BRIAN ENO & DAVID BYRNE: MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS

I never thought that a collaboration between Brian Eno & David Byrne could reap such a rewarding album for its listeners! After Brian Eno's first collaboration with Talking Heads and just before the release of their second collaboration which resulted in a masterpiece known as Remain In Light Eno & Byrne made a little side project. This is how the music on My Life In The Bush Of Ghost came to be. The record is especially famous for mixing in sampled vocals into the music which might not be all that significant in out sampling day and age but was pretty innovating back then. This was after all the time before digital sequencing and MIDI sampling, meaning that all the sampled voices had to be synchronized with the instrumental tracks completely manually. What a tedious process that must have been!

The music here ranges from World Music to Electronica to Funk and it's a real blast for all senses to sit through. I think that the album opener America Is Waiting, Help Me Somebody and The Jezebel Spirit basically incorporate all of the different styles and direction featured on the album so I really recommend checking them out!

I was originally a bit surprised that the track Qu'ran was missing from my version of the CD. According to Wikipedia "In the 1982 second edition, the track "Qu'ran"-which features samples of Qur'anic recital-was removed at the request of the Islamic Council of Great Britain". In its place a B-side of The Jezebel Spirit single called Very, Very Hungry was substituted. It would have been nice to hear the original version of this album but, just like Eno & Byrne, I think that the difficult issue was well worth respecting. Besides, Very, Very Hungry is a wonderful substitute and blends perfectly in with the rest of the album.

Although Eno & Byrne would collaborate again in 2008 the whole saying that the original is best definitely applies well here since My Life In The Bush Of Ghost is still by far the best and most influential work of this duo. I strongly recommend it to fans of Progressive Electronica and although it might not appeal to all tastes the music is original enough to make it an excellent addition to any prog rock music collection!

***** star songs: America Is Waiting (3:39) Help Me Somebody (4:17) The Jezebel Spirit (4:57)

**** star songs: Mea Culpa (4:58) Regiment (4:11) Very Very Hungry (3:21) Moonlight In Glory (4:30) The Carrier (4:20) A Secret Life (2:32) Come With Us (2:43) Mountain Of Needles (2:39)