All of these tracks on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts are more sound collage and studio work than songs but it's still interesting because there is a real feel to each of these tracks and you have to remember that this was done long before sampling and computerized music. My favorite track from the album has always been "The Jezebel Spirit" (probably the one that most closely resembles the vibe of Remain in Light).
Oh God, I bought this when it came out. At first it didn't even register as music but I listened and listened and then I loved it. I've got a home video of my my 14 month old daughter dancing to this album! She got it right away
Oh my goodness. I was shocked when I saw the album you're reacting to. I have this album. It's so crazy. I love the first track the best, but just wait until you hear The Jezebel Spirit. It's just a crazy awesome album, and yes Justin, the picture is amazing. I thought it was amazing before though, but this is quite an upgrade 🙂
Is it my birthday already? What a wonderful surprise! Needless to say, I'm so happy you finally ventured into this album. And I'm even happier that you are approaching it with an open mind and are getting what Eno and Byrne were doing here. A little backstory--this album was recorded before Remain in Light, but not released until after RIL. The making of this album annoyed the hell out of the rest of the Talking Heads, and indirectly led to the formation of the Tom Tom Club. But enough of that. This album is perfect for those nights when you just want to stay in and spend some time with your two weirdest friends, Brian Eno and David Byrne. Strap yourself in, there are more surprises to come. Great video Justin. Thank you for finally getting to it.
If you're only familiar with Eno's ambient work, I would suggest checking out his "rock" albums: Here Come The Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy, Another Green World and Before And After Science. Featured players include Phil Collins, Phil Manzanera and Robert Fripp.
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is one of the most brilliant, under the radar, albums ever made. David Byrne, at this moment in time, had reached a sensational peak of creativity. The two Talking Heads albums either side of this release were masterpieces as well.
This album is such a fascinating soundscape of reality snippets put into rhythmic tonal meanings. The sonics sound both alien and unexpectated but absolutely correct when they appear, like when whirring keyboard begins to play a haunting echoing melody in the midst of it. Topnotch. Please continue. 😊👍
Now THAT'S how you break in a new camera!😂 Wasn't sure how you'd respond to this collection of found sounds, but glad you're finally sampling them - hope you finish the album because I can't wait for The Jezebel Spirit! And someone else below mentioned Eno's collaboration with John Cale, Wrong Way Up; please check that one out with a particular call-out for my favorite track, Spinning Away. Nice response!
The period between 1978 and 1985 was full of great experimental and Avant-Garde Pop/Rock music. Eno and his many acolytes, Gabriel, Kate Bush, Laurie Anderson, Jon & Vangelis and the latter's soundtracks on his own, King Crimson's fantastic resurgence for the 80s, David van Tiegham, Adrian Belew's increasingly bizarre-sounding guitar sounds, both versions of Ultravox, Bowie in Berlin and his younger clone Peter Murphy in Bauhaus.... I was in my late teens and early Twenties in this period and these artists helped me grow from waiting pointlessly for another great Elton John album that would not come for 30 years, to appreciating the sounds and beats of the Future. We never got our promised flying cars but we did get the Fairlight digital sampler. Although only Peter Gabriel (1982), Kate Bush (The Dreaming) and Thomas Dolby (The Flat Earth) seemed to know how to use it organically and intelligently, it was still a revelation.
This is why I love this channel. I went through a long stretch of life where this was in regular rotation. Mea Culpa and The Carrier are two of my favorites, but the entire album is grade A. It's really such a complementary production. Eno was really good at working around other people's style, but here it feels like they just made each other more potent.
The vocal samples were part of a collection Brian Eno had amassed while living in New York and exploring American Radio... They were garnered from Radio Evangelist Programs, and edited, I'm guessing too the music, but it could well be the opposite as well...
The most fascinating music was being innovated between 1979 and 1985. Peter Gabriel led the charge, traveling through Africa with his tape recorder and then inviting his new friends to record with him in Bath, England. Brian Eno & David Byrne, Kate Bush, Laurie Anderson, Jon & Vangelis / Vangelis with his award-winning movie soundtracks, Thomas Dolby, King Crimson reunited, the first users of digital sampling, usually with the Fairlight CMI, which cost as much as a house. I was a senior in H.S. and then starting at university when all this crazy novel goodness was coming out, challenging us to look beyond mere Pop/Rock songs.
Wow, this brings me back, LOVED this album when it came out. I hope you'll do some more reactions from this, especially Regiment which is my personal favorite.
Other reaction channels: "Do more Disturbed, or maybe Korn" JustJP: "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, ALRIGHT!!!!" You've cultivated a pretty darn cool group here.
