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Brian Eno - David ByrneMy Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

Label:Sire – SRK 6093
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album, Winchester
Country:US
Released:
Genre:Electronic, Rock, Funk / Soul
Style:Avantgarde, Experimental, Funk

Tracklist

A1America Is Waiting
Arranged By, BassBill Laswell
Bass [Click]Tim Wright (2)
Drums, PercussionDavid Van Tieghem
3:36
A2Mea Culpa
Bodhrán [Bodhran]Dennis Keeley
3:35
A3Regiment
BassBusta Jones
PercussionDavid Van Tieghem
Voice [Vocal Sample Source]Dunya Yusin*
3:56
A4Help Me Somebody
Congas, Percussion [Metals]Steve Scales
DrumsJohn Cooksey
Voice [Vocal Sample Source]Reverend Paul Morton
4:18
A5The Jezebel Spirit
Bass Drum, Percussion [Can]Prairie Prince
Bata, Percussion [Sticks]Mingo Lewis
4:55
B1Qu'ran
DrumsJohn Cooksey
3:46
B2Moonlight In Glory
Congas, Agogô [Agong-gong]Jose Rossy
Voice [Vocal Sample Source]The Moving Star Hall Singers
4:19
B3The Carrier
Bass Drum, Percussion [Can]Prairie Prince
Bata, Percussion [Sticks]Mingo Lewis
Voice [Vocal Sample Source]Dunya Yusin*
3:30
B4A Secret Life
Voice [Vocal Sample Source]Samira Tewfik*
2:30
B5Come With Us2:38
B6Mountain Of Needles2:35
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Credits

Notes

Label variation with "Sire Records Company" bottom rim text and "Sire" to the right of the logo at top of labels. "WW" etched in runouts indicates a Capitol Records Pressing Plant, Winchester pressing.

℗ & © 1981 Sire Records Company
Made in U.S.A.

Title from a novel by Amos Tutuola.

Voices:
A1. Unidentified indignant radio host, San Francisco, April 1980.
A2. Inflamed caller and smooth politician replying, both unidentified. Radio call-in show, New York, July 1979.
A3. Dunya Yusin, Lebanese mountain singer (from 'The Human Voice in the World of Islam' Tangent Records TGS 131).
A4. Reverend Paul Morton, broadcast sermon, New Orleans, June 1980.
A5. Unidentified exorcist, New York, September 1980.
B1. Algerian Muslims chanting Qu'ran (same source as A3).
B2. The Moving Star Hall Singers, Sea Islands, Georgia (from 'The Moving Star Hall Singers' Folkways FS 3841).
B3. Dunya Yusin (see A3).
B4. Samira Tewfik, Egyptian popular singer (from 'Les Plus Grandes Artistes du Monde Arabe' EMI Records).
B5. Unidentified radio evangelist, San Francisco, April 1980.

On later editions of this album the track "Qu'Ran" was omitted for religious reasons.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

  • Matrix / Runout (A runout etched, variant 1): SRK·1·6093-RE-1-WW1 ─◁ STERLING gc
  • Matrix / Runout (B runout etched, variant 1): SRK·2·6093 WW1 ─◁ STERLING gc
  • Matrix / Runout (A runout etched, variant 2): SRK·1·6093-RE-1-WW1 .─◁ STERLING gc.
  • Matrix / Runout (B runout etched, variant 2): SRK·2·6093 WW1 #2 .─◁ STERLING gc
  • Matrix / Runout (A runout etched, variant 4): SRK·1·6093-RE-1-WW1 .─◁ STERLING gc.
  • Matrix / Runout (B runout etched, variant 4): SRK·2·6093 WW1 #4 .─◁ STERLING gc
  • Matrix / Runout (A runout etched, variant 5): SRK·1·6093-RE-1-WW1 #3 ─◁ STERLING gc
  • Matrix / Runout (B runout etched, variant 5): SRK·2·6093 WW1 #3 ─◁ STERLING gc
  • Matrix / Runout (A runout etched, variant 6): SRK·1·6093-RE-1-WW1 ─◁ STERLING gc
  • Matrix / Runout (B runout etched, variant 6): SRK·2·6093 WW1 #5 ─◁ STERLING gc

Other Versions (5 of 108)

View All
Title (Format)LabelCat#CountryYear
Recently Edited
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (LP, Album, Editions EG labels)Editions EG, Polydor2302 100Netherlands1981
Recently Edited
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (LP, Album)Polydor, EG2302 100France1981
Recently Edited
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (LP, Album, Impact Records Pressing)SireXSR 6093Canada1981
Recently Edited
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (Cassette, Album)SireM5S 6093US1981
Recently Edited
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (LP, Album)EG, Polydor2311 060Italy1981

Recommendations

Reviews

  • streetmouse's avatar
    streetmouse
    Edited 3 days ago
    The album’s title was taken from the 1954 novel “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts” by Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola. The work is entirely metaphorical, revolving around an unnamed West African boy and his older brother, both lost in the the bush, the wilderness, perhaps even a metaphor for his mind, attempting to outdistance himself from slave traders. Like the album, the book is a collection of related narratives, it’s dreamlike and surreal, and again, like the album, stands on shifting sands, devoid of chronological order. This lack of A to Z presentation is what makes the work of David Byrne and Brian Eno so interesting and nearly imperative, as it matters not what order one plays the tracking, matter of fact, it’s much more delightful to play this album in random order, an aspect not easily achieved with vinyl or cassette, yet with the introduction of the compact disc, the record blossoms over and over again, as if seeing the same sunset from differing perspectives.

