Brian Eno 2CD reissues--Dec. 2014

As I own the original release, this stupid mistake isn't a deal breaker. It is however pretty sad that they blew it on the best digital release the title is likely to get. The days when the limitations of Vinyl drive what we heard are long gone (I thought). Still, the packaging is nice, and you get another CD of music. The original release had virtually NO booklet - just a single sheet of paper with the cover art on it. And since these haven't been remastered, it's a no-brainer to get it and change the disc out for the earlier one.....

 

Even more horrible when you consider that "Slicing System" and Sharply Cornered" are on the vinyl edition but were deliberately left out of the CD reissue. Lots of jerking around here.

 

Really? Damn. What a total FU.

 

That's exactly what *I'm* going to do.

 

Do you have the vinyl reissue? I'm curious about whether the two bonus tracks are included in the download, or if you just get the cd/digital edition?

 

Well, it's the only one of the series where the bonus tracks are all previously released. Gimme me a magic wand, and I'd lose both editions in favor of the Japanese 2CD version of 'The Drop' and the original '77 Million' CD. Unfortunately, neither are either cheap or plentiful.

 

Well, given the fact that the original CD was so poorly presented, it's good to have it given some love.

Reminds me of the excellent Nerve Net. I have the CD single from that album (I seem to think I have two, but my mind could be playing tricks) where a single track is presented in different forms for more than an hour.... shame that couldn't have been in a new Nerve Net box.......

 

Yeah, there's Fractal Zoom (a little over an hour) and Ali Click (about forty five minutes). They're both essential, at least in their US digipak incarnations. Both include full-length and radio edits of the same pieces, though, so they're kind of unnecessarily padded. Calling either a "single" is just abusing the term.

 

Can't argue with that. Some of the versions are quite different. They could have done a fantastic little box set for Nerve Net.

 

Just to be clear, in case anyone's wondering, here's what's on the US CD singles:

FRACTAL ZOOM

Seperate Time Mix 4:13 (edited version of track 11)
Mary's Birthday Mix 3:49 (edited version of track 12)
Up River Mix 8:07
Small Country Mix 6:58
The Roil, The Choke 5:00 (identical to version on 'Nerve Net' not quite sure what it's doing on here. is it supposed to be considered a b-side?)
Naive Mix I 5:24
Zaire Mix 6:14
Naive Mix II 5:55
Landed Mix 5:50
Bucolic Mix 4:42
Seperate Time Mix 6:24
Mary's Birthday Mix 7:07

ALI CLICK

Grid Master Mix 4:48 (edited version of track 6)
Album Edit 3:41 (edited version of album mix)
Rural Doo Gap Mix 4:43
Trance Mix 7:28
Darkly Mad Mix 4:09
Grid Master Mix 7:10
Beirut Hilton Mix 4:04
I Fall Up 4:54

 

And additional mixes of Ali Click can be found on the UK releases.

 

The 12" vinyl of FRACTAL ZOOM includes:

Fractal Zoom (A Cappella) • Remix, Producer [Additional] - Moby • 2:11

http://www.discogs.com/Brian-Eno-Fractal-Zoom/release/499376

 

Is that the version that's essentially just the "it's a small country" recitation?

 

Yes, I believe so. It's been years since I heard it as my copy went into storage after a couple house moves.

 

Following up on this post from a while back, I've finally got around to compiling a whole bunch of 'bonus discs' for these and other Eno albums, and I've even surprised myself with how much stuff is floating around out there. Almost everything can be reasonably comfortably associated with a particular album, with a couple of general compilations to mop up other tracks. I've limited myself to stuff that was officially released in some form. There are also a number of edits that were only released on promo singles (e.g. three from Someday World) that you could include as bonuses if you wanted.

1970s - Vocal Works (70s songs that weren't included on a pure Eno album)

Seven Deadly Finns (original single mix) / Later On (7" single)
June 1, 1974: Driving Me Backwards (live) / Baby's On Fire (live)
Diamond Head: Big Day / Miss Shapiro
The Lion Sleeps Tonight (7" single)
King's Lead Hat (single mix) / R.A.F. (7" single)
After the Heat: Broken Head / The Belldog / Tzima n'Arki

Bonus Tracks:
Tzima n'Arki (in reverse! might as well get an extra Eno song from his prime period)
Tracks and Traces: Luneburg Heath
Seven Deadly Finns (remix) (from Rarities EP and elsewhere)
Tracks and Traces Remixed: Luneburg Heath (The Field Remix)
and maybe Eno's three tracks from Peter and the Wolf, which don't really fit here, but don't fit on the other 70s comp either.

