Another Day on Earth
Encyclopedia
Another Day on Earth is an album by Brian Eno
, released in 2005 on Hannibal Records
.
album to chiefly contain vocals in more than two decades. Speaking of the album, Eno said, "The first one I've done like that for a very long time...25 years or so". In addition, he explained his current thoughts on lyrics in music; "Song-writing is now actually the most difficult challenge in music," he confessed.
; other credits are in details below.
2. "And Then So Clear" (5:49)
3. "A Long Way Down" (2:40)
4. "Going Unconscious" (4:22)
5. "Caught Between" (4:25)
6. "Passing Over" (4:25)
7. "How Many Worlds" (4:47)
8. "Bottomliners" (3:59)
9. "Just Another Day" (4:21)
10. "Under" (5:19)
11. "Bonebomb" (3:09)
, using Logic
, over a period of four years. He also engineered it himself, "because otherwise I would have had to spend six years in a commercial studio and pay staff, and that would have become too expensive".
"Bottomliners" and "Under" were first worked on about six years previously, on a DA88, the latter songs' drumming being supplied by Willie Green. On the former, and on the ballad "And Then So Clear" he pitch-shifted his voice up an octave, using the gender-changing function on a Digitech Pro Vocalist creating a vocoder
-like effect. His studio features a selection of hardware including a Lexicon
Jam Man loop sampler and an Eventide H3000 Harmonizer.
The album is actually built around the "And Then So Clear" song. He says "... In one day, actually, I pretty much finished it ... I liked it so much, and I thought, how I am going release this song, and I thought, I have to write some others".
On the title track he repeatedly cut up the main phrase, so that "the listener had little windows on it". Similar "cut-up" methodologies were used for the lyrics of "This", in that he used his computer to generate some of the words.
For the ambientesque "A Long Way Down" Eno manually synchronised his vocals with an out of time keyboard melody, and on "Going Unconscious" he went back to using Koan generative music
software for the textural background.
The distinctions between songs and instrumentals which contain vocals are deliberately blurred, particularly on the track "How Many Worlds" ..... "There's just enough voice in there to make you hear it as a song, making it a bluff, a deceit".
The final track on the album, "Bonebomb", was inspired by a newspaper story about a Palestinian
girl who becomes a suicide bomber
. The title refers to a point made by an Israeli doctor that when a suicide bomber detonates, his/her bones are converted into small pieces of shrapnel which are part of the destructive power of the bomb.
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, released in 2005 on Hannibal Records
Hannibal Records
Hannibal Records was a record label and one of the first to work with the World music genre.Hannibal was started by Joe Boyd in 1980. Boyd had produced records by artists such as Nick Drake, The Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention and released recordings by these artists as well as...
.
Overview
This is the first EnoBrian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
album to chiefly contain vocals in more than two decades. Speaking of the album, Eno said, "The first one I've done like that for a very long time...25 years or so". In addition, he explained his current thoughts on lyrics in music; "Song-writing is now actually the most difficult challenge in music," he confessed.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Brian EnoBrian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
; other credits are in details below.
- "This"
- "And Then So Clear"
- "A Long Way Down"
- "Going Unconscious"
- "Caught Between"
- "Passing Over"
- "How Many Worlds"
- "Bottomliners"
- "Just Another Day"
- "Under"
- "Bonebomb"
- "The Demon of the Mines" (Japan only bonus track)
Details
1. "This" (3:33)- Guitar - Leo Abrahams
2. "And Then So Clear" (5:49)
- Keyboards [Triton] - Jon Hopkins
3. "A Long Way Down" (2:40)
- Guitar - Leo Abrahams, Steve Jones
4. "Going Unconscious" (4:22)
- Loops [Pulse Loop] - Brad Laner
- Voice [Spoken] - Inge Zalaliene
5. "Caught Between" (4:25)
- Guitar [Lead] - Leo Abrahams
- Co-lyrics by - Danny Hillis, Eck Ogilvie-Grant
6. "Passing Over" (4:25)
- Guitar [Space Signal Guitar] - Steve Jones
7. "How Many Worlds" (4:47)
- Co-lyrics by - Michel Faber
- Violin - Nell Catchpole
8. "Bottomliners" (3:59)
- Piano, Synthesizer [Drone], Drums - Peter Schwalm
9. "Just Another Day" (4:21)
- Composed by - Peter Schwalm
- Loops - Brian Eno, Peter Schwalm
10. "Under" (5:19)
- Drums - Willie Green
- Effects [Occasional Signals] - Dino
- Effects [Splutters] - Barry AndrewsBarry Andrews (musician)Barry Andrews is a vocalist and keyboardist. He is a former member of the bands XTC and League of Gentlemen with Robert Fripp, and was co-founder of Shriekback. He has collaborated with Brian Eno on several projects, most recently guesting on keyboards for the 2005 album Another Day On Earth...
