Here Come the Italian Mafia Dressed Up Like Your Boss

Overall Album Score: 9.3 out of 10

Brian Eno is quite a figure in rock music ... he's the one who was responsible for the array of weird sound effects and revolutionary studio treatment of Roxy Music's first two albums. Later on, he would collaborate with David Bowie for the landmark Berlin Trilogy and then go on to work with the Talking Heads. He left Roxy Music because he was constantly fighting with Bryan Ferry for creative control, so he decided to split and become his own independent nation.

I say, the best thing about great bands breaking up and the former members making solo albums is that there's more music to listen to. The Beatles broke up once, and all four members were coming up with enjoyable solo albums for me to hear. They're not as good as the original Beatles albums, but I still like 'em.

Now, Brian Eno on the other hand, writes music just as good as Roxy Music did. Take that statement with a grain of salt if you wish, but this album is just as enjoyable to me as For Your Pleasure, which I haven't been able to stop listening to for five years (when I bought it). Every single track is pumped with Eno's instrumental and production ideas, and all of these ideas are fantastic!! They're usually ear-catching, well-mixed and seem to suit the track. Even if the odd ideas don't suit the track well, they're weird enough to be interesting anyway. Surely, Brian Eno had 'genius' in that department.

Thankfully to everyone who likes a good tune, Brian Eno stays close enough to pop conventions to deliver a few catchy melodies. "Cindy Tells Me" is easily the best example of that with a melody that even gets caught in my head occasionally. "The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch" is another example of a fun, catchy melody, and it even strongly recalls Roxy Music. Eno's even an expert at chord progressions ... a few of these are real gems. Chord progressions are hidden in music sometimes, but they make all the difference.

So, you may consider this one of the finer moments of rock music ... It's enjoyable and absolutely solid. There's no filler material in this album whatsoever. In fact, I don't think the word 'filler' is in Eno's discography. He's an ARTIST!!!!!!!

Overall Album Score: 9.3 out of 10 (Brian Eno's first solo album is definitely one you should hear. It's amazingly consistent and a whole lotta fun.)

Average Song Score: 9.3 (Brian Eno was/is an innovative genius. It's also an undeniable fact that this music is accessible to all ears! Yay!)

Album Tilt: 9.0 (This is a horribly fun album --- in a good way, you know.)

Artist Rating: 9.5 (Basically the purpose.)

Track Reviews

Needles in the Camel's Eye 9/10

A hilarious pun and a great opening track for Eno's debut album, this is a track that's flooded with quite a lot of sound, which is Eno's main goal in songwriting it seems. Fortunately, it was done with a pop mentality, so it's fairly accessible. That's a winning combination there if you ask me --- art music that's accessible! Freaking awesome.

Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch 9/10

Poor Brian Eno is still writing Roxy Music songs now! He even gives a Bryan Ferry like performance, but this is just as good as any old Roxy Music song ... after all, Eno was in that band! He does his weird sound effects thing in the middle of the track with these odd squeaking noises. This track is also enormously enjoyable. Seriously, there should be more Brian Eno fans...

Baby's on Fire 9.5/10

This is another interesting song. Eno lays on the crazy and threatening studio synthscapes and sings a crazy song about a baby being on fire! The part that makes this song wonderful is not just the exotic synthscape but that awesome electric guitar solo from genius Robert Fripp that takes up the bulk of this track.

Cindy Tells Me 10/10

This is possibly the catchiest track on the album. That's pretty unusual, because this album isn't really played for vocal hooks. Naturally, Eno inserts a huge array of sound effects in here ... it wouldn't be a Brian Eno album if it wasn't crazy like that. I like the locusts sound effects in particular!

Driving Me Backwards 9.5/10

Here is a rather dissonant track done in the form of a droning pop song! I guess that's the best way I can describe this. If there was a pop star on another galaxy, then this might have been one of his hits! Eno delivers a crazy, almost amateurish, vocal performance, and it all seems like it was done on purpose. It gets even weirder toward the end with an assorted array of bizarre sound effects. Bwah-hah-hah-hah!!!

On Some Faraway Beach 9.5/10

This is an instrumental that sounds like it might go on a romantic soundtrack of a movie... if the director overdosed on crack or something. Eno starts to sing but after the track's already half-finished playing. These instrumental ideas are what Brian Eno is most revered for (you know the work he would do later with the Talking Heads, etc.) It's strange and enormously entertaining.

Blank Frank 9/10

And as if all that couldn't get any weirder, Eno throws this oddity into the mix. It's a rhythmic and percussion heavy song (although it's probably closer to swing music than world music), and he inserts the sound-effects in here strongly. This is the least accessible track of the album yet it still manages to rule in its own awesome way.

Dead Finks Don't Talk 9.5/10

This is more on the quirky side ... I want to say that it's more like a performance song. It's not a far cry at all away from early Roxy Music either. The melody is actually pretty catchy and I like the chord progressions. That ugly electric guitar solo is awesome by the way. The song stops suddenly at the very end, and some weird mechanical noises pipe up ... UGLY!! BUHAAA!!!!!!!

Some of Them Are Old 9/10

This sounds like an old-timey song ... something that would exist today as a school alma matter jingle. Of course, it wouldn't be an Eno song if it wasn't thoroughly weird in most respects. Here, he accomplishes that with a thick synthscape, and a phenomenally odd instrumental interlude featuring a strangely played, strange-sounding stringed instrument. Eno is enjoying the hell out of doing this, obviously!

Here Come the Warm Jets 8.5/10

It could be the worst song on the album ... although that's a distinction that's pretty difficult to make on this album!! It's an instrumental that features a pretty heavy and dark synthesizer playing a groove. Slowly, a drum section gets faded in. Other noises eventually fade in including a vocal track. Of course, this track is entertaining, but not so much as the others. It's not as weirdly delightful as some of the others.

Here come all the wonderful comments here!

slb23@shaw.ca (Simon B.) received Nov. 26, 2004

I'm not sure, but I think this was the first Brian Eno album my Uncle lent me, about 4 years ago. (I taped it, but since then I bought the CD). This is Eno's most pop/rock-oriented of his first four (classic) solo albums. All I can say is that it's sure one of the finest debut albums of the 70's. Robert Fripp and John Wetton of the (then) newest edition of King Crimson, Percy Jones (later of Brand X), Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music), among others, play on the album.
SONG RATINGS:
1. Needles in the Camel's Eye (8.5)
2. The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch (8)
3. Baby's On Fire (10)
4. Cindy Tells Me (9.5)
5. Driving Me Backwards (9)
6. On Some Faraway Beach (9.5)
7. Blank Frank (8.5)
8. Dead Finks Don't Talk (9.5)
9. Some of them are old (9)
10. Here Come the Warm Jets (8.5)
Album Cover (9)
Total Album Rating: 99/110 (90%)