1970s - Music for Films

Music for Films (original edition) - I'm trying to reconstruct this from official sources, but there are a couple of tracks I haven't tracked down ('Spain' and 'Juliet') - are they just alternate titles for something else?

Bonus Tracks:
Jubilee OST: Dover Beach
In a Land of Clear Colours: two untitled tracks

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts Bonus Disc

The Jezebel Spirit (remix) / Regiment (remix) / Very, Very Hungry (12" single)
Qu'ran (from original album)
7 bonus tracks from re-release
3 constituent mixes of Help Me Somebody and A Secret Life from re-release vinyl

Bonus Tracks:
The Catherine Wheel: Ade / Two Soldiers (the only two Eno co-writes from this album)
The Jezebel Spirit (long edit) / Mea Culpa (long edit) (bootleg 12" - I don't know to what extent these were sanctioned by Eno or Byrne, but the remix of 'An Ending' from around the same time seems to be semi-official).

Apollo Bonus Disc

Much of Music for Films III comprised music used in the final film of For All Mankind (Sirens / Theme for 'Opera' / Fleeting Smile / Tension Block / Asian River / Quixote / 4-Minute Warning / For Her Atoms)
and Music for Films II included music intended for, but not included in, the film (Climate Study / Drift Study / Approaching Taidu / Always Returning II) - though maybe Climate Study wasn't composed for Apollo. . .

Bonus Tracks:
Alternate and extended edits from Music for Films II (Matta, A Secret Place, An Ending, Always Returning I, Signals). (Only 'Under Stars' runs the same length as the album version, but I haven't checked to see if it's an alternate edit).
An Ending (Ascent) (Leana & Moor Remix) (12" single)

Music for Films and Boxes - 1980s

Music for Films II: The Dove / Roman Twilight / Dawn, Marshland
Rarities EP: Strong Flashes of Light / More Volts / Mist/Rhythm
Dune OST: Prophecy Theme
Opera OST: From the Beginning
Music for Films III: Saint Tom / White Mustang
Acadie: White Mustang II
Married to the Mob OST: You Don't Miss Your Water

Bonus Track:
Thursday Afternoon (edit) (from Instrumental box)

Wrong Way Up Bonus Disc

The Soul of Carmen Miranda (from Words for the Dying)
One Word (The Woodbridge Mix) / Grandfather's House / Palanquin (One Word CD single)
Ring of Fire / Shuffle Down to Woodbridge (from Soil Samples EP)

Bonus Tracks:
One Word (edit) (One Word single)
Spinning Away (edit) (Spinning Away single)
(maybe) Eno interview from promo CD

Nerve Net / My Squelchy Life Bonus Disc

I haven't included any tracks from the US CD singles of Fractal Zoom or Ali Click, since they're already album length or more and would make for very repetitive listening. I've also used this disc to mop up a bunch of Eno vocal / song tracks from the mid-90s.

Fractal Zoom (a cappella) (from Fractal Zoom US 12")
Ali Click (Trance Mix - Instrumental) (from Ali Click US or UK 12")
I Fall Up (edit) / Under (alternate mix) (from Vocal box)
Rapid Eye (from My Squelchy Life vinyl)
Are They Thinking of Me? (from Vocal box)
A Different Kind of Blue (Eno vocal from Passengers: Original Soundtracks 1)
My Dark Life (with Elvis Costello, from Songs in the Key of X)

Bonus Track:
Ali Click (Trance Mix - Short) (from Ali Click UK CD)

I'll also stick the Headcandy tracks on this disc, though you might prefer to make them a standalone. Some of these tracks have subsequently been released on Curiosities and The Shutov Assembly bonus disc, but they're all edited down from the originals, if I recall correctly.

Spinner Bonus Disc / Glitterbug

Glitterbug Soundtrack

Bonus Tracks:
Alternate edits / mixes of Glitterbug tracks from Sonora Portraits CD: Distant Hill / Radiothesia III / Stravinsky
Neroli (short 5 minute edit) from Sonora Portraits / Gyroscope label sampler (there's also a longer edit from the Instrumental box, but I don't really see the point of including it.)

