Search - Brian Eno, Jah Wobble :: SPINNER

An unusual, but not particularly powerful, collaboration.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 02/02/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"1995's "Spinner" is one of the more unusual collaborations in Brian Eno's catalog-- Eno had recorded this as a soundtrack piece and wanted to release it as an album but felt it wasn't quite a standalone piece, so he sent the recordings to Jah Wobble. Wobble left some songs alone, overdubbed some pieces, and remixed/overdubbed/edited some pieces.



The resulting album is decent enough-- the majority of the album is ambient hazes and sounds with funky beats supporting the pieces ("Steam", "Unusual Balance"). This is framed and punctuated by really quite minimalist-- even for Eno-- ambient pieces ("Where We Lived", "Space Diary I"), yielding a varied and overall fairly satisfying effort. The problem is that even with Wobble's contributions, not much on here really gets your attention-- it's a fine listen, but it doesn't make you really quite stand up and take notice, not the way so many of Eno's other works do.



This album was reissued-- I hesitate to say remastered-- with new cover art but I think that's just about it. It sounds fine, but quite frankly, I can't imagine this is a sonic upgrade. I don't have the original, so I can't do an actual comparison.



Regardless of sound quality, this one is probably best left for collectors-- newcomers to Eno's ambient/instrumental works would be better suited starting with "Discreet Music"."

An Artistic Journey of Grand Significance

Mr. Richard D. Coreno | Berea, Ohio USA | 11/19/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The artistic journey for Brian Eno and Jah Wobble works incredibly well since they begin at two different points and end in the same location.



Eno devises atmospheric frameworks that Wobble can work within, but not overwhelm what are minimalist settings. The 10 numbers are a soundtrack to a Derek Jarman film - Glitterbug - and provide harsh, but quite descriptive soundscapes.



With the proper focus, Eno can still create incredible backdrops for ambient music. And within a true collaborative effort, the numbers can take on significant dimensions of sound and vision."