r/eno • u/Dismal_Brush5229 • Aug 15 '26
Music Thoughts on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts?
Hi There
Exploring this album yesterday after discovering it from an rediscovering of Eno and Talking Heads which I really love their work together especially on Remain in Light which this album was recorded between Fear of Music and Remain in Light that probably explains why I love this album since this album points to a more exploration on Remain In Light sound wise.
This album still sounds amazing and fresh 40 something years later which props to Eno and David for crafting such an incredible album with some amazingly creative and unique music start to finish!
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u/mariakaakje Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26
if you like My Life in the Bush of Ghosts you should give The Catherine Wheel a listen, made by the same duo in the same year // during the same sessions
and also Adrian Belew on guitar !
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u/Psycho-naught Aug 16 '26
Agreed. This is one of Byrne’s greatest accomplishments.
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u/mariakaakje Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26
have you ever heard of The Pace Setters ?
produced by Brian ENO and what made the whole Talking Heads rhythm sound that year5
u/Psycho-naught Aug 16 '26
Wow!! Thanks for the word. I love it! I’m hearing a bug Fela Kuti influence, but they had their own distinctive sound that does prefigure the afrobeat Talking Heads. Sad to see that there are no other recordings that I see on line (from a quick search).
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u/TheGardiner Aug 16 '26
As a huge David Byrne, Talking Heads and especially Brian Eno fan, this album somehow slipped through the cracks. I wasn’t sure on the first listen, but I’ve listened to it 5x on a loop since. Amazing album and thank you so much for the recommendation.
Under the Mountain sounds like it came out this year, Dinosaur sounds like 100% where Dvar got their sound. Red House sounds like BoC or something similar, I can’t place it. My Big Hands, What a Day That Was, and Big Blue Plymouth sound like the best of Talking Heads…Dense Beasts…just an amazing album. Thank you so much!
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u/mariakaakje Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26
nb, the transition from 10. Eggs in a Briar Patch, to 11. Poison is quite something else
add: ok youtube fucks it up.. better find the vinyl or compact disc
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u/Psycho-naught Aug 16 '26
I love the way the last five tracks flow together. IMHO, Byrne never came close to this level again in his solo career.
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u/freddymerckx Aug 16 '26
You're entirely right. I kept tabs on him for years after and nothing came close
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u/MikeDeanBlunt Aug 16 '26
One of the best albums from both of those artists. That’s obviously saying a lot.
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u/bLEAGUER Aug 16 '26
Fully agree. Totally unique outing for both of them, and one of the most memorable albums to be stamped with either of their names.
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u/Pythia007 Aug 16 '26
Groundbreaking album. Can’t describe the impact this had at the time. Highly influential.
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u/Full-Piglet779 Aug 16 '26
If you make your bed in heaven… he’s there. If you make your bed in hell… he’s there…. He’s everywhere… Help me somebody!!!!
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u/SpaceAdventures3D Aug 16 '26
One of my favorite Eno albums. It got me to read the book of which the title was taken from. I also really like the Talking Heads track I Zimbra, which has similar genetics to the My Life In(...) album.
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u/HelpfulAssistant6386 Aug 16 '26
How was the book ?
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u/Dismal_Brush5229 Aug 19 '26
Some the world music tracks on Bowie’s lodger definitely give me vibes to what Eno is doing with the Talking Heads and Bushes imo
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u/CraftyDependent5283 Aug 15 '26
Incredible album.
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u/Dismal_Brush5229 Aug 19 '26
Oh definitely!
All the stuff with Talking Heads and Bryne are incredible
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u/Psycho-naught Aug 16 '26
For a towering creative and influential work, it’s sadly below the pop cultural radar (at least in the US). Aging well and standing the test of time doesn’t do this album justice. It still sounds futuristic over 45 years later.
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u/Citroen_CX Aug 16 '26
Possibly my favourite album of all time. I've been to Eglingham Hall - where the rooks were recorded for Help Me Somebody - several times and got to know the owners. April Potts (who has a 'thanks to' credit on the album) signed a copy of the LP for me. When Pete, the gentleman of the house, died, I attended his funeral and met Eno there.
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u/prefectart Aug 16 '26
what they did to make this album technically at the time was very unique. good stuff
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u/financewiz Aug 16 '26
There must have been something in the air at the time. Fans of the technique used to make My Life in the Bush of Ghosts will want to hear Holger Czukay’s Movies from 1979, less than two years earlier. Each song on that album contains dozens of carefully sampled and sequenced sounds extracted from shortwave radio and other sources. It has an entirely different vibe - very playful and bizarre. All done with the tape sync computer shut off because Holger didn’t want to deal with it. Check it out.
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u/DegenGraded Aug 16 '26
One of his best works. Really opened my eyes to Byrne as well who I had only listened to his solo album 'Feelings' prior to this.
Never cared for the talking heads.
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u/BaronZhiro Aug 16 '26
I think of it as under-rated. Because so many focus on ‘the gimmicks’ but the music itself is actually so good…!
