Philip Glass has long been a favorite composer. I've been following his work and career since his opera of Einstein on the Beach.
In 1977 David Bowie released "HEROES" the second in his Berlin Trilogy series (the first being LOW). It was a ground breaking album that was co-written by Brian Eno and featured some guitar work by King Crimson's Robert Fripp. An amazing conceptual work overall.
Here Philip Glass has covered that album or perhaps more accurately used those musical ideas to re-compose the music into a symphony as only Glass could do. Featuring many of Glass' signature motifs (repeating phrases etc). It really is a work of art in itself. And this is the way I like to see covers done - re-imagined with respect and reverence to the original. As I've said before faithful covers/copies are not of any interest to me as I suspect you've noticed by now.
Enjoy this title track from the "HEROES" Symphony by Philip Glass from the music of David Bowie and Brian Eno.
A bit of trivia: the live Bowie version below features guitar work of Ohio native and future (80's era) King Crimson Alumn Adrian Belew.
Starting off the Christmas season with a relatively new song. Wanting To Believe, a reinterpretation of the classic O Holy Night by Brian and his brother Roger Eno. Wanting to get away from the archaic religiosity of the original and make more applicable to our contemporary world, The Eno brothers have completely redone the lyrics and given this classic melody a new arrangement. A decisively more ambient arrangement which oddly enough lends to a quiet reverence that the original lyrics suggest.
This song is from a great holiday album by classical label, Deutsch Grammophon, that was released last year titled WINTER TALES.
***If you are unable to play this video please search YouTube for "Wanting To Believe" by Brian Eno.
The muffled sun
A quiet hum of tires on pavement
Sleepy twittering of the waking sparrow
Mournful train whistle in the distance
And Discreet Music by Brian Eno on the stereo.
The day comes alive in the city.
... on being and becoming ... 