Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)

Infobox Album
Name = Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
Type = studio
Artist = Brian Eno


Released = November 1974
Recorded = September 1974 at Island Studios, London
Genre = Art rock, glam rock
Length = 48:14
Label = Island
Producer = Brian Eno
Reviews = show
1 = Allmusic Rating|5|5
2 = Review by Steve Huey
Publication date: Unknown
[http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:71u67ui0h0jd External link] show
1 =BBC
2 = Review by Chris Jones
Publication date: September 20, 2003
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/69n8/ External link] show
1 = "Blender" Rating|5|5
2 = Review by Douglas Wolk
Publication date: Unknown
[http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=2169 External link] show
1 = Pitchfork Media (8.6/10)
2 = Review by Chris Ott
Publication date: June 14, 2004
[http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/17479-here-come-the-warm-jets-taking-tiger-mountain-by-strategy-another-green-world-before-and-after-science External link] show
1 = PopMatters
2 = Review by John Davidson
Publication date: July 29, 2004
[http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/e/enobrian-taking2004.shtml External link] show
1 = Robert Christgau (A-)
2 = Review by Robert Christgau
Publication date: June, 1975
[http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=eno External link] show
1="Spin" Rating|9|10
2=Review by "Spin" staff
Publication date: 1995Weisbard & Marks, 1995. p.128]
Last album = "June 1, 1974"
(1974)
This album = "Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)"
(1974)
Next album = "Another Green World"
(1975)
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Type = studio


Lower caption = 2004 Original Masters edition

"Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)" is the second solo album by Brian Eno. Produced by Eno, it was originally released by Island Records in November of 1974 in a gatefold sleeve.cite web
last = Huey
first = Steve
title = "Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)" album review
publisher = Allmusic
url = http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:71u67ui0h0jd
accessdate = 2008-05-09] Unlike his previous album "Here Come the Warm Jets", Eno used a core band of five instrumentalists (keyboards, guitars, bass, drums, and percussion), and a slightly more conventional sound, with everything somewhat off kilter.Tamm, 1995. p.99]

Also unlike his previous album, "Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)" failed to chart in the United Kingdom or United States, but received more attention from the rock press.Tamm, 1995. p.100] Tamm, 1995. p.101] A remastered version was released in 2004 by Virgin Records.

Production

The album was inspired by a series of postcards of a Chinese revolutionary opera, titled "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy".Howard, 2004. p.192] Eno described his understanding of the title as referring to "the dichotomy between the archaic and the progressive. Half Taking Tiger Mountain – that Middle Ages physical feel of storming a military position – and half (By Strategy) – that very, very 20th-century mental concept of a tactical interaction of systems."

To further explore the possibilities of the studio setting, Eno developed a type of instruction cards, Oblique Strategies. During recording of the album, he would allow the cards to dictate the next unconsidered action in the recording process. Describing the words on the album as "worthwhile dilemmas", Eno eventually expanded the Oblique Strategies set to sixty-four cards, all illustrated by Peter Schmidt, which would be used in nearly all his future recordings. Schmidt also designed the album cover, which consists of four prints from an edition of fifteen hundred of his unique lithographs, as well as Polaroids of Eno by Lorenz Zatecky.cite album-notes
title = Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
bandname = Brian Eno
year = 1974
format = Vinyl back cover
publisher = Island Records
publisherid = ILPS9309
mbid = 5cd3e02d-cc77-4aa6-8482-caca89057a9c]

Phil Manzanera described the recording of the album as "just doing anything we felt like doing at the time. The engineer we used, Rhett Davies, also did "Diamond Head" and "801 Live" and Quiet Sun, so it was like family. There was a lot of experimenting and a lot of hours spent with Brian Eno, me, and Rhett in the control room doing all the things that eventually evolved into those cards, the Oblique Strategies, and it was just a lot of fun."Derogatis, 2004. p.243] Eno had previously helped Genesis with their album "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", and Peter Gabriel asked how they could repay him, to which Eno replied -- looking at Phil Collins -- that he needed a drummer. Collins played drums on "Mother Whale Eyeless" as repayment.Thompson, 2004. p.117]

tyle

"Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)" overall has been described as more upbeat and bouncy than Eno's previous solo album, and that these sounds disguise the more sinister themes and subject matter.Derogatis, 2004. p.244] The lyrics of "Burning Airlines Give You So Much More" were inspired by a 1974 crash near Paris of a Turkish Airlines DC-10, one of the worst air crashes in history. "The Fat Lady of Limbourg", described by Eno as a "Burroughs-type" song, is about an asylum in Limbourg, Belgium where the residents of it outnumber the population of the town. "The Great Pretender" describes the rape of a suburban house wife by a crazed machine. There are a number of references to China in the album's songs, including in "Burning Airlines Give You So Much More", "China My China" and "Taking Tiger Mountain".

Release and reception

No singles were released from the album and it failed to chart in either the United Kingdom or the United States.Warwick, 2004. p.379] [cite web
title = Brian Eno Charts & Awards
publisher = Allmusic
url = http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:abfuxqe5ldhe~T53
accessdate = 2008-05-10] Like Eno's previous album, "Here Come the Warm Jets", the album received a mostly very positive reception from critics. Writing for the "Village Voice", Robert Christgau gave the album a rating of A-, saying, "Every cut on this clear, consistent, elusive album affords distinct present pleasure. Admittedly, when they're over they're over--you don't flash on them the way you do on "Cindy Tells Me" and "Baby's on Fire." But that's just his way of being modest."cite web
last = Christgau
first = Robert
title = Robert Christgau: CG: Eno
url = http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist2.php?id=190
accessdate = 2008-05-10] "Circus" magazine described the album as "Sick! Sick! Sick! But, oh-h-h, it feels so good! ... guaranteed to be put on the 'Most Wanted' list by psychopaths everywhere ... [Eno] takes you on a dada-ists tour-de-force, lampooning and integrating every type of music conceivable". Critic Ed Naha, writing in "Crawdaddy!", gave the album a negative review, saying, "Much of the Wonderlandish magic found on Eno’s first LP is lost on this rocky terrain, being replaced by a dull,repetitive aura that is annoying as all hell."

