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3. Talking Heads: “The Great Curve”
The influence of Fela Kuti — one of Eno’s musical heroes — is all over “Remain in Light,” the third, final and greatest album Eno made with Talking Heads. One memorable vignette in the version of “Eno” that I saw finds the artist in his current studio, listening to this song at a high volume and rapturously singing along to just one of the many vocal melodies woven through its polyrhythmic composition.
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4. Devo: “Jocko Homo”
While producing Devo’s freewheeling 1978 debut album, “Q: Are We Not Men? A: We are Devo!” Eno and the American art-rock band reportedly did not get along very harmoniously. (Bowie, who had initially expressed interest in producing the album himself, also contributed to the album’s production and mixing.) In spite of their creative differences, the album’s unconventional, try-anything spirit still sounds convincingly Eno-ian.
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5. James: “Laid”
Yep, Brian Eno produced this song! Though it was destined to become the Britpop band’s biggest hit in the United States and the official theme song of the “American Pie” franchise, the members of James apparently thought it was a B-side at best until Eno convinced them that it was a single.
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
6. Coldplay: “Lost!”
“He comes up with very strange ideas and crazy noises,” Coldplay’s Chris Martin once said of Eno, who worked with the band on “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends” and its follow-up “Mylo Xyloto.” “And they always eventually sound irreplaceable.”
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
7. Harold Budd: “Juno”
Eno produced “The Pavilion of Dreams,” the ethereal 1978 debut album by the minimalist composer Harold Budd, and the pair would go on to make two great collaborative albums in the ’80s, “Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror” and “The Pearl.” Eno once described Budd, who died in 2020, as “a great abstract painter trapped in the body of a musician.”
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
8. U2: “Zoo Station”
Eno has had a long and fruitful relationship with U2, for whom he has helped produce six albums. The peak of their collaboration, in my opinion, is the 1991 LP “Achtung Baby,” which added new textures and a spirit of sonic adventurousness to the band’s soaring sound.
Read More: 10 Outstanding Brian Eno Productions
