BRIAN ENO: SPINNER (w. Jah Wobble) (1995)
1) Where We Lived; 2) Like
Organza; 3) Steam; 4) Garden Recalled; 5) Marine Radio; 6) Unusual Balance; 7)
Space Diary 1; 8) Spinner; 9) Transmitter And Trumpet; 10) Left Where It Fell.
As most of those people who are supposed to
generally know stuff about people named «Jah Wobble» already know, but those
people who find names like «Jah Wobble» kinda funny probably may not know, Jah
Wobble was an old friend of the Sex Pistols' John Lydon, and together they
originally formed PiL, where he played bass guitar before he got bored and
moved on to an even more experimental/avantgarde solo career. That a guy like
that would eventually attract Brian Eno's attention was quite probable, but it
is important to keep in mind that Spinner
was not really a «collaboration» as such.
Instead, what happened is that Eno simply sent
Wobble a bunch of his tapes that were originally recorded for the soundtrack to
one of Derek Jarman's experimental movies — just, you know, because what do you
do with a bunch of tapes left over from a soundtrack? Why, you send them to Jah
Wobble! Like, what could be more natural and predictable? Remember, Jah Wobble
is always there behind your back to make good use of your leftovers (provided
your skill level is at least 20 points, which makes you eligible for
co-operation).
The results are not particularly thrilling,
though. Wobble decided not to disrupt the steady ambient flow of Eno's tapes —
instead, he just made them more bass-heavy, added some rhythm (in places), and
emphasized the dark / mystical / ominous aspects, but all very gently, even on
those of the tracks that also received a volume boost from percussion and
electric guitar overdubs (some of the percussion was handled by Can's own Jaki
Liebezeit, which is particularly noticeable on the title track with its fussy,
overspilling drum track). What emerges is a mix of ambient, industrial, and
even dub compositions that are never too intrusive, not very illuminating, and
mainly just keep returning you to those dark sonic caverns that you have
probably already explored in depth on earlier Eno albums.
It's not bad, and not even meaningless, but
none of this inspires any creative writing: the beats sound normal, the synth
and bass tones are nothing special, the «acid jazz» overtones that sometimes
arise out of nowhere are fairly routine, and the last track, which goes on for
15 minutes, according to Brian himself, was not liked by anyone, so he called
this style, self-ironically, «unwelcome jazz», which it is: starting out like
a limping jazz-fusion shuffle with Eastern overtones and wildly wobbling volume
levels, it is then transformed into something that sounds like an intro to a
soothing smooth jazz instrumental, only looped to eternity. Yes, it's moody,
but so is everything Eno ever did.
Overall, it is weird: there is actually much
more happening on this record than is usual for Eno's ambient projects, but in
the end you are left with the feeling that you got much less than you bargained for. Apparently, Enoisms and Wobblisms
just do not make good partners — the ambient soundscapes are not in agreement with
the bass grooves, and the end product is a disappointment somewhat on the same
grounds as Neroli: an attempt to
sound harshly modern that still relies on old-fashioned ideas of beauty — a
conflict of interests that remains unresolved. But I guess that the very manner
in which the record was produced automatically precluded it from potential masterpiece
status. It's not as if Eno cannot work in a dynamic environment — his work with
Talking Heads and David Byrne is best proof that he can — it is simply that
here, there was no dynamic environment to begin with, just a bit of quick
fiddling about by correspondence. Definitely not essential for fans of either
Eno or PiL, I'd say.
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