Hybrid

Michael Brook

Credits

E.G. Records Ltd.
1985 (reissued 23 October 1990)

David Bottrill: engineering assistant
recorded at Bob & Dan Lanois' studio

Gregory Brook: cover photographs
David Buckland: additional photography
Russell Mills: art & design

Tracks

Hybrid (Brook) 6'15

Daniel Lanois: percussion, treatments
Brian Eno: treatments
Michael Brook: infinite guitar, bass, percussion, mix

Distant Village (Brook) 4'00

Daniel Lanois: bass, percussion, treatments
Brian Eno: piano, swamp percussion
Michael Brook: mbira, steel guitar, sunthesizer, mix

Mimosa (Brook) 6'14

Gordon Phillips: northumbrian pipes
Brian Eno: piano, wind, treatments
Michael Brook: guitar, buzz bass, vibes, mbira, mix

Pond Life (Brook)

Gordon Phillips: cricket recording
Michael Brook: guitar

Ocean Motion (Brook) 5'45

Brian Eno: piano, synthesizer, treatments, mix
Michael Brook: guitar, buzz bass, percussion

Midday (Brook) 5'50

Dick Smith: congas
Brian Eno: bass, treatments, mix
Michael Brook: infinite guitar, bass, percussion

Earth Floor (Brook) 4'48

Dick Smith: percussion
Daniel Lanois: treatments, mix
Brian Eno: treatments
Michael Brook: infinite guitar, bass, percussion, mbira

Vacant (Brook) 4'58

Brian Eno: bass, synthesizer, treatments, mix
Michael Brook: infinite guitar, mbira

Notes

CD cover scans and information on this page supplied by Bruce Carle.

A review by Colin Glassey
(reprinted with permission from Colin Glassey's Home Page)

Hybrid is actually a collaboration with Brian Eno. Michael Brook first appeared on the musical scene with Jon Hassell (most famous for his Eno collaberation Fourth World Music). Eno credited Brook for some of the inspiration on Eno's classic Ambient record: Ambient 4: On Land.

While I am a big fan of Eno's work, and Michael Brook's solo material, this record does not impress me. My feeling is that it is not ambient enough to be ambient music, but also it is not interesting enough to hold my attention. Some people think Hybrid is a wonderful work. I don't think it is a bad record, it just doesn't work for me.

Track notes

• Hybrid did indeed come out on cd in 1990, but thanks to the phenomenal fuck-ups of the powers-that-were at EG records, it was lost in the legal shuffle. For many years it was available only outside of the US. I myself picked up my vinyl copy in a tiny record shop in England. In recent months, however, Virgin has remasted and reissued the album on cd in the US. About time they remembered it.

• "Earth Floor" is included in the 1993 Virgin compilation A Brief History of Ambient Volume 1: 152 Minutes 33 Seconds. Likewise, "Distant Village" appears on A Brief History of Ambient Volume 3: The Music of Changes and Angels in the Architecture.

Images