Celebrating the Birthday of Brian Eno

[innerspaceboy]

A very happy birthday to Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, born on this date in 1948.

In addition to the dozens of art prints, books, lithographs, 412 digital releases, and other miscellanea I've acquired, I've successfully built a sizable library of most major releases issued in the vinyl format by the artist. My library comprises 49 of his best-loved works totaling 77 discs of content, including the highly sought-after Music For Installations 9LP limited edition box set.

Also pictured is my library of thirteen books examining the mind and the art of Brian Eno including a copy of Eno's own diary, A Year With Swollen Appendices, as well as his Oblique Strategies oracle deck and an autographed portrait. It was great fun compiling them all.

Thank you for permitting me to share my love for great music. Eno and his work are an unparalleled inspiration in my life.

What's your favorite Eno work?

My Eno LPs


My Eno books


A close-up shot I staged of the Oblique Strategies deck


A promotional print for Eno's 77 Million Paintings at MoogFest 2011


The limited edition art print for the anniversary extended edition of Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks


The watercolor lithographs painted by Peter Schmidt from the original UK pressing of Before and After Science I had professionally framed


And my autographed portrait of Eno

[Lexi Darling]

Happy 75th to the legend. You have an impressive collection! I see some really cool underrated Eno projects in there, like the Harmonia and Cluster collabs.

A few of my favorites of his projects are No Pussyfooting, Evening Star, Another Green World, Day of Radiance, Apollo, On Land, Fourth World Volume 1, The Pearl, Thursday Afternoon, just so many classics.

I'm pretty unfamiliar with post-80s Eno, any highlights you can recommend?

[innerspaceboy]

I'm pretty unfamiliar with post-80s Eno, any highlights you can recommend?

A wonderful response; thank you for reading and replying!

Every release you cited is a favorite of mine as well! I'm glad you're well-acquainted with his catalogue. And the Harmonia release you keenly spotted is from the Harmonia Box complete works vinyl set. I absolutely had to have that!

The Pearl was my introduction to Harold Budd, and I went on to secure all 83 Harold Budd albums, including his earliest private press LPs and the signed Translucence / Drift Music / Nighthawks vinyl box set with John Foxx. I might dare to say that I enjoy Budd's minimalist style even more than Eno, but Eno is more prolific.

My Squelchy Life supposedly was to be released in September 1991, but Eno decided to re-edit the album into Nerve Net instead. Squelchy finally saw an official release as a bonus disc on the 2014 Expanded Edition of Nerve Net and on its own on wax for Record Store Day in 2015.

A stand-out favorite from the ill-fated Squelchy LP is the album-opener, "I Fall Up." It's darkly surreal and frenetic, a bit in the spirit of Eno's collaboration with David Byrne on My Life In the Bush of Ghosts, (another beloved favorite). It features abstract lyrics like:

More volts!
I'm sucking the juice from the generator
More volts!
More volts!
More volts!
"more suck at the duct" my dictu
More volts!
More volts!

Then the ensemble Bang on a Can produced their own rendition of Eno's Music For Airports in 1998 performed on actual instruments instead of constructing it via tape loops. Their interpretation lends an organic quality which is enjoyable in its own right.

In 1993 Eno released :Neroli: (Thinking Music Part IV) exclusively on compact disc and cassette. It's his most stripped-down and minimal drone composition to date and I find it useful for meditation and sleep.

In 2005 Eno released the ambient pop album, Another Day on Earth, noteworthy as it was the first Eno album to chiefly contain vocals in more than two decades. The best tracks on this release are "This," "Bottomliners," "Just Another Day," and the dark and spooky "Bone Bomb."

2016 saw the release of The Ship on the Warp label to great critical acclaim. It is best-experienced in its entirety as a concept album rather than for its individual tracks. The album-closer is a cover of Velvet Underground's "I'm Set Free." Definitely worth a listen.

Reflection followed in 2017, a return to his minimal abstract ambient longform work just prior to the release of Music For Installations.

Installations is a pricey but essential vinyl set for fans of his generative art installation music which had previously circulated as bootlegs.

Most recently, Eno released the dark and foreboding ambient vocal album, Foreverandevernomore featuring the lead single "There Were Bells" recorded with Eno's brother Roger at The Acropolis. And for Record Store Day this year Eno issued a limited edition instrumental version of the album's tracks titled Forever Voiceless.

And my article from May 5 explores Eno's latest effort - his collaboration with Fred Again.. titled Secret Life. It's an ambient dream pop album featuring Fred's melancholic vocals and makes for a lovely listen.

It's been a year to the day as of yesterday since I've purchased a record, so I've been hesitant to claim copies of Foreverandevernomore, Forever Voiceless, and Secret Life on wax. (That and I dread the idea of un-polybagging all 77 LPs and having to restage that collection photo again every time Eno releases a new album!) Perhaps once I'm working again next month I'll revisit the hobby and complete my collection. We'll see how that goes.

I hope that answers your question sufficiently. Sorry it's so hastily-written - I wanted to reply before I turned in for the night. Let me know if you have any other questions, and  thanks again!

[Lexi Darling]

Thank you for your recommendations and insights. I'm happy that we have such overlapping tastes!

I have heard Neroli and I know I've heard some cuts from Another Day on Earth in the past. I'll definitely check all of those out, thanks again!

[Rubber Soul]

I can't say I'm especially familiar with post 1980 Eno but I love just about everything he did in the seventies, including his stint as a member of Roxy Music. Best album for me: Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy.