Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. Jean le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (born
Brian Peter George Eno on
15 May 1948 in
Woodbridge, Suffolk) is an
English electronic musician,
music theorist and
record producer. As a solo artist, he is probably best known as the father of
ambient music.
Eno first came to prominence as the
keyboard and
synthesiser player and general sonic wizard of the 1970s'
glam and
art rock band
Roxy Music (see
1970s in music). After leaving the group, Eno recorded two highly idiosyncratic and original
rock albums, before turning to more abstract soundscapes on subsequent albums such as
Another Green World (1975) and
Ambient 1/Music for Airports (1978). Since then, he has produced dozens of albums (many with similarly-minded collaborators such as
Harold Budd and
Robert Fripp) which have demonstrated his unique approach to music. He has also occasionally returned to the
pop song format.
His production credits include some of the most respected albums by
Talking Heads,
James and
U2.
Contrary to popular belief, Brian Eno did not produce
David Bowie's popular
Berlin Trilogy (
Low,
"Heroes", and
Lodger). He performed and co-wrote tracks on all three albums, but they were produced by Bowie and
Tony Visconti. He did, however, co-produce Bowie's 1995 album
Outside.
Eno has pursued several artistic ventures parallel to his music career, including visual
art installations, a regular
column in the
newspaper The Observer and, with artist
Peter Schmidt,
Oblique Strategies, a deck of cards recommending various artistic strategies.
Eno was educated at the St. Joseph's College, Birkfield,
Ipswich (where he adopted the names
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle as the school was run by that order of Catholic brethren), Ipswich Art School and the
Winchester School of Art, graduating from the latter in 1969. While at art school, he developed an interest in using
tape recorders as musical instruments, and he experimented with his first (sometimes
improvisational) bands. While at Ipswich, his interest in music was encouraged by one of his teachers, the painter
Tom Phillips. Phillips recalls devising "Piano Tennis" with Eno in which, after having amassed a number of second-hand pianos they stripped them and lined them up in a hall striking tennis balls at them. Obviously, as Phillips suggests, "the scoring shots were the best noises." And it was through Phillips that Eno became involved in
Cornelius Cardew's
Scratch Orchestra. The first released recording Eno was involved with as a musician is the
Deutsche Grammophon edition of Cardew's
The Great Learning (recorded in February 1971). Eno is thus one of the many voices to be heard in The Scratch Orchestra's recital of Cardew's
The Great Learning Paragraph 7.
Roxy Music
Eno started his professional musical career in
London, as a member of the
glam/
art-rock band
Roxy Music, working with them from 1971 to 1973. As a self-described "non-musician," Eno performed from behind the
mixing desk at the band's earliest live shows, where his efforts went way beyond the usual balancing of the volume levels: he would alter the sounds by processing the other band members' instruments through his
VCS3 synthesizer, tape recorders and other electronic devices, frequently singing backing vocals as well. Eno soon joined the rest of Roxy Music on stage, where his flamboyant costumes became a hallmark of the band's visual appeal. Eno left the group after completing the tour to promote their second album,
For Your Pleasure. By Eno's later account, his departure was partially result of disagreements with Roxy's lead singer and principal songwriter,
Bryan Ferry, and partially due to his growing boredom with the life of a touring rock star [
1].
Solo work
Eno embarked on a solo career almost immediately. Between 1973 and 1977 he created four influential solo albums of electronically inflected pop songs –
Here Come the Warm Jets,
Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy),
Another Green World and
Before and after Science.
Tiger Mountain contains the galloping "Third Uncle", one of Eno's best-known songs. Critic Dave Thompson writes that the song is "a near punk attack of riffing guitars and clattering percussion, "Third Uncle" could, in other hands, be a
heavy metal anthem, albeit one whose lyrical content would tongue-tie the most slavish
air guitarist."[
2]
During this period, he also toured with
Phil Manzanera in the band
801, a "supergroup" that played more or less mutated selections from albums by Eno, Manzanera, and
Quiet Sun, as well as covers of classic songs by
The Beatles and
The Kinks.