Yes, Yes, Yes! Finally one of the most interesting albums ever made. A couple of years before this came out Holger Czukay of Can made a solo album Movies. The song Persian love of this album is in a way a predecessor to My Life in the Bush and certainly worth reviewing on your splendid channel. And looking sharp with your new camera, Justin. 👍🏻
Just love Holger, another music Genius,always experimenting and pushing the boundaries! My favourite of his is 'Rome remains Rome ' , used to have it on cassette! A cd of it now will probably cost you £100 !!!!.
I just discovered your channel. I was interested in seeing song reactions to America is waiting/Mea Culpa because no one else, as far as I know, have done reaction to these songs. It's about time! Your reaction/personal translation was refreshing and intelligent. After these reactions, I looked at your reaction playlists to find a wide assortment of music that most "song reactionists" don't cover at all. Great job. You have a new fan.
"the claustrophobia and the clutter" This album really surprised me as well; as surprising as anything was the fact that it actually grew on me quickly got a lot of replay. If you can't call them songs, they're still more than just collage. The attention to detail, down to the very timbres of the voice samples and how they're processed, plus the highly musical themes and rhythms and that Eno ambiance have never been balanced so perfectly. One time, subjecting a couple friends to this album, after a minute or so of "Mea Culpa", one friend started looking visibly unsettled and said something like, "This makes me feel like bugs are crawling all over me." And I totally agreed with her.
First time I heard this I was tripping...literally. I was with a friend that was visiting one of his friends in a trailer with a bunch of cats. Went inside and this was blaring. Just weird noises and voices coming at me from every direction. The trailer started warping and I had trouble keeping my balance so I leaned against a wall. After all these years it is still so very very vivid.
I have read in a couple of places that this album influenced many Hip Hop artists, in that it showed what could be accomplished through sampling. It's also putting into practice some of the ideas of John Cage (concerning the use of found recordings). Also, while this was released after Remain In Light, it was recorded earlier, and Remain In Light is the result of Byrne/Eno applying the lessons learned on My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts in a more popular/communal context (i.e. Talking Heads). The influence of this album also shows up in David Byrne's The Catherine Wheel, which has some truly wonderful music on it and you really need to listen to sometime (imagine if Mike Oldfield had worked with Byrne and Eno, in the way the music evolves and morphs into new melodies, like on Olfield's earlier albums). It's great that you enjoyed these two songs on your first listen. It took me awhile to get into it when it first came out.
Interesting reaction. FWIW, the found vocals for "America Is Waiting" is from an AM radio talk show a la Rush Limbaugh, and for "Mea Culpa" the recording of a politician confessing to some offense he committed. I think this album gets stronger the deeper you get into it.
The occasional rhythm guitar on "America is Waiting" cuts like a knife (David Byrne is an underrated rhythm guitar player) and the little melody played by Brian Eno (on what seems to be an analog synth with a lot of reverb) is awesome, dramatic and effective, could be an original soundtrack from a movie...
The new camera looks great and you've chosen one of my favourite albums to debut it. So happy to see this here! You've said you're more familiar with Eno's ambient work. May I suggest another great album Another Green World showcasing some of his earlier work. I'd be tempted to take it in order but The Big Ship and Becalmed are both beautiful in different ways while St Elmo's Fire has some great guitar work from Fripp.
Tim Wright- why didn't I know that. He was a founding member of Pere Ubu, then went on to play in the No Wave band DNA. I had no idea he played on this. Learning, lifelong.
Justin, you should check out another Brian Eno collaboration, an album he did with John Cale titled Wrong Way Up, in 1990. Might be the most conventional and poppy album either one ever did, and it's magnificent. You might start with the track "Been There Done That."
Reminds me of my time at law school. First track is funky enough to dance to. You can really feel what the two of them Individually are bringing to the table.
Such an innovative record. I bought it in ~83, when I was 18. But many people consider this a watershed record because of its tape loops and sampling. Ahead of rap on this front, and so many experts consider this one of the seminal records of the 80s. Nobody had done that stuff before! Plus, the songs with beats really groove. I can't wait until you listen to "The Jezebel Spirit." I still get goosebumps. And the vocals in "Regiment." My God. An earlier masterpiece of Eno's is Another Green World. Likewise many consider it one of the most important records of the 70s. Yes, Eno was important! Parts of both of these records made regular appearances on my radio show in college. Oh, the vocals? Mostly recorded from the radio. Songs built around "found objects" of voice.
Yeah! Finally. 😎 They played this late at night on KROQ in LA. And I was awake as usual. I had to buy it immediately! A seminal record for me. Waiting for ‘Help Me Somebody’ and ‘Jezebel Spirit’. The next song has Fripp. One of my favorites.
MLITBOG is a gift from another galaxy. My favorite vocal album. The Shutov Assembly from Eno - my favorite non-vocal album. Both have that crazy Brit. When Americans and Brits collaborate with pure heart you get MLITBOGhosts.
The Residents' Eskimo was a big influence on this record, the conceptual throughline being an album as a document of a familiar but nonexistent culture. Eno and Byrne would also contribute singing and keyboards to The Residents' Commercial Album which was a kept a secret for 40 years until they admitted it.
