It's New to Me: Taking Tiger Mountain (by Strategy) by Brian Eno (1974)

Image from an RCA magazine advertisement, 1961

Here's another unassailable classic album that deserves better than a sloppy "first impressions" review from me. I've been thinking about Taking Tiger Mountain (by Strategy) a lot in the weeks since I picked it up, though, so I'd like to share a couple thoughts:

1. Taking Tiger Mountain is undeniably the most "pop" of Eno's four pop/non-ambient albums from the mid-70s, less quirky than Here Come the Warm Jets and with more immediate hooks. However, the production of the album has a weird wooziness to it that makes it less accessible than Before and After Science, which is presented in a more straightforward way.

2. One of the most impressive things about Taking Tiger Mountain is the mix of poppy songs and very dark and sinister undertones. This mix is maybe the most potent on "Back in Judy's Jungle", which comes across as a goofy novelty tune if you're not paying attention to the lyrics. This duality, combined with the song's oom-pah horn break, make this take a direct progenitor of the They Might Be Giants songwriting formula.

3. Eno fans love "Third Uncle", which sounds like the Velvet Underground on speed (or on more speed?), and the song is often cited as a predecessor of punk, but the song honestly doesn't do anything for me. On the contrary, I think it's part of the album's only weak patch, as it comes between two other fairly uninteresting tracks, "The Great Pretender" and "Put a Straw Under Baby".

4. It's interesting that this album was followed by Another Green World, an album that instrumentals for half of its tracks. I think Eno may have underestimated his potency as a vocalist and composer of vocal melodies, because I really miss his vocals on Another Green World.

5. Eno's skill with vocal melodies is best exemplified by my favorite track on Taking Tiger Mountain, the epic "Mother Whale Eyeless" (yes, I like this track better than "Burning Airlines" and "The True Wheel"!) After a verse and great guitar break (by Ray Manzanara, I think), a female vocalist sings a gorgeous bridge melody that is on par with some of Eno's most breathtaking moments on the Wrong Way Up album. This melody is not repeated in the track, but the melody stays with me long after the album is finished. Also, Phil Collins plays on this song.

"Mother Whale Eyeless" by Brian Eno