He was a prominent member of the performance art-classical orchestra the
Portsmouth Sinfonia - having started playing with them in 1972. In 1973 he produced the orchestra's first album
The Portsmouth Sinfonia Plays the Popular Classics (released in March 1974) and in 1974 he produced the live album
Hallellujah! The Portsmouth Sinfonia Live At The Royal Albert Hall of their infamous May 1974 concert (released in October 1974.) In addition to producing both albums, Eno perfomed in the orchestra on both recordings - playing the clarinet. Eno also deployed the orchestra's famously dissonant string section on his second solo album
Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). The orchestra at this time included other musicians whose solo work he would subsequently release on his Obscure label including
Gavin Bryars and
Michael Nyman.
Eno continued his career by producing a larger number of highly eclectic and increasingly
ambient electronic and acoustic albums. He is widely cited as coining the term "ambient music," low-volume music designed to modify one's perception of a surrounding environment, producing his
Ambient series (
Music for Films,
Music for Airports,
The Plateaux of Mirror,
Day of Radiance and
On Land).
In 1981, back from Ghana and before
On Land, he discovered
Miles Davis' 1974 ambient jazz dirge "
He Loved Him Madly":
"Teo Macero's revolutionary production on that piece seemed to me to have the "spacious" quality I was after, and like "Amarcord", it too became a touchstone to which I returned frequently." [
3]
Eno describes himself as a "non-musician" and coined the term "treatments" to describe his modification of the sound of musical instruments, and to separate his role from that of the traditional instrumentalist. His skill at using "The Studio as a Compositional Tool" (the title of an essay by Eno [
4]) led in part to his career as a producer. His methods were recognized at the time (mid-70s) as unique, so much so that on
Genesis's The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, he is credited with "Enossification" and on
John Cale's
Island albums as playing the Eno.
Eno started the Obscure label in Britain in 1975 to release works by less-known composers. The first group of three releases included his own composition,
Discreet Music, and the now-famous
The Sinking of the Titanic by
Gavin Bryars. The second side of
Discreet Music consisted of several versions of
Pachelbel's canon to which various algorithmic transformations have been applied, rendering it almost unrecognizable. Side 1 consisted of a
tape loop system for generating music from relative sparse input. These tapes had previously been used as backgrounds in some of his collaborations with
Robert Fripp of
King Crimson, most notably
No Pussyfooting. This methodology (coined
Frippertronics) was later used by Robert Fripp, among other artists, on future albums. Only ten Obscure albums were released, including works by John Adams,
Michael Nyman, and
John Cage. At this time he was also affiliating with artists in the
Fluxus movement.
In 1979/80 he collaborated with
David Byrne, of
Talking Heads, on
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, which was built around
sampling recordings and radio broadcasts from around the world. Eno collaborated with
David Bowie as a writer and musician on Bowie's influential "Berlin trilogy" of albums,
Low, "Heroes" and
Lodger, on Bowie's later album
Outside, and on the song "I'm Afraid of Americans". Eno has also collaborated with
John Cale, former member of
Velvet Underground, on his trilogy
Fear,
Slow Dazzle and
Helen of Troy,
Robert Wyatt on his
Shleep CD, with
Jon Hassell, with the German duo
Cluster, with composer
Harold Budd and others. In 1992, Eno released his take on 'club electronica' titled
Nerve Net.
In 2004,
Fripp and Eno recorded another
ambient collaboration album:
The Equatorial Stars.
Eno returned in June of 2005 with
Another Day on Earth, his first major album since
Wrong Way Up (with
John Cale) to prominently feature vocals. The album is different from his 70's solo work, as musical production has changed since then, as is evident in its semi-electronic production.
In early 2006, Eno collaborated with
David Byrne to reissue
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts in celebration of the influential album's 25th anniversary. He also co-produced
Paul Simon's latest album, called Surprise, which was released on
May 9 2006.
