Brian
contributes to Robert Wyatt's excellent new album Shleep, which
has garnered rave reviews everywhere the EnoWeb looks (and was declared
the best rock album of 1997 by The Independent). Brian arranged
the track "Heaps of Sheeps", on which he also sings and plays
synth. He plays synth on two other tracks as well. Buy it, if not for
Brian's input then for Wyatt's virtuoso performances. In the UK it's on
Hannibal Records, a Rykodisc
label, HNCD 1418. In the US it is scheduled for release in early 1998 on
the Thirsty Ear label. More information about Robert can be found
here.
The
Bowie-Eno track "I'm Afraid Of Americans" from EARTHLING
was released as a single on 14th October 1997 in Ye Unyted Staytes. The
single includes five mixes by Nine Inch Nails and one by Photek.
Brian
appeared live on stage with U2 to sing "Miss Sarajevo" at the
supergroup's concert in Sarajevo on 23rd September 1997. The concert was
recorded, so if it hasn't been broadcast in your area yet you may get
lucky and hear this unique live rendition yourself.
The
September 1997 issue of ICE magazine (you can subscribe from the
ICE Magazine site) reports
that the soundtrack from the Wim Wenders film The End Of Violence
includes the song "You May Feel Me Crying" -- a collaboration
between the late Roy Orbison and Brian Eno. The vocals were recorded by
Roy Orbison in 1987 but never released; now, ten years later, Brian has
completed the song. The soundtrack album, The End Of Violence: Songs
From The Motion Picture, was released on the Outpost Records label (a
subsidiary of Geffen) on 9th September 1997 in the U.S. and is also
available in the U.K. Watch out, though, because there are two albums
related to the film -- the other one's entirely by Ry Cooder.
An
11-track tribute album entitled A Tribute To The Music & Works
Of Brian Eno was released on 29th July 1997 -- by Various Artists
excluding Brian but including Controlled Bleeding, Surface 10 and
Chrome. The album is on the Hypnotic label, part of the Cleopatra Labels
Group and is priced around $14.98 [Catalog(ue) number CLP 0016-2].
Tracks include "Becalmed", "Here Come The Warm Jets"
and "An Ending".
Brian
contributed to the Meltdown Festival in London in June & July 1997.
As far as the EnoWeb can make out, he took part in 100 Violins
on 22nd June and the final gala concert in aid of War Child on 5th July.
He stayed put in St Petersburg, and so his appearances were probably via
the exciting new-fangled technology pioneered by Mr Alexander Graham
Bell. More information may possibly appear at
the Meltdown web site and there
was detailed information at the Royal
Festival Hall web site.
While
he was resident in St Petersburg, during 1997, Brian wrote an occasional
column for The Observer newspaper.
B5
records - an independent record company with a fine name founded by John
Taylor and Hein Hoven - is about to release a tribute album of Roxy
Music covers. They tell us that they have samples of the tracks
here.
Brian
was one of the interviewees in "Art goes Pop, Pop goes Art", a
programme presented by Ian Dury exploring "the explosion of talent
that came from British art schools in the sixties". The programme
was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 at 23:00 on Sunday 3rd August.
Stewart
Brand's BBC2 television series, How Buildings Learn, featured
music by Brian - some tracks from The Drop, others apparently
new. The 6-part half-hour programmes were broadcast in the UK on
Thursdays.
On
6th April 1997, Brian launched Advent Millennium, a calendar
that counts down the days until the year 2000. All proceeds go to War
Child, the charity which works with child victims of war. Take a look at
our page about the calendar - you can see some of the striking pictures
that appear in it, and get full UK and international ordering
information, here.
Other Enews stories
The
Bernard Butler Website reports that Bernard Butler has played on
covers of "Baby's on Fire" and three Roxy Music songs ("2HB",
"Ladytron" & "Bittersweet") forVelvet
Goldmine, a film starring Ewan McGregor set in the glam New York of
the '70's.
Brian
has re-mixed a track by Can for a record called Sacrilege which
was released in early May by Mute Records. It's a remix of "Pnoom"
from Cannibalism 2, lasts 57 seconds, and is in the Drop Music
style. Other remixes are provided by A Guy Called Gerald, Francois
Kevorkian, Sonic Youth and The Orb, amongst others. (Thanks to
Bommel, Richard Joly & Nerve Net for additional information).
David Bowie's album EART HL I NG includes the track "I'm
Afraid of Americans", co-written by Brian. The album is on the BMG
label in Europe (7432144944 2).
Brian
has moved to St Petersburg. Mojo reports him as saying: " I
feel like living somewhere else for a while. Since London is now the
hippest city in the world, I thought I'd get out for a bit." A bit
of what, the EnoWeb would like to know... Apparently Brian lives in fear
of becoming a comfortable celebrity but thinks there's less chance of
this in St Petersburg. He never stays in one place for long; in fact,
one might reasonably suggest that wherever he lays his hat, that's his
home.
