Brian Eno Another Day On Earth CD

Personnel: Brian Eno (various instruments); Inge Zalaliene, Aylie Cooke (spoken vocals); Steve Jones , Leo Abrahams (guitar); Peter Schwalm (piano, synthesizer, drums); Willie Green (drums); Brad Laner (loops); Duchess Nell Catchpole (violin); Jon Hopkins (keyboards).
Photographer: Brian Eno.
Unknown Contributor Role: Barry Andrews.
Finally bored with ambient music, a genre he pioneered in the 1970s, pop polymath Brian Eno emerged with Another Day on Earth, his first solo recording of "conventional" songs since Another Green World. From the rhythm track of opening song "This," the sound is unmistakable. A quirky hook covered in layers of atmosphere and a bouncy loop, it's a smart little tune with additional guitars by Leo Abrahams. Lyrically, Eno's process is poetic, employing not only his own strategies, but a computer generating words as well. At three-and-a-half minutes, it's a fine pop song, albeit one that would never get played on the radio. "And Then So Clear" is more evocative of Eno's work with Daniel Lanois, utilizing a very simple loop adorned with sparse guitars while keyboards pulse softly as a completely treated human voice paints a landscape both exterior and interior. "A Long Way Down," is pure mood, a tense, taut mood offered by electric piano, spectral keyboards imitating strings, and the layered guitars of Steve Jones and Abrahams. Eno multi-tracks his voice across the angular melody, and it slips and falls out more than it flows. And that's a basic problem with Another Day on Earth. Once again, despite trying to work with song forms and structures, they feel tossed off, half-baked. "Going Unconscious" isn't so much a song as an ambient soundscape with spoken word accompaniment by Inge Zalaliene. "Bone Bomb" is the same. "Under" feels like a demo rhythm track with a lyric draped loosely over it. But there are some fine moments too, such as "Passing Over" with Jones guitar cruising over the tune like a spaceship and Eno's sung lines intersecting at (mostly) just the right moments. "How Many Worlds" is almost a child's ditty full of existential questions. Another Day on Earth is a re-entry for Eno, who has the tremendous pressure of always trying to do something new. Nothing here feels new, but so what? If lightweight, it is often pleasant and amusing, if not utterly engaging. Fans will want to seek it out to see what the brainy one has been up to, but those just coming around should go to the back catalog first.~ Thom Jurek
At the time of ANOTHER DAY ON EARTH's release in 2005, it had been 28 years since ambient-music godfather Brian Eno had released an album of vocal-based songs (not counting a 1990 duo record with John Cale). Eno's '70s "pop" albums were part of a different age and represented a different Eno, one who'd laid the groundwork for glam with Roxy Music and was, for all his eccentricities, very much a rock artist. Almost three decades down the line, though, with a career's worth of instrumental, frequently beatless electronic music behind him, Eno turned out a "song" album of a very different kind.
ANOTHER DAY ON EARTH could not be farther from the rock world. Closer to Eno's ambient works of the '80s and '90s, it melds song form and traditional lyric-based templates with a floating, ethereal sonic palette. A couple of the tracks here feature female vocals, but most are centered around Eno's own voice, a measured, low-key, yet surprisingly poignant thing that emanates spirituality and resolve in a way that seems leagues beyond the youthful brashness of, say, TAKING TIGER MOUNTAIN (BY STRATEGY). Liquid synthesizer lines drift along, occasionally intersecting with soft, lyrical guitars and gently undulating rhythms, making Eno's first vocal effort of the 21st century a calm yet powerful creature.Spin (p.104) - "[A] cosmos-goosing masterwork....[With] ambient-pop gems..."
Uncut (p.104) - 3 stars out of 5 - "It's a series of unfailingly sweet, subdued pieces that revisit a few of his old motifs. Exceedingly pleasant..."
The Wire (p.41) - Included in The Wire's "2005 Rewind: 50 Records Of The Year."
The Wire (p.57) - "[A] richly nuanced album, and eloquent in its restraint....Repeated listenings only show how deep this album is."
Down Beat (p.76) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "His signature devices, such as percussion loops, treated vocals, quirky samples and vapor trails of electronic sound, are all in play."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.62) - Ranked #3 in Mojo's "2005 Dance/Electronic Albums Of The Year."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.102) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Woozy, hypnotic and human, this is perhaps Eno's most personal record to date..."