Customer Reviews

14 Video Paintings - Brian Eno

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's good to see these video pieces by Brian Eno out on DVD. I own both on VHS and have enjoyed them over the years, particularly the Manhattan pieces. I probably would have watched them more frequently but for the rather inconvenient matter of having to roll my television on its side because of the vertical format. Once, I tried to simulate this by the considerably easier method of turning my self on my side, but it was surprisingly ineffective as entertainment. (I do recommend it for inducing sleep.) Happily, the DVD offers both vertical and horizontal viewing options.

Now, no one should sit down with this DVD with friends and popcorn and expect to be entertained. I like the title "video paintings." They don't move much. So, I recommend, in the true "ambient" tradition, put these on and go about your business. Go in and out of the room, read the paper, have conversations, whatever.

The DVD of Brian Eno's Thursday Afternoon is finally out on DVD, packaged with Memories of Midiaeval Manhattan, another ambient video project from the early 80's. Both pieces are formatted vertically, but for those of us unable to tip their monitors or TVs on their sides, horizontal can be chosen as an option.

The concept here is that video, like sound, can be a decorative element in a space and not have to be "watched' in the traditional sense. All these pieces have ambient music and the static, almost still pictures change veerrrrrrrrry slowly over time and then fade out. The Manhattan pieces all feature dramatic shots of the New York skyline, most with clouds surging by and recalling the paintings of Constable. Thursday Afternoon is one long continuous track of music with several different video treatments of a naked woman in a tub and other places.

I have always been a big Eno fan and enjoy these more than other installations of his I have seen. That said, this is not for everybody. I was very glad to find them in print, and you may enjoy this stuff if you're an ambient fan.

Video, in this release, is like a form of painting with light. Images shift slightly and slowly, then fade in and out. The images themselves are very carefully selected-- in "Mistaken Memories" they are shots of the skyline of New York, often with the sky figuring prominently, and, especially, clouds. "Thursday Afternoon" showcases the body and face of a woman, in different postures and poses.

It is interesting that the music, especially in "Mistaken Memories", was not created for the video exclusively, but appeared in "Music For Airports" and "On Land", with, I believe, one previously unreleased piece. As a result, though relaxing, I wondered from time to time what the swamp and bog sounds had to do with the shots of New York. But the power of the shots themselves and the quality of the music, though somewhat disparate, won out in the end.

This project is great for sitting back, and focusing on the things in life that change more slowly over time.

I've heard about these video "pieces" by Brian Eno for years, and I was overjoyed when I heard they've made it to DVD. I love Eno's music and his colloberations with other musicians (most notably Talking Heads) over the years, so I was looking forward to these.

The videos were shot in the "vertical" format, so if you watched them on the original VHS copy, you were supposed to turn your TV on its right side. Well, there really is no such thing as the "vertical" format. The "vertical" format really means "Eno was too cheap to buy a tripod, so you have to risk destroy your TV or neck to watch my stuff". Eno didn't have a tripod for his camera, so he put it on its right side. Regardless, are these videos worth watching? Yes and no.

If you are an Eno fan, this is a must for you. The 2 compositions (Thursday Afternoon, which is 20 minutes longer here than on the CD of the same name), and shots of Manhattan (the actual name is much longer and I don't remember it now) are typically beautiful, ethereal, gorgeous ambient music by one of the masters of the genre. The videos look nice and go well with the music. The video can be seen in the "original vertical" format, or they can be viewed in the horizontal format, which means the images would look normal. I suggest watching them in the vertical format because it gives the imagery a more surreal, other worldly look (especially the Manhattan shots, which look like shots from an Alexander Sokurov film). Watching them in the horizontal, "realistic" format makes them boring, just as bad as Warhol's Empire (an 8 hour film of the top of the Empire State Building). The Manhattan video is the better one here. The Thursday Afternoon video is good, but there are shots that just go on forever (the worst offender is when the model is in a pool for nearly 20 minutes).

I like Eno's music a lot, so I appreciated these videos more. If you're not a fan of his work, stay away. This DVD will feel like unending self indulgence to you. Eno is not a filmmaker, but the imagery is good enough for his excellent music. Now if he did this sort of project with a real filmmaker, that would be something!

Well, here he is. Brian Eno. I'm glad to see that this stuff made it to the DVD format as I have both videos on VHS. However, I'm not planning on buying the video in the new format. Once I turned my TV on its side to watch a video and the television had to be degaused. Pretty funny, Eno. Nice one. If you have a television you can spare, I would highly recommend forever leaving it on its side to view the video properly. Of course that adds to the cost of the piece. Or perhaps you could have surgery to make yourself sideways turned permanently. I enjoy Eno's silliness those days I have tolerance for it.

I have loved Eno's CD Thursday Afternoon ever since it came out and now finally I have the DVD of the "installation". It is fantastic. The piece "Thursday" is simply spectacular by itself, consisting of lone notes that seemingly randomly occur for over 60 minutes and which create a unique soundscape. The images he has created to accompany them which slowly fade are simly breat-taking. Hughly recommended. Beautiful.

I am ipressed by the simple purity of these pieces.
They do convince through their clyrity and beauty!
No compromise to mainstraem taste, just pure lust of observing and pining down the essence of emotional excitment! wonderful!!

14 Video Paintings by Brian Eno is exactly what I expected and hoped for: an 'art-y', slightly pretentious but riveting video experience. As an artist, photographer and lover of all-things-Eno I'm very happy with the purchase.

Unless you are a fan of Brian Eno. The videos are way too dark in color and nothing you couldn't do with your DV camera. If you buy it you will take a look at it and put it for sale again or leaving it aside collecting dust.

I love Eno music but this video presentation is on the boring side. Depends alot on your mood at the time. Great to mellow one out if had a bad day at the office. Or great to use as a background effect cleaning out the birdcage.