ENO- Here Comes The Warm Jets (1974)

ENO- Here Comes The Warm Jets (1974)

This is a record I have loved in a fervent way since the first time I listened to it, obviously this is the point where I started to become an avid Eno fan, although we all should be aware that at this point, Eno`s career was very far from what it would become in the future, at this time, still Eno was kind of an outsider in rock music, yes, he was this glam rocker form the Bowie-Roxy-T Rex era, Eno had the looks, but what made him a complete individual here was his infatuation with electronics, with sound manipulation and with avant garde.

Here Comes The Warm Jets is important to me, because is an outstanding document of Eno`s link with proto punk and with the Velvet Underground, aligning himself pretty much with the advance tastes of David Bowie and obviously establishing a notorious bound with him that would blossom in the future.

You bet Here Comes The Warm Jets is a proto punk record, it has that manic intensity and fearless pounding, but one that defies the status quo, just like the music by Can, Captain Beefheart, Neu!, or Television, it predates punk, but at the same times it takes a leap forwards toward post punk, which definitely makes it even more intriguing, Eno keeps the thing moving forward and the thinking clear, establishing him as one of the wildest and most visionary creators of the age.

The heart like pounding of the drums in Needles In The Camels Eyes brings immediately to my mind the drumming style of Moe Tucker form the Velvets, more a heart pumping than a rhythm machine, and those amazing ringing guitars add just more power to the mystic, its incredible that such a non musician, as Eno declared himself was capable of directing these amazing musicians into this uncharted previously territory, but obviously Eno, more a magician than a magician works wonders in this record, although obviously gold shines in his future, not yet here, his maniac vocal execution shines and brings excitement to tunes like The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch, and at to that wild excitement Eno`s CRAZY synth exercises, completely alien to the age, and those guitars sounding like bells, like gongs or like spaceships, giving us a hint of future Sonic Youth guitar exercises, yes my friend Moore or Ranaldo learned a lot from here.

Baby`s on Fire is simply amazing, you get Eno`s wild snarling obviously influencing people like Dinger or Lydon and then the amazing electronics displayed here along the incredible guitar by non other than Robert Fripp, another big hint to Bowie future is conducted here by Eno, who by some accounts took extraordinaire guitarist Robert Fripp into one of all times greatest guitar solos, you want to hear Fripp at his all time best? This again, is the place.

The Beatles were, along with the Vlevets and perhaps Pink floyd some of the biggest rock influences for Eno, and some of the tuneful sounds of the Fab Four are exploited by Eno on Cindy Tells Me, a beautiful hazy tune that is lifted thru the air thanks to Eno`s synths in full display here, making this another amazing tune, full of emotional and nostalgic powerful, want some more craziness? Take a listen to Driving Me Backwards were Eno uses studio technology to its full extent, turning the tune completely inside out in front of our ears, a proof that Eno was more into sound than into song, a proof that Eno at this point new the boundaries, yes, but was completely decided to break them and trespass them without second thought, and even he dares to take the melody root to even farther places with On Some Faraway Beach, an amazing tune that might recall the Beach Boys at some time, perhaps signaling Eno as a heir to Brian Wilson wizardry on studio.

On Here Comes The Warm Jets Eno defines himself as a very wild card of avant garde, one capable of working and collaborating with other wild cards and signaling them the way towards new experimental territories, as he will on the future do with Fripp, Laswell, Bowie, The Talking Heads, Devo and others, in this record we find the roots of Eno all by himself and this is a great record, so unique in his career, as he would later find new and exciting directions, here we get the chance of listening to Eno rocking, before becoming the ENOrmous experimentalist of years to come.