Mike Andrews interviews Brian Eno for Riverside in 1983

A two-part interview with Brian Eno from the BBC 2 program "Riverside" in 1983, combined into a single video. The topics include natural versus electronic sounds, synthesizers, ambient music, New York, and video art.
The University has made two edits to the second part for rights reasons: a clip of Roxy Music and rough footage from Apollo have been removed. However, the University believes that these can still be viewed online in a version located at: stuffem.wordpress.com/2007/10/...

[@GEAsolar]

" I think ... Good Ideas ..."

[@Massigangster]

Just about to type that haha

[@GEAsolar]

@@Massigangster Still funny ;D

[@Massigangster]

@@GEAsolar definitelly hahahs

[@lisacolbert5987]

Am forever grateful that he was so damned prolific so that, selfishly speaking, my life has had a soundtrack that never once got boring.

[@davidhollyfield5148]

Eno was always open about his technique. A true zen master of the rock medium.

[@RRuss-sp8jt]

I hope that you're still around Lisa six years after your post so that someone six years from that point in a time in your past can come back and say to you with all sincerity, "Well said. Well put."

[@SKYSAW59]

The most important and influential figure in popular music history. Simple as that.

[@anodyne57]

Brian Eno describes his approach in a way that any artist worth their salt would.

[@gabekozak6536]

Music is universal language ! With Eno we are not ashamed in this UNIVERSE!

[@tiesje93]

3:10 haha Great interview. thanks for posting!

[@dominicofmontrealfan2672]

I love Brian Eno a true musical innovator, worked with amazing artists such as David Bowie of course Roxy Music, U2, Coldplay and many more

[@davidhollyfield5148]

A true zen master of rock medium

[@WestbustahSaucedo]

Zen master lol ur funny

[@EyeLean5280]

'83 was the year I first encountered Eno.

[@NathanHassall]

Brian's wisdom holds true today just like it did in 1983. May it be a large synthesizer or massive guitar rig with marshal stacks...musicians create an illusion behind the mystique of the of their instrument believing or making the audience believe that somehow that object they use is creating the answers when really it is the musician.

[@kentborges5114]

BRIAN TRULY IS AMAZING AND ON HIS OWN LEVEL.

[@ericmalone3213]

One day some day sooner than later Brian Eno & Robert Fripp should get together on stage before the public to discuss the work they did together, including the Bowie stuff, & take questions from the audience.

[@SwirlyWhirlyXYZ]

Eric Malone ...or play live

[@carygson]

Why on earth would they want to do that?

[@ericmalone3213]

@@carygson what a silly question Mr Leach. Must I state the obvious? There are many untold anecdotes and stories, & Fripp & Eno are very funny when they get together.

[@wallacelovecraft8942]

I love how the other people or other things that are in the video are edited out. I find it funny that it was edited badly and you can still see and hear a word that they say or something from it before it's cut. For example, I heard a depeche mode song. Interesting british tv. I enjoyed listening to this vid.

[@cut--]

greatest and most undrated musicians ever..

[@adamsmith3996]

Actually not underrated at all ! He is highly respected by his peers. His music just wasnt main stream ( by his choice ) he has produced many recordings of hugely popular bands like U2 , David Bowie and many more.

[@anthonyeatguitar]

Thanks for posting!

[@ChosenHandle117]

Superb...

[@binershock]

Yes bro

[@hannahsackin2146]

i love you brian eno!

[@tryfishin9]

My dream would be to see Brain play live his band material like taking tiger mountain, another green world etc..and mix it with ambient tracks. With the technology in music now like sequences, midi, reliable synths(tuning etc)and stage backline is easier now he could actually put together musicians and recreate those albums... idk Just dreaming

[@victorsantiago5470]

I saw that video(s) displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. . it consisted of three tv monitors and three vcr. .s played simultaneously. . skylines and sides of buildings.

[@sammysouth8372]

Hey did you those geese walking in the background. So cute

[@Sharperthanu1]

By the time I got there the geese were gone.Maybe they flew south for the winter

[@davidhollyfield5148]

I've always loved your use of 'snake guitar'

[@jstu7186]

Eno's looking regal as hell here

[@2Chickaboom2]

I’d like to hear him now, in 2022, what his follow up opinions and observations on this conversation but 40 years later.

[@Car-guy307]

His influence on U2 just a year later now makes sense

[@Luschan]

U Talkin’ Talking Heads 2 My Talking Head has completely changed how I view Ol’ Sourpuss. This interview seals it for me.

[@Kikidewivered]

The ducks!

[@billysequins]

Wikipedia invented at 9:24

[@pinduro1618]

... in 1983.

[@anodyne57]

Yes, but more to the point...it seems he's actually describing the process of hyperlinks in general.

[@rockets4kids]

Wikipedia was invented far, far earlier than this... www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/303881/

[@tangibleblockofwisdom6386]

@@anodyne57 indeed..!

[@Sharperthanu1]

These are the only images I can find of "The Wilderness" (Eno's property in Woodbridge Suffolk UK up till at least 1990).I recognize the front door.

[@kristopherscanlon2058]

In a short while from this video interview he would take on his most famous production gig:U2. with out they...

[@krisscanlon4051]

Darn close to his U2 era where his life would take an even bigger turn...pre huge success.

[@pjbrubak]

Man invented portrait orientation with that NYC video he spoke about.

