32
The rhythm instruments started becoming very important. Instead of
being simply rhythm, that is to say simply things that gave you a com-
forting thud in the lower part of the sound spectrum, they started hav-
ing real vocal lines and singing parts, and a kind of compression
started taking place where the voice wasn't the dominant, melodic in-
strument, necessarily. [In the Supremes' "Reflections"], you hear a
number of interesting things going on: first of all the electronics are
being used in an interesting way, secondly, the acoustic space is quite
fictitional, thirdly, the bass guitar has quite as much to say as Diana
Ross's voice, I think.
27
In addition to Tamla/Motown musicians, Eno cited Sly Stone as "one of the formative influ-
ences of the 70s, in how he reshuffled all the instrument roles ... he started using rhythm in-
struments in a vocal fashion and conversely often using the voices in a rhythmic fashion."
28
As an example, Eno offered the song "Everyday People" (1969). In Sly's "Thank You" (1970)
Eno pointed out that the bass is active to the point of being "the most interesting melody on
the track."
29
Such examples may be historically naïve to the extent that they underestimate the
importance, in much Afro-American music since the nineteenth century, of an active bass line,
a heterogeneous sound-ideal, and a spreading of rhythmic duties over the whole ensemble.
But in the present context, the point is Eno's fascination with a different approach to texture
and studio technique making itself felt in the world of mainstream popular music.
In black music as in white music, Eno finds overindulgence in electronics irritating. "Stevie
Wonder's synthesizers are interesting, but in general the machines have been very badly used
for decorative effects or as gravy to glue a track together. It's very disappointing."
30
One of the musicians, black or white, for whom Eno has shown the highest degree of respect,
is a man whose music has always been difficult to pigeonhole into this or that tradition Jimi
Hendrix. In 1975 Eno called Hendrix "probably still the greatest guitar player of all time," but
not on the basis of instrumental virtuosity: "He was the first guitar player to realize that the
guitar was more than a piece of wood that hung around his neck, and he really understood that
there was a relationship between the room acoustics and the amplifier he was using, the whole
situation."
31
This quotation is from a radio interview. Eno proceeded to play a recording of Hendrix's solo
electric guitar version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" from the soundtrack to Woodstock.
When the recording was over, Eno was temporarily stunned into speechlessness by the music.
When he had sufficiently recovered, he said, "I think that's one of the most extraordinary his-
torical documents, that piece. The first time I heard it, it just made me cry."
32
27
Amirkhanian, "Eno at KPFA," 22.
28
Amirkhanian, "Eno at KPFA," 23.
29
Dancis, "Studio Plays Big Role, Says Eno," 29.
30
Stephen Demorest, "The Discreet Charm of Brian Eno: An English Pop Theorist Seeks to
Redefine Music," Horizon 21 (June 1978), 82.
31
Amirkhanian, "Eno at KPFA," 21.
32
Amirkhanian, "Eno at KPFA," 22.