Opal to re-release two ‘lost‘ albums
Brian Eno first started up Opal in 1988, his second run at the noble art of the record exec after the Obscure label in the 1970s. The Opal roster included Eno himself and his younger brother Roger, Harold Budd, Laraaji, Djivan Gasparyan, Hugo Largo, Zvuki Mu, Daniel Lanois, Jon Hassell and John Cale. When the label was put on ice in 1991, the catalogue shifted to All Saints Records. While Opal never actually stopped, it did cease signing artists, and existed as a vehicle for occasional one-off experiments. Record Store Day exclusives and apps.
At the relaunch event at Eno’s west London studio/gallery space, Eno revealed that he senses there’s a new music developing, and he feels that Opal needs to be a part of bringing it to audiences. “It’s not classical, it’s not pop, it’s not jazz… it’s often quite electronic but not necessarily…” he explained. The nearest he can get to giving it a name is neo-classical, a genre much like ambient in that it exists, but is not liked by the people lumped into it. Or, as Eno put it, “Ambient, which we all hate, unless it’s my music…”
Eno went on to say that he liked it when labels had an identity, that there was some kind of shared aesthetic or set of ideas between the artists signed to the label, and that is what he wants the new Opal label to be.
Will he be signing new artists to the label?
“Yes,” he said, “but I don’t know who they are yet.”
In the meantime, the first two albums to get the new Opal treatment are ‘Drawn From Life’ with Peter Schwalm, featuring Holger Czukay, Laurie Anderson, Nell Catchpole and Leo Abrahams, and ‘Another Day On Earth’, also with Schwalm alongside Jon Hopkins. Both were created under the Opal banner, then licensed to Virgin in 2001 and Japan’s Hannibal Records in 2005 respectively.
The latter features a photo Eno took when he visited China in 2004, and part of his enthusiasm for the Opal revival is the opportunity to see the original artwork in its full 12-inch sleeve glory, although he reveals a preference for CDs to listen to music. The photo reflects what Eno describes as ‘landscape painting’ process of making music he was engaged in when these two albums were created, restricting himself to a limited collection of instruments: a trusty Yamaha DX7, an Omnicord, a melodica given to him by Holger Czukay of Can and a set of temple bowls from YMO’s Haruomi Hosono, his beloved Fernandes Fender Strat copy and a fretless bass.
“Once I’ve released something I generally move on to something new, and don’t listen to much to what I’ve done earlier. These two albums return as gifts from the past.”
Alongside the albums, there are two live performances ‘Caught Between’ (from ‘Another Day on Earth’) – filmed live at Coliseu do Porto, Porto Festival, 16 June 2001 and ‘Persis’ (from Drawn From Life) – filmed live at Naeba Ski Resort, Fuji Rock Festival, 29 July, 2001.
