Outside - I've refrained from saying much on this one because I don't care for it at all. I find the mid 90s Bowie output to be the weakest and most uninspired of his career, with Outside and Earthling feeling more like cash ins on the then current musical trend instead of forging ahead into new territories. Truth be told, I just don't have much use for most all the industrial era. I was in college when this came out and had friends who loved it, and since this was my first proper exposure to a new Bowie release as a young adult finally at an age to engage and appreciate, it postponed my exploration of him quite a bit. That said, I have tried to tackle this weighty album several times, including over the weekend, and it certainly carries ambition in spades. And there are a couple of what I would consider second tier Bowie songs that through a different filter might have been lower level first tier (all these rankings within rankings LOL). But in the end, pass. Installations - I had never heard this before and because there is so much, I've been easing myself into it. When I gave up on Outside again, I readily went back to this release, and while I've not given all of it, or even the first disc's worth, a thorough listen, I really like it. In many ways, I would argue that this is a welcome "return to form" as these are pieces that are flowing, vibrant, layered, and very much alive, all within the new sparkle sheen of modern tech. What's more, they are excellent when engaged or in passing, conjure their own images and enhances others, and therefore become multipurpose and rewarding in all the right ways. I wish I had the time to give them a more thorough going over before posting, but this album certainly excites me enough to explore further when I am able.
'A Small Plot of Land' is one of my favourite 10 Bowie songs and part of that is the production that takes it from strange industrial symphony to ghostly Scott Walker to bizarre post-industrial mazurka.
I really want to listen to Music For Installations, but I'm not sure I will manage to listen to the 6 CDs in 6 days. Then again, maybe I will. Let's see how it goes. I hope to start tomorrow. In any case, the title already gives away that I'd much rather hear the music with the accompanying installations or works of art, as it might enhance the experience into something ranging from quite beautiful to sublime. Reviews I read are quite encouraging.
Forgot about Tracks & Traces, which is a nice archival release, but not something I listen to very often. There is a remix album as well, released in 2010: Two of these remixes were released as a single the year before, alongside the expanded Tracks and Traces.
Some of the music here is later or much later (from closer to the time of release). I don't believe Eno was working with Leo Abrahams this early on, for instance. Only two of the discs out of six are reissues of albums from 1997 - 1999. I have no problem with covering the whole box at the same time, but if you want to break it up, you could cover the albums as they were originally released: Lightness (1997) I Dormienti (1999) Kite Stories (1999) 77 Million Paintings (2006) Making Space (2010) Music from Installations (2018) Music for Future Installations (2018) For the record, I think there's some great music on these albums. Rarities: The Japanese edition of the set has two bonus tracks, 'Purple Zone' and 'Modified Fishes (No Wah)'. These two tracks also came as a download with the ridiculously expensive deluxe vinyl set. 'Kazakhstan' was the single from the album, and a 'single edit' was / is available digitally.
I own this t-shirt, but I can't seem to find "Post-Industrial Mazurka" on it, which seems like a terrible omission.
