- Record Label: Nonesuch
- Release Date: Apr 11, 2006
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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A pioneering work for countless styles connected to electronic, ambient, and third-world music.
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BlenderIt's an "important" record... But, more crucially, it's an enduringly entrancing listen. [Apr 2006, p.123]
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Simply put, in 2006, My Life is a timeless evaluation of Assimilation, sometimes harmless, sometimes bleak, but consistently absorbing.
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Fans of musical experimentation, and Eno / Byrne completists, will no doubt want to add this set to their list, but for the uninitiated, you might be better off spending an hour or two browsing the World Music department of your nearest record shop than grappling with this quaintly outmoded collection.
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As an experimental project, it's clever and varied, and a vital chapter in the history of electronic music and sampling. As a pop record, it's tantalising, sensitive and essential; if you don't already own My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, the reissue's extra tracks make now as good a time as any.
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Entertainment WeeklyDespite seven unessential bonus tracks, the remastered Ghosts feels haunting, hypnotic and fresh 25 years later. [14 Apr 2006, p.87]
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Mojo[It] was mind-bending in its day and remains so now. [May 2006, p.122]
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It's more exciting than most everything made by glitch gurus on their laptops today.
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Crucial parts of the album don't sound as intriguing today as they once did-- namely, all of the voices.... On the other hand, the rhythm tracks still kick ass 10 ways to Sunday.
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The album remains strangely compelling if slightly bloodless, a fascinating conceptual leap into unknown territory that loses little importance for its status as an essentially inchoate entity.
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The songs sound as modern and fresh as if they were recorded last year.
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Q MagazineIts wilful lack of song structure may make for a think-piece album rather than a jukebox favourite, but it's hard to deny its still-powerful magic. [May 2006, p.137]
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Bush of Ghosts seems half-baked, putatively cerebral yet underthought, interesting only because somebody famous did it.
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Basically, this is the definitive (if incomplete) version of a landmark release.
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There’s a lingering sense that the product at the center of all the hubbub remains something less than its lofty reputation.
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The WireNearly a quarter of a century after its initial release, My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts remains a beautifully finished work, despite its complexity: every line and fragment in place, every surface and effect neatly separated out. [#266, p.56]
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UncutIt's a pity that the immaculate construction that is Ghosts now has an extension tacked on to it. [Apr 2006, p.119]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 16
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Mixed: 5 out of 16
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Negative: 0 out of 16
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DylanJan 6, 2008Everyone from Duran Duran to Blue Man Group and modern electronic music owes this record more than a debt of gratitude.
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PeterDNov 24, 2006One of my all time favorites even better with the aditional tracks.
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[Anonymous]Jun 28, 2006who cares what john hiatt thought... boring fart