Brian
has remixed the 808state's single Lopez (Metaphorically). The
single features James Dean Bradfield (Manic Street Preachers) on vocals,
and was co-written by Nicky Wire (also from the Manic Street Preachers).
The running time of Eno's mix is 6:23. There are also mixes from The
Propellerheads and 808state. Released on ZTT records, the single is
currently only available in the UK, and at the risk of some eye-strain I
can make out "ZANG87CD/0630-17584-2" on the sleeve. There's
also a promo version of this CD which only has a 3:50 version of Eno's
mix on it - "ZANG87CDDJ".
Philip
Glass' "Heroes" Symphony is out on the Point Music
label (454-388-2). It's like a combination of Glass' Low Symphony
and Mishima.
There
are strong grounds for optimism that Brian's one-off "White
Light/White Heat" single, purchased at auction for a knock-down
price of £40,000, may well be released to a wider audience.
Peter
Gabriel's CD-ROM EVE is now available (Real World - ISBN
1-888104-03-1). Whilst this isn't exactly Eno-related it may give an
indication of some of the scope of Peter's potential contribution to the
frozen Gabriel-Anderson-Eno Theme Park.
Also
out on the Real World label now (CDRW64) is
Joseph
Arthur's long-awaited debut album Big
City Secrets. This time Brian does make some sort of
contribution (perhaps he supplied the chocolate biscuits). No, actually
he sings backing vocals on the track "Mercedes". RealWorld
records are released on the Caroline
label in the U.S.
You
may have read here that Brian and David Bowie were going to work on 2.Contamination
this summer. Sorry - we relied on rumour for this story, and (as with
the best rumours) there was no truth in it. Sorry. Presumably they'll
get around to it in the future sometime. Obviously I'd like to keep
typing this paragraph, but it's a bit tricky with broken fingers. I
never knew thwarted Eno fans could get so violent... I think I'll switch
to Heavy Metal, it's safer.
July-December 1997
What
would it sound like if Brian Eno covered substantial parts of On
Land with Tarmac, invited some traffic along for the ride, recorded
the result and then sculpted the resultant sound?
The answer might be Music for White Cube, a sound installation by Brian which runs until May 31st (see strange opening times below) at London's White Cube. This gallery describes itself as "possibly the smallest exhibition space in Europe", and consists of a square white room painted white, with concealed lighting leaking out from the edges of a suspended ceiling and white blinds covering the two windows on one wall. The doorway is half the normal width. There is a square white seat in the middle of the room, backless, about half the size of a double mattress. Mounted on each wall is a CD-player with two speakers either side.
In contrast with the whiteness of the exhibition space, the sound is predominantly shades of darker or lighter grey. To create it, Brian visited various parts of London within a one-mile radius of the White Cube and recorded himself singing a single falsetto note at each, holding the microphone some distance from his mouth so as to get as much background ambient noise as possible. Back at the studio, he applied various processes (compression, equalization, reverberation), to alter the recordings out of immediate recognition. Brian explains: "I was thinking of the sound less as music and more as sculpture, space, landscape, and of the experience as a process of immersion rather than just of listening."
The tracks were then put on CD, with each player set to "random" mode. The installation notes say there are 8-16 tracks on each CD, but one player was frequently making that "swit-swit- whizz" track-seeking sound and playing short tracks with numbers like 47 and 50...
With so many random tracks, the installation has a high "generative" element. The music can be loud one minute, and the room totally silent the next. In an unusual move, Brian has produced a catalogue to accompany the installation, in the form of a CD entitled Extracts from Music For White Cube. The CD is a limited edition of 500 in all, accompanied by a short essay on the inlay card. The CD has a running length of just over 68 minutes; because each of its 9 tracks is an extract from the same installation, there are similarities between them. The price of the CD is twenty pounds.
Also on display in the White Cube's office area (opposite the gallery on the other side of the stairs) was another set of Eno CDs. Continuing the trend of one-off CDs he began with his White Light/White Heat single, he made a set of one-off CDs, each with a single take of his Koan Generative Music composition Contra 1.2 (1997). Because of the parameters of the piece, the length of each unique CD varies between 20 and 50 minutes (and purchasers don't get to choose...). Each CD has a unique cover created using generative principles using BLISS. Price for each unique CD is 100 pounds plus VAT @ 17.5%. This is again a limited edition, and may be sold out by now.
If you have a web browser that can handle frames and the ability to play .WAV files, visit the gallery's own web site at http://www.whitecube.com. This has the full text of Eno's essay and short sound clips of the installation and Contra. There is also a diagram showing how the CDs and speakers are set up.
The White Cube is on the 1st floor (2nd storey to non-UK vistors) of 44 Duke Street, St James', London SW1Y 6DD.
Hurry! The installation is only open Fridays and Saturdays from 12:00 until 18:00, and runs until 31st May 1997.
White Cube phone: +44 (0)171 930 5373, White Cube fax: +44 (0)171 930 9973. You can also e-mail them from their web site.
April/May 1997
