| Track: | Rating: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Dust At Dawn (The Last Cowboy In The West) | | | | ||
| 2. Field Of Gold | | | | | |
| 3. Prelude For St. Joan | | | | | |
| 4. Ringinglow | | | | | |
| 5. The Frost | | | | | |
| 6. One Gull | | | | | |
| 7. The Silent Hours | | | | | |
| 8. Between Tides | | | | | |
| 9. Winter Music | | | | | |
| 10. While The City Sleeps | | | | | |
| 11. Sunburst | | | | | |
| 12. Autumn | | | | | |
| 13. Almost Dark | | | | | |
Roger Eno was first introduced to the music-buying public in 1983, when he collaborated with Daniel Lanois and his older, more famous brother Brian Eno on the Apollo album. On this album, he proved himself capable of creating sonic textures which were not terribly different from those explored by his elder sibling. There was little to suggest that he was capable of of making a distinctive impact upon the music world.
Although I have not heard all of his albums, my perception is that, after 15 years, Roger Eno has still not managed to truly distinguish himself with his musical releases. Between Tides, his first solo album, emerged in 1988; since then, he has worked in a number of minimalist projects, but has never, to my knowledge, really broken through with a truly distinctive work.
To his credit, though, he has not simply imitated his brother's musical techniques in his solo output. Instead, the common consensus (shared by this reviewer) is that he has imitated Erik Satie.
Every track on Between Tides shows Eno striving for an melodically pure form of composition, eschewing technical virtuosity and elaborate arrangements in favour of minimal, repetitious melodies which develop in a fairly predictable manner. Satie's intention in writing works of this sort was to reduce his composition to an immediately accessible form of sonic development. Judging Eno's work by this standard, it follows that each piece must succeed or fail on the strength of its melody, as applicable to the mood which it is intended to evoke (though the mood itself may be judged as well, as per the first track).
This comparison should not be construed as absolute, of course. Eno does provide for some manner of sonic complexity in the form of accompaniment from other instruments. Moreover, unlike Satie, his titles actually have some relation to the nature of the piece in question(!).
Between Tides is a good album, a low-key English-classical DIY work that generally succeeds in creating the pastoral mood evoked in its song titles. But it cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered an important album, nor even an essential one. While many of its tracks make for extremely pleasant listens, there is nothing here to make the album "vital".
Moreover, if one were to hear only the first track, one might question why Between Tides was even made at all. "Dust At Dawn" is an unimpressive number, fusing a rather conventional "cowboy orchestral theme" with Satie's compositional style in a manner which occasionally becomes rather painful. This was apparently intended as a joke, and moreover contains a few interesting variations in the middle -- for this reason, it can't be written off entirely. Still, it isn't very good, and Eno's decision to begin the album with this inferior work counts as a point against him.
The rest of the album is considerably better. "Fields Of Gold" is dominated by a minimalist piano lead, accompanied by a highly appropriate violin presence. This is a very nice mood piece, and features a much better mood than did the previous piece. A few of the mid-song variations almost seem to venture into power-ballad territory -- while this isn't really Eno's fault, the diminished levels of interest which the listener might experience in these sections could easily have been avoided. Still, this is a good number.
"Prelude For St. Joan" is a piece for string quartet, featuring a minimal statement unfolding in a manner which suggests much more than it reveals -- in other words, it is a prelude, and a fairly good one at that. One wonders if this Eno has a more elaborate work in mind to correspond with this.
The next track, "Ringinglow", features a greater degree of internal diversity than the previous numbers (this due to the presence of clarinet, piano, and strings). The melody is also a bit more developed here than elsewhere. Another pleasant listen, ergo another favourable rating.
With "The Frost", Eno finally reaches the a true fulfillment of his talents as a composer in this genre. This is a "cold", stark piano-based piece, with melodic percussion and strings accompanying. The dangerous trappings of the earlier tracks seem wholly absent here, and the extended length of this work gives it a greater opportunity for subtle variations. I imagine John Cage would have liked this one. A triumph.
"One Gull" is the piano solo of the album, with the right hand developing an amazingly Satie-esque melody. One wonders if "The Gull's Fourth Barefoot Dance" might have been an appropriate title (note that this is not meant as an insult). This is a triumph of ambient music on a traditional instrument, though too many repeated listenings might not be recommended.
As its title might imply, "The Silent Hours" makes a greater use of silence within the song as a means of fine-honing its musical expression. This is a deliberately majestic track, and the pauses in time work quite well. Not quite as impressive as the earlier tracks, its still pretty good.
"Between Tides" is, of course, another piano-dominated piece. To Eno's credit, it actually does have somewhat of a Maritime feel about it, using its stark melodies for a highly imagist purpose. It's somewhat unfortunate, perhaps, that the performance gets faded out after only a few minutes (as this was taken from a live performance, one wonders what would have happened afterwards).
"Winter Music" is another stark piano piece (do we see a running pattern in the titles of Eno's best works?). The somewhat tentative piano line paints a vivid picture of the motif in question, and the flute and string accompaniments make for a majestic performance. It's quite easy for one to lose oneself in this impressive work.
The image painted in "While The City Sleeps" is a bit more ambiguous; the tones alternately suggest a troubled state of some sort, and moments of lush beauty on the other. Perhaps this contrast was deliberate; it's difficult to say. The string instruments take varying leads, improving the internal diversity levels of this work.
"Sunburst" is, as the title implies, a piece entirely devoted to the painting of a single triumphant moment, without any counterpoint to speak of. The strings dominate this piece, which creates its ambient mood fairly well. This form of composition would probably not sustain an entire album, but it works for this one track easily enough.
The basic structure of "Autumn" features a piano lead over which the string instruments make recurring appearances; this becomes a bit too predictable after a while, and one wonders if some variation might have in order -- still, the piece as a whole is solid enough. I'm still not certain if Eno deliberately had one of his violinists make his instrument slightly out of tune to produce a vaguely rustic feel; if so, it shows that the influence of his brother may be emerging on subtle levels.
The album concludes with "Almost Dark", with piano, strings, and melodic percussion setting the stage for the closing of the work. Not overly different from the previous tracks, this is still perfectly listenable.
As mentioned above, Between Tides is not by any means an essential album. Those who decide to purchase it, however, should have little to complain about (after the first track, of course).
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 6 February 1998)