Brian Eno - "My Squelchy Life" 2 x Vinyl, Limited Edition, Album, 2015 (Opal Records)

Keeping up with Brian Eno stopped around "Discreet Music" and "Before and After Science."  At the time I figured I got all the Eno I need.   And when he went on the route to U2 and Coldplay, I pretty much played his older recordings as a memory of his greatness.   And over the years, after those two solo albums, I have found traces of his music that I like a lot, but not essential to my budget or grand interest.  Recently I re-discovered Eno through his recent album "The Ship."  That album seemed to be the brother or sister to Gavin Bryars' fantastic "Sinking of the Titanic" album, which was released through Eno's label at the time, Obscure Records.  "My Squelchy Life" was supposed to be released in the early 1990s, but he pulled the album before its official release date.  In 2015, for Record Store Day, the vinyl edition of 4,000 copies was released.  It's a great Eno album.

In theory what happened is that Eno wanted his album to release the September of that year, but the record label insisted that they wanted to put "My Squelchy Life" early next year.  Eno's thought is that he would want to put something different out at that time, so in the artistic sense, it's very logical.  On the business level, the record label was also being logical.  So logically this album disappeared and showed up as a bootleg once in a while.  Now, it's officially released.   "My Squelchy Life" is the last great pop orientated Eno album.  Beautiful songs, great recordings & performances, and touches of genius throughout the album.  

"Not To Fail in the Harness" is the song with the killer riff, which is either guitar or a keyboard.  Like the other Eno recordings, all instruments are treated through his magic tricks in the recording studio.  A lot of the songs are dreamy, but some are funk workouts that are not far from the Miles Davis electric era.  The strong bass playing, and with traces of African beats, also reminds one of the David Byrne match-ups or traces of The Talking Heads.   Still, I like this album much more than "Before and After Science."   Robert Fripp appears here and there, as well as the underrated fantastic guitarist Robert Quine. 

When Eno does pop, he's a great melodist.  His wishful vocals bring sunshine to his material.  "Little Apricot" is Eno playing piano and it's a sweet piece.  "My Squelchy Life (especially on vinyl) is a sonic delight full of little surprises.  It's an excellent way to be re-introduced into Eno's world.  

Brian Eno - "Before and After Science" Vinyl LP

Brian Eno - Before and After Science

 Vinyl Album, U.S. 1977

Island Records

An album I like but never loved for some reason.  I think more in the context of what Eno was doing during this period of music activity.  At this time he had produced both Talking Heads and Devo’s first album, as well as Ultravox’s debut recording as well.   All albums he produced are very good, but the weak link in all of them is actually Eno’s production.  

I think he took his ideas to these other albums, and in one way they were wonderful, but also I got the feeling that he was more interested in what he can do with the band, then what the band can actually do.  For instance Devo, who I have seen numerous times before the first album was recorded, is much more of an intense force.  But through Eno’s assistance the sound is actually watered down, and I feel the same way about the Talking Heads albums as well.  I missed the noise out of the mix from his early recordings.  In other words his recordings became more respectable and ‘pleasant’ sounding.  The grooves on Before and After Science are funky, sound sonically great, but the genius aspect of Eno’s technique is missing.   Or perhaps it is me that lost the groove with Eno?  

The one classic song on this album is  “King’s Lead Hat” which when I first heard it in 1977, I thought it was a Devo reject.  The rest of the album flows like a flower in a glass of water, yet, I missed the tension of noise, sound, and melody of his earlier works.