Customer Reviews

Brian Eno's Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

brian eno's original lp, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy,his second solo effort from 1974, is an often overlooked and amazingly advanced and unique record that has been one of my very favorites for years.
The idea of someone actually trying to re-create this classic and experimental work is mind-boggling. They would have to be exceptionally talented musicians with enough technical savvy to record and produce a very complex tribute, one worthy enough to present simultaneously with the re-issue of the original work, just released in the same week. They would have to know and love the original completely and be pretty brave to undertake the task.
With this disc their love of the original and the undeniable musical genius and capabilities of Doug Hilsinger and Caroleen Beatty (both are members of the San Francisco band Waycross)ring loud and clear. From beginning to end this record soars with a breathtaking beauty and confidence, exercising perfect levels of interpretive freedom yet concise restraint and respect for the original. It's not simply a soundalike, it is a celebration of an almost forgotten gem in musical history and Hilsinger and Beatty rose to the occasion with a supernatural glow and charm and wit. Their version of "Third Uncle," likely the most well-known song from TTMBS, stomps and lilts with a dichotomous force, somehow sounding sped up and slowed down simultaneously--yet completely recognizable. This record is exciting from end to end--as you will see from the liner notes, Brian Eno couldn't have been happier with their labor of love. This disc is essential for all.

the two folks who put this together opened for Camper Van Beethoven locally to me not too long ago. I'd figured it would be sort of tedious, but I was amazed to find myself completely into it. The album captures a lot of the sheer electrical excitement of that performance, though- regrettably- not all of it.
While the original album's one of my favorite albums period (and certainly my favorite Eno solo album), the new sensibilities that Beatty and Hilsinger bring to a couple of the tracks are especially impressive- I find their interpretation of 'Mother Whale Eyeless' to be vocally superior (I know, I know; I'm a heretic), and I like the tweaks they did to the rhythm of Third Uncle.
My only real complaint is that a lot of the songs do not take the original as a jumping-off point. I think that the Hilsinger/Beatty covers work a bit better when they are experimenting, and going off in a new direction from the original work: color-by-numbers covers have always displeased me, as if I wanted to listen to the same performance as the album someone else wrote, I'd put on the album that someone else wrote.

For those that who have made it this far. it's a good bet you are either an Eno fan or doing a term paper on post-revolutionary Maoist rock opera, a genre that would probably not exist in most realities if not for Eno. Personally, I would like to see all of Eno's early works sliced, diced and served with a good spud. This particular outing by Hilsinger and Beatty, previously unknown to me, is a very fine rock interpretation of Eno's experimental 1974 classic. Caroleen Beatty sounds a bit like Debra Harry; the guitar and percussion work are well thought out. This is as close to a perfect remake of Tiger Mountain as we will likely ever see. At present it takes 7 weeks for Amazon to deliver this jewel. It will probably be out of print soon. If you can part with $15, buy it now. Worse case scenario, it will go out of print and be a hot commodity on ebay. I mean, no one else is writing music based on militaristic-cartoono-operatic playing cards anymore. This may be your last chance.

Hats off to Doug Hilsinger and Caroleen Beatty for recreating Eno's classic album. It's amazing how they captured the sound and spirit of the original, while giving it their own sonic stamp of inspiration and creativity. By emphasizing the multi-tracked guitars and the hard rock beat, Doug modernizes an already modern rock masterpiece. Caroleen's vocals add some wonderful emotional punch to Eno's witty, oblique lyrics. This is definitely an album to crank.

This lp rocks in a very contemporary way and yet remains sensitive to the great Eno original. If you don't know the original pick them both up, if you do, you know what to get to help you relisten to a classic!

Doug Hilsinger's CD made with Caroleen Beatty is unique in that in improves on an outstanding original. This modern, rocked up and updated version of Taking Tiger Mountain has a joy and liveliness in its presentation that takes the music to a new and enjoyable level. You can tell that these two artists not only are very good at what they do, but, obviously, enjoyed and had fun making the CD. Each song is a great listen and the CD as a whole is extemely well done. Thanks Doug and Caroleen for giving us this great new version of a classic Eno album! As Eno himself said about the CD: "I liked it very, very much".

I've been a Brian Eno fan as well as a fan of the music produced by Caroleen Beatty and Doug Hilsinger for a long time. So this album is like a dream come true. I listen to it over and over again. It brought an old favorite back to life with more rock. So it makes sense that I can't see why anyone wouldn't love this album. But of course we all have different tastes. That being said, I simply do not understand how anyone could speak ill of the voice of Caroleen Beatty! It is profoundly beautiful! If you're lucky, you've been able to see them perform this remake live with the Enorchestra, too.

I really like this take on Tiger Mountain, where normally I am not much of a fan of covers. For anyone who loved the original album, this is worth checking out. Listening to this version regularly deepened my appreciation and enjoyment of the original.

I would not call it a reinterpretion (as the Amazon capsule says) or a reimagining. For most songs, it has very similar notes and rhythm; the main exception is Third Uncle, which adds a bit of boogie swing to the beat.

On the other hand, every bit of it sounds different in both subtle and not subtle ways. Phish, with their various cover's of classics done live, mostly strive to keep to the original, to a greater extent than we have here.

Using a woman with a somewhat androgynous voice (at least, as used in some places) is a fine way to cover Brian Eno's character, and her voice is a major feature of this recording.

The instrumentation, done mainly by one person, is the other obvious feature. Clearly a labor of love, Hilsinger plays very well. Modern recording technology makes the music literally burst forth in ways that it could not back in 1974.

In the original vinyl pressing I had from 1974, Great Pretender ended Side 1 with something like electronic frogs which went into the center groove, thus repeating until the needle was lifted. These "frogs" sound very different here and simply fade out (like all CD's of Eno's version). I certainly appreciate the creators' decision to shun synths, samples, and sequencers, but I on the original for this sound in particular, Eno may have used technology of the time that one could see as comparable.

The closing (title) track shimmers, and I learned a whole new appreciation for that song that I did not have on the original.

I can't guarantee that every Eno fan will love this album as much as I do, but I would certainly recommend giving it a try in case you do.

I would give this 4.5 stars if I could. It doesn't seem right to give this the same 5-star rating as the original.

A true labor of love from two very talented musicians. I cannot recommend this disc enough to any Eno fan. As a matter of fact, TTMBS (the original) should be re-released as a double disc set to include this disc. After my 30+ years of listening to the original, Doug and Caroleen have managed to recreate the entire album with creativity, beauty and balance. I would have thought this to be an impossible feat, but I have to say the songs have been recreated beautifully without the type of upstaging that Bauhaus used in their cover of Third Uncle. Great job in the layering of the multi-tracks, interesting choice of musical instruments, wonderfully rendered vocals and a heart of it's own. I can't imagine not owning this disc. Highly recommended to Eno fans! I would just love to see this performed live!

A fabulous re-creation of the original classic,even Eno himself congratulated them on a job well done.Buy this,you don't know what you are missing.