a re-issue, we have another "side" of bits and pieces to get through, which, like most re-issued bonus tracks, are mostly unmemorable, although Two Against Three and Number 8 are culled from the original.
There's some impressive stuff, here, undoubtedly, and the influence of Eno's "non-musician" approach is clearly everywhere, but for me this is just too "difficult" an album to be completely enjoyable: nonetheless, it comes recommended.
Free Music Review: Classic
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a classic recording. I really like it. If you like Eno or Talking Heads, you will like this one.Free Music Review: good rerelease of an amazing album
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm not sure how much better the remasters are on this disc than the original recording. They are better, I think, but the change is subtle. (As opposed to, say, the Talking Heads remasters, which are instantly, recognizably, and indisputably superior to the original recordings.) Everything just sounds a little crisper, I guess.
You can compare and ponder the point for some time, but what this rerelease has done is made me go back and listen again to what was a truly remarkable record the first time around and remains so to this day. It has held up amazingly well over the years. Way ahead of its time. Imagine Remain in Light with random samples and looped noise and sampled vocals filling up the spaces that David Byrne voice would normally occupy and you have a sense of it. Incredible.
This version also comes with seven bonus tracks. These range from tracks that truly could have made the album to ones that are just out-and-out bizarre. I adore the final number, guitar with tin foil.
If you already have the original version, I recommend getting this. If you don't have any previous version, you should stop reading this right now and go get it. Now. In fact, I'm not going to type anymore, just so you can go do it.
Free Music Review: Jittery masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
The one thing that struck me when first listening to the album was how jittery it sounded. The guitars sounded like they were going to explode at any minute....the samples were zooming in from all over the place....it almost sounded like total chaos was in progress. But the more you listen to this, the more you see how much effort went into it. It's also impossibly funky too. In the line between the magnificent Fear of Music and it's more successful follow up Remain in Light....this certainly feels like a jigsaw piece that fits in explaining the slight transition that occured during the making of the album. Having said that, it would be foolish to dismiss this as something that happened inbetween two Talking Heads albums. To do that would be to diminish its status. Really it's a collective, collaborative masterpiece. The amount of consideration that went into it and yet how spontaneous it all sounds is nothing short of amazing. It is the sort of album that everyone should own at least.Free Music Review: A well-deserved 25th anniversary reissue for the groundbreaking album
Hit: 5 Stars
Brian Eno, producer of the Talking Heads' early albums, and David Byrne, singer-songwriter of the Talking Heads, take a left turn and found further common ground in making this groundbreaking album. First released in 1981, the album receives a long deserved reissue for its 25th anniversary.
The 2006 release of "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" (18 tracks, 60 min.) is more than just a standard reissue. Personally supervised by David Byrne, this is a reworking of the original album, with 7 new tracks and a new tracklisting. The now 18 tracks are now divided up in "3 sides". It bears noting that much of the album was recorded before the Talking Heads' "Remain in Light", but released afterwards (for technical reasons). Listen again to "Remain in Light" and you'll see how much influence "My Life" had on that album. As to this reissue, everthing is done first class: the remastered sound is impeccable, the 28 page booklet is full of interesting information, starting with an excerpt from author Amos Tutuola's 1952 book "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts", from which the album takes its inspiration, to "The Making of" extensive liner notes by Byrne and Eno themselves.
In all, this is surely the definitive version of "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" (even with the regrettable omission of the "Qu'run" track). The album has proven over the years to be not merely enormously influential, but better yet thoroughly enjoyable and sounds as fresh today as it did when this came out 25 years ago. Essential for any music fan.