    It’s easy to listen to this record without understanding the nature of the concept, yet once one has read the book, the record becomes impossible to listen to without attempting to understand how the songs interweave with the written word. The music presents the boy’s unawareness of the dangers hiding in the bush, a nocturnal word of spirits and ghosts that pray on mere mortals, where the songs profoundly act as a narrator, moving the listener though a series of nightmares and haunting experiences.

    David Byrnes and Brian Eno draw deeply form Tutuola’s belief in African folklore, distilling a sense of otherworldliness, where the line between reality and faith is razor thin, offering up an insightful listen regarding the human condition during desperate times.

    Review by Jenell Kesler
    • MISTER_DIA-TRIBE_73's avatar
      Edited one year ago
      I picked this album up on CD last year as a buy 5 get 6th free and this was the free CD!
      I then lost the CD in the organised chaos that is my flat!
      Then I found it again in late December and ever since its been on repeat in my car since then.
      I wouldn't nesseccarily class this as 'mood music' but it does have a mood for every occaison.
      I'll deffo be buying the vinyl edition as I could easily mix some of the tracks into KLF - Chillout and some decent Trip Hop (I still love that term even if others whinge on).
      But seeming I've been into Funk and Hip Hop and music that samples other forms of music I was pleasantly surprised when I listened to track 3 Regiment.
      At 2.20 within the track I was sure I could hear a sampled beat from an old Funk song that I as an ageing B Boy absolutely loved.
      But wait! Didn't actual sampling of beats come a few years later with the explosion of Hip Hop producers sampling beats?
      So I kept listening and listening until I was 99% sure that Eno and Byrne had in fact sampled an old 70s Funk tune which is Juice- Catch A Groove! https://www.discogs.com/master/176977-Juice-Feel-Like-Good-Music-Catch-A-Groove .
      Please listen to Catch A Groove at 1:55 (Not the horn stab but the clean beats thereafter)
      So give both a listen and tell me my ears aren't deceiving me?
      Because if I am right then this some crucial piece of history!
      Sampling of Breakbeats taken to another sound dimension.
      Peace

      P.s. As for this album from 1981 I'm pretty stunned! There is not a duff track to be found! I'll give this a 2022 out of 10 and that's being a bit tight :)
      • Monsterhead's avatar
        Monsterhead
        I really like this album, it sits in my hard to categorise and unfathomably mysterious section, along with a couple of hundred others. Other artists may have come close to creating sound like this but not for the full length of an album. I'm revisiting this today and also hearing it anew as i finally have found an original with the banned tune on it. I'm probably going to spend a week deciding if I prefer it or not.
        • jam_on_it's avatar
          jam_on_it
          I'm largely uninitiate in the catalogs of the Talking Heads and Brian Eno. With that out of the way, this album is simply amazing. As others have said... this is way ahead of its time. Glad to have a copy that has "Qu'ran": sad that it was edited out to appease small-minded religious folks (note to labels: they don't buy music!).
          • AVARICVM's avatar
            AVARICVM
            Intemporel....euh... il l'est devenu car pdt 5/6 ans il fut mis ds les bacs a soldes.
            La présence de Brian Eno (déjà présent sur un album des Talking Heads) est primordiale
            • glassandstone's avatar
              Edited 2 years ago
              Been listening to this album for years........ this thing just riddles the soul every time. Still in the future today. Incredibly dynamic sound and unusual. For new listeners it will continue to inspire and break ground.
              • L1K3D33L3R's avatar
                L1K3D33L3R
                Edited one year ago
                Listening to it right now. One of my first records. I nicked it from a record shop in the mall, from outside where the reduced LPs were on tables in plastic boxes. Nobody had wanted it, and it was on half price.

                My pocket money was all inside the shop already. It was drizzling. I had only a very vague idea what the music might be like. Nonetheless, somehow, I had to have this.

                My stereo has become much better. Tonight it's a bit as if I were hearing these tracks for the first time. My Life In the Bush of Ghosts is great. I've listened to it at least a couple of times in every decade, except for the past ten years or so. Sounds and grooves are amazing.

                It's still that copy.
                • middlepillar1984's avatar
                  I’m not very great at navigating on here yet folks, could someone direct me to the original press on here? Id like to use the catalogue info to reference while shopping for a copy online.
                  • goldencalves's avatar
                    goldencalves
                    Edited 6 years ago
                    Is the distortion in the vocal samples (noticed on side A, but also present in some in side B; all are on the left channel) part of the original pressing/recording? Or is my copy just worn in that frequency range?
                    • rorsc4ach's avatar
                      rorsc4ach
                      top 5 albums of all time for me, just a supremely good record in every respect. one of my most treasured lps

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