Thanks for the discussion everybody. Today we are discussing 77 Million Paintings - a solo Brian Eno media thing released in 2006. This is disc two of Music for Installations. As will happen consistently oer this week, we have jumped completely out of time order to cover this. I'm not quite sure how this happened. I think that when I make the next schedule during a future rest/catch-up day then I will try and keep to linear thread time. This is available on the 6CD Music for Installations CD box set which should be arriving at my home in a few days. Other releases are DVD sets that include '77 Million Paintings' software, and an exclusive interview with Eno. And, a revised edition also from 2006. YouTube music from the CD. Spotify link: 77 Million Paintings Note: We have heard this music before. At least the individual sounds or some of them, but I think the music too. According to here; Brian Eno to reissue four albums with unreleased music the music from this installation was released as bonus tracks for The Drop. I'm not sure if I listened to those bonus tracks - a lot of the ambient works are merging into one in my mind. So, it's not just me mixing up time. Discogs link: Brian Eno - 77 Million Paintings By Brian Eno Wikipedia: 77 Million Paintings - Wikipedia From Wikipedia, here is a description. 77 Million Paintings is a digital art software/DVD combination by British musician Brian Eno, released in 2006. The release consists of two discs, one containing the software that creates the randomized music and images that emulate a single screen of one of Eno's video installation pieces. The other is a DVD containing interviews with the artist. The title is derived from the possible number of combinations of video and music which can be generated by the software, effectively ensuring that the same image/soundscape is never played twice. An accompanying booklet includes a piece by Nick Robertson describing the intention behind the software, and an article by Brian Eno ("My Light Years") describing his experiments with light and music. The software was developed by Jake Dowie for both Windows and Macintosh operating systems. Here is a part of an interview with Eno. This is three minutes long while the 'exclusive interview on the release is 34 minutes long. So, either this is just a bit of that interview. Or, what I think more likely, this is entirely different. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRkNrWp6tLg I think this may overlap with the previous interview. A BBC interview. Part 1: https://youtu.be/_06fTFFMoi0 Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2shEwFjhzA4 Here is 8 hours of the software running with various speed settings but the audio turned off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gjMt-WovfI The software is credited to 'Dowie.net'. This appears to be a company by Jake Dowie who mentions Brian Eno in his online CV on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jakedowie
I managed to listen to the first CD of Music For Installations, called Music From Installations. I think the four lengthy pieces are simply gorgeous. Again, I'm floored by Eno's capacity to compose or generate such captivating music. While most ambient music is pleasant enough, this, for me, goes way beyond ambient into something much more spiritual, without veering at all into New Age drivel. Just excellent music. "Kazakhstan" is my favourite (even though I've visited the country many times and couldn't really connect the music with the country, which probably was never Eno's intention). I'm not familiar with "FM Synthesis", but those bells on tracks 2 and 4 sound great to me. Track 3 is the most ambient of the four pieces and very enjoyable as well. Looking forward to listening to "77 Million Paintings" once I get to it.
I did manage to listen to "77 Million Paintings" now. Intriguing music that is not as pretty as the pieces on the first CD as it sounds less organic, but still captivating. I am sure that listening to the 44 minutes that is on the CD (I assume that "in the wild" it just goes on and on forever until someone switches it off) would be much enhanced by watching the generative images at the same time.
Music For Installations Disc I It's like a plastic raincoat, my attention wicks off it, its shiny hard surfaces repel my imagination, and it creates an artificial space that is uncomfortable to inhabit. Boo. Not sure I want to hear more but will watch the commentary...
Running late here... I really like Outside but hardly ever play it. It's not an album you can cherry pick from and the whole thing is somewhat indigestible and dense. Yet when I finally play it, well it's great! I agree that there is a killer 40 minute album in there somewhere but I'm damned if I know what it is! The segues would seem to be the first to cull but I love them, those tiny character sketches are excellent and I love it when Bowie really gets into character. I love the improvs that gave rise to the finished album and think they are crying out for an official release. What a strange piece of work it is, despite its density, I think it's one of his finest late albums, rivalled by Buddha of Suburbia but beaten by the extraordinary Blackstar.
77 Million Paintings What I call the ceiling fan period, as we encounter a recurrent overhead mechanical whoosh. The treated spoken syllables never worked for me, offputtingness of an uncanny valley persuasion. There was a celebrated Eno interview where he talked about his love of broken synthesizers, how their imperfections sounded 'human'. At some point, he started using unbroken ones, which result in sterile, stymied soundscapes like this one. I saw a 77 Million Paintings installation in New York City about a decade ago. It was a lovely respite from the bustle of the city, but not very engaging - beyond the tepid soundscape, En0's visual vocabulary never spoke to me.
Really dislike 77m Paintings. Aside from being unengaging on even the most cerebral level, the reverbs and production sounds pretty corny.