From the very beginning of his solo career in 1973, Eno has been much in demand as a
producer - though his management now describe him as a "sonic landscaper" rather than a producer. The first album with Eno credited as producer was Lucky Leif and the Longships by
Robert Calvert. Eno's lengthy string of producer credits includes albums for
Talking Heads,
U2,
Devo,
Ultravox and
James. He also produced part of the 1993 album
When I Was a Boy by
Jane Siberry. He won the best producer award at the 1994 and 1996
BRIT awards.
Despite being a self-professed "non-musician", Eno has contributed to recordings by a huge number of artists as varied as
Nico,
Robert Calvert,
Genesis,
Edikanfo, and
Zvuki Mu, in various capacities such as use of his studio/synthesizer/electronic treatments, vocals, guitar, bass guitar, and even just as being 'Eno'. In 1984, he composed and performed the "Prophecy Theme" for the
David Lynch film
Dune, the rest of the film's score performed by the group
Toto. Eno produced performance art singer
Laurie Anderson's
Bright Red and also composed there. The work is avant-guarde spoken word with haunting and magnifying sounds. Eno played on David Byrne's musical score for
The Catherine Wheel, a project commissioned by
Twyla Tharp to accompany her Broadway dance project of the same name.
In 1994 Eno was approached by
Mark Malamud and
Erik Gavriluk, senior designers at
Microsoft on the
Cairo project. The result was the start-up sound for the
Windows 95 operating system (which Eno created on his
Apple Macintosh). From an interview with the
San Francisco Chronicle:
The idea came up at the time when I was completely bereft of ideas. I'd been working on my own music for a while and was quite lost, actually. And I really appreciated someone coming along and saying, "Here's a specific problem – solve it." The thing from the agency said, "We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah-blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional," this whole list of adjectives, and then at the bottom it said "and it must be 3 1/4 seconds long." I thought this was so funny and an amazing thought to actually try to make a little piece of music. It's like making a tiny little jewel. In fact, I made 84 pieces. I got completely into this world of tiny, tiny little pieces of music. I was so sensitive to microseconds at the end of this that it really broke a logjam in my own work. Then when I'd finished that and I went back to working with pieces that were like three minutes long, it seemed like oceans of time.
He collaborated on the development of
SSEYO's
Koan generative music system, which he used to create his hybrid album
Generative Music 1.
Brian Eno, 1996:
"Some very basic forms of generative music have existed for a long time, but as marginal curiosities. Wind chimes are an example, but the only compositional control you have over the music they produce is in the original choice of notes that the chimes will sound. Recently, however, out of the union of synthesisers and computers, some much finer tools have evolved. Koan Software is probably the best of these systems, allowing a composer to control not one but one hundred and fifty musical and sonic parameters within which the computer then improvises (as wind improvises the wind chimes).
The works I have made with this system symbolise to me the beginning of a new era of music. Until 100 years ago, every musical event was unique: music was ephemeral and unrepeatable and even classical scoring couldn't guarantee precise duplication. Then came the gramophone record, which captured particular performances and made it possible to hear them identically over and over again.
But now there are three alternatives: live music, recorded music and generative music. Generative music enjoys some of the benefits of both its ancestors. Like live music it is always different. Like recorded music it is free of time-and-place limitations - you can hear it when and where you want.
I really think it is possible that our grandchildren will look at us in wonder and say: "you mean you used to listen to exactly the same thing over and over again?"
Using the pseudonym CSJ Bofop, 1996:
"Each of the twelve pieces on Generative Music 1 has a distinctive character. There are, of course, the ambient works ranging from the dark, almost mournful Densities III (complete with distant bells), to translucent Lysis (Tungsten). These are contrasted with pieces in dramatically different styles, such as Komarek with its hard edged, angular melodies, reminiscent of Schoenberg's early serial experiments, and Klee 42 whose simple polyphony is similar to that of the early Renaissance. But of course, the great beauty of Generative Music is that those pieces will never sound quite that way again."
