Brian Eno – A Big Speaker Tour De Force

More of the Music of Brian Eno

Hot Stamper Pressings of Art Rock Recordings Available Now

If you have a big speaker and the kind of high quality playback capable of unraveling the most complex musical creations, with all the weight and power of live music, this is the record that will make all your audio effort and expense worthwhile.

Repeat As Necessary

Like Roxy Music’s first album, this is a powerhouse that not only rewards repeated listenings but requires them. Music like this simply cannot be digested at one sitting. Like the Beatles said, It’s All Too Much. But the more you hear it the more you will be able to understand it and appreciate it and, if you’re like me, really start to love it (I hope).

I’ve been listening to this album since the mid-70s and in all that time I have never tired of it. To me it’s the very definition of a Desert Island Disc: a record that knocks me out every time I play it and never wears out its welcome. It’s still fresh and “cutting edge” (if I can use that term) forty odd years after its release. (801 Live from 1976 is the same way.)

The Sound

This album is all about sound, pure sound itself if you will: the sound of the instruments, their textures, and the textures of the soundscape Eno has created for them. Much of that information is lost or perverted on the LP reissues and of course the CD. Only these British originals sound like they are made from fresh master tapes on rich, sweet tubey-magical, super high resolution cutting equipment.

With the subtle harmonics of Eno’s treated sounds captured onto vinyl intact, the magic of the experience far exceeds just another batch of catchy songs with clever arrangements. It truly becomes an immersive experience; sounds you’ve never heard in quite that way draw you into their world, each more interesting than the next.

Brian Eno and other Art Rockers of the period were clearly dedicated to making higher quality recordings, recordings that could only come to life in the homes of those with the most advanced audio equipment. Credit the work of the amazing Rhett Davies for some of the best albums of the 70s: this one, 801 Live, Diamond Head, Dire Straits’ first album, and more.

My system was forced to evolve in order to reproduce the scores of challenging recordings issued by Eno in the 70s. The love you have for your favorite music has to be the driving force of your progress in audio if you want to achieve world class sound.

Other records that helped me advance in audio can be found here.

Taking Tiger Mountain checks off a few of our favorite boxes:

The Fat Lady of Limbourg

Well I rang up Pantucci
spoke to Lucia
Gave them all
they needed to know

If affairs are proceeding
as we’re expecting
Soon enough
the weak spots will show

I assume you understand that we have options on your time
And will ditch you in the harbour if we must
But if it all works out nicely,
you’ll get the bonus you deserve
From doctors we trust.

The Fat Lady of Limbourgh
Looked at the samples that we sent
And furrowed her brow
You would never believe that
She’d tasted Royalty and Fame
If you saw her now

But her sense of taste is such that she’ll distinguish with her tongue
The subtleties a spectrograph would miss
And announce her decision
while demanding her reward
A jelly fish kiss.

Now we checked out this duck quack
Who laid a big egg oh so black
it shone just like gold.
And the kids from the city
finding it pretty
Took it home
and there it was sold

It was changing hands for weeks
Till someone left it by their fire
And it melted to a puddle on the floor
For it was only a candle
a Roman scandal
Oh oh
and now it’s a pool.

That’s what we’re paid for
That’s what we’re paid for
That’s what we’re paid for
here.

Further Reading

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