This is one of those albums I happened to first hear at a friend's house under no chemical influences in the '80s, though I did smoke a lot, and thought "interesting!" but figured it would be a nightmare listening to when you're that too-high (My later go-to for a soothing antidote was My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless," [which you should definitely react to, Justin]), but later in life, it suddenly came up on my iTunes after I'd d/l-ed it and forgotten, and was super-high, and turned out to be the perfect album for that situation for me. Never would have expected that. Masterpiece. Top 10 album.
The companion album to "Remain In Light"; a brilliant collection of sampled percussion, radio broadcasts and instruments that is melded with the guiding hand of two musical alchemists. A brilliant piece of recording. BTW, this album is featured heavily as part of the sound track to the 1980's film, "Wall Street". EDIT: The "warpy bass may be played by Bill Laswell, who is widely known as one of the great producers and musicians in the world of funk, avant garde world music. IIRC, this was one of his first appearances on an album, outside of his work on Daevid Allen's New York Gong a year earlier.
Not entirely sure how accurate this is but I remember reading that the voices in Mea Culpa were from a radio or TV show - there's the frantic voice of the guy saying "look I made a mistake" and then the other voice is apparently a sample of a politician responding. It makes for an interesting juxtaposition!
I've had this album in my files for years and years and you're making me listen to it. I connected with Mea Culpa more than the first one, but I'll give it another shot. Sometimes it takes a few more listens!
I can't believe it's taken me 40+ years to realize that Mea Culpa is a sneaky remake of Third Uncle, which is most noticeable at the end of the song at ua-cam.com/video/mpoc0ZH89cM/v-deo.html
The title, "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts", comes from a book written by an African writer. He described the traditional of his people to tell stories that are guided by the sounds of nature Halethorpe around them. If a bird shrieks, that becomes part of the story. Eno and Byrne took recordings of various things from the radio, and other sources and set them to music. The album cites what the original recording is from. By the way, I think you are the only reactor who is open minded enough to appreciate this
This album was originally supposed to be a collaboration between Eno, Byrne, and Jon Hassell (who recently just passed away), but Hassell didn't agree with the direction the other two wanted to take it and must have bowed out.
If you like this kind of music, then I recommend the group Negativland. Their music is primarily sample based. They released their debut album "Negativland" in 1980.
At Last! Thank you for coming at last to one of the most influential and important albums of the past 40+ years. Its music is also among the most sensual you will find anywhere, so it is great for date night with your wife.
I wore the egg-suckin' grooves off this album when it came out. BTW, you can create a nice set starting with David Essex/Rock On then going into Mea Culpa...
Yes, you will be ok with Troutmask Replica. You'll get it. It's glorious. I love this album by the way. My art college girlfriend bought it when it first came out.
@@-davidolivares Mick Jones of the Clash became a looper himself - my favorite album of his is 1985's This Is Big Audio Dynamite - "Medicine Show" has some great voice clips from The Good the Bad & The Ugly, and "E=MC2" is a good early rap song.
@@-davidolivares I saw Laurie Anderson use something like a RC-300 looping device to capture her voice and put it in a loop for a couple of songs, including "Kokoku" from her Mister Heartbreak album. Again, very popular in the mid-80s, not so much a novelty now.
This is certainly a progressive album in that it takes different genres (a funky rhythmic track, Eno's electronica and the cut-up style vocal samples) and mashes them up together to produce something new. The rhythm sounds much like early Simple Minds (which I recommend - avoid anything after 1984) and the bass is very early eighties. Eno and Byrne are both clever guys who know what they are doing. I too recommend The Jezebel Spirit from this album. Nice discovery.
This record, Malcolm McLaren's Duck Rock, the Buggles and ABC's Lexicon of Love all happened between 1980 and 1983. Phenomenally creative period, which resulted in Thomas Dolby, Art of Noise, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Howard Jones sounding the way they did. BUT... Roxy Music and Eno's involvement with The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway started it all.
The percussion sound here is jaw-dropping for 1983. This record was lightyears ahead of itself. I'm so glad you're listening to this at the same time as older Bowie and Yes. Curious if Mark Hollis had a copy of this record too.
When this came out it was reviewed and rolling stone and the hitter for the review was does this Global Village have two way traffic? In other words the people they sampled for this album, could they sample Talking Heads and Eno music?
Funny hearing this again after all these years. I bought it unheard, on release, because it was Eno and Byrne. Played it twice, not listened to it since. I wasn't impressed. Re these, the first track had a little more life to it. Musically i thought, then and now, a little basic, a beat with looped rhythms. The editing's good, and the vocal/voice manipulation very clever, but otherwise.. Imho, Bill Nelson does this much better, and with original compositions before adding the voice,tape, commentary etc. You should check out his track 'The Charm of Transit'. it's sublime.
