David Byrne, Brian Eno, Brian Eno, David Byrne, Tim Wright, Busta Jones, Bill Laswell, Chris Frantz, David Van Tieghem, John Cooksey - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

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Track Listings

1	America Is Waiting - Brian Eno/David Byrne
2	Mea Culpa
3	Regiment
4	Help Me Somebody
5	The Jezebel Spirit
6	Very, Very Hungry
7	Moonlight in Glory
8	The Carrier
9	A Secret Life
10	Come with Us
11	Mountain of Needles

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Released in 1981, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts is a collaboration between ambient pioneer Brian Eno and Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. On Ghosts, the two strong-willed musicians manage to come to a meeting of the minds, blending Byrne's herky-jerky funk with Eno's atmospheric sound sculpting. More than anything, this is a large album, intent on pushing itself to the front of the listener's consciousness. Abundant percussion (everything from booming tribal drums to eerie electronics) reverberates in the background while Byrne and Eno toss all manner of found sounds, field recordings, and radio broadcasts into the mix. What results is a groundbreaking album that introduced a generation to the dazzling possibilities offered by electronic recording techniques. Highlights include "The Jezebel Spirit," an electro-funk workout that uses a recording of an exorcism as its focal point, and "Very, Very Hungry," a mysteriously ethereal display of electronic percussion and large-scale sonic architecture. --S. Duda

Product details

Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.55 x 4.97 x 0.54 inches; 2.88 Ounces
Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Sire / London/Rhino
Date First Available ‏ : ‎ October 21, 2006
Label ‏ : ‎ Sire / London/Rhino
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000002MM1
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1

Best Sellers Rank: #153,978 in CDs & Vinyl (See Top 100 in CDs & Vinyl)
- #674 in Ambient (CDs & Vinyl)
- #2,287 in Special Interest
- #2,660 in Progressive Rock

Customer Reviews:
4.6 75 ratings

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4.6 out of 5

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Top reviews from the United States

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Juliet Blake

I love it

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2001

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My first introduction to this album was waking up one morning in '81 to hear "The Jezebel Spirit" playing in my room. Can you imagine? It must have been a sign or something. (No - it was my roommate who'd just bought the album and it was wafting into my bedchamber).
This very interesting, quirky, moody, difficult, dark, light, eccentric, pioneering, even humorous stew of sounds, voices, samples, in a backdrop of electronic soundscapes blends the incidental and percussive with the ambient--just what you'd expect to hear from a collaboration of Eno and Byrne.
Of course I would love it--Eno's collaborations rarely, if ever, miss, I love just about everything he's involved in (that I've had the pleasure of hearing). Both Eno and Byrne could be considered pioneers and geniuses in their own right (and are deemed as such by many) so how could this record be anything but something fantastic.

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M.Knapp

EXCELLENT Diverse Music!

Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2020

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EXCELLENT Modern /Contemporary music i’ve been dancing and teaching with for years ! 🌟👍

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2020

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Cultural relativity...I can't afford the trip right now...the music takes me there.

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2014

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This is nothing like the talking heads and anything Eno has done. It takes several listening but the song by the woman singing in the Arab style is brilliant--I keep playing it over and over.

One person found this helpful

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Roger Yepsen

avant garde with a beat

Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2001

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Byrne and Eno go beyond their best independent ventures with this peculiar colaboration. It's an early example of sampling, and the otherworldly effect just isn't to be had by merely plunking keys on a Korg or Kurtzweil. The funky beat by itself would be a great groove, but coupled with snippets taken off the AM dial, the result is the most sinister CD in our collection. A great gift album for anyone who's bound up in the pleasant cotton wool of Diana Krall or the Beatles.

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FloydWaters

Slowly "knocked me sideways"!

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2004

I will admit it--when I first heard this album, I couldn't help but wonder exactly what I'd got myself into, or even whether I was going to like the thing. It sure had some neat stuff, that I could tell, but other things were very quirky, highly unusual, and perhaps a bit dated on the first hearing. But over time, I came to appreciate this album, and now I rate it quite highly indeed. I initially heard of it thanks to a recommendation by Pink Floyd's keyboardist Richard Wright, in a 1996 interview given to Record Collector Magazine.
Mr. Wright (who incidentally also thinks highly of Remain in Light) describes his first reaction to the album, presumably on its initial release: "This knocked me sideways when I first heard it--full of drum loops, samples and soundscapes, stuff that we really take for granted now, but which was unheard of in all but the most progressive musical circles at the time." That's really the key to getting used to this album--remembering that these were the first ventures into things we now consider ordinary. In a certain way, the roughness of parts of it gives it a unique sound that sets it far apart from the overpolished works of today. That is not to say this is *sloppy* in any way--the best was done with the technology that existed then, and for that I respect David Byrne and Brian Eno.
"There's a song called The Jezebel Spirit where there's a snippet of a preacher and the way the sounds were mixed in was so fresh it was amazing," Mr. Wright comments on a track that seems to get good reviews from most people. While I admit the track is well put together, there are times when I skip it because it can be quite unnerving! If you ask me, that exorcist sounds much more evil at times than the supposed demon he is trying to remove! I'm afraid I can't see why some reviewers are calling this track optimistic. Probably, in addition to "The Jezebel Spirit", my least listened-to track on this album is "Moonlight in Glory". However, over time, I have actually come to appreciate it even if it's not a favorite; this is why I no longer feel any heartburn with giving a full 5-star rating.
In my opinion, the three strongest tracks are the ones that draw from Middle Eastern sources for their vocals. Each of them, including the painfully short "A Secret Life", I wish had been longer! My two favorites were those with vocals sampled from Lebanese mountain singer Dunya Yusin: "The Carrier" and "Regiment". I must also point out the excellent guitar work in "Regiment", which seems to me like a precursor to the similarly enjoyable work in Speaking in Tongues' "Making Flippy-Floppy". I also noticed what seemed to be almost a sort of commentary by David Byrne upon politicians and televangelists (the latter are not slams on religion, in my opinion--rather, the *popularization* of it); the way sound clips are used seem to make both groups look a bit ridiculous at times. For instance, "Mea Culpa's" juxtaposition of the babbling politician's weasling out of whatever he did with David Byrne's listless "blah blah blah blah" makes just as much of a statement as if he'd written lyrics of that nature and sang them. I also notice that in the song "Come With Us", he makes the evangelist sound rather like some freaky cultist, which in my opinion sometimes becomes the case when the evangelist focuses upon creation of a personality cult rather than a religious organization. There are other examples than just these two, however.
Overall, I think this is a very worthwhile album if you're willing to put forth the effort that may be needed to adjust to it.

