Brian Eno, David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
|
List Price: Our Price: $13.02 You Save: $5.96 (31%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $8.41 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
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: 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: Two Great Minds Collide
Hit: 5 Stars
Awesome Album!! Bonus Tracks!! Quality purchase for Byrne and Eno fans.Free Music Review: Atmospheric masterpiece
Hit: 4 Stars
On this 1981 collaboration, Byrne & Eno are assisted by eleven musicians on instruments like bass, bodhran, bata sticks, congas, drums, guitars, synths, various percussion and found objects. The tracks (they're not really songs) are built around radio broadcasts of politicians, evangelists and exorcists or taken from world music recordings which are clothed in Byrne's jerky polyrhythmic beats and Eno's sonic sculptures, and spiced with cleverly chosen samples.
This re-release has been enhanced by a video clip and extra tracks that do not add much to what was already a masterpiece of mixing music from around the globe into a cohesive whole. The title is derived from the 1954 novel by Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola, about a young Yoruba boy who runs away from his village and suddenly finds himself in America where he undergoes a series of scary and hilarious experiences before returning home.
Bush Of Ghosts takes some getting used to, but there's such an innovative variety of musical marriages that the album's manifold charms soon engage the listener. Two distinct styles are discernible - the Western and the Ethnic which encompasses both Middle Eastern & gospel sounds from the Sea Islands of the South Atlantic coast of the USA. Funky electronics dominate the hypnotic and spooky America is Waiting whilst Mea Culpa has a multi-track voice with echo effects over a slow beat and ominous vocals.
The dreamy Regiment, the first of the Arabic tracks, is based around the contralto of Lebanese singer Dunya Yusin over a down-tempo beat, creating a mournful ambience. In 1979 the German experimentalist Holger Czukay had released his album Movies whose highlight, Persian Love, is based on the shortwave recording of a romantic Farsi duet between a male & female vocalist. Strictly speaking, Czukay had thus paved the way.
The skittering rhythms of Help Me Somebody carry the passionate voice of a New Orleans preacher. The next, unidentified radio evangelist is downright scary as he performs a blood-curdling exorcism by questioning a young woman and then fiercely tongue-lashing the Jezebel Spirit within her. If that weren't enough, the edgy drums and percussion succeed well in ratcheting up the levels of unease and repressed hysteria.
Even more eerie is Moonlight In Glory with the voices of the Moving Star Hall Singers where it is difficult to determine what the emotion-laden voices are saying. It seems to be an event or passage from the Bible that these artists from Georgia's coast are narrating. Two more Arabic tracks follow, The Carrier which is a rhythmic chant by the aforementioned Dunya Yusin and the brooding A Secret Life, constructed around the vocals of Egyptian singer Samirah Tawfiq.
Lots of bleeps and found sounds characterize Come With Me which also carries the vocoderized voice of a third preacher. More classical-experimental than the rest, Mountain of Needles has the feel of a soundtrack segment and reminds me of Cabaret Voltaire. The glaring omission of the original track number 6, Qur'an, overshadows all the new stuff. It is a haunting piece of Algerian believers chanting verses from their scripture. Why the spineless retreat, one wonders, when DJ Cheb i Sabbah uses a striking mix of Hindu mantra & Muslim prayer on Shri Durga, his 1999 masterpiece? Western artists who practice self-censorship undermine their integrity. For that, one star was deducted.
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: An Influential Album Gets Its Due
Hit: 4 Stars
Reissues don't get much better than this.
First, the sound quality is much improved over the first CD reissue, warmer and more balanced, with slightly better definition.
Second, three of the tracks are actually longer than on the original release. "Mea culpa" is almost a minute and a half longer. "Regiment" is about 15 seconds longer, thanks to an extended intro. "The carrier" is 43 seconds longer, including an extra vocal in the middle that, upon comparison, was clearly excised from the original version. (In addition, "Moonlight in glory" takes a bit longer to fade out, though it does not otherwise seem to differ from the original.)
Third, the rather thick booklet actually has liner notes, with essays by David Byrne and Brian Eno (though theirs seem to be mostly David Byrne) and David Toop. You don't see liner notes much anymore, so this is a real treat.
Fourth, the new cover art on the slipcase perfectly illustrates the nature of the contents of the package. The image is actually that of the original album cover, only updated using current technology.
Fifth, according to the official web site created for this reissue, "David Byrne has personally overseen the tracklisting and remastering". I have seen too many artist catalogs remastered and reissued without the participation of the artists themselves, and the results are usually lacking in some respect. This is not the case here.
Finally, the video for "Mea culpa" is included. And at a decent resolution, too.
I have only two real complaints about this remastered edition. One is the omission of the track "Qu'ran", though I realize that particular choice was made back in the late eighties, when the first UK edition of the CD was released. It also would have been nice if the liner notes had included a mention of this track and the reasons for its absence, even if only in passing. In any event, if this track is a must-have for you, I recommend tracking down a used copy of the first US CD edition (Sire Records, 6093-2). The other is the omission of the credits identifying the voices used. David Toop mentions one of the sources in his essay, but none of the others are specifically mentioned anywhere.
Highly recommended.