We are the 801, We are the central shaft

December 12, 2006 5:15 AM

Taking Tiger Mountain (by Strategy), the cover version.
Two San Francisco musicians cover all of Brian Eno's pre-ambient album - the one loosely inspired by a Maoist opera. Eno likes it.
posted by thatwhichfalls (20 comments total)

I really like their version of True Wheel. Most of the songs seem to benefit from the female vocals, small rock ensemble.
posted by ravelite at 5:20 AM on December 12, 2006

I'm loving those postcards. Everyone lean to the left now...
posted by nebulawindphone at 5:57 AM on December 12, 2006

That’s just awesome.
posted by ijoshua at 6:16 AM on December 12, 2006

their take on Third Uncle is solid!
posted by the painkiller at 6:36 AM on December 12, 2006

I was just listening to this [Eno's] LP yesterday. It gets better every time I hear it.
posted by cloeburner at 6:50 AM on December 12, 2006

That'd be awesome to get a message like this^(MP3) from Brian Eno.
posted by thebigdeadwaltz at 7:07 AM on December 12, 2006

File under futile. Nice post thanks. Their version of Fat Lady of Limbourg seems the better of them.

Can remember the night at a friends place where we all heard 'Burning Airlines...' for the first time; think it was 27 consecutive listens in a darkened room.
posted by Gratishades at 7:15 AM on December 12, 2006

I can remember the night in a Williamsburgh pizza joint where we sat down to our margherita large with a huge smile 'cause "Burning Airlines" was on. (I damn well should, it was night before last. But what can you say? A true classic stands the test of time and context.)

I like these, for the most part; there's a certain delightful disconnect that almsot recalls Love Tractor's take on "Neon Lights." And FWIW, I agree that "True Wheel" is the high point - but then, that's always been one of my very favorite songs.

Sure wish they'd gig NYC. Thanks for posting!
posted by adamgreenfield at 7:26 AM on December 12, 2006 [1 favorite]

Taking Tiger Mountain is my best geek. I've got it on Vynal,
casette tape, an on cee-dee's. Desert Island disc for all.
posted by doctorschlock at 7:47 AM on December 12, 2006

Very cool. A great album, and a nice attempt to do it justice.
posted by OmieWise at 8:08 AM on December 12, 2006

sounds like a cross between King Crimson and Galaxiee 500
posted by DenOfSizer at 8:33 AM on December 12, 2006

Are there any albums of the past few years that people will feel as strongly about in thirty years as I and many others feel about Taking Tiger Mountain (by strategy) after thirty years? Sure, people will be nostalgic for today's music, because people are always nostalgic about their youth, but is there any music around now that will sound as fresh in thirty years as Eno from the mid-70's sounds now?
posted by peeping_Thomist at 8:37 AM on December 12, 2006

Is there a scientific reason why both versions of "China my China" make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end (in a good way)?
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 9:26 AM on December 12, 2006

The longevity must somehow be related to the overall 'cabaret' feeling of the music.

Mr. Eno is a genius who often made sounds simply because he thought they were interesting. For that I am glad. Glad that he also worked with other extremely talented persons. Talking Heads, Robert Fripp, Peter Gabriel, Phil Manzanara...Check out 801. to name but a few.
posted by Gungho at 9:35 AM on December 12, 2006

Burhanistan: "I feel more of a connection to Eno's vintage albums than I would to most music made during my own youth in the early 90s."

I have a theory about that. Studio albums were about 8 or 9 years old when Eno did TTMBS. By that time, the creative limits of that form had been reached. So it's not that Eno is so brilliant (though he is, of course), but that there just wasn't much left to do with the studio album after the middle-70's. That's why punk rock came and broke the music down to its most basic elements. But as much as I remember loving punk music the first time around, it's not a lot of fun to listen to it 30 years later. Not like Eno's studio albums.
posted by peeping_Thomist at 9:36 AM on December 12, 2006

We are the diners, the final diners, let's get it understood
Let's get it understood
Most of us tinkers, some of us tailors
And we've got candlesticks and lots of cocktail sticks
posted by peeping_Thomist at 10:07 AM on December 12, 2006

Are there any albums of the past few years that people will feel as strongly about in thirty years as I and many others feel about Taking Tiger Mountain (by strategy) after thirty years?

I'm always very skeptical of this kind of question for exactly the same reason that I think self-links on the front page are a bad idea: emotional proximity to the subject matter makes it impossible for the opinion holder to judge accurately.

Eno is a great musician (his journals are great reading, too), and this album is his best, but loving it and thinking that it's important don't, in themselves, disqualify later music from being important. On the other hand, loving Eno may make it harder to hear the freshness in current albums that will make them central in 30 years. Recall how long it took for Moby Dick to be recognized as the brilliant novel it is.
posted by OmieWise at 11:26 AM on December 12, 2006

OmieWise: "Eno is a great musician (his journals are great reading, too), and this album is his best, but loving it and thinking that it's important don't, in themselves, disqualify later music from being important."

I guess I think the studio album is pretty much dead. There'll be plenty of important music made, but I don't see it taking the form of studio albums any more.
posted by peeping_Thomist at 1:49 PM on December 12, 2006

This is good - I can see why this album benefits from a cover approach, where it's harder to imagine a successful Here Come the Warm Jets (too many wild Eno-specific idiosyncracies) or Another Green World (too much of an organic set piece). Taking Tiger Mountain has the perfect blend of Eno oddity and just enough of an overarching theme to provide fertile source material.

Anyway, let's hear more, one way or the other - I don't always agree with their choices, and sometimes I think they fail, but mostly it holds up very well.
posted by soyjoy at 2:29 PM on December 12, 2006

Fat Lady!!! Good stuff, you can feel the love.
posted by Area Control at 3:28 PM on December 13, 2006