The Drop Bonus Disc / A Year

Three Japanese bonus tracks: Swat & Rut / Slicing System / Sharply Cornered
Iced World (LP edit)

A Year (6 track mini-album with French edition of Eno's diary)

Bonus Track:
Heat OST: Force Marker (seems to be related to A Year's 1995 recordings)

St Petersburg

No real parent album, just a collection of the various recordings Eno contributed to in 1997-99 with New Composers.

Smart: Long SQ / Short SQ / La-La-La
Inoe: Question Quest / Wild in the Sky / This Hit
Smart Reissue: Musical Exercises

Drawn from Life Bonus Disc

Other collaborations with J. Peter Schwalm, 2000-2013

Music for Onmyoji: 6 tracks
Musikain: No Orders (N.B. this is a full-fledged Eno song, and it's utterly wonderful - one of the hidden treasures of his discography)
Wagner Transformed: Tristan & Isolde: Blue, Brown & Green

Bonus Track:
No Orders (Punkt Remix) (from digital expanded edition of Musikain)

Another Day on Earth Bonus Disc

I used this collection as a gathering point for a bunch of homeless 00s tracks, mostly vocals.

The Demon of the Mines (Japanese bonus track)
I Thought (with Bryan Ferry, from Frantic - this is basically a (gorgeous) Eno song with a guest vocalist)
Flies (with Robert Wyatt, from Plague Songs)
Still Standing (with Skin and Rachid Taha, from Unity)
No Orders (with J. Peter Schwalm, from Musikain - this song actually fits better here than on the Schwalm disc)
Dreaming My Dreams of You (with Jools Holland, from Moving Out to the Country)

Bonus Tracks:
Bathtub (by The MDH Band, from The Million Dollar Hotel OST - solo Eno writing credit, and he was a member of the band, so it seemed like the only track from the soundtrack that deserved extraction)
Corrosive Beat Treatment (from Accelerator soundtrack)
Shark 12 / Shark 15 (from Music for Films III reissues)
No Orders (Punkt Remix)

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today Bonus Disc

Four bonus tracks from the deluxe edition: Never Thought / Walking Along the River / The Eyes / The Painting
Poor Boy (Remix) (Japanese bonus track)
Four live tracks from Everything That Happens Will Happen On This Tour Digital EP: Strange Overtones / Help Me Somebody / One Fine Day / I Feel My Stuff (Eno doesn't actually appear on these recordings, but they're nevertheless credited to Byrne / Eno - at any rate, this wonderful live version of 'Help Me Somebody' is something you don't want to be without!)

Small Craft on a Milk Sea Bonus Disc / Making Space

Four bonus tracks from the deluxe edition: Surfacing / Square Chain / Bimini Twist / Abandoned Ship
Invisible (Japanese bonus track)
Loose Rein (iTunes bonus track)

Making Space CD (9 tracks - also released in 2010, featuring further collaborations with Leo Abrahams)

Bonus Tracks:
No Frame (from Leo Abraham's 2007 The Unrest Cure, with Eno vocal)
Chain / Chain (CFCF Remix) (2015 Leo Abrahams single with Eno vocal)

Drums Between the Bells Bonus Disc

The original deluxe edition of the album came with its own bonus disc, which I'm not including, since I'll be combining this bonus disc with the one for Lux, but those fifteen tracks and these eight would easily fit on a single disc.

Panic of Looking EP (6 tracks)
This Climate (Panic of Looking Japanese bonus track)
Imagine New Times (download-only outtake)

Lux Bonus Disc

CAM (downloadable track with the book Visual Music - this track actually dates back to the early 80s, so could also be included on the Music for Films and Boxes disc)
Lux (Nicolas Jaar Remix) (from Brian Eno x Nicolas Jaar x Grizzly Bear 12")

Someday World / High Life Bonus Disc

Beebop Hurry (2009 Hyde / Eno collaboration from Underworld vs. the Misterons: Athens)
Four tracks from the Someday World Bonus EP: Big Band Song / Brazil / Celebration / Titian Bekh
Slow Down, Sit Down & Breathe (High Life Japanese & vinyl bonus track)
On a Grey Day (High Life vinyl-only track)

Bonus Tracks:
Dream Nails / Dream Nails (Tom Herbert Remix) (2012 Sebastian Rochford / Brian Eno digital single, with Karl Hyde on vocals)

The Ship Bonus Disc

Away (Japanese bonus track)

Watch This Space! Maybe this disc will end up as the place for random Eno vocal work from the 10s, since there isn't any other obvious home for:
Mother of Violence (Peter Gabriel cover from And I'll Scratch Yours)
About Tape (Mueller / Roedelius track with (found but presumably Eno-approved?) Eno vocal, from Imagori)

I'm sure I've forgotten (or never knew about) a whole lot of stuff. . .