Justin, have you never listened to Eno's four rock(-ish) albums from the 70's? Put them on the list, if not! They're all brilliant. Like another one you're going through right now (Oranges & Lemons) this is an album my mom put on a lot when I was a kid, so it's sort of baked into my brain. I actually haven't listened to it in years. I remember in revisiting it as an adult, loving side 1, and then finding side 2 to be a bit of a drag. Interesting, and super-influential, but Eno & Byrne saved their best music for Remain in Light, for which this was a bit of a dry run.
So great , recently you're really hitting notes that run deep, after Autobahn.. 'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts' is one of those albums that will stay with you for the rest of time; hasn't lost any of its essence and isn't about to either. The next four tracks will be even better than these first two! Now I only hope you will dig into Neu! or Harmonia next (Eno kinda stole their craft and they made 2 albums together).
The colors are brighter and more colorful. Great surprise. ”Mea culpa“ is latin for “my fault”, from judeo-christian religion, “it's my fault, it's my fault, it's my very big fault” (mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa). In the catholic religion we have to feel guilty all the time !
Nice camera. It's great that someone is getting round to reacting to this very influential album. "America is Waiting" and "Mea Culpa" are probably the most annoying songs on the album, imo. But "Moonlight In Glory", "Regiment", "The Jezebel Spirit" and "Help Me Somebody" are all great.
The second side is decidedly very sinister. I am reminded of a nuclear holocaust, with mutant humans doing a merry jig to the sound of Geiger counters, etc. A fabulous, timeless album that grows on the listener.
Has this clairvoyant masterpiece aged well? Yes and (e)no - sorry. While the soul within remains intact, what used to be an incomprehensible technological feat clearly is not anymore, and it was a considerable part of what created the record's strange attraction. Now Mea Culpa sounds like a blueprint for James Ray / Sisterhood (Colours) or any other type of early electro-goth.
From "Krautrock" to Kraftwerk, from Kraftwerk/Cluster/Neu! to Eno/Bowie, from Eno/Fripp to Talking Heads and King Crimson's DISCIPLINE, from Eno/Fripp to Peter Gabriel solo...I thinks some "Krautrock"/Kraftwerk reactions are inevitable...
The 1st 4 Eno solo records are definitely must haves, but especially Another Green World. Top 5 all time record for me.
All of these tracks on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts are more sound collage and studio work than songs but it's still interesting because there is a real feel to each of these tracks and you have to remember that this was done long before sampling and computerized music.
My favorite track from the album has always been "The Jezebel Spirit" (probably the one that most closely resembles the vibe of Remain in Light).
Love this crazy album.
Always a favorite of mine. I get goosebumps with Jezebel.
Oh God, I bought this when it came out. At first it didn't even register as music but I listened and listened and then I loved it. I've got a home video of my my 14 month old daughter dancing to this album! She got it right away
Oh my goodness. I was shocked when I saw the album you're reacting to. I have this album. It's so crazy. I love the first track the best, but just wait until you hear The Jezebel Spirit. It's just a crazy awesome album, and yes Justin, the picture is amazing. I thought it was amazing before though, but this is quite an upgrade 🙂
Awesome, ty Light! Looking forward to it :)
There is also David Byrne's music for the Broadway production of The Catherine Wheel with a number of people including Eno and Adrian Belew.
Is it my birthday already? What a wonderful surprise! Needless to say, I'm so happy you finally ventured into this album. And I'm even happier that you are approaching it with an open mind and are getting what Eno and Byrne were doing here. A little backstory--this album was recorded before Remain in Light, but not released until after RIL. The making of this album annoyed the hell out of the rest of the Talking Heads, and indirectly led to the formation of the Tom Tom Club. But enough of that. This album is perfect for those nights when you just want to stay in and spend some time with your two weirdest friends, Brian Eno and David Byrne. Strap yourself in, there are more surprises to come. Great video Justin. Thank you for finally getting to it.
Thanks Mark! :D
If you're only familiar with Eno's ambient work, I would suggest checking out his "rock" albums: Here Come The Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy, Another Green World and Before And After Science. Featured players include Phil Collins, Phil Manzanera and Robert Fripp.
They're sooooo good!
Kings Lead Hat = 🔥
Good idea.
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is one of the most brilliant, under the radar, albums ever made. David Byrne, at this moment in time, had reached a sensational peak of creativity. The two Talking Heads albums either side of this release were masterpieces as well.
This album is such a fascinating soundscape of reality snippets put into rhythmic tonal meanings. The sonics sound both alien and unexpectated but absolutely correct when they appear, like when whirring keyboard begins to play a haunting echoing melody in the midst of it. Topnotch. Please continue. 😊👍
I love this album!!! So happy to see you reviewing this. Don't stop here it gets better.
It's one of my 10 island albums. So good!
