Saturday, January 16, 2010

Oreilles Gauloises (Classics Edition) : Here Come the Warm Jets (Brian Eno)



Brian Eno is mostly known for his work as a music producer (U2, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Coldplay, etc.), or his short stint as a member of Roxy Music in the early seventies (the first two Roxy Music albums - Roxy Music (1972) and For Your Pleasure (1973) in which Eno is listed under "synthesizer and tapes", are a must in any glam rock fan's music collection!).

But Eno also has an extensive catalog of his own musical work, either as a solo artist or in collaboration with other musicians, a career that started after his departure from Roxy Music in 1973, with the release of his first solo album Here Come the Warm Jets that same year. He's made many albums since, but this one remains my favorite! There isn't one bad song on this album! There are so many innovative sounds on this release, it's hard to find a (good) contemporary musician today who hasn't been inspired by Eno's work in general, and this album in particular. Eno has this amazing ability to write very weird and experimental songs that still sound very melodic and super-catchy ("Needles in the Camel's Eyes", "Cindy Tells Me", "Baby's on Fire", "Dead Fink don't Talk").

On this album, Eno gets help from fellow Roxy Music alums Phil Manzanera and Andy Mackay, as well as the amazing Robert Fripp (with whom he would make other albums), and future King Crimson bassist/singer John Wetton. Warm Jets and many other Eno albums were reissued and remastered a few years ago by Astralwerks, who did a masterful job! I would urge anyone to check those albums out (at least through 1977's Before & after Science, and many of the ambient works he's released since 1978's Ambient 1: Music for Airports). Dive in and discover the wonderful musical world of Brian Eno!

2 comments:

C - Log said...

Can you shed any light on the origin of the name of the album, Signor del Banco?

Does it have anything to do with the 1959 movie Here Come the Jets?

Karlissimo del Banco said...

Cher Monsieur Rondin de Fromage,

There are several theories floating out there regarding the origin of the title: the first one, which I've read somewhere, is that it refers to the small picture on the cover with the man bending down to a squatting woman "relieving" herself (the "warm jets"). I've also heard that Eno named the album after the peculiar sound of the guitar on the album's title track, which he thought sounded like a "tuned jet" engine. As far as I know, it has nothing to do with the movie Here Come the Jets, but I could be wrong - Eno is a *very* strange person...

Veuillez agréer, Monsieur l'expression de ma plus haute considération

Karlissimo del Banco

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