Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy

1974年発表。 中国舞踏団の夢と、独特の"Oblique Strategies"というカードにインスパイアされ制作された ソロ第2弾。フィル・マンザネラを中心としたバンド・サウンドは後の801にも通じる統一感を感じさせる作品。ロバート・ワイアット、フィル・コリンズ等がゲスト参加。

Continuing the twisted pop explorations of Here Come the Warm Jets, Eno's sophomore album, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), is more subdued and cerebral, and a bit darker when he does cut loose, but it's no less thrilling once the music reveals itself. It's a loose concept album -- often inscrutable, but still playful -- about espionage, the Chinese Communist revolution, and dream associations, with the more stream-of-consciousness lyrics beginning to resemble the sorts of random connections made in dream states. Eno's richly layered arrangements juxtapose very different treated sounds, yet they blend and flow together perfectly, hinting at the directions his work would soon take with the seamless sound paintings of Another Green World. Although not quite as enthusiastic as Here Come the Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain is made accessible through Eno's mastery of pop song structure, a form he would soon transcend and largely discard. ~ Steve Huey