I must admit that when I listen to 77 Million Paintings, I'm distracted by the fact that I know I've heard this before. Given the low price I paid for the CD set (£22 including postage), I don't feel ripped off financially or anything. And, the visual aspect appears to be the focus here and where the originality of this piece is. If I wasn't being reminded that I've heard at least some elements of this track before then I think I would enjoy it much more. There are interesting sounds and I like the sounds that have a slightly vocal sound. I don't know how those were made; if they were made on a DX7 I'd be really impressed. I've never heard of Eno using Yamaha's later synth the FS1R (model number from memory) which added various vocal filters to the basic FM Synthesis capabilities and should easily be able to make sounds as heard here. But, I guess it wasn't. There is a good balance between musical and less musical sounds, and the interest of vocalish sound (processed vocal?) adds to this. But, I keep coming back to thinking that I've heard elements of this before. That sound and this sound, and have I heard the whole thing before? I think that I wasn't engaged enough with The Shutov Assembly when it came out to notice that Neroil was effectively a longer version of a previous track. Or vice versa. The visuals are interesting, but there's absolutely no way I can sit through 8 hours of YouTube video showing the software in action. I did play the music as I was watching the video, and I can see how it works. However, while this digital art is created by software more advanced than that used for Headcandy, But, to my eyes, the pixel-based graphics (it seems) are still showing their age a bit. I don't know why, but I find art limited by digital limitations somehow more ... crude than art limited by analogue limitations. Give me a painting solely made with potato block prints over visible pixels any day. Overall, this is interesting and quality music, married to some interesting but to my eyes dated visuals. It's good to have both. But, I want to listen to something I've heard less of before.
Thanks for the discussion everybody. Today we look at Lightness: Music for the Marble Palace. This was released in 1997 and 2000, so we are somewhere in the ballpark for thread time. This is disc 3 in the Music for Installations box set. So, it makes sense to take a break from mega-ambience tomorrow with Bryan Ferry's Manouna album. Discogs link: Brian Eno - Lightness (Music For The Marble Palace The State Russian Museum, St Petersburg) Wikipedia link: Lightness: Music for the Marble Palace – The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg - Wikipedia For albums where I'm not listing credits, as far as I know Eno did everything. Track listing 1. Atmospheric Lightness 2. Chamber Lightness Spotify links: Atmospheric Lightness Music For Installations YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpPbmPHJTG0&t=112s The Wikipedia overview is short and informative, so I will quote that. An Opal release, with no catalogue number, this title is only available from EnoShop. The music on the album was made for an Installation—a show featuring music and visuals—that took place at the Marble Palace in Saint Petersburg, which accommodates permanent exhibitions of the State Russian Museum, from November to mid-December 1997. After the release of his 1997 album The Drop, Eno relocated to Saint Petersburg for a short sabbatical and began working on music specifically for installations. The event's music was generated by three CD players, and like his previous album of the same year, Extracts from Music for White Cube, it used the generative capabilities of Koan Pro by layering more than two stereo pairs of sound sources, via the CD players. The show was hosted in a large, neo-classical, newly renovated chamber, and Eno was free to design it as he wished. At one end, computer-programmed projectors threw randomized, colourful patterns on a series of screens, while the rest of the room was dark. He described the Marble Palace event as a "mixture of cinema, fireworks display, environmental music and installation". The edited highlights that feature on the CD are described as "a 1-hour selection of a hypothetically endless piece". I did spend some time looking for visual evidence of the installation. I haven't found any - either video or photographic. It must be out there.
Lightness: Music for the Marble Palace The first of the two tracks, called "Atmospheric Lightness" is nothing short of sensational to my ears. Highly engaging music full of beautiful washes of sound that reminds me of an ocean on some far away planet in a remote constellation of a lost galaxy. Stunning piece that can stand on its own and doesn't need visuals. The second track, "Chamber Lightness" is much less engaging and very minimalist to the point that nothing much goes on for 25 minutes. Just an endless repetition of the same sounds we heard in the first 30 seconds with almost inaudibly subtle variations. I agree with HitAndRun that digital visuals quickly get outdated and start looking clumsy after a few years due to the still rapidly improving technology. Same as with video games.
there is such a fine line between unstructured atmospheric wonder and aimless sounds caused by holding down a note and twiddling some knobs at a mixing desk. Lightness falls on the latter side for me, I am afraid to say. I think once Eno moved beyond tape for ambient, he ceased to be a force in the field. Hope later releases prove me wrong.
