After the Heat
This afternoon I revisited a stand-out track which appeared on three related collaborative albums by Brian Eno, Dieter Moebius, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, and Conny Plank - the key figures of Cluster and Harmonia.
"The Belldog" appeared on After the Heat (Sky, 1978), Begegnungen (Sky, 1984), and on Old Land (Relativity, 1985). The track features Moebius and Roedelius' trademark cyclic melodo-rhythmic electronic loops and sparse, atmospheric and ethereal space which was a characteristic standard of the Berlin School. There is a dark and sinister quality to this track which marries well with the ominous dystopian air of Eno's minimal lyrics.
The vocals are presented with the familiar echo delay effect which was quickly established as Eno's signature sound on Before and After Science just one year prior to the release of After the Heat. This effect lends an alienesque and detached property to his already otherworldly music - an effective representation of man's strange futuristic world at the technological dawn of the 1980s which was readily adopted by a flood of new wave and synth-pop bands in the years that followed.
"The Belldog"'s lyrics paint an image highly reminiscent of key scenes from the 1927 silent film, Metropolis - most notably the depictions of Freder arduously slaving away at a 10-hour shift frantically pulling clock-hand-like levers. And the second verse recalls the Eternal Garden scene from the same film.
The lyrics are brief but impactful:
Most of the day, we were at the machinery
In the dark sheds that the seasons ignored
I held the levers that guided the signals to the radio
But the words I received, random code, broken fragments from before
[Instrumental interlude]
Out in the trees, my reason deserting me
Oh, the dark stars cluster over the bay
Then in a certain moment, I lose control
And at last, I am part of the machinery
Where are you?
And the light disappears
As the world makes its circle through the sky
Have a listen to this wonderful song. It captures many of the best qualities of each of the collaborating artists.
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Last edited by innerspaceboy; 01-08-2017 at 10:57 AM.
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