Originally released 25 years ago, this reissue comes remastered with a booklet and two bonus tracks. The music started life as the soundtrack to Derek Jarman’s final film ‘Glitterbug’, which was a Super-8 scrapbook of his life. Eno then gave it to Jah Wobble to do with as he saw fit, who added a kind of cerebral funk to proceedings.
In places Wobble’s embellishments were limited, so as an aural experience it remains very much in Eno’s world, despite him handing over all the mixing and production to Wobble. Can’s Jaki Leibezeit was drafted in on percussion, lifting some pieces out of the ambient, such as on the title track.
Elsewhere the ethnological vibe of ‘My Life in the Bush of Ghosts’ (the seminal Eno/Byrne collaboration) permeates tracks like ‘Left Where It Fell’ and ‘Marine Radio’.
For the uninitiated this album might not go far enough for it to stand out, but if you are of the stance that everything Eno touches turns to shimmering glorious fragments decaying in the ether, then there’s no reason not to give this another well-deserved spin.
Spinner (the reissue) is out now on All Saints Records.