I think this kind of music and also the kind of synthesis used is a bit marmite - people love it or hate it. (Someone will find it all just 'OK'). I do like it, but admit that there is a lot of it. I'll be giving my thoughts on the current album a bit later. In the meantime here's Brian attempting to get one of his DX7s to work. This video includes a naughty word just after he sees whether it still works or not. (Sorry if that's a spoiler). Eno also released some patches for the DX7 synth, which were published in magazines I believe. It's interesting to note that there is not that much (anything?) fancy about the sounds. It's the way that Eno used them and processing that makes the music what it is - I believe. These sounds sound crude without external processing e.g. loads of reverb. While they are absolutely no match at all for modern digital pianos, some of the acoustic piano sounding ... a bit ... slightly ... patches are pretty good for a DX7 in my opinion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYdAv74hBnU
I think if the digital visuals had something going on in the first place we might forgive them their dated appearance. People don't give Raphael a hard time because he didn't have access to acrylics. I've not seen much of Eno's visual art on a computer, but there is a coffee table book called Visual Music that covers this aspect of his career. I had a browse through it in Waterstones a few years ago, but couldn't persuade myself that the visual content was worth buying the book for.
If he had had access to acrylics he probably would have rejected them anyway. Hard to get the same vibrant colors that oils can. Your point about dated tech is a good one. Even if it had limitations, there's no reason why it couldn't still be powerful today if it came from a place of truth. Old films can hold up quite well. The film Nosferatu comes to mind. A remake done today could look more sophisticated but might not have the same bite.
Lightness: Music for the Marble Palace I'm trying to think of how this music would fit with fireworks, and what kind of fireworks would be used in an installation with this music. I can't. After 77 Million Paintings sounding a bit like a retread to me, this sounds fresh and new to my ears. The first time I listened it sounded rather plain, but listening again, the subtle details are there and it sounds like very nice ambient music. It needed a bit of volume to make it dominate my mild case of tinnitus, While the music is - of course - simple, there are sufficient details and slow development in it to maintain interest. Like all of Eno's lengthy works, I don't maintain focus all the way through and I'm getting on with my life. But, when my focus returns to the music from other things, there is something there. The two pieces fit well together, and make a satisfying album. If anything, I'm reminded of Eno's earlier experiments in ambience, perhaps even to (No Pussyfooting). Despite the technical tools used to make this music being pretty much as different as they can be.
Thanks for the discussion everybody. Today we leave the ambience for one day to discuss Bryan Ferry's album Mamouna. This album is well known for being the musical reunion of Bryan and Brian. Hence, I'm giving it a day for itself. Unlike the four major Bowie collaborations I wasn't thinking of doing the same for the later Ferry solo albums that feature Eno as there isn't quite enough Eno. Here there is one co-write and Eno appears on a number of the tracks, and is listed first after Ferry in a rather stunning to my mind list of musicians. However, we can have one day for this and there will be rest/catch-up days later on for other albums. Discogs link: Bryan Ferry - Mamouna Wikipedia link: Mamouna - Wikipedia Spotify: Mamouna YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lQBrJGjBG0_M5D2aDgU93sRnEqNF4JpkQ Track listing including writing credits from Wikipedia. All tracks composed by Bryan Ferry, except where noted. 