Log #15 - Enofield - The Differing Paths of Two Iconic Soloists from the 1970s

Hey And Away We Go
Through The Grass Cross The Snow
Big Brown Beastie
Big Brown Face
I'd Rather Be With You
Than Flying Through Space

Some groove and beats this week with three compilations (two from the excellent Ninja Tunes label), world beats from the brilliantly named Up Bustle and Out (also from the Ninja label), and a DJ set of funk groove from Nightmares on Wax.

But the no. 1 album this week is Mike Oldfield's Ommadawn and it's cover showing Oldfield as a rather Christ like figure graces the head of this blog post. Of course it is mostly instrumental with Oldfield playing nearly all instruments himself, as he famously did on his breakthrough album Tubular Bells - an album that apparently launched the Virgin company (and one of those classics present in every household, although strangely not mine).

The album, his third, was another attempt to follow the template and success of Tubular Bells, after the previous Hergest Ridge. Each side long piece contains folk themes and Irish reel flavours. The lyrics above are from a short chant like folk song at the end of side two, also known as On Horseback. At a point during the second track comes some lovely bubbling keyboard sounding just like contemporary Genesis. Like Tubular Bells which was the subject of two sequels I have learnt that Oldfield's latest album is a sequel to Ommadawn and will be released this month with the title Return to Ommadawn. Like classic films it's rarely a good plan to revisit but who knows.  Apart from a hit in the early 80s with Moonlight Shadow and an appearance at the monumental 2012 Olympics opening ceremony Mike Oldfield seems to be one of those artists forever associated with the early 70s and specifically a debut album he recorded in 1973 when he was only 20. I often think how strange it must feel for an artist with a 40 year career to have achieved his peak with only his first or second album (a fate common to many).

1. Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn
2. Brian Eno - Apollo
3. Xen Ninja Cuts Compilation - CD. 1
4. Up Bustle and Out - Light 'em Up Blow 'em Out
5. Nightmares on Wax - Late Night Tales
6. Sounds of the New West Compilation

On the other hand Brian Eno seems to have maintained ample contemporary relevance and street cred throughout his career which also began in the early 70s, with Roxy Music. He quickly tired of his role as a glam rock icon relaunching himself as a solo writer (he never refers to himself as a musician), ambient music pioneer, music producer and digital artist (like many pop stars of the time including Roxy bandmate Bryan Ferry he did go to Art School).

Brian Eno's beautiful 77 Million Paintings

Here in Brighton we were treated to a Brian Eno residency during the 2010 Brighton Festival and were able to sample his artwork, installations, music promotions, talks, and a rare live performance of his Apollo album.

Every astronaut was allowed to take one cassette of their favourite music. All but one took country and western. They were cowboys exploring a new frontier, this one just happened to be in space. We worked the piece around the idea of zero-gravity country music.

Apollo is a beautiful album of stillness and relaxation, and includes the gorgeous Ascent theme. Accompanied by footage of the Apollo missions the live experience was transcendental.  The original recording featured Daniel Lanois on pedal steel guitar (BJ Cole in the live performance) giving some of the tracks a country twinge. It sounds a bit of an unusual marriage but the guitar blends magnificently with the otherworldly synthesizers.

The Earthrise shot from Apollo 11

For a "non-musician" Eno certainly has an amazing ear for melody. Did you know he is also responsible for the original Windows start up jingle? Imagine the commission rights on that!:

The thing from the agency said, "We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah-blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional," this whole list of adjectives, and then at the bottom it said "and it must be 3.25 seconds long."

Up Bustle and Out are a "collective" from Bristol. I think a collective in this context means a bunch of session musicians who come together in various formats around a central core of regulars (rather like my social cricket team that has a mailing list near a hundred but only requires eleven at a time). Their remit is definitely world music with an infectious dance beat edge demonstrated through forays into flamenco, cuban (get their magnificent Master Sessions volumes), and reggae music, with heavy doses of hip hop (or trip hop, not sure of the difference). Certainly the energetic drummer(s) earn their keep. They are pretty underground - the blurry photo below being the only one I could find of the wider group!

Some of the Up Bustle and Out crowd

The Nightmares on Wax compilation is from the Late Night Tales series. The songs including some well known classics from Dusty Springfield, Tony Allen and Quincy Jones, are down tempo and blended nicely.

The Ninja CDs (x3) showcases the best of the label with tracks from the aforementioned Up Bustle and Out, Mr Scruff, Coldcut, Luke Vibert, Kid Koala, DJ Vadim, The Herbaliser, Funki Porcini, DJ Food, The Cinematic Orchestra and Hexstatic.  I used to live with a DJ - practically his whole collection was Ninja label so I had a comprehensive introduction to these sounds.

I find these sorts of compilations strangely double equally well as party music or dinner party music. Maybe its to do with their carefully sequenced balance of tempo, dynamics and mood.

Lastly a revisit to an excellent free CD I received on the cover of Uncut magazine which I've mentioned before. The original compilation appeared in 1998 and was obviously a success as subsequent volumes have followed. This CD introduced me to many excellent Americana bands such as The Handsome Family, Lambchop, Calexico and Willard Grant Conspiracy.