Smashbomb

"Nina is another friend that we were introduced to via John Peel and his family. There were a number of people after his passing that I really wanted to get in touch with and Nina was one of them. That was John’s legacy. That and one-stop shopping, something that Radio 1 would benefit from the asset of again. John was a place where you could go to hear very disparate music – some of which you would love, some which you would loathe, and some of which you would loathe but come to love. Nina was one of the people that he played a lot. This was the album when I met her and her fella. She’s an extraordinary singer – for me, I think the greatest contemporary female lyricist. She and her boyfriend live in a tiny flat in Manhattan, almost like Russian peasants. There are lots of stuffed animals and huge rugs on her tiny bed and laptops hidden behind huge automatons. I love her guitar playing and her singing, but her lyrics challenged me to try to be as good. She writes from a woman’s point of view, beautifully. Her lyrics are very personal. I struggled with that before writing Edgeland. This, and the John Martyn album, and the James Blake album – they were all writing very personal songs."

Source

Kudos

Darren Fisher (2447 KP) rated Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) by Brian Eno in Music

Dec 18, 2020 (Updated Jan 15, 2021)

Eno On Peak

In the 80's I got into Brian Eno via Talking Heads (with the excellent Remain in Light alvum) and David Bowie (Low, Heroes and Lodger), rather than through early Roxy Music.
My first introduction to Eno's solo work was the compilation More Blank Than Frank in 1986, which after listening to, was enough to convince me that I really needed to check out more of his work. I found Taking Tiger Mountain on cassette in the bargain bins at Our Price (I think). No inlay card but it was going cheap. Taking a punt I got it home and was instantly blown away. Musically upbeat for most of its duration, the lyrics told dark, humorous and downright weird tales about espionage, Limbourg Asylum and the rape of a woman by a crazed machine. There's also a lot of references to China (as the album title suggests).
So obssessed by this album I once recycled my smashed up electric guitar body in to a 'skinning up' table (with coaster bed legs so you could push it from person to person). The main centrepiece of this 'table' was a big mound of wax which I attempted to mould into my own Tiger Mountain... Damn the drugs were good back then hahaha 😎✌

Album Highlights:
Burning Airlines Give You So Much More
Third Uncle
The True Wheel