My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

Eno and David Byrne recorded it between Talking Heads' Fear of Music and Remain in Light, which Eno later called this record's laboratory. Instead of singers they used voices taped from radio phone-ins, evangelists, an exorcist and records of Lebanese and Egyptian singers, fitted to the music by hand, since, as Byrne said, there were no samplers yet. The percussion came from ashtrays, film canisters, pipes and lampshades. Eno called it a vision of a psychedelic Africa; the title is borrowed from Amos Tutuola's novel. A track built on the evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman had to be removed when her estate refused permission, and one using Qur'an recitation was withdrawn after objections from Muslim groups.

Rolling Stone called it an awesome feat of tape editing; Hank Shocklee of Public Enemy's production team cited it as an influence, and Kate Bush said it left a big mark on popular music. In 2006 Nonesuch reissued it, and the multitracks of Help Me Somebody and A Secret Life were released under a Creative Commons licence for fans to remix.