Now THAT'S how you break in a new camera!😂 Wasn't sure how you'd respond to this collection of found sounds, but glad you're finally sampling them - hope you finish the album because I can't wait for The Jezebel Spirit! And someone else below mentioned Eno's collaboration with John Cale, Wrong Way Up; please check that one out with a particular call-out for my favorite track, Spinning Away. Nice response!
The period between 1978 and 1985 was full of great experimental and Avant-Garde Pop/Rock music. Eno and his many acolytes, Gabriel, Kate Bush, Laurie Anderson, Jon & Vangelis and the latter's soundtracks on his own, King Crimson's fantastic resurgence for the 80s, David van Tiegham, Adrian Belew's increasingly bizarre-sounding guitar sounds, both versions of Ultravox, Bowie in Berlin and his younger clone Peter Murphy in Bauhaus....
I was in my late teens and early Twenties in this period and these artists helped me grow from waiting pointlessly for another great Elton John album that would not come for 30 years, to appreciating the sounds and beats of the Future. We never got our promised flying cars but we did get the Fairlight digital sampler. Although only Peter Gabriel (1982), Kate Bush (The Dreaming) and Thomas Dolby (The Flat Earth) seemed to know how to use it organically and intelligently, it was still a revelation.
I had this vinyl album when it came out. Which pretty much makes me one of the coolest people who ever lived, ever.
I first bought it when it was released on CD. Still listen to it frequently to this day
I did too, and you know what that makes us, old. I was two years into my military career and finally was at a posting where I could have vinyl again.
I still haz, so trumpd you.
This is why I love this channel. I went through a long stretch of life where this was in regular rotation. Mea Culpa and The Carrier are two of my favorites, but the entire album is grade A.
It's really such a complementary production. Eno was really good at working around other people's style, but here it feels like they just made each other more potent.
One of my favourite albums of all time. Thanks for the review, and I hope you do more from this album. 😎
One of my favorite albums from the period.
One of my favorite albums, full stop.
I did enjoy this and I 'liked' it as usual. Two greats together is a recipe for wonder.
The vocal samples were part of a collection Brian Eno had amassed while living in New York and exploring American Radio... They were garnered from Radio Evangelist Programs, and edited, I'm guessing too the music, but it could well be the opposite as well...
Many of the voices were recorded off of live AM radio. True story.
The most fascinating music was being innovated between 1979 and 1985. Peter Gabriel led the charge, traveling through Africa with his tape recorder and then inviting his new friends to record with him in Bath, England. Brian Eno & David Byrne, Kate Bush, Laurie Anderson, Jon & Vangelis / Vangelis with his award-winning movie soundtracks, Thomas Dolby, King Crimson reunited, the first users of digital sampling, usually with the Fairlight CMI, which cost as much as a house. I was a senior in H.S. and then starting at university when all this crazy novel goodness was coming out, challenging us to look beyond mere Pop/Rock songs.
Wow, this brings me back, LOVED this album when it came out. I hope you'll do some more reactions from this, especially Regiment which is my personal favorite.
Other reaction channels: "Do more Disturbed, or maybe Korn"
JustJP: "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, ALRIGHT!!!!"
You've cultivated a pretty darn cool group here.
Seriously.
Lol! :D
How about Sound of Silence by Disturbed?? 😩
@@ijustneedmyself I can see why people like that, despite not being won over myself.
I do love the original though.
Yes, Yes, Yes! Finally one of the most interesting albums ever made. A couple of years before this came out Holger Czukay of Can made a solo album Movies. The song Persian love of this album is in a way a predecessor to My Life in the Bush and certainly worth reviewing on your splendid channel.
And looking sharp with your new camera, Justin. 👍🏻
Great song by Holger Czukay. I never saw it as an influence on My Life, but it must have been that way for sure!
Just love Holger, another music Genius,always experimenting and pushing the boundaries!
My favourite of his is 'Rome remains Rome ' , used to have it on cassette!
A cd of it now will probably cost you £100 !!!!.
One of the very first albums that used samples. Who knew what they would unleash.
I just discovered your channel. I was interested in seeing song reactions to America is waiting/Mea Culpa because no one else, as far as I know, have done reaction to these songs. It's about time! Your reaction/personal translation was refreshing and intelligent. After these reactions, I looked at your reaction playlists to find a wide assortment of music that most "song reactionists" don't cover at all. Great job. You have a new fan.
"the claustrophobia and the clutter"
This album really surprised me as well; as surprising as anything was the fact that it actually grew on me quickly got a lot of replay. If you can't call them songs, they're still more than just collage. The attention to detail, down to the very timbres of the voice samples and how they're processed, plus the highly musical themes and rhythms and that Eno ambiance have never been balanced so perfectly.
One time, subjecting a couple friends to this album, after a minute or so of "Mea Culpa", one friend started looking visibly unsettled and said something like, "This makes me feel like bugs are crawling all over me." And I totally agreed with her.
