Brian Eno’s restless creative adventures with Roxy, Bowie, U2 and Talking Heads episode artwork

EPISODE · May 15, 2026 · 30 MIN

Brian Eno’s restless creative adventures with Roxy, Bowie, U2 and Talking Heads

from Word In Your Ear

For nearly 60 years, Brian Eno has been a “proud non-musician” who changed the way people thought and sounded while inventing whole new ways of recording. We loved reading the updated edition of ‘On Some Faraway Beach’ which examines his staggering catalogue of avant garde experiment and wonders if there’s anyone remotely like him. Author David Sheppard looks back with us here at … … a life of great good fortune: “luck is being ready” … the rivalry with Bryan Ferry sparked by his getting more attention … and girls ... where you can hear the effect on his Oblique Strategy cards on the Bowie recordings ... the ingenious way he made U2 make up their minds … his first experience of immersive sound via the organ his granddad built in the family home … why Wire’s Colin Newman calling him “a Class A Bullshitter” was a compliment … Bono: “We didn’t go to art school, we went to Brian Eno” … was Coldplay “a Rubicon he should never have crossed?” … the appeal of the sculptured sound of early ‘70s synths to someone who couldn’t play keyboards … his greatest record, Another Green World, and the time he heard Music For Airports playing in an airport Order copies of On Some Faraway Beach here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Some-Faraway-Beach-Times-Brian/dp/1399605712/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourearHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For nearly 60 years, Brian Eno has been a “proud non-musician” who changed the way people thought and sounded while inventing whole new ways of recording. We loved reading the updated edition of ‘On Some Faraway Beach’ which examines his staggering catalogue of avant garde experiment and wonders if there’s anyone remotely like him. Author David Sheppard looks back with us here at … … a life of great good fortune: “luck is being ready” … the rivalry with Bryan Ferry sparked by his getting more attention … and girls ... where you can hear the effect on his Oblique Strategy cards on the Bowie recordings ... the ingenious way he made U2 make up their minds … his first experience of immersive sound via the organ his granddad built in the family home … why Wire’s Colin Newman calling him “a Class A Bullshitter” was a compliment … Bono: “We didn’t go to art school, we went to Brian Eno” … was Coldplay “a Rubicon he should never have crossed?” … the appeal of the sculptured sound of early ‘70s synths to someone who couldn’t play keyboards … his greatest record, Another Green World, and the time he heard Music For Airports playing in an airport Order copies of On Some Faraway Beach here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Some-Faraway-Beach-Times-Brian/dp/1399605712/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourearHelp us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Brian Eno’s restless creative adventures with Roxy, Bowie, U2 and Talking Heads

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This episode was published on May 15, 2026.

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For nearly 60 years, Brian Eno has been a “proud non-musician” who changed the way people thought and sounded while inventing whole new ways of recording. We loved reading the updated edition of ‘On Some Faraway Beach’ which examines his staggering...

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