Brian Eno - David Byrne – My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

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

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 :)

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.

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!).

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

top 5 albums of all time for me, just a supremely good record in every respect. one of my most treasured lps