5 people found this helpful

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David Douglas

A glimpse at the future - but thumbs down to WB/Sire

Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2004

Listening to this album at a distance of more than two decades, it becomes a peek at what was coming in the 1990s with artists like Moby and DJ Shadow. With Eno's knack with establishing moods and Byrne's love of rhythm, it's an arresting recording. But I withhold the five-star ranking because, somewhere along the line, one track on the album has been changed. "Very, Very Hungry" is a nice track, but the original LP contained a track in its place called "Qu'ran," which contained a recording of "Algerian Muslims chanting Qu'ran" (as the original LP notes). I'm assuming the track was removed for political reasons - understandable in these charged times but very disturbing nonetheless. (Since I don't speak Arabic, I don't know what verses from the Qu'ran the Algerians were chanting - something "inflammatory"?) It practically amounts to censorship, and I'm incensed at the suits at Warner Bros/Sire who (I'm sure) approved the change.

10 people found this helpful

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MarcS

i like it. its good

Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2014

i like it. its good. I like it. its good. I like it. its good. Uh oh...I think the jezebel spirit had taken me over...

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Top reviews from other countries

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長崎成明

まさにパラダイム・シフト的、過激な名盤！

Reviewed in Japan on February 24, 2016

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　1970年代最後の年、1980年（21世紀は2001年～という意味で）にリリースされた、ポピュラー・ミュージックにおける、パラダイム・シフト（その流れは、以前からあったけど）とも言うべきアルバム。

　元ロキシー・ミュージックのブライアン・イーノと、トーキングヘッズのデヴィッド・バーンが、ヘッズの大傑作『リメイン・イン・ライト』の少し前、中近東やアフリカ音楽のメロディ、リズム、当時は先端だったテクノ、ハウスの要素を導入し、こんな過激でワクワクする音楽を創り出してしまった。

　タイトルは、アフリカの幻想的な作風で知られる、エイモス・チュツオーラ（ボブ・ディランがあやかって芸名の一部にした、ディラン・トマスが絶賛）の小説『My Life in the Bush of Ghosts』からだろう。
　しかし、あの二人は、本当に守備範囲が、広かったなあ。

　いきなり切り込んでくるシンセ、引っ掛かるようなギター・リフ、不気味な呟きのようなヴォーカルの１．「アメリカ・イズ・ウェイティング」を、初めて聴いた時の衝撃は、未だに忘れられない。
　アルバム通して、今なお、まったく飽きず、聴く度に発見があり、個人的にも、屈指の名盤です。

2 people found this helpful

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川﨑　信宏

斬新だが、永遠の試作品。

Reviewed in Japan on May 21, 2021

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久々に聴いてやはり斬新だった。XTCのアンディ・パートリッジのダブ作品とも、通じると思う。
ただし、あくまでも試作。

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Frank Liebenow

Eno and Byrne the best!

Reviewed in Germany on April 15, 2021

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Eno und Byrne in melodischer Hochform. Experimenteller, verträglicher Geräuscheschwall zum ausspannen oder gar Meditieren!

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goldener59er

Ein zeitloses Meisterwerk

Reviewed in Germany on May 12, 2022

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Diese Platte gehört in jedes Regal von Freunden zeitloser experimenteller eigenständiger Musik. Ein Meisterwerk, das Brian Eno und David Byrne seinerzeit abgeliefert haben. Zu dieser Kategorie gehören m.E. auch Remain in the light von Talking Heads aber auch das Jahre später erschienene Album Power Spot von Jon Hassel, an dem Brian Eno auch mitgewirkt hat.

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Joachim Hagemann

Cd alte Pressung sehr gut erhalten

Reviewed in Germany on January 15, 2021

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CD: Sehr gut, wie beschrieben, Verpackung super, schnelle Lieferung, gerne wieder

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My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

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