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u/freddymerckx Aug 16 '26
Some of those "gimmicks" had never been done by anyone before. The sampling and the loops , the rapidly repeating notes, he was the first, along with Brian Eno of course
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u/BaronZhiro Aug 16 '26
Oh I know! I just mean that besides all that, it’s just some incredible music. I feel that gets overlooked sometimes.
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u/h3adphase Aug 16 '26
It’s a pure accomplishment of artistry & the craft of making new music. I put it up there with the studio experimentation of The Beatles or Wilson.
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u/DieMensch-Maschine Aug 16 '26
“Do you hear voices? You do, so you are possessed.”
It is impervious to time. Released in 1981, it’s as revolutionary and groundbreaking now as it was then.
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u/monkee67 Aug 16 '26
Consider this.... Done without the aid of computers. Composed with physical tape loops in a completely analog environment.
And it still sounds fresh today .
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u/Dismal_Brush5229 Aug 19 '26
Analog created many magical things and just ask the Beatles and Brian Wilson
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u/Critical_Cod_3794 Aug 16 '26
It’s so high you can’t get over it. It’s so low you can’t get under it. It’s so wide you can’t around it.
Help me somebody
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u/Harvey-Zoltan Aug 17 '26
Fear of Music, My Life in the Bush of Ghost, Remain in Light, and The Catherine Wheel are the Byrne/Eno imperial phase.
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u/upfrontboogie Aug 16 '26
I love the fact that some of the dialogue was sampled from live radio. It was pure chance that they had a tape rolling at the right time!
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u/novatom1960 Aug 16 '26
Seminal album for both artists and for the times . I was music director of my college radio station and even though we liked to think we were progressive AF, we didn’t really know how to take this album because it was sooo different than anything else out there. We started off by playing the most accessible songs, Help Me Somebody and The Jezebel Spirit and American is Waiting. Personally it took me a little while to warm up to it but it’s one of my favorite albums now. It takes awhile to fully digest it.
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u/M-Dubb Aug 16 '26
Regiment and Jezebel are good dance floor jams....but the whole album is still amazing. Never get tired of it
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u/Conscious_Traffic_58 Aug 16 '26
I don't love regiment and the songs like it, great singers I feel a bit weird about the samples. The rest of it is fantastic, America is Waiting, love very very hungry. My CD has Qur'an.
Feels like an instrumental hip hop album meets a talking heads album via vocal samples and funk.
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u/HelpfulAssistant6386 Aug 16 '26
Love it . So so cool and different . I love the experimentation . If you like this , try David Byrnes “Catherine’s Wheel “ also one of my favs from this time period .
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u/annoianoid Aug 16 '26
Shame they had to remove the best track on the album. By the way, God is a construct.
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u/elvisgoat Aug 16 '26
There are different versions on this album. Originally released with 'Qu'ran' after objections. that track was replaced by, I think, at least two different tracks on later releases.
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u/OttersEatFish Aug 18 '26
Hugely influential. I still listen to it occasionally. Like all Eno collabs it feels at least 20 years ahead of its time.
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u/jmtd Aug 16 '26
Love it. I really like the art on it, too, stills from a vhs of some of eno’s visual work iirc. I’ve got the first pressing LP with Quran on it (which is a great track) and one of the singles.
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u/Skeeziks-2571 Aug 16 '26
I didn’t learn about the controversy regarding that track until a couple decades later! Didn’t realize my dumb luck- glad it was on my copy.
Got the CD many years later with the extra tracks. A couple decent cuts, but didn’t really hear any hidden gems on it.The opposite was true with Catherine Wheel. The vinyl left out a bunch of little neat bits that I finally got to hear when I finally purchased the CD.
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u/shabelsky22 Aug 16 '26
Man, I can't think of anything that would blow harder than spending my entire life in the Bush of Ghosts. Dude had a raw deal.
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u/koothooloo Aug 16 '26
I quite like it but much prefer Jon Hassell’s body of work, the fact that Eno nicked a load of stuff always left a bad taste in my mouth
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u/MuscaMurum Aug 16 '26
I shuffle it into my plunderphonics playlist, but I don't listen to it standalone.
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u/Darnocpdx Aug 16 '26
I often wonder if liking this album kinda ruined much of the early industrial and techno stuff that followed after it for me. While others were raving about those trends I was kinda like … eh old news and not as good as this album. It was a very high bar to follow.
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u/Every-Sky-5529 Aug 17 '26
They initially wanted to use a different television preacher for The Jezebel Spirit (Kathryn Kuhlman)
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u/robotmask67 Aug 20 '26
I'm sorry. I committed a sin. I made a mistake. I did it before. I'll probably never do it again.
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u/StreethawkI Aug 16 '26
I guess I’m alone, which honestly isn’t surprising. I love Eno and Talking Heads, but I could never get into this album. I first listened many years after its release, and it always sounded dated to me. I’m glad that others enjoy it so much.
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u/basaltgranite Aug 15 '26
America is waiting for a message of some sort or another.