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is a book by Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola if anyone is interested...
Yeah, I knew the album before I knew the book too.
So did Eno and Byrne. Apparently neither of them read the book but they felt the title fit well.
My favorite track from this amazing album (Way ahead of its time, still sounds fresh nowadays) is "Regiment'
First time I heard this I was tripping...literally. I was with a friend that was visiting one of his friends in a trailer with a bunch of cats. Went inside and this was blaring. Just weird noises and voices coming at me from every direction. The trailer started warping and I had trouble keeping my balance so I leaned against a wall. After all these years it is still so very very vivid.
Kind of wish Miles tried something like this after his late 70s haitus as kind of an updated, globalized On The Corner.
One of my all-time favorite albums. I never get tired of it, even after 40+ years. Thanks again, Justin!
I have read in a couple of places that this album influenced many Hip Hop artists, in that it showed what could be accomplished through sampling. It's also putting into practice some of the ideas of John Cage (concerning the use of found recordings). Also, while this was released after Remain In Light, it was recorded earlier, and Remain In Light is the result of Byrne/Eno applying the lessons learned on My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts in a more popular/communal context (i.e. Talking Heads). The influence of this album also shows up in David Byrne's The Catherine Wheel, which has some truly wonderful music on it and you really need to listen to sometime (imagine if Mike Oldfield had worked with Byrne and Eno, in the way the music evolves and morphs into new melodies, like on Olfield's earlier albums). It's great that you enjoyed these two songs on your first listen. It took me awhile to get into it when it first came out.
Interesting reaction. FWIW, the found vocals for "America Is Waiting" is from an AM radio talk show a la Rush Limbaugh, and for "Mea Culpa" the recording of a politician confessing to some offense he committed. I think this album gets stronger the deeper you get into it.
The occasional rhythm guitar on "America is Waiting" cuts like a knife (David Byrne is an underrated rhythm guitar player) and the little melody played by Brian Eno (on what seems to be an analog synth with a lot of reverb) is awesome, dramatic and effective, could be an original soundtrack from a movie...
All new to me. Enjoyed it. Thanks
The new camera looks great and you've chosen one of my favourite albums to debut it. So happy to see this here!
You've said you're more familiar with Eno's ambient work. May I suggest another great album Another Green World showcasing some of his earlier work.
I'd be tempted to take it in order but The Big Ship and Becalmed are both beautiful in different ways while St Elmo's Fire has some great guitar work from Fripp.
Tim Wright- why didn't I know that. He was a founding member of Pere Ubu, then went on to play in the No Wave band DNA. I had no idea he played on this. Learning, lifelong.
Wonderful album the whole thing is wonderful every single track
BTW - Eno produced Remain in Light
Justin, you should check out another Brian Eno collaboration, an album he did with John Cale titled Wrong Way Up, in 1990. Might be the most conventional and poppy album either one ever did, and it's magnificent. You might start with the track "Been There Done That."
"Spinning Away" is absolutely mezmerising.
@@bobschiller6435 Yes, I would echo start with "Spinning Away"--one of Eno's absolute best songs.
Spectacular record. Still on my rotation.
"Spinning Away" for me is the stand out...and the title track.
Reminds me of my time at law school. First track is funky enough to dance to. You can really feel what the two of them Individually are bringing to the table.
Such an innovative record. I bought it in ~83, when I was 18. But many people consider this a watershed record because of its tape loops and sampling. Ahead of rap on this front, and so many experts consider this one of the seminal records of the 80s. Nobody had done that stuff before! Plus, the songs with beats really groove.
I can't wait until you listen to "The Jezebel Spirit." I still get goosebumps. And the vocals in "Regiment." My God.
An earlier masterpiece of Eno's is Another Green World. Likewise many consider it one of the most important records of the 70s. Yes, Eno was important!
Parts of both of these records made regular appearances on my radio show in college.
Oh, the vocals? Mostly recorded from the radio. Songs built around "found objects" of voice.
Yeah! Finally. 😎
They played this late at night on KROQ in LA. And I was awake as usual. I had to buy it immediately! A seminal record for me. Waiting for ‘Help Me Somebody’ and ‘Jezebel Spirit’.
The next song has Fripp. One of my favorites.
Probably the best way to hear this music. Late at night on the radio... Such alien sounding music would grab your attention in that context.
I have an original issue CD with the deleted track “Qu’ran” on it…this album is a masterpiece. “America is Waiting”: the more things change…
Bought cd soon as...'81 still got it. As for Eno...ANOTHER GREEN WORLD Waaaaaay head of its time, 1975
Didn't exactly see this one coming. Got the vinyl. Good stuff.
I try to aim for the blindside :D
@@JustJP Mission Accomplished! You need to check out some Daniel Lanois solo albums.
