Nerve Net Explained

Nerve Net
Type:	studio
Artist:	Brian Eno
Cover:	NerveNet-cover.jpg
Released:	1 September 1992
Genre:	Experimental, electronic
Length:	64:25
Label:	Opal/Warner Bros.
Producer:	Brian Eno
Chronology:	Brian Eno
Prev Title:	Wrong Way Up
Prev Year:	1990
Next Title:	The Shutov Assembly
Next Year:	1992

Nerve Net is the eleventh solo studio album by Brian Eno, released on September 1, 1992 on Opal and Warner Bros. Records. It marked a return to more rock-oriented material, mixed with heavily syncopated rhythms, experimental electronic compositions and occasional elements of jazz. The ambient sensibility is still present on several tracks, though it is often darker and moodier than the pieces Eno is best known for.

The album released 12-inch and CD singles for the pieces "Ali Click" and "Fractal Zoom", both of which featured various remixes of the songs by the likes of Moby, Markus Dravs and Isaac Osapanin. It received mixed reviews upon release.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Brian Eno.

1. "Fractal Zoom" – 6:24
2. "Wire Shock" – 5:27
3. "What Actually Happened?" – 4:41
4. "Pierre in Mist" – 3:47
5. "My Squelchy Life" – 4:02
6. "Juju Space Jazz" – 4:26
7. "The Roil, the Choke" – 5:00
8. "Ali Click" – 4:13
9. "Distributed Being" – 6:10
10. "Web" – 6:21
11. "Web (Lascaux Mix)" – 9:44
12. "Decentre" – 3:26

2004/2005 Remaster

All Saints/Hannibal/Ryko (HNCD 1477)
On 28 June 2005, a remastered version of Nerve Net was issued with the following bonus tracks:

13. "Fractal Zoom" (Separate Time Edit)
14. "Ali Click" (Doo Gap Mix)

All Saints/Hannibal (HNCD 1477) / (HNCD1477ADV)
Some versions, including a promotional disc released in 2004, contained the following bonus tracks:

13. "Fractal Zoom" (Mary's Birthday Edit)
14. "Ali Click" (Trance Mix Short)

All Saints (ASCDA41) / Beat Records (BRC-101)
Yet other versions, instead of bonus remixes, included an enhanced section with an "Ali Click" video by Jerome Lefdup and Lari Flash.

2014 Remaster

The December 2014 remaster includes no bonus material on the Nerve Net disc, but does include a bonus disc with the original My Squelchy Life album:

1. "I Fall Up"
2. "The Harness"
3. "My Squelchy Life"
4. "Tutti Forgetti"
5. "Stiff"
6. "Some Words"
7. "Juju Space Jazz"
8. "Under"
9. "Everybody's Mother"
10. "Little Apricot"
11. "Over"

My Squelchy Life supposedly was to be released in September 1991, but as the release was postponed to February 1992, Eno decided to re-edit the album into Nerve Net instead.^[1]

Personnel

• Robert Ahwai – guitar
• Peter Anderson – guitar
• Richard Bailey – drums
• Duchess Nell Catchpole – vocals, voices
• Ian Dench – drum loop
• Markus Dravs – drums, drum programming, treatments
• Wayne Duchamp – alto saxophone
• Brian Eno – organ, synthesizer, keyboards, tenor saxophone, bass guitar, guitar, vocals, voices, multi instruments, guitar treatments, African organ, animal sounds, Arabesque
• Roger Eno – piano, sampling
• Robert Fripp – guitar
• John Paul Jones – piano
• John May – voices, speech/speaker/speaking part
• Rod Melvin – piano
• Sugarfoot Moffett – drums
• John Moorby – voices, speech/speaker/speaking part
• Alice Ngukwe – tenor saxophone
• Winston Ngukwe – conga
• Isaac Osapanin – conga
• Anita Patel – voices, speech/speaker/speaking part
• Sunita Patel – voices, speech/speaker/speaking part
• Yogish Patel – voices, speech/speaker/speaking part
• Curtis Pelican – trumpet
• Robert Quine – guitar, rhythm guitar
• Gregg Arreguin – guitar
• Cecil Stamper III – drums
• Benmont Tench – percussion
• Christine West-Oram – vocals
• Jamie West-Oram – guitar, rhythm guitar
• Romeo Williams – bass guitar

Singles

In conjunction with Nerve Net, two CD maxi-singles were released.

Ali Click

Ali Click (1992) is a CD maxi-single of remixes of the song "Ali Click" from Brian Eno's album Nerve Net. It is also notable for including a version of "I Fall Up", a track from the withdrawn My Squelchy Life album, which is longer than the 3:42 version included in Eno Box II: Vocal.

1. "Ali Click [Grid Master Edit]" – 4:48
2. "Ali Click [Album Edit]" – 3:41
3. "Ali Click [Rural 'Doo Gap' Mix]" – 4:43
4. "Ali Click [Trance Mix – Long]" – 7:28
5. "Ali Click [Darkly Mad Mix]" – 4:09
6. "Ali Click [Grid Master Remix]" – 7:10
7. "Ali Click [Beirut Hilton Mix]" – 4:04
8. "I Fall Up" – 4:54

Fractal Zoom

Fractal Zoom (1992) is a CD maxi-single of remixes of the song "Fractal Zoom" from Brian Eno's album Nerve Net. Tracks marked '*' mixed by Markus "Dravius" Draws. Tracks marked '**' mixed remixed with additional production by Moby.

1. "Fractal Zoom [Separate Time Edit]" * – 4:14
2. "Fractal Zoom [Mary's Birthday Edit]" ** – 3:50
3. "Fractal Zoom [Up River Mix]" ** – 8:10
4. "Fractal Zoom [Small Country]" * – 7:00
5. "The Roil, The Choke" – 5:03
6. "Fractal Zoom [Naive Mix I]" ** – 5:27
7. "Fractal Zoom [Zaire Mix]" * – 6:16
8. "Fractal Zoom [Naive Mix II]" ** – 5:56
9. "Fractal Zoom [Landed Mix]" ** – 5:55
10. "Fractal Zoom [Bucolic Mix]" ** – 4:44
11. "Fractal Zoom [Separate Time Full Length]" * – 6:26
12. "Fractal Zoom [Mary's Birthday Mix]" ** – 7:06

Notes and References

1. Web site: Eno: Nerve Net/The Shutov Assembly/Neroli/The Drop / Album Reviews. Pitchfork. 9 January 2015.