Eno has also been active in other artistic genres, producing videos for gallery display and collaborating with visual artists in other endeavors. One is the set of "
Oblique Strategies" cards that he produced in the mid-70s, which was described as "100 Worthwhile Dilemmas" and intended as guides to shaking up the mind in the process of producing artistic endeavors. Another was his collaboration with artist
Russell Mills on the book
More Dark Than Shark. He was also the provider of music for
Robert Sheckley's
In the Land of Clear Colours, a narrated story with music originally published by a small art gallery in Spain.
In 1996 Brian Eno, and others, started the
Long Now Foundation to educate the public into thinking about the very long term future of society.
Eno is a columnist for the
British newspaper,
The Observer.
In 2003, he appeared on a Channel 4 discussion about the Iraq war with a top military spokesman. Eno was highly critical of the war. In 2005, he spoke at an anti-war demonstration in
Hyde Park, London. In March 2006, he spoke at an anti-war demonstration at
Trafalgar Square. He noted that 2 billion people on this planet do not have clean drinking water, and that water could have been supplied to them for about 1/5 of the cost of the
Iraq war.
In 2006, he produced Paul Simon's album
Surprise.
* 1971:
The Great Learning "Paragraphs 2 and 7" by
Cornelius Cardew (with the
Scratch Orchestra)
* 1972:
Roxy Music (by
Roxy Music)
* 1973:
For Your Pleasure (by
Roxy Music)
* 1973:
The Portsmouth Sinfonia Plays the Popular Classics (with the
Portsmouth Sinfonia)
* 1973:
Fripp & Eno (No Pussyfooting) (with
Robert Fripp)
* 1973:
Here Come the Warm Jets* 1974:
Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)* 1974:
June 1, 1974 (live)
* 1974:
Hallelujah! The Portsmouth Sinfonia Live At The Royal Albert Hall (with the
Portsmouth Sinfonia) (live)
* 1975:
Evening Star (with
Robert Fripp)
* 1975:
Another Green World* 1975:
Discreet Music* 1977:
Cluster & Eno (with
Cluster)
* 1977:
801 Live (
Phil Manzanera with Eno,
Lloyd Watson,
Francis Monkman,
Bill MacCormick, and
Simon Phillips)
* 1977:
Before and after Science* 1978:
Music for Films* 1978:
After the Heat (with
Roedelius and
Moebius)
* 1978:
Ambient #1 / Music for Airports* 1980:
Ambient #2 / The Plateaux of Mirror (with
Harold Budd)
* 1980:
Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics (with
Jon Hassell)
* 1980:
Ambient #3 / Day of Radiance (by
Laraaji, produced by Eno)
* 1981:
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (with
David Byrne)
* 1981:
Empty Landscapes* 1982:
Ambient #4 / On Land* 1983:
Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks* 1983:
Music for Films, Volume 2 (with
Daniel Lanois)
* 1984:
The Pearl (with
Harold Budd)
* 1984:
Begegnungen (compilation album with material by Eno,
Roedelius and
Moebius and
Plank)
* 1985:
Begegnungen II (compilation album with material by Eno,
Roedelius and
Moebius and
Plank)
* 1985:
Thursday Afternoon* 1985:
Hybrid (with
Daniel Lanois and
Michael Brook)
* 1986:
More Blank Than Frank/Desert Island Selection
* 1988: Music for Films, Volume 3
* 1989: Textures
* 1990: Wrong Way Up (with John Cale)
* 1992: The Shutov Assembly
* 1992: Nerve Net
* 1993: Robert Sheckley's In a Land of Clear Colours (with Pete Sinfield)
* 1993: Neroli
* 1994: Headcandy (CD-ROM)
* 1995: Spinner (with Jah Wobble)
* 1995: Original Soundtracks No. 1 (with U2)
* 1996: Generative Music 1 [5]
* 1997: The Drop
* 1997: Harmonia: '76: Tracks and Traces (with Roedelius)
* 1997: Extracts from Music for White Cube
* 1998: Lightness: Music for the Marble Palace
* 1999: I Dormienti
* 1999: Kite Stories
* 2000: Music for Civic Recovery Centre
* 2000: Music for Onmyo-Ji (with Peter Schwalm)
* 2001: Drawn From Life (with Peter Schwalm)
* 2003: Compact Forest Proposal
* 2003: January 07003 | Bell Studies for The Clock of The Long Now
* 2004: Curiosities Volume 1
* 2004: Curiosities Volume 2
* 2004: The Equatorial Stars (with Robert Fripp)
* 2005: Another Day on Earth
* 2005: More Music from Films
* 2006: 77 Million''
*Brian Eno was the inspiration for the character Brent Mini in the 1981
Philip K. Dick novel
Valis. The science-fiction writer, who usually preferred classical music, was an aficionado of Eno's
Discreet Music album.
