The classic 1981 album “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts,” by Brian Eno and David Byrne, has an impressive web site, including a section where you can download the original twenty-four-track master recordings of several songs, to make your own remix. The album was re-released in 2006, and the web site demonstrates the fan community that still exists for the album.
The Wikipedia entry has more on the history the album; here’s a snippet:
The album was one of the first non-rap releases to make extensive use of sampling, especially in seamlessly incorporating human voices: most of the vocals on the albums come from other sources, such as commercial recordings of Arabic singers, radio disk jockeys and an exorcist. Critic John Bush describes My Life in the Bush of Ghosts as “[a] pioneering work for countless styles connected to electronics, ambience, and Third World music.”
Check out the remixes and submit your own…if you dare.
I bought that at a used CD store once on a lark…I had never heard of it. I tried really, really hard to like it, but to no avail. I think I eventually sold it to another used CD store.
Thanks for the post! I had no idea it was a classic.
posted by Griner on 3-27-2007 at 2:01 pm
the album doesn’t use _digital_ sampling, although stylistically it has much in common with what would be done in rap/techno/pop to come. based on this ersatz definition of ‘sampling,’ my life in the bush of ghosts was predated by tape/found sound compositions by a good fifty+ years.
posted by goobacious on 4-2-2007 at 2:29 am