Brian Eno- The True Wheel REACTION & REVIEW

[@richardhague1969]

"We are the 801" E - eight N - Naught O - One

[@Libri_amore_e_fantasia]

Aaahhah! I can’t believe I found out some 40 years later! 😂😂

[@goodmaro]

That's pretty good...but I'm not convinced. I still prefer to think it was originally "the ancient one" but got transcribed at some point as "801" and recorded as that. "Ancient one" goes a lot better with "central shaft", around which all else revolves -- or "the central shot", the bull's eye of the target. This is a song of swagger. In addition to the above, it contains, "We saw the Mothers, the Modern Lovers, and they looked very good, they looked as if they could," damning with faint praise two renowned and seminal bands (or just one if like other people you hear "Lovers" instead of "Mothers" [of Invention]). So it's laying down a marker in a cute way.

[@richardhague1969]

@@goodmaro the observation was made by Eno himself in his comments for the song in the book "More Dark Than Shark' ...it is purely an observation of coincidence i believe

[@jackal59]

@@goodmaro You're mishearing this. Eno very clearly sings "Eight" at the end of the first... verse? It is true that he occasionally overlapped different vocal takes that used different words (that's why "Needles in the Camel's Eye" on _Here Come the Warm Jets_ is so completely incomprehensible), but I don't hear "the ancient one" at any point. It hardly matters, though; anyone looking to make "rational" sense of Eno's lyrics is missing the point.

[@wendellwiggins3776]

In 1974 ENO & his strange Pre-Proto-Punk / avant-garde engineering & semi mechanized yet rhythmic driven grooves felt like the future or some homage to a distant primal past we'd forgotten. It was so cool, that even Bowie began adopting Eno's vision & techniques along with many other Hip contemporaries at the time. I was definitely on this (new) WAVE when I wasn't multitasking with Prog or Funk'. What a GLORIOUS TIME to have SO MANY DIFFERENT STYLES all happening and appreciated! Again, nothing like being in the middle of it at 18 years old. Heady Times!

[@davidcopson5800]

Glad to see you returning to this album. Keep going with Eno's stuff.

[@lemming9984]

The band 'A Certain Ratio' took their name from the chorus of this song. Justin, if you liked this album and HCtWJ, try the non-album single Seven Deadly Finns, a wonderfully crazy and catchy song.

[@podchauffe]

And the band 801 took their name from the refrain of this song!

[@lemming9984]

@@podchauffe Yes. My all time favourite official Live album is '801 Live'.

[@MrFrogmorton]

Brilliant album! Been listening to this and other enosofications for over 40 years.

[@johndrx165]

Reference to 801, which he was part of the fantastic 1976 Live album. Love the way it builds with the guitar and then morphs into classic Eno craziness.

[@johnniekight1879]

Phil Manzanera plays many of his guitar tracks. His solo stuff is amazing as well. Ex-Roxy Music as well.

[@mikevandenbosch9081]

Listen Now, Diamind Head, and more

[@philscionka5692]

@@johnniekight1879 music of the spheres pre dates Eno not even on Goog hoo

[@ethelwulfmountbattenderoth2286]

801 Live, kicks ass.

[@rdumontdebeque]

What a fun song. One of his best. Thanks!

[@Sandy-dd4le]

One of my favourite Eno songs. I love the way the guitar part morphs over the course of the song, reminds me somewhat of Hawkwind.

[@goodmaro]

8:40 For like 20 years I've convinced myself that "801" was a transcription error, and was meant to be sung, "We are the ancient one."

[@masterpeace8539]

Some obvious krautrock influences here.

[@jerkedevries]

The percussive stuff in the second half is really great

[@josephchisholm2654]

I think I remember reading that a chorus came to Eno in a dream, singing, "We are the 801." It's worth repeating that 801 Live is really good. Maybe it's relevant that 108 is a sacred number in various religions, or maybe it's just all about the rhythm.

[@willharm6143]

a wheel is "true" when its perfectly round

[@Chromexus]

I actually tried to listen to the "guitar solo" and discovered it was actually a tremelo duet between Eno's synth and Manzanara the tremelo overlaps to make it sound like a solo. This lp is well before the 801 live. 801 live is also awesome.

[@Chromexus]

additionally, I think the "Modern Lovers" reference was to seeing Richman's band live

[@pleasantvalleypickerca7681]

A great song from a great album.

[@markr1574]

deliciously odd

[@stevious7278]

Waiting fr you to hit "801 Live"...but loving the Eno path leading there; (But I have been a fan since this album was released,so that makes it kinds easier 😊) As for your analysis Jason, I thought you nailed it. It encapsulated his time with Roxy Music and his envisioning of his future career in the music industry - experimental - should - be on the radio but isn't.

[@GairBear49]

Another Brian Eno album is Music For Airports, completely different. He did a wide range of music.

[@DavidImiri]

Masterpiece. One of his top tracks - that guitar solo sliding across itself is so dimension shifting, brilliant. So is China My China. And the title track's the perfect closer. (I've been dreadfully ill with a flu this week, so I haven't been able to do much viewing or commenting, but I couldn't miss this one!)

