Byrne And Eno Re-Explore My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

02/28/06 7:00pm

by Phil Villeneuve (CHARTattack)

Brian Eno once called the musical adventure known as My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts as his "African vision." Almost 25 years after the groundbreaking album's release, the album is getting another shot at demonstrating its influence on everything from electronica to world music to sampling via its March 28 reissue by Nonesuch Records.

Talking Heads singer/guitarist David Byrne and Eno first collaborated on the album in 1981. The new version will be remixed, remastered and will include seven bonus tracks and a video for "Mea Culpa" directed by Bruce Conner.The album was conceived because of Byrne and Eno's common love of 1970s west African pop music. The men crafted an intense sampled melange of such seemingly disparate elements as preachers, radio talk-show hosts, exorcism ceremonies, Lebanese mountain singers, Muslim chanting and Egyptian pop layered on top of electronic loops, beats, funk bass and guitar. My Life also includes contributions from 11 other musicians, including Bill Laswell, Tim Wright, David Van Tieghem and Talking Head Chris Frantz.

Ambient innovator, glam-rocker, producer, multimedia artist and self-proclaimed non-musician, Eno describes the album as "almost collage music, like grafting a piece of one culture onto a piece of another onto a piece of another, and trying to make them work as a coherent musical idea, and also trying to make something to dance to."

An interactive website is expected to launch any day. It will feature songs to download from the album, and users will be able to remix songs, listen to other remixes and upload videos that they've made themselves. It will also include press coverage from the original release, essays and photos.

Here's the track list for the reissue of My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts:
"America Is Waiting"
"Mea Culpa"
"Regiment"
"Help Me Somebody"
"The Jezebel Spirit"
"Very, Very Hungry"
"Moonlight In Glory"
"The Carrier"
"A Secret Life"
"Come With Us"
"Mountain Of Needles"
"Pitch To Voltage"
"Two Against Three"
"Vocal Outtakes"
"New Feet"
"Defiant"
"Number 8 Mix"
"Solo Guitar With Tin Foil"