In 2004, Virgin Records began reissuing Eno's albums in batches of four to five in remastered digipaks.cite web
title = The Musical Life of Brian!
work = nme.com
url = http://www.nme.com/news/brian-eno/16325
accessdate = 2008-05-16] Recent assessments of the album have been mostly positive, with Allmusic, "Blender" and "Uncut" giving the album five stars, their highest ratings.cite web
title = Brian Eno Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) CD
work = cduniverse.com
url = http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=6717495#
accessdate = 2008-05-16] cite web
last = Wolk
first = Douglas
title = Brian Eno : (various reissues) Review on Blender :: The Ultimate Guide to Music and More|date=|author=Wolk, Douglas
publisher = Blender
url = http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=2169
accessdate = 2008-08-05] The BBC's Chris Jones called it "a work of genius because it didn't know the meaning of restraint".cite web
last = Jones
first = Chris
title = Brian Eno reissues review
publisher = BBC
date = 2003-09-20
url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/69n8/
accessdate = 2008-05-09

last = Davidson
first = John
title = Brian Eno: Here Come the Warm Jets / Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) / Another Green World / Before and After Science: Pitchfork Record Review
date = 2004-06-14
url =
accessdate = 2008-05-10] Douglas Wolk of "Blender" had the opposite to say, rating it more highly then "Here Come the Warm Jets", calling it "more immediately likeable". A less positive review came from "Mojo", which gave the album three out of five stars.

Track listing

tracklist
headline = Side one
all_writing = Brian Eno, except where noted
title1 = Burning Airlines Give You So Much More
length1 = 3:18
title2 = Back in Judy's Jungle
length2 = 5:16
title3 = The Fat Lady of Limbourg
length3 = 5:03
title4 = Mother Whale Eyeless
length4 = 5:45
title5 = The Great Pretender
length5 = 5:11

tracklist
headline = Side two
title6 = Third Uncle
note6 = Eno, arr. Brian Turrington
length6 = 4:48
title7 = Put a Straw Under Baby
length7 = 3:25
title8 = The True Wheel
note8 = Eno, Phil Manzanera
length8 = 5:11
title9 = China My China
length9 = 4:44
title10 = Taking Tiger Mountain
length10 = 5:32

Covers

* In 1982 British gothic rock band Bauhaus covered "Third Uncle" on their third album "The Sky's Gone Out".
* In 2004 the entire album was covered by Caroleen Beatty and Doug Hilsinger as "Brian Eno's Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy", using the first of the postcards for which the album was named as cover art. This version runs ten minutes longer than the original version. [cite web
title = Doug Hilsinger & Caroleen Beatty - Brian Eno's Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
work = saucefaucet.com
url = http://www.saucefaucet.com/tiger.html
accessdate = 2008-08-08]

Personnel

* Brian Eno – vocals, electronics, snake guitar, keyboards
* Phil Manzanera – guitars
* Brian Turrington – bass guitar
* Freddie Smith – drums
* Robert Wyatt – percussion, backing vocals

; "Special Guests"
* Portsmouth Sinfonia – strings on "Put a Straw Under Baby"
* Randi and the Pyramids – chorus on "The True Wheel"
* The Simplistics – chorus on "Back in Judy's Jungle" and "Taking Tiger Mountain"
* Andy MacKay – brass on "The Fat Lady of Limbourg"
* Phil Collins – extra drums on "Mother Whale Eyeless"
* Polly Eltes – vocals on "Mother Whale Eyeless"

; Technical personnel
* Rhett Davies – engineer
* Robert Ash – assistant engineer
* Nicholas Pearson – special aide
* Bill Kelsey – special equipment
* Brian Eno – arrangement, producer
* Phil Manzanera – arrangement, assistant producer

Release history

References

Further reading

* cite book
last = Howard
first = David N.
title = Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings
publisher = Hal Leonard
year = 2004
isbn = 0634055607
*cite book
last= Weisbard
first= Eric
coauthors= Craig Marks
title= Spin Alternative Record Guide
publisher= Vintage Books
year= 1995
isbn= 0679755748
* cite book
last = Tamm
first = Eric
title = Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound
date = 1995
publisher = Da Capo Press
isbn = 0306806495
* cite book
last = Derogatis
first = Jim
title = Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock
date = 2004
publisher = Hal Leonard Corporation
isbn = 0634055488
* cite book
last = Thompson
first = Dave
title = Turn It on Again
date = 2004
publisher = Backbeat Books
isbn = 0879308109
* cite book
last = Warwick
first = Neil
coauthors = Jon Kutner, & Tony Brown
title = The Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles and Albums
publisher = Omnibus Press
year = 2004
isbn = 1844490580

External links

* [http://parslow.com/TigerMountain/ Taking Tiger Mountain postcards]
* [http://www.astralwerks.com/eno/albums.html Brian Eno - "Early Works" reissues] at Astralwerks