1. "Don't Want To Know" – 4:07 2. "N.Y.C." – 4:10 3. "Your Painted Smile" – 3:14 4. "Mamouna" – 5:11 5. "The Only Face" – 4:40 6. "The 39 Steps" – 5:01 7. "Which Way To Turn" – 5:44 8. "Wildcat Days" (Ferry, Brian Eno) – 4:34 9. "Gemini Moon" – 3:47 10. "Chain Reaction" – 5:08 11. "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" (Live) – 7:34 [Japan only bonus track] 12. "Bête Noire" (Ferry, Patrick Leonard) (Live) – 4:05 [Japan only bonus track] Personnel from Wikipedia: Bryan Ferry – lead vocals, acoustic piano (1-8, 10), Oberheim synthesizer (1), various synth sounds (2, 5, 6, 8), synth oboe (3, 9, 10), synth sax (4), Mellotron (4), vocoder (5), Roland Juno-106 (6), Prophet-5 (6), Roland Jupiter-8 (7), strings (9, 10) Brian Eno – various sonics (1, 4-7, 9, 10), sweep treatments (8) Richard T. Norris – programming (2, 3, 5, 9, 10), loops (8) Rhett Davies – programming (7) Guy Fletcher – synthesizers (10) Neil Hubbard – rhythm guitar (1), guitar licks (2, 4, 6, 7), lead guitar (3, 5, 10), guitar (9) Chester Kamen – guitar (1, 3, 4, 7-10), Latin guitar (5), gondola (6), guitar scratches (8) Phil Manzanera – guitar (1, 7) Jeff Thall – guitar (1-4, 6, 8, 10) David Williams – guitar riff (1, 4, 6, 7, 8), backing vocals (2), rhythm guitar (3, 9, 10) Nile Rodgers – rhythm guitar (2, 6, 9) Robin Trower – guitar (6) Neil Jason – guitar (9) Nathan East – bass (1, 2, 3, 5-10) Pino Palladino – bass (4) Guy Pratt – Wah bass (5, 6, 9) Steve Ferrone – drums Luke Cresswell – percussion (2) Luís Jardim – percussion (3) Steve Scales – percussion (9) Maceo Parker – alto saxophone (2) Mike Paice – alto saxophone (7) Andy Mackay – alto saxophone (8, 9) Carleen Anderson – backing vocals Jhelisa Anderson – backing vocals (1, 9, 10) Fonzi Thornton – backing vocals (2, 9) Yanick Etienne – backing vocals (5, 6) Paul Johnson – backing vocals (6) Nan Kidwell – astrologer (9) Here's a very short article from 2018 when Ferry said that he would like to work with Eno again. And here's a photo of the Bry/ians smiling together, which clearly is again way out of thread time. Tomorrow we're back to the ambience to continue with the discs in the Music for Installations box set in crazy unpredictable temporal orderings.
I have only recently got Mamouna, so I am not vey familiar with it. But my initial impression is that it is very polished, and it is not easy to discern Eno's influence.
Bryan Ferry - Mamouna Waaay too smooth and slick for me. No Eno can help save Ferry's later music from being utterly boring, just as Eno wasn't able to patch up Bowie's later mediocre work. Of course, this is not at all Eno's fault. You can try and dress up a turd, but it remains a turd. Having said that, Bryan Ferry was and is by far the best dressed man in popular music. There's a quiet, natural elegance that is extremely hard to achieve. Just looking at the (lovely) photograph of Bryan and Brian smiling, it is like day and night who the better dressed gentleman is.
At the risk of being permanently ostracised, I will say I enjoy the slick Ferry; Flesh and Blood is my favorite Roxy record. In my book, Boys and Girls and Bête Noire are studio masterpieces. Mamouna. Been a while. My CD is somewhere in the to be refilled wilderness, so I gotta do Spotify, sadly. Melodically, there is not a lot happening here, one doesn’t walk away humming a tune. On the surface, this is rather a dud. Like sitting next to Bryan at a bar while he whines about his love life and the state of the world. (I suppose that’s true of all his records, but the good ones offer more, like, you know, actual songs). But if you listen into the instrumental interplay, there are all kinds of interesting things going on. Futuristic miniature guitar solos, burbling keyboards, a random Robin Trower appearance, Steve Scales banging on things? Check. ‘Wildcat Days”, where BE gets a writing credit, is the liveliest cut to my ears with the distinctive repeating whoop whoop (is that the ‘sweep treatment’?) lick and a busy little bassline. My ears aren’t astute enough to talk about Eno’s contributions here, what distinguishes this production from, say, Bête Noire. In fact, I had completely forgotten that this was a reunion of the Bry/ians. It just sounds like another BF record. Bottom line, a technically accomplished effort that doesn’t offer much reason for repeat listening.
