My Life in the Bush of Ghosts [Enhanced, Original recording remastered, Import]

 

 

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A huge improvement in sound on the original CD! Plus, it has 7 extra tracks and a video of 'Mea Culpa'. It must be noted that the 'new' cover (a reinvention of the old one) is just a slipcase, and the original is on the booklet, thankfully. Personally I like both - they suit the fresh poppy sound of the album.
The album itself has not aged, a remarkable feat. In fact the integration of vocal samples has hardly been bettered since.
Without wanting to get on the Eno-worship bandwaggon, it's interesting to note how subsequent world events have coloured this new hearing - the distinctly ethnic samples sound more chilling than ever (in this musical context).
What of the 'new' tracks? Well worth it, and an upbeat end that thankfully doesn't grate after the original closer 'Mountain of Needles'. Some great textures; a winsome alternative to 'Jezebel Spirit'; a beautiful guitar-only closer. The only dubious inclusion is a 39 second section of backing vocal from an earlier track - it's plain enough on the original and reminds me distinctly of ex-Goodie Bill Oddie (listen if you don't believe me!).
The thick booklet is most informative, and has lots of nice pics. But somehow they managed to miss off listing the sources of all those vocals - a remarkable oversight.
On the whole, a lovely repackaging of a supremely entertaining album.

When this first came out it got some very negative reviews, along the lines of 'been done before' or worse.

I got the LP on the strength of Before and After Science and Another Green World and was blown away. The rythms, percussion, guitar and the 'vocals' taken from radio broadcasts meld together like they were made for each other.

It's astonishing that after 25 years it still sounds as good as it did when I first heard it. I don't know if Eno/Byrne were that far ahead of their time, or that we've not moved on as far as we thought.

For those with the LP it's still a worthwhile purchase, although there's some tape hiss, the sound is generally cleaned up, there's a really informative booklet explaining how it all came about, as well as 7 extra tracks that would probably have made it onto the LP at the time, but got dropped due to lack of space.

On this 1981 collaboration, Byrne & Eno are assisted by eleven musicians on instruments like bass, bodhran, bata sticks, congas, drums, guitars, synths, various percussion and found objects. The tracks (they're not really songs) are built around radio broadcasts of politicians, evangelists and exorcists or taken from world music recordings which are clothed in Byrne's jerky polyrhythmic beats and Eno's sonic sculptures, and spiced with cleverly chosen samples.

This re-release has been enhanced by a video clip and extra tracks that do not add much to what was already a masterpiece of mixing music from around the globe into a cohesive whole. The title is derived from the 1954 novel by Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola, about a young Yoruba boy who runs away from his village and suddenly finds himself in America where he undergoes a series of scary and hilarious experiences before returning home.

Bush Of Ghosts takes some getting used to, but there's such an innovative variety of musical marriages that the album's manifold charms soon engage the listener. Two distinct styles are discernible - the Western and the Ethnic which encompasses both Middle Eastern & gospel sounds from the Sea Islands of the South Atlantic coast of the USA. Funky electronics dominate the hypnotic and spooky America is Waiting whilst Mea Culpa has a multi-track voice with echo effects over a slow beat and ominous vocals.

The dreamy Regiment, the first of the Arabic tracks, is based around the contralto of Lebanese singer Dunya Yusin over a down-tempo beat, creating a mournful ambience. In 1979 the German experimentalist Holger Czukay had released his album Movies whose highlight, Persian Love, is based on the shortwave recording of a romantic Farsi duet between a male & female vocalist. Strictly speaking, Czukay had thus paved the way.

The skittering rhythms of Help Me Somebody carry the passionate voice of a New Orleans preacher. The next, unidentified radio evangelist is downright scary as he performs a blood-curdling exorcism by questioning a young woman and then fiercely tongue-lashing the Jezebel Spirit within her. If that weren't enough, the edgy drums and percussion succeed well in ratcheting up the levels of unease and repressed hysteria.

Even more eerie is Moonlight In Glory with the voices of the Moving Star Hall Singers where it is difficult to determine what the emotion-laden voices are saying. It seems to be an event or passage from the Bible that these artists from Georgia's coast are narrating. Two more Arabic tracks follow, The Carrier which is a rhythmic chant by the aforementioned Dunya Yusin and the brooding A Secret Life, constructed around the vocals of Egyptian singer Samirah Tawfiq.

Lots of bleeps and found sounds characterize Come With Me which also carries the vocoderized voice of a third preacher. More classical-experimental than the rest, Mountain of Needles has the feel of a soundtrack segment and reminds me of Cabaret Voltaire. The glaring omission of the original track number 6, Qur'an, overshadows all the new stuff. It is a haunting piece of Algerian believers chanting verses from their scripture. Why the spineless retreat, one wonders, when DJ Cheb i Sabbah uses a striking mix of Hindu mantra & Muslim prayer on Shri Durga, his 1999 masterpiece? Western artists who practice self-censorship undermine their integrity. For that, one star was deducted.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Remastered reissue of classic LP with bonus tracks galore..
Both Eno & Talking Heads have benefited from remastered reissues the last few years, so it's great news that the classic Eno/Byrne LP appears in this form shortly after... Read more

Published on 7 Mar 2006 by Jason Parkes

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