Brian Eno's Another Green World: (33 1/3)

The serene, delicate songs on Another Green World sound practically meditative, but the album itself was an experiment fueled by adrenaline, panic, and pure faith. It was the first Brian Eno album to be composed almost completely in the confines of a recording studio, over a scant few months in the summer of 1975. The album was a proof of concept for Eno's budding ideas of "the studio as musical instrument," and a signpost for a bold new way of thinking about music. In this book, Geeta Dayal unravels Another Green World's abundant mysteries, venturing into its dense thickets of sound. How was an album this cohesive and refined formed in such a seemingly ad hoc way? How were electronics and layers of synthetic treatments used to create an album so redolent of the natural world? How did a deck of cards figure into all of this? Here, through interviews and archival research, she unearths the strange story of how Another Green World formed the link to Eno's future -- foreshadowing his metamorphosis from unlikely glam rocker to sonic painter and producer.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Preface "Always first steps" "Trust in the you of now" "Turn it upside down" "Courage!" "Abandon normal instruments" "Discover the recipes you are using and abandon them" "Ask people to work against their better judgment" "Define an area as 'safe' and use it as an anchor" / "Don't be frightened of clichés" "Honor thy error as a hidden intention" "Remember those quiet evenings" / "The tape is now the music" / "Gardening, not architecture" "Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities" "Is it finished?" Acknowledgements Bibliography

About the Author :
Geeta Dayal's writing on music, visual art, and science has appeared in many major publications, including Bookforum, The Wire, The New York Times, The International Herald-Tribune, and The Village Voice. She is currently at work on a second book on the history of electronic music. She lives in Boston.

Review :
The book itself is a masterpiece; it's not just a book about the making of a record, it's a book about how to make art and how to think about how to make art. Eno's use of collaboration, chance, and cybernetics to force creativity makes for a fascinating story....Eno himself apparently loved the book, buying copies for friends. This isn't surprising– an interest in process has been a constant of his work for four decades. The prose is elegant, the sheer scope of the work impressive, and the meditation on the source of creativity is both well done and light-handed. As a study of Another Green World it's impressively holistic, hungry to catalogue every possible point of departure for thinking about the record … the best short introduction to Eno's work and ethos going. It's as much a philosophy book as a “Behind the Music” breakdown, and an invitation to think creatively about creativity. Dayal's unique and fresh take, which also delves into Discreet Music, is a must read for Eno fans and makes a great primer for the uninitiated. Dayal's lucid, elegant deconstruction of Brian Eno's most beguiling album is also an inspiring, delightful inquiry into the nature of creativity and constraint. Anyone interested in art making needs to read this. ...the best short introduction to Eno's work and ethos going. Selected by Flavorwire as one of "10 Great Books about Music by Female Writers" Geeta Dayal opens her book on Another Green World by admitting that she had trouble writing it … Finally, she decided to let Brian Eno's set of Oblique Strategies cards direct and inspire her work. It's an apt move, as Eno often foregrounds the creative process himself, and it results in a probing and thoughtful book that never falls into formula. Instead, Dayal portrays her subject as a deft artist embracing studio technology and balancing his past accomplishments with all the endless possibilities of the future.