…and a suitable DVD player, as there’s a very noticeable difference between the Advanced Resolution (DVD-Audio) tracks and the bog-standard Dolby Digital ones.

I’m listening to the former right now (I bought the CD/DVD on the strength of Jim’s rave), and they are indeed jaw-dropping.

I recall an interview with Byrne a few years after the “Strange Ritual” book was published in which he was asked whether he’d consider releasing a cd-rom or website of the book. He was vehemently opposed to the idea, arguing that the whole point of the project was that it was a book… a physical object that could be touched and smelled. He used the word “fetish” in its broadest sense and – just like his other books (“Your Action World” and the exquisite “The New Sins”) – it really is an object worth owning, in a way that a cd-rom of images just wouldn’t be.

I also love the idea of “The New Sins”, a highly subversive little book published to look near-identical to a Gideon’s Bible whose dust-jacket proclaims… “A source of faith for the feeble, doubt for the staunch, and determination for the timid.”

Half of the book is in English, the other half is a Spanish translation, and it was put anonymously – in place of bibles – in every hotel room in Valencia during the 2001 Cultural Festival (it was his ‘installation’ at the event).

I’m not one to overuse the word “genius”, but it truly applies to Byrne.

Blimey. Didn’t realise it was rare…

I’ve got what is probably a pretty rare copy of the Forest on LP. It’s a beautiful object, in the way CDs aren’t, but I wish I’d waited a bit longer and got it on CD – the LP omits two tracks. (I’ve since borrowed them from a friend, along with the original MLITBOG). I also bought Sand in the vaseline, despite having all the albums (and “Building on Fire”) already. But I was never that into them…

Feelings is indeed a fine album (though possibly not amongst his best) and the tour to promote it was amazing. I’ve seen him tour every album since the eponymous one.

I met him a few years back and shared a sandwich with him while he enthused about Microsoft Powerpoint and his new equation… “Strange = Good”. I don’t think I was too “fanboy”, but it’s hard to know.

Discovering music has to rate as one of life’s finest experiences, and when it is this good it marks out our passage as it changes us. Words such as transcendent, beautiful and sublime all apply here.

I count myself as a fan of both Brian Eno’s and David Byrne’s work. ‘My Life In The Bush With Ghosts’ is one of my favourate albums (just re-mastered and released for a new generation I notice, and receiving great reviews again). Somehow ‘Remain In Light’ slipped past my radar, so thank you Jim for prompting me to discover a masterpiece.

Apparently that was the idea:

“[The Overload] was influenced by things I’d read about Joy Division. I’d never heard them. I’d read about them, and it was an exciting idea to me…When I finally heard them I was disappointed. They sounded closer to a rock group than I thought they were”

You could say it sounds like Joy Division only more so.

(There’s no way I’m going to buy another version of this album while (a) I haven’t got 5+1 speakers and, more importantly, (b) there’s new music still to buy, but after reading this I am going to put it on the turntable again some time soon.)