[@podchauffe]

Get well soon!

[@markdrechsler5660]

Hope you feel better!

[@DavidImiri]

Aww, thanks guys!

[@goodmaro]

He got the title from some souvenir/promotion cards for a performance of a Chinese opera by that name of which he knew nothing. However, to me it has an unintended, synchronicitous meaning: about the building of the ill-fated Russian-American Telegraph. Although there is a Dragon and Tiger Mountain in China, Tiger Mountain is fictional. However, there is a Tiger Mountain in Washington State that has been used as a transmitter site, and the Russian-American Telegraph line would have passed at least close to there, even if not exactly "to top Tiger Mountain". "We climbed and we climbed, oh how we climbed...." That's how the line was (abortively) built, first erecting the poles and then climbing them to install the wire. "Over the stars" -- "over" in the sense of "north of", the "stars" being the Stars and Stripes, i.e. the USA. So, north of the USA and thru Canada into Russian North America (now Alaska). "Forcing the lines thru the snow" is self-explanatory. There's a book about the endeavor: _Continental Dash_ .

[@DavidImiri]

@@goodmaro Fascinating - really fleshes out the pure poetry of it. I always took it for the layers of metaphor there, but knowing this won't take anything away from that. Thanks!

[@stephencolligan]

Superb 2 note guitar solo

[@DollyTwin]

Just the best thing ever... so many layers, so creative, so much to hear, probably not the best track to react to after 1 listen and try to summarise to be honest, I find something new after 100 listens

[@OronOfMontreal]

This sounds disarmingly Pop, only to fulfill its Enoness, as a weirdness delivery platform. From the dissonant vocal harmonies in the first half, to the strange buzzy effects to the de-synching guitar solo's tape delay syncopation. Such challenging fun!

[@Libri_amore_e_fantasia]

I am a huge Talking Heads fan and I can hear them in embryonic from in this record.

[@goodmaro]

A wheel is "true" if it's balanced. Go to a tire changing place and they'll show you how they put in weights to do that for both static and dynamic balance.

[@sylvanm4216]

Mmmmmm-mmm! Killer.

[@sicko_the_ew]

A true wheel might be a balanced one? (So running true, not erratically.) I don't know how wheel balancing would fit in with the song, though. I suppose you'd also balance a good turntable, so there might be something "record-player" in it?

[@sicko_the_ew]

Just in case you've already seen the prev. Here's an a TV performance of a Wishbone Ash song I thought had been deleted long ago. (Might be, and have been reposted.) They're in jazz mode, and scatting instead of lyricking. You might like the bass on this one, hence the "reply" - which KZbin might decide is "deceptive". We'll see. Here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmWXmnuil8qgrdE

[@enossified]

Eno has long been a cyclist, so he may have been intrigued by the word play in this concept. It's hard to pin down exact meanings, though, because Eno was less intrigued with a lyrics' meaning than with the sound of the words and how they affected the listener's ear (within his own art, at any rate).

[@sicko_the_ew]

@@enossified I like that approach to lyrics. Helps me to make up my own understanding of the bits of lyric I hear without having to mishear them. :D

[@jackal59]

What the Velvet Underground wrought.

[@matto9734]

I love Eno in every shape and form... period! There is a movie called "Being John Malkovich" why isn´t there a movie called "Being Brian Eno"? I really want to have a good luck on how his brain works ;-)

[@jamespaivapaiva4460]

😎✌&❤

[@maartenlemmens8628]

The middle section sounds different from that on my cd. Strange.🤔

[@s.collintuck3227]

Lot of weird stuff in this track for sure! And hey, nice shirt! Hopefully you got a lot of good suggestions for pre-grunge NW sound to listen to. If not....hit me up! :)

[@RichardSmith-ot3zk]

I got youtuber Critical Reactions, who's usually very good, to review this one. He did not like it at all and was wondering why I would have recommended it. One complaint is that it's repetitive. It doesn't sound static to me, I think because of the trick with the chords. It's three one bar chords, but the phrase is four bars, so it syncs up every twelve bars. I think that's what the Wheel refers to. I think he just heard the top line notes of the guitar "solo" so he found it boring. You picked up on the sort of auditory illusion of the guitar (two parts?) which always hits me differently every time I hear it. (Sort of like the electronic insect noises at the end of The Great Pretender). The line "We are the 801 / We are the central shaft" came to him in a mescaline dream. Mostly I just find the song and album fun and funny and weird, so I'm glad to get a more positive take on it.

[@jerkedevries]

Could you play some music from the indierock band Low? Their last three albums are experimental and intense. From their last album is All Night really great and Hey too

[@philscionka5692]

Yin yang ? No. Refers to o to the Holy Trinity. The ratio refers to our inability to fully comprehend Christ. We are and never we I'll be perfect.

[@frugalseverin2282]

I find this way too repetitive, like he was trying to fill the album. It's the 1 song I'd skip and I'm not someone that skips songs.