*The character of
I-No (pronounced the same as "Eno"), in the videogame series
Guilty Gear is most likely a reference to Brian Eno. This is one of dozens of music references in the series.
*The original
Windows 95 startup sound (not the faster melody in later versions) was composed by Brian Eno.
*He once guest appeared as Father Brian Eno on the television
sitcom Father Ted.
*He reportedly has a passion for
word games. A song on his album
Before and after Science is entitled "King's Lead Hat", which is an
anagram of "
Talking Heads", a band that he has worked with. (His own name, "Brian Eno", is an anagram of "One Brain".)
*The song "Lay My Love" with
John Cale was on the soundtrack
More Music From Northern Exposure (1990-95) released in 1994.
*In March 1967, aged 18, Brian Eno married Sarah Grenville. Their daughter Hannah was born in July 1967. So Eno could easily be a grandfather ("I wish I was").
*In January 1988, Eno married Anthea Norman-Taylor. They have two girls, Irial and Darla, aged eight and six.
*According to the radio documentary
Enzology, in 1976 former
Split Enz singer/songwriter
Phil Judd showed up to a party at which Eno was also a guest with his newly shaven head. Eno commented that he was considering changing his image by shaving his head as well but now couldn't as Phil got there first. Phil jokes that Eno seemed a little annoyed, but it was all in good humour.
*
*
Ambient music*
Electronic music*
Oblique Strategies* Bracewell, Michael
Roxy Music: Bryan Ferry, Brian Eno, Art, Ideas, and Fashion (Da Capo Press, 2005) ISBN 0306814005
* Eno, Brian, Russell Mills and Rick Poynor
More Dark Than Shark (Faber & Faber, 1986, out of print)
* Eno, Brian
A Year with Swollen Appendices: Brian Eno's Diary (Faber & Faber, 1996) ISBN 0571179959
* Tamm, Eric
Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound (Da Capo Press, 1995, first published 1989) ISBN 0306806495
*
EnoShop – Brian Eno Recordings and Products Online
*
All Saints Records – All Saints Records
*
EnoWeb.co.uk â€" fan site:
News -
FAQ -
Discog -
Interviews -
Lyrics -
Liner notes*
More Dark Than Shark unofficial fan site
*
Brian Eno profile with discography and reviews of his work.
*
The Revenge of the Intuitive – Essay by Brian Eno
*
Allmusic.com entry*
BBC Music – Brian Eno*
Yahoo! Music – Brian Eno*
Open Directory Project – Brian Eno directory category
*
Brian Eno on Rhapsody*
San Francisco Chronicle Q and A With Brian Eno,
June 2 1996.
*
St. Joseph's College, Birkfield, Ipswich*
Archive.org entry*
50 Eno moments: collected for Eno's 50th birthday*
Eno cover album that Eno likes*
50 Eno moments: collected for Eno's 50th birthday
