A pioneering work for countless styles connected to electronics, ambience, and Third World music, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts expands on the fourth-world concepts of Hassell/Eno work with a whirlwind 45 minutes of worldbeat/funk-rock (with the combined talents of several percussionists and bassists, including Bill Laswell, Tim Wright, David van Tieghem, and Talking Heads' Chris Frantz) that's also heavy on the samples - from radio talk-show hosts, Lebanese mountain singers, preachers, exorcism ceremonies, Muslim chanting, and Egyptian pop, among others. It's also light years away from the respectful, preservationist angles of previous generations' field recorders and folk song gatherers…
When the David Byrne / Brian Eno collaboration My Life in the Bush of Ghosts was first released in 1981, Rolling Stone called it “an undeniably awesome feat of tape editing and rhythmic ingenuity.” It was widely considered a watershed record for future genres from world music to electronica, and almost 25 years later, the influence of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is evident in music ranging from The Bomb Squad’s productions for Public Enemy to Moby, Kruder and Dorfmeister, and Goldie. Nonesuch reissued the album—remixed, remastered, and with seven bonus tracks—on its 25th anniversary, in 2006.
“ | My Life in the Bush of Ghosts Both Brian Eno and David Byrne had, for a number of years, been interested in non- Western music styles, particularly those of sub-Saharan African of the Arabic cultural sphere; In the Talking Heads /Eno records, such influences function implicitly, but on the album 'My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts' they became explicit. Over Rhythmic and harmonic backing tracks, played by Eno, Byrne and eleven other musicians, Eno and Byrne superimposed taped voices from a variety of sources. 'It's almost collage music, like grafting a piece of one culture onto a piece of another onto a piece of another, and trying to make them work as a coherent musical idea, and also trying to make something you can dance to' mentioned Eno." The title of the album is inspired by Amos Tutuola's novel with the same title. Track listing 1. America is Waiting (3:36) 2. Mea Culpa (3.35) 3. Regiment (3:56) 4. Help Me Somebody (4:18) 5. The Jezebel Spirt (4:55) 6. Very, Very Hungry (3:20) 7. Moonlight in Glory (4:19) 8. The Carrier (3:30) 9. A Secret Life (2:30) 10. Come With Us (2:38) 11. Mountain of Needles (2:35) Total Time: 39:41 All songs written by Brian Eno/David Byrne, excpet 1.(Brian Eno/David Byrne, arr. by Brian Eno/David Byrne/Bill Laswell/Tim Wright/David van Tieghem) 3.(Brian Eno/David Byrne/Busta Jones, arr. by Brian Eno/David Byrne/Busta Jones/Chris Frantz/Robert Fripp) **** Line-up Brian Eno & David Byrne / guitars, basses, synthesizers, drums, percussion and "found objects" Guest musicians: - John Cooksey / drums (4) - Chris Frantz / drums, additional arranging (3) - Robert Fripp / additional arranging (3) - Busta Jones / bass, additional writing and arranging (3) - Dennis Keeley / Bodhran (2) - Bill Laswell / bass and additional arranging (1) - Mingo Lewis / Bata, sticks (5, 8) - Prairie Prince / can, bass drum (5, 8) - Jose Rossy / congas, agong-gong (7) - Steve Scales / congas, metals (4) - David van Tieghem / drums, percussion (1, 3), additional arranging (1) - Tim Wright / click bass (1) *** VOICES: (1) Unidentified indignant radio show host, San Fransisco, April 1980; (2) Inflamed caller and smooth politician replying, both unidentified. Radio call- in show, New York, July 1979; (3) Dunya Yusin, Lebanese mountain singer; (4) Reverend Paul Morton, broadcast sermon, New Orleans, June 1980; (5) Unidentified exorcist, New York, September 1980; (7) The Moving Star Hall Singers, Sea Islands, Georgia; (8) Dunya Yusin; (9) Samira Tewfik, Egyptian popular singer; (10)Unidentified radio evangelist, San Fransisco, April 1980. Releases information (Some older editions apparently contain a track called "Qur'an" instead of "Very Very Hungry" , but it was not on this one.) Recorded at RPM, Blue Rock, Sigma, New York, Eldorado, Los Angeles and Different Fur, San Fransisco, August 1979 to October 1980 Engineer at RMP : Neal Teeman Assistant : Hugh Dwyer Engineer at Blue Rock : Eddie Korvin Assistant : Michael Ewasko Engineer at Eldorado : Dave Jerden Assistant : Georg Sloan Engineer at Different Fur : Stacy Baird Assistants : Don Mack and Howard Johnston Engineer at Sigma : John Potoker Produced by Brain Eno and David Byrne Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound | ” |
25th anniversary reissue of this unique coming together of Brian Eno and ex-Public Image Limited bass player Jah Wobble, also featuring Jaki Liebezeit from Can on drums. Starting life as the soundtrack to Derek Jarman’s 'Glitterbug', Eno passed stereo mixes of the film cues to Wobble who embellished and built upon them to construct the 'Spinner' tracks. The resulting fusion combines icy ambience with a kind of psychogeographical funk.
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is the second album made in collaboration between David Byrne and Brian Eno, released on August 18, 2008, by Todo Mundo. The album explores themes of humanity versus technology and optimism in spite of bleak circumstance through the blending of electronic and gospel music. Critical reception was largely positive and the album received awards for both the musical content as well as the packaging and technical production.
Eno had collaborated with Byrne's group Talking Heads on Fear of Music in 1979, and My Life was recorded mostly in a break between touring for that album, and the recording of Talking Heads' Remain in Light from 1980.
The Catherine Wheel is David Byrne's musical score commissioned by Twyla Tharp for her dance project. The Catherine Wheel premiered September 22, 1981, at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City.