The 500 - #429 - Brian Eno - Another Green World

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

Album # 429

Album Title: Another Green World
Artist: Brian Eno
Genre: Art Rock, Ambient Electro-Pop, Avant Pop
Recorded: July - August 1975
Released: September, 1975
My age at release: 10
How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: Sky Saw

There is little doubt about Brian Eno's impact on modern music. He produced a dozen records on The 500 List. He also has two of his own recordings appearing, Another Green World being the second. Indeed, this is the third album involving Eno that I have written about in the past two months.  

• In late April, I wrote about Eno's first record, Here Come The Warm Jets. 
• In mid-March, I penned a post about an album Eno produced, Are We Not Men? We Are Devo.
• This time, we explore his 1975 innovative and experimental work, Another Green World.

Here is what I learned:

Green is a departure from the glam-pop sound of his first album as Eno embraces a minimalist sound that would become his trademark through the rest of the 70s.

Another Green World by Eno

Eno plays most of the instruments on the record but, he recruited a small group of talented musicians to contribute to the songs. These included innovative guitar virtuoso Robert Fripp of King Crimson, Genesis drummer Phil Collins, Jazz fusion bassist Percy Jones and John Cale of The Velvet Underground on viola.

Eno wanted the record to be a sound experiment. He brought these musicians to the studio with little prepared material. Instead, he spent three expensive, and sometimes frustrating, weeks allowing the songs to ferment while he and the musicians kicked around ideas.

To generate new ideas, Eno began using his now legendary Oblique Strategies (O.S.) Cards. These were 7 x 9 centimeter white cards kept in a black box. 

According to Eno:

"Each card offers a challenging constraint intended to help artists (particularly musicians) break creative blocks by encouraging lateral thinking."

Each card contained a suggestion or remark intended to either resolve a deadlock or inspire creativity. Some are specific to music composition but many are general. Examples include:

• You are making a brick, not a wall.
• Try faking it.
• Honour thy error as hidden intention.
• Ask your body.
• Gardening, not architecture.
• Look closely at the most embarassing details and amplify.

Unlike Mozart who could compose in his head, Eno used this technique to inspire collaboration.These statements might seem strange but Eno is an unusual individual. His goal was to help artists work outside the box when trying to solve a dilemma or inspire creativity. Since their creation, Eno has employed the cards during recording sessions with Coldplay, REM and David Bowie. 

During the interview about Green on The 500 Podcast, Host Meyers discussed the O.S. cards with his guest Gerard Casale. Casale, a founding member of Devo, worked with Eno on his band's first record. Casale said: 

"I think he wanted to soften our sound. He made us try to use them (the cards) to change things on the songs. But, you have to understand...we walked into that studio with some songs that were four years old and we'd played them hundreds of times. We couldn't imagine playing them "pretty". That was an abomination to us. We were all about being transgressive aesthetically. But, we weren't punks that were angry and nihlistic. I mean, we were angry, but with an informed epistemology. We genuinely thought that the de-evolution of society was real back then"

After listening to Green four times and reflecting on the podcast, I still couldn't connect with it. Then, I put on headphones to remove distractions. As the music washed over me, my appreciation grew. It isn't a record I will listen to often, but I welcomed the insight into the rich, unapologetic creativity of Eno. He is a quirky individual but his fingerprints are all over The 500 list. Obviously, he is doing something right.