Brian Eno - 1971-1977

The Man Who Fell To Earth 1971-1977

England 2012

Art school graduates. Eno considered himself a "non-musician" ... something which is considered an insult around musicians ... that you might know something about their music that they can not see or understand ... is kind of what this is all about ... and a wonderful special this is seen through the eyes of many musicians, and composers that he knew and worked with, and how it all came about and worked ... and somehow it all comes together, however slowly and painfully it might have been ... and forms itself into something that had not been before in music, and had influences and mixes from everywhere ... and eventually his record label that gave us so many talents that were out there ... but could not be heard or seen, because none of them were known in an era when the music magazines and radio controlled the air waves ... but sometimes, the creative force does not stop ... and will not stop ... and Brian Eno, right or wrong, managed to find his path in the music period that is so vital to the advancement of music, with the exception of America, where is continued to be about the sales and the star.

Rarely will you see a documentary done, specially before the artist passes away from our time, and done so lovingly with so many wonderful and caring words of appreciation from so many composers and musicians ... that did not realize while they were doing something how valuable their input was and the greatest example is something that you can't find/hear on a song by Brian Turrington ... that Eno ended up using on the album ... that Brian says was an error ... he missed something ... but ... it fit ... it added personality to the song ... and that is something that we don't understand and don't always consider in our own "art" when putting something together and a wide issue in rock circles where folks are infatuated with the right notes, and not anything else ... like new ideas through some accidents in errors made!

This period of Eno's goes all the way to David Bowie's Heroes song, and there abouts ... when by that time, he is much more comfortable with musicians and people experimenting around him, and his ability to match them up ... but the more important part of the whole thing is the "ambient" music that he helped put into the map ... so much of which is so beautiful that the "new age" (10 years later) folks could not even listen to it ... for whatever reason ... but it doesn't really matter ... Eno will be remembered for not only his work, but that of others that he helped put on the map, all of which appreciate the chance they got and how things turned out ... but even today, many of those albums, with Robert Fripp, and Cluster ... are so well received ... and it reminds me of the day that "No Pussyfooting" came out in America and my roommate (Guy Guden of Space Pirate Radio) picked up the album and played it in its entirety on his show ... something that no one else would even consider ... but then, Guy was already playing Klaus Schulze's long pieces and albums in their entirety, not to mention Tangerine Dream ... you NEVER EVER got just a hint of a snip of this stuff ... and I'm just happy to have seen (and been a part of) having helped this music be noticed and heard ... it's beauty is beyond words ... and really is the pure "definition" of what music is ... not the notes on a staff! But what you hear and live with and to!

The listing is amazing, when you consider that some of these have become authors and in a couple of cases Biographers, but the far out thing to hear is the musicians discuss him and how much he was liked ... even if all of these authors and biographers try to make sense of all the work, and how it turned out and how much of this or that became a "song" and how much of this or that just flowed. You could say, that even going back to the early days of Eno with Roxy Music, that he was about the "flow" of the music and what he added to it ... something that was vital, and while the rest of Roxy Music's albums are still nice rock albums, with excellent pieces of music, it is the two early albums that we find the excitement of a band, discovering its abilities and potential.

Here is a listing of some of the names and some of these have books out ... and the musicians themselves ... well, if you are reading this and going to see the special, you already know what I am talking about anyway ... and that this is one artist that I have appreciated from day one ... even when some thought/wanted more rock music of the weird kind from him ... Eno is not about being weird, I don't think, and his early days and costumes, I am not sure they were meant to show off, as much as he knew that the band needed attention, and they got it ... a mix of folks and some various music styles that somehow come together and make sense. AND, it's nice to know that Eno even thanks RM for having had the chance to do what he did ... because it got him where he is today ... 

Johnny Rogen (Biographer)

Mark Prendergast (Author)

David Sheppard (BE Biographer)

David O'List (Musician)

Lloyd Watson (Friend)

Simon Ryenolds (Author)

Eric Tamm (Author)

Robert Christgau (Rolling Stone)

Geeta Dayal (Author)

Robert Rich (Author)

Chris Spedding (Musician)

Brian Turrington (Musician)

Percy Jones (Musician)

David Toop (Composer)

Jon Hassell (Composer)

Hans Joachim Roedelius (Musician)

If there is anything missing, I would imagine that Bryan Ferry would have nice to have added a word or two, but one can see how they have gone in such a different way ... Bryan into very concise and well done songs, and Eno to some of the greatest experiments and improvisations the world of music has ever seen ... and they got recorded. AND ... released and many of them even sold enough to help cover more than just the costs ... something that no record company wants to even consider these days!

A wonderful piece of filming ... totally special ... at least if you know the artistry of Eno's and (in my case) have some of the recordings (over 25 of them!) since that time when the first album made its appearance ... and you can see NOW, how things like "No Pussyfooting" probably helped Robert Fripp a bit later create his own "Frippertronics" which was his own version of everything on top of everything else in some incredible form, that makes one wonder ... what is he following, and what is he playing to? ... I would imagine that the point is ... that looking for a thread (like melody or similar) that drives the piece of music is what we look for ... and Robert here ... would be completely somewhere else ... and it kinda shows in that first album ... something that I am not sure RF evn knew where it would land ... but land it did ... and helped define a lot of music later!

Excellent documentary ... and so clean and believable ... even though one might think that some of these authors have a tendency to color things up some ... the music doesn't need it ... it still stands up!

Enjoy it ...

The best 5 GIBLOONS I have ever given!

Music by Chris Ingham

Produced by Rob Johnstone

Film Editing by Cooter Haynes