MLITBOG is a gift from another galaxy. My favorite vocal album. The Shutov Assembly from Eno - my favorite non-vocal album. Both have that crazy Brit. When Americans and Brits collaborate with pure heart you get MLITBOGhosts.
The Residents' Eskimo was a big influence on this record, the conceptual throughline being an album as a document of a familiar but nonexistent culture. Eno and Byrne would also contribute singing and keyboards to The Residents' Commercial Album which was a kept a secret for 40 years until they admitted it.
This is one of those albums I happened to first hear at a friend's house under no chemical influences in the '80s, though I did smoke a lot, and thought "interesting!" but figured it would be a nightmare listening to when you're that too-high (My later go-to for a soothing antidote was My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless," [which you should definitely react to, Justin]), but later in life, it suddenly came up on my iTunes after I'd d/l-ed it and forgotten, and was super-high, and turned out to be the perfect album for that situation for me. Never would have expected that. Masterpiece. Top 10 album.
It a ride it takes us away
Album way ahead of its time.
The companion album to "Remain In Light"; a brilliant collection of sampled percussion, radio broadcasts and instruments that is melded with the guiding hand of two musical alchemists. A brilliant piece of recording. BTW, this album is featured heavily as part of the sound track to the 1980's film, "Wall Street". EDIT: The "warpy bass may be played by Bill Laswell, who is widely known as one of the great producers and musicians in the world of funk, avant garde world music. IIRC, this was one of his first appearances on an album, outside of his work on Daevid Allen's New York Gong a year earlier.
Not entirely sure how accurate this is but I remember reading that the voices in Mea Culpa were from a radio or TV show - there's the frantic voice of the guy saying "look I made a mistake" and then the other voice is apparently a sample of a politician responding. It makes for an interesting juxtaposition!
Ahh gotcha, ty for that!
I've had this album in my files for years and years and you're making me listen to it. I connected with Mea Culpa more than the first one, but I'll give it another shot. Sometimes it takes a few more listens!
Loved it got to look into this more 😍
now JP has to do Catherine Wheel album as well.... and complete the 'trilogy'
I can't believe it's taken me 40+ years to realize that Mea Culpa is a sneaky remake of Third Uncle, which is most noticeable at the end of the song at ua-cam.com/video/mpoc0ZH89cM/v-deo.html
The title, "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts", comes from a book written by an African writer. He described the traditional of his people to tell stories that are guided by the sounds of nature Halethorpe around them. If a bird shrieks, that becomes part of the story. Eno and Byrne took recordings of various things from the radio, and other sources and set them to music. The album cites what the original recording is from.
By the way, I think you are the only reactor who is open minded enough to appreciate this
This album was originally supposed to be a collaboration between Eno, Byrne, and Jon Hassell (who recently just passed away), but Hassell didn't agree with the direction the other two wanted to take it and must have bowed out.
You're getting into some cool stuff ! Enjoy the ride.
Thank you:)
"Jezebel Spirit" freaked me out a bit back then.
JP, I love your attitude and personality!
Thank you very much Del :) Hope you're having a Warm and Merry Christmas 🎄
@@JustJP Thanks JP. You as well. Did you happen to read my comment following this one? You should.
Hey bro I like you just the fact this crazy song loving it
If you like this kind of music, then I recommend the group Negativland. Their music is primarily sample based. They released their debut album "Negativland" in 1980.
Kate Bush has mentioned this as an influential album. It’s one of the first uses of sampling
At Last! Thank you for coming at last to one of the most influential and important albums of the past 40+ years.
Its music is also among the most sensual you will find anywhere, so it is great for date night with your wife.
My 2nd favorite track after "America Is Waiting" is "Help Me Somebody."
This album has been on my “I’ll get to it eventually” list for years. Not at all what I expected.
I wore the egg-suckin' grooves off this album when it came out. BTW, you can create a nice set starting with David Essex/Rock On then going into Mea Culpa...
The drums on "Mea Culpa" remind me of Peter Gabriel's 3rd (Melt) and 4th (Security) albums...
The late, great Tim Wright, first bassist of Pere Ubu and later of DNA.
I love this album. It's just a cherry on top that this ended up influencing trip-hop stalwarts like Massive Attack & Portishead.
Oh, you found this one too. Good.
Yes, you will be ok with Troutmask Replica. You'll get it. It's glorious. I love this album by the way. My art college girlfriend bought it when it first came out.
Upgrade work fantastic looks and sounds great
Awesome! Ty!
Regiment from this album is magnificent.
Oh, and the track "Regiment" just kills me.
Voice on tape loops. Interesting, because 10 to 20 years later, the same thing will be popular using voice on digital loops.
Buying loopers was becoming a loop in itself. From my first Boomerang+ to the last, a Boss RC-300… got rid of everything in between.
@@-davidolivares Mick Jones of the Clash became a looper himself - my favorite album of his is 1985's This Is Big Audio Dynamite - "Medicine Show" has some great voice clips from The Good the Bad & The Ugly, and "E=MC2" is a good early rap song.