 

I knew I must have forgotten something: there are also a few Fripp and Eno odds and ends, though a lot of them can be accommodated on existing discs.

If you want to bake your own dedicated Fripp & Eno Fripperies disc, you can collect:
Later On (single b-side)
Evening Star (short version from the original Music for Films)
An Index of Metals (edit from Instrumental box)
Healthy Colours I-IV (The Essential Fripp & Eno)
Manila Envelope / Beast (Headcandy)

Since the Healthy Colours tracks are the only ones that don't otherwise have a home, you could also promote Headcandy to its own disc and include them as bonus tracks on it, which leaves only the hardly essential edit of 'An Index of Metals' homeless.

 

Wasn't later on an edit of something or other? No pussyfooting perhaps?

 

Yes it's a weird little mash up of bits of (No Pussyfooting). I rather like it. Kind of a précis of the whole album in 4 minutes.

 

"Ring of Fire / Shuffle Down to Woodbridge (from Soil Samples EP)"

Minor correction - "Ring Of Fire" is credited solely to Eno, "Shuffle" to Cale, so "Shuffle" shouldn't be on the list.

 

Well, I'm including it on a bonus disc to an album that's co-credited to Cale, so why not? I'm assuming they're all coming from the same era / sessions, and the title of the track seems like a smoking gun that it was recorded with Eno at his home studio. For that matter, 'The Soul of Carmen Miranda' (likewise recorded at Woodbridge) is also credited to John Cale solo, from a John Cale solo album, but it's acknowledged as being part of this body of work by its inclusion in the Vocal box set.

 

Go for it. If I was compiling bonus discs for Eno's albums, though, I wouldn't include any recordings that he doesn't seem to appear on. "The Soul Of Carmen Miranda" isn't comparable, since it's credited as a Cale / Eno performance.

 

great effort, Summer.
let me just suggest to add to your Nerve Net / My Squelchy Life Bonus Disc another Bryan Ferry track - 'The 39 Steps (Eno mix)' from BF's "Mamouna EP". it's a very different remix of the titular track from the album 'Mamouna' (1994) where Eno collaborated adding sonics on all tracks.

 

Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely have to track that down, though I've tried to draw the line somewhere, and that's been on the other side of remixes.

Basically, my standing principle was to only include tracks which Eno wrote / co-wrote and performed on, or on which he sang lead. Other exceptions were for tracks which were clearly outtakes from the album in question (e.g. 'Shuffle Down to Woodbridge') or which were credited to Eno, even if he didn't contribute to them (e.g. those live David Byrne tracks).

But remixes are a whole new, exciting field to explore and discuss, especially as Eno would often very firmly stamp his own identity onto a remix - perhaps not quite to the same extent as Richard James, who was known to surreptitiously cash the cheque and send off one of his countless outtakes as the 'remix'.

The one I really agonized over was 'Eno's Introducing the Band', in which the brief, Bowiesque opening track to Suede's second album is stretched into an almost unrecognizable 16-minute ambient rumble. I was sorely tempted to find a spot for that, as it's a track that's probably 95% Eno to 5% Suede, but I nevertheless avoided opening the floodgates.

Other really great and characteristic Eno remixes that spring to mind are Massive Attack's 'Protection' and EMF's 'Unbelievable' (rather significant, as an EMF sample later gave rise to 'Are They Thinking of Me?').

What else is out there?

- 'Mamouna'
- A couple of Depeche Mode tracks ('I Feel You', 'In Your Room')
- 808 State's 'Lopez' (I remember this being underwhelming)
- Can's 'Pnoom'

Some of these are quite lengthy, so we're probably already up to 'Volume Two'. What others can people recommend?

 

Hey, here's something else I forgot: Wah Wah, credited to James / Eno in 1994 (though it's always sounded more like a slightly more interesting James album than a full-on collaboration to me).

I guess the 'bonus disc' for this would be the b-side 'Wah Wah Kits' (from the 'Laid' single, with an Eno co-write credit) plus the two Sabres of Paradise remixes of 'Jam J' - which are so long they make this up to album length.