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 - "Discreet Music" Vinyl LP

Brian Eno - Discreet Music

Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, U.S. 1983 (Originally released 1975)

Editions EG (Obscure)

Discreet Music I imagine was a life changer for Brian Eno.  One gets the impression that he was saying goodbye to the ‘pop’ world with Another Green World.  As legend has it the ‘ah ha’ moment happened when Eno was ill and recovering in bed, and friend Judy Nylon brought him an LP of ancient music of some sort.  One of the stereo speakers went out and Eno was too ill to get out of bed to fix it, so he was forced to hear it in this particular situation.  This, inspired him to do Discreet Music, which is one of the great beauties out of the ambient music world.  

I use the music to write by, especially if I need to concentrate on the page, and having difficultly doing so.  It just creeps inside my head, but it doesn’t stop me from the thinking process while writing. I’m the type of writer that needs music while writing, and this album is without a doubt the top three titles to allow me space to do what I have to do on the page. 

There is a melody that floats over the electronics, and one can even hum it if they wished.  But it is best when it is sort of there, but you can’t define it.  Erik Satie invented ‘furniture music’ and Discreet Music (the title says it all) follows the great French eccentric’s point-of-view with respect how music can serve a location or place in mind.   Side two is another favorite of mine, where Eno goes after Pachelbel’s Canon and does his magic over it.  

One time i had the  entire Obscure record label collection, that was curated and owned by Eno.  Looking back this was a very important label, because it not only introduced new composers to the world as well as the standards (John  Cage) but also connected to the pop music world at the time.  Alas, something for me to look for again.  First love is sometimes the best love.