11. "Bonebomb" (3:09)
- Voice - Aylie Cooke
The music
Eno recorded and mixed most of the album on a MacMacintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
, using Logic
Logic Pro
Logic Pro is a hybrid 32 / 64 bit digital audio workstation and MIDI sequencer software application for the Mac OS X platform. Originally created by German software developer Emagic, Logic Pro became an Apple product when Apple bought Emagic in 2002...
, over a period of four years. He also engineered it himself, "because otherwise I would have had to spend six years in a commercial studio and pay staff, and that would have become too expensive".
"Bottomliners" and "Under" were first worked on about six years previously, on a DA88, the latter songs' drumming being supplied by Willie Green. On the former, and on the ballad "And Then So Clear" he pitch-shifted his voice up an octave, using the gender-changing function on a Digitech Pro Vocalist creating a vocoder
Vocoder
A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...
-like effect. His studio features a selection of hardware including a Lexicon
Lexicon (company)
Lexicon is an American audio equipment manufacturing company founded in 1971 and owned by Harman International Industries. Lexicon's roots began in 1969 with the founding of American Data Sciences by MIT professor Dr...
Jam Man loop sampler and an Eventide H3000 Harmonizer.
The album is actually built around the "And Then So Clear" song. He says "... In one day, actually, I pretty much finished it ... I liked it so much, and I thought, how I am going release this song, and I thought, I have to write some others".
On the title track he repeatedly cut up the main phrase, so that "the listener had little windows on it". Similar "cut-up" methodologies were used for the lyrics of "This", in that he used his computer to generate some of the words.
For the ambientesque "A Long Way Down" Eno manually synchronised his vocals with an out of time keyboard melody, and on "Going Unconscious" he went back to using Koan generative music
Generative music
Generative music is a term popularized by Brian Eno to describe music that is ever-different and changing, and that is created by a system.- Theory :There are four primary perspectives on "Generative Music" Generative music is a term popularized by Brian Eno to describe music that is ever-different...
software for the textural background.
The distinctions between songs and instrumentals which contain vocals are deliberately blurred, particularly on the track "How Many Worlds" ..... "There's just enough voice in there to make you hear it as a song, making it a bluff, a deceit".
The final track on the album, "Bonebomb", was inspired by a newspaper story about a Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
girl who becomes a suicide bomber
Suicide attack
A suicide attack is a type of attack in which the attacker expects or intends to die in the process.- Historical :...
. The title refers to a point made by an Israeli doctor that when a suicide bomber detonates, his/her bones are converted into small pieces of shrapnel which are part of the destructive power of the bomb.
Personnel
- Vocals, multiple instruments – Brian Eno
- Keyboards – Jon HopkinsJon HopkinsJon Hopkins is a London-based producer and musician who writes and performs his own melodic electronica and dance music. After starting his career performing keyboard for Imogen Heap, he's produced or contributed to albums by Brian Eno, Coldplay, David Holmes, and others...
- Guitar – Leo AbrahamsLeo AbrahamsLeo Abrahams is a British musician, composer, and producer. He has collaborated with a multitude of professional musicians, including Brian Eno, Imogen Heap, Jarvis Cocker, Carl Barât, and Paul Simon. After attending the Royal Academy of Music in England, he started his musical career by touring as...
- Violin – Duchess Nell Catchpole
- Drums – Willie GreenWillie GreenWillie J. Green is an American professional basketball player who last played for the New Orleans Hornets in the NBA. He was selected in the second round of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics and later acquired by Philadelphia from Seattle in a draft-night trade for the draft rights...
- Spoken vocals – Aylie Cooke
- Mastering – Simon Heyworth
- Artwork by [Design & Layout] - Sarah Vermeersch
- Photography [Back] - Qin Siyuan
- Photography [Front], Artwork By [Cover Design] - Brian Eno
In popular culture
- The 20052005 in film- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
psychological thrillerPsychological thrillerPsychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on characters. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre...
The JacketThe JacketThe Jacket is a 2005 psychological thriller film directed by John Maybury that is partly based on the Jack London novel of the same name, released in the US as The Star Rover. Massy Tadjedin wrote the screenplay based on a story by Tom Bleecker and Marc Rocco...
features excerpts from "Going Unconscious", and an alternate mix of "The Demon of the Mines" (from the Japanese edition). - A slightly longer version of "And Then So Clear" was played on EchoesEchoes (radio program)Echoes is a daily two-hour music radio program hosted by John Diliberto featuring a soundscape of ambient, space, electronica, and New Age music. The program features in-depth artist interviews and intimate "living room" performances. Interview subjects have included Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel,...
(syndicated on US NRI stations) in November and December 2003. - Marianne FaithfullMarianne FaithfullMarianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
covered "How Many Worlds" on her 2008 album Easy Come, Easy GoEasy Come, Easy Go (Marianne Faithfull album)Easy Come, Easy Go is a studio album of cover versions by English singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull, which was released in the EU on 10 November 2008. The album is produced by Hal Willner and features guest appearances from a variety of musicians...
.
Charts
| Year | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | USA Top Electronic Albums | #13 |
| 2005 | USA Top Independent Albums | #33 |