[@Sharperthanu1]

Eno seems PERFECTLY NICE in this....STRANGE

[@iandalziel7405]

ineffably affable?

[@Sharperthanu1]

Inside the front door and up through the center of the house there's a huge polished wood staircase.To the right of the house there's a shed with a lot of firewood in it to fuel the fireplace in the house.My DNA is in there.FOREVER!

[@mickeymousebiker1]

This guy and Thomas Dolby. Least I forget Keith Emerson, Robert Fripp and Pete Sinfield.

[@davidcopson5800]

Lest*

[@pullthereins]

Does anyone know if he wrote the book that he mentioned creating. Where as the reader would jump around, rather than left to right.

[@cherryhodgson3597]

I love the Eno.....Fractial zoom is my fav song, but i can't understand a fucking word he says.

[@jeffdawson2786]

Those lucky geese. "Did you hear that funny noise coming out of the house?" "I've told you 100 times that this is Brian Eno's house. It's what he does." "Oh".

[@vertyisprobablydead]

"New York is a medieval city that which happened to have landed in the 20th century" Aint that the truth.

[@leonardodemarchi7068]

In the video he says he's working on a book with an unusual structure. Does anybody know to which book he is referring to?

[@ZeranZeran]

I know it's not a book, but I think he might be referring to his Oblique Strategies. (Thanks, MGMT). what does he knowwww brian enooooo

[@vanelluspierrot]

Maybe the book he has co-written, "Visual Music"?

[@omarkayham6352]

For what I know, he was already dealing with those in the 70´s

[@liammadden615]

My understanding is that Eno has only written one book entitled 'A Year with Swollen Appendages' - a kind of diary that covers one year of his life

[@Sharperthanu1]

The house behind Brian Eno in this film is NOT the house he lives in from 1988 until at least the early 1990's (The Wilderness,Pytches Rd.Woodbridge Suffolk England).I've seen that house and the windows are DEFINATELY different.Also theres' no cute ducks wandering around on that property either.

[@jrjcm]

Interesting that it is all pixelated out on Google Earth/Maps

[@Sharperthanu1]

I've changed my mind about this.I recognise the front door.But I remember the windows quite differently.They were larger and more spacious with no curtains on them.Also there were no "ducks" walking around on the property by then.There's also a wine cellar in the back of the house to the left.

[@bazzookabod5250]

I’ve since remodelled the bathrooms at the wilderness and I don’t recall the steps to the front door. I’m gonna peek through the gates tomorrow to clarify

[@brainsareus]

He looks and sounds like another person, now. I know, we all get old, but some of us still look a bit like our younger selves.

[@poempadgett4664]

It’s called going bald, mainly, because he’s only 35 years old here, plus, he’s at a post-makeup and dressing up stage here, as well.

[@taliesinechoes4513]

Anyone know if this is the 1st instance of Eno famously saying that everyone who 1st bought a Velvet Underground record started a band?

[@iandalziel7405]

Looks like he is referencing himself here: see: quoteinvestigator.com/2016/03/01/velvet/ "QI believes that the expression above evolved from a remark made by Brian Eno during an interview published in the “Los Angeles Times” in May 1982."

[@alexlarson9101]

Ducks and ducklings at 3:10.

[@alexlarson9101]

Pardon, duckling.

[@myaphextwin807]

He's fu**ing mad!

[@iandalziel7405]

He does indeed like a lot of 'fuzz'! Well spotted!

[@scottvska]

Is that a National Trust building behind them?

[@iandalziel7405]

puts me in mind of Jim Broadbent's brilliantly 'dry' 'A sense of history' - chilling stuff, stuff upper lip and all that... kzbin.info/www/bejne/foHXkqpohtx1m7M

[@miloskalezic9825]

Where is this House?

[@victorsantiago5470]

ENO = mc2

[@Sharperthanu1]

No,Eno = EIGHT NAUGHT ONE

[@meschaffer8260]

wine id plz

[@chrissolbe4034]

Duck photobomb at 3'11"

[@jamesgrant878]

V

[@sammysouth8372]

That his house? Dude’s done well for himself. Roxy was never big in America where these folks make most of their money. Must’ve been independently well off

[@earinsound]

This is at the old Riverside Studios in London. His father was a local postal worker in Suffolk. But I'm sure he was doing well in 1983. Even better after producing Joshua tree

[@gerrad1973]

He’s a very sought after producer who’s worked on bestselling albums with top artists

[@onemanschorus12]

Eno is macrocephalic.

[@RaifLisko]

To house is incredibly large brain. Man's a genius

[@jasonlefler3456]

Brian Eno = One Brain

[@iandalziel7405]

@@jasonlefler3456 - that's deffo better than 'Inane Orb'

[@jamescorbett5729]

Brian Eno is a pseudo-intellectual. I love the sound of his vocals. I wish he had made more vocal albums. Instead he just talked and talked.

[@PAULLONDEN]

60's Stones "a kind of sweetness"......❓Even The Beatles had some harsh sounds now & then....... Even The Velvet Underground had some serious sweet sounds....you can't generalise on that subject..... 1983..New York was already busy becoming the Trump hell hole it is today...... Oh well......even a genius can babble on sometimes.......

[@ivanriskin1167]

PaulLonden i get your point, i think he meant music producers at the time only took the sweet side of the beatles and most of the music industry went that way

[@jesselopes5196]

he's talking the Cale VU records obviously, not the Yule records