My Life in the Bush With Ghost [Original Recording Remastered, Import]

On this 1981 collaboration, Byrne & Eno are assisted by eleven musicians on instruments like bass, bodhran, bata sticks, congas, drums, guitars, synths, various percussion and found objects. The tracks (they're not really songs) are built around radio broadcasts of politicians, evangelists and exorcists or taken from world music recordings which are clothed in Byrne's jerky polyrhythmic beats and Eno's sonic sculptures, and spiced with cleverly chosen samples.

This re-release has been enhanced by a video clip and extra tracks that do not add much to what was already a masterpiece of mixing music from around the globe into a cohesive whole. The title is derived from the 1954 novel by Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola, about a young Yoruba boy who runs away from his village and suddenly finds himself in America where he undergoes a series of scary and hilarious experiences before returning home.

Bush Of Ghosts takes some getting used to, but there's such an innovative variety of musical marriages that the album's manifold charms soon engage the listener. Two distinct styles are discernible - the Western and the Ethnic which encompasses both Middle Eastern & gospel sounds from the Sea Islands of the South Atlantic coast of the USA. Funky electronics dominate the hypnotic and spooky America is Waiting whilst Mea Culpa has a multi-track voice with echo effects over a slow beat and ominous vocals.

The dreamy Regiment, the first of the Arabic tracks, is based around the contralto of Lebanese singer Dunya Yusin over a down-tempo beat, creating a mournful ambience. In 1979 the German experimentalist Holger Czukay had released his album Movies whose highlight, Persian Love, is based on the shortwave recording of a romantic Farsi duet between a male & female vocalist. Strictly speaking, Czukay had thus paved the way.

The skittering rhythms of Help Me Somebody carry the passionate voice of a New Orleans preacher. The next, unidentified radio evangelist is downright scary as he performs a blood-curdling exorcism by questioning a young woman and then fiercely tongue-lashing the Jezebel Spirit within her. If that weren't enough, the edgy drums and percussion succeed well in ratcheting up the levels of unease and repressed hysteria.

Even more eerie is Moonlight In Glory with the voices of the Moving Star Hall Singers where it is difficult to determine what the emotion-laden voices are saying. It seems to be an event or passage from the Bible that these artists from Georgia's coast are narrating. Two more Arabic tracks follow, The Carrier which is a rhythmic chant by the aforementioned Dunya Yusin and the brooding A Secret Life, constructed around the vocals of Egyptian singer Samirah Tawfiq.

Lots of bleeps and found sounds characterize Come With Me which also carry the vocoderized voice of a third preacher. More classical-experimental than the rest, Mountain of Needles has the feel of a soundtrack segment and reminds me of Cabaret Voltaire. The glaring omission of the original track number 6, Qur'an, overshadows all the new stuff. It is a haunting piece of Algerian believers chanting verses from their scripture. Why the spineless retreat, one wonders, when DJ Cheb i Sabbah uses a striking mix of Hindu mantra & Muslim prayer on Shri Durga, his 1999 masterpiece? Western artists who practice self-censorship undermine their integrity. For that, one star was deducted.