David Byrne & Brian Eno – My Life in the Bush of Ghosts – 1981
(This review is based on the original vinyl pressing and not the expanded reissue.)
No overview of Eno or Talking Heads would be complete without taking a look at the work they did together in the midst of the Talking Heads career. In a sense, it represents everything Byrne has been trying to accomplish with the heads but was unable to, being dragged down by the albatross that is human beings with, you know, ideas of their own.
The heavy sampling of the record makes it one of the earliest albums to do so with such abandon, creating soundscapes that would become the bread and butter for the likes of Public Enemy and so many others in a couple years. It goes without saying that Byrne wouldn’t have been able to complete his masterpiece without the help of Brian Eno who had been turning ambience and sound sculpting to an art form for the previous 5 years before this record was recorded.
What this means is the record is sort of bereft of actual songs. I just mention that because, if you were a Talking Heads fan and you went into this looking for “Life During Wartime” or even “I Zimbra” you’re not going to get it. Tracks like “Mea Culpa” sound like they could have just as easily been produced by a young Jean Michel Jarre, if he wasn’t so synthesizer obsessed. These are sound pieces with music. Not quite ambient in that they are supposed to flow into the background like “Music for Airports” but more like they are supposed to provide the backing for a high end fashion district shopping experience.
Not a spa, it’s too energized for that, demands too much of your participation as a listener, and not a mall, either. But, maybe a high end shop INSIDE that mall. I’m thinking most of “Regiment” as a song I would like playing the next time I’m in Beverly Hills looking for a sports coat. (Which is never)
My Life is probably one of the most important albums of all time inasmuch as it predicated and predicted the explosion of sampling that would come and married that to african rhythms and other third world sounds. Black music could look at My Life as the template for just about everything that was about to come. For that it deserves high marks. I’m not sure when i would ever listen to this record again unless I was painting. Which is something I would like to do someday….
Ultimately, and I know that I am in the minority on this, I find My Life in the Bush of Ghosts supremely unsatisfying. I always have. I get the importance, but I’m not a fan.
Grade: B-
There’s really no one better track than the others but…
Aside: The Jezebel Spirit
BlindSide: Mea Culpa, The Carrier
DownSide: A Secret Life