@@bobholtzmann tremendous album
@@-davidolivares I saw Laurie Anderson use something like a RC-300 looping device to capture her voice and put it in a loop for a couple of songs, including "Kokoku" from her Mister Heartbreak album. Again, very popular in the mid-80s, not so much a novelty now.
@@bobholtzmann
Love that album and her.
This is certainly a progressive album in that it takes different genres (a funky rhythmic track, Eno's electronica and the cut-up style vocal samples) and mashes them up together to produce something new. The rhythm sounds much like early Simple Minds (which I recommend - avoid anything after 1984) and the bass is very early eighties. Eno and Byrne are both clever guys who know what they are doing. I too recommend The Jezebel Spirit from this album. Nice discovery.
This record, Malcolm McLaren's Duck Rock, the Buggles and ABC's Lexicon of Love all happened between 1980 and 1983. Phenomenally creative period, which resulted in Thomas Dolby, Art of Noise, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Howard Jones sounding the way they did. BUT... Roxy Music and Eno's involvement with The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway started it all.
The percussion sound here is jaw-dropping for 1983. This record was lightyears ahead of itself. I'm so glad you're listening to this at the same time as older Bowie and Yes. Curious if Mark Hollis had a copy of this record too.
When this came out it was reviewed and rolling stone and the hitter for the review was does this Global Village have two way traffic? In other words the people they sampled for this album, could they sample Talking Heads and Eno music?
Reminds me a little of Megatop Phoenix by Big Audio Dynamite. You might want to check out that top to bottom solid album.
Funny hearing this again after all these years. I bought it unheard, on release, because it was Eno and Byrne. Played it twice, not listened to it since. I wasn't impressed. Re these, the first track had a little more life to it. Musically i thought, then and now, a little basic, a beat with looped rhythms. The editing's good, and the vocal/voice manipulation very clever, but otherwise.. Imho, Bill Nelson does this much better, and with original compositions before adding the voice,tape, commentary etc. You should check out his track 'The Charm of Transit'. it's sublime.
Listen to the exorcism. Fabulous.
Also try Robert Fripp Exposure album.
Love this album. Hope you listen too soundtrack Passion, by Peter Gabriel.
Justin, have you never listened to Eno's four rock(-ish) albums from the 70's? Put them on the list, if not! They're all brilliant.
Like another one you're going through right now (Oranges & Lemons) this is an album my mom put on a lot when I was a kid, so it's sort of baked into my brain. I actually haven't listened to it in years. I remember in revisiting it as an adult, loving side 1, and then finding side 2 to be a bit of a drag. Interesting, and super-influential, but Eno & Byrne saved their best music for Remain in Light, for which this was a bit of a dry run.
So great , recently you're really hitting notes that run deep, after Autobahn.. 'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts' is one of those albums that will stay with you for the rest of time; hasn't lost any of its essence and isn't about to either. The next four tracks will be even better than these first two! Now I only hope you will dig into Neu! or Harmonia next (Eno kinda stole their craft and they made 2 albums together).
The colors are brighter and more colorful. Great surprise.
”Mea culpa“ is latin for “my fault”, from judeo-christian religion, “it's my fault, it's my fault, it's my very big fault” (mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa). In the catholic religion we have to feel guilty all the time !
Mea Culpa is Latin for "My Bad".
Basically.
Nice camera. It's great that someone is getting round to reacting to this very influential album. "America is Waiting" and "Mea Culpa" are probably the most annoying songs on the album, imo. But "Moonlight In Glory", "Regiment", "The Jezebel Spirit" and "Help Me Somebody" are all great.
The second side is decidedly very sinister. I am reminded of a nuclear holocaust, with mutant humans doing a merry jig to the sound of Geiger counters, etc. A fabulous, timeless album that grows on the listener.
You should get to Eno before the ambient phase. Lots of good stuff. Trippy stuff.
Jezebel Spirit or Regiment are both excellent tunes off this album.
Yes, a great album and this : The Jezebel Spirit
Regiment is the tune you want. And the video is really good.
Much sharper image, Justin. :-)
Ty!
'Regiment' is the great track there
Has this clairvoyant masterpiece aged well? Yes and (e)no - sorry. While the soul within remains intact, what used to be an incomprehensible technological feat clearly is not anymore, and it was a considerable part of what created the record's strange attraction. Now Mea Culpa sounds like a blueprint for James Ray / Sisterhood (Colours) or any other type of early electro-goth.
From "Krautrock" to Kraftwerk, from Kraftwerk/Cluster/Neu! to Eno/Bowie, from Eno/Fripp to Talking Heads and King Crimson's DISCIPLINE, from Eno/Fripp to Peter Gabriel solo...I thinks some "Krautrock"/Kraftwerk reactions are inevitable...