EU Import
Note: the CD I listened to was the 2006 "Enhanced CD" reissue with bonus tracks.
Eno claimed the album explores his 'African psychedelic vision' (apparently Eno's vision of Africa also includes a great deal of India) but to these ears it sounds like leftover backing tracks/demos from Remain In Light that were never fleshed out. According to the wiki, it was recorded in '79-'80 before Remain in Light, but problems clearing the spoken word samples delayed its release by several months. High Fidelity called the album "half compelling, half maddening" and I am in complete agreement.
Pitchfork retroactively named it the 21st best album of the '80s, while Slant Magazine had it at 83. I'm just not hearing it. To me, it's very noisy and the best parts are when Bill Laswell lets loose with some funky bass.
Press of the time:
- Rolling Stone (★★★½): "many of the selections are heady and memorable."
- Trouser Press: "semi-standard funk riffs as a foundation for strange and fascinating music."
- Musician: "Look, this stuff is art, not entertainment."
- High Fidelity: "a record of fascinating eccentricity"
- Robert Christgau (C+): "Something fishy's going on when unassuming swell-heads like these dabblers start releasing their worktapes."
- Stereo Review: "muddle-headed art-school pretensions"
- Record Mirror (★★★): "bordering on the unlistenable"
Album chart peaks:
- US Billboard Top 200: #44
- CashBox: #52
- Rolling Stone: #20
Tracks: It all runs together after awhile. I like most of the grooves introduced here but since they seemingly loop endlessly, my cup runneth over. But if you want to hear a track titled Solo Guitar With Tin Foil, knock yourself out (despite the title, it's actually one of the best tracks here - very peaceful).
Enhanced CD. And it still works 15 years after (re-)release! At least it does on my aging desktop machine. However, the only "multimedia" included is a video for track 2, Mea Culpa, now readily available on the YouTube.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Around the time this album was released in 1981, I participated in my high school's entry in the state's One Act Play contest.* I was a below-average, overly self-conscious actor who couldn't be bothered to memorize lines but what the hell I had free time and they needed warm bodies. The director (who subsequently left teaching to become a protestant pastor) chose the 18th century Oliver Goldsmith comedy She Stoops To Conquer as our entry - I played a servant boy, Dick Ginger and to call it a bit part may be an overstatement. There are no small parts, only small actors? I call BS on that mess. Anyhoo, we advanced to the second round of competition before losing to the entries of other area schools. I never really understood the play, but that's what happens when you try to cram the content of a five act play into the required 40 minute time limit and you can be sure 14 year old me wasn't going to read the whole damn five act play (it's not looking likely for 54 year old me, either). We weren't listening to Eno & Byrne on the school bus during trips to contests so that story doesn't have much to do with this album other than coincidental timing, so never mind. As you were.
 |
| Image from the back of our cast/crew t-shirts. The high school drama club was then known as "The Magic Circle" for reasons too inane to describe in this brief space. |
*Don't get me started on teaching our children that arts are about competition. You've got a stage play? We've got a stage play! Let's stifle creativity with an abundance of arbitrary rules and see which is subjectively better! #triggered
Previously revisited for the blog:
Ambient 1: Music For Airports (1978)
Blog post #1650
No comments:
Post a Comment