On Some Faraway Beach

For some a pretentious art-school type who produces 'instrumental doodles' or 'jazz that nobody asked for'; for others a lightning rod or touchstone for directions in popular music and culture over the last four decades. Whichever, what's certain is that Brian Eno's address book is a who's who of rock and pop of the last thirty years. A founder member of Roxy Music, he's worked with everyone from Talking Heads and U2 to Pavarotti and David Bowie and is often billed as the founding father of ambient music. A witty and unconventional thinker, ten years ago he had considerable success with A Year With Swollen Appendices, his diary of 1995. He continues to release his own records, frequently appears as a cultural commentator and produces records for the likes of David Bowie and U2. While presently he's too busy presenting the Turner prize, organising concerts for the Stop the War coalition or being a sonic alchemist for others to sit down and write his own autobiography, this book is being written with his co-operation and access to all those who've worked with him.

'This 450-page biography (written with the help of the famous piss-taster himself) fairly zips along.' OBSERVER MUSIC MONTHLY '[An] honourable, authorised attempt to do justice to a mind-bogglingly restless and prolific subject.' SUNDAY TIMES 'David Sheppard's authorised biography dispels some of the myths surrounding Brian Eno and provides a compelling case for his importance as artist and thinker.' WATERSTONES BOOKS QUARTERLY 'An accomplished and sprawling biography reflects Eno's scattershot apporach to life - all over the place but fascinating just the same.' BIG ISSUE (Scotland) Music Book of the Fortnight 'Few enigmas are as hard to unravel as Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, but the Q contributor has done a bang-up job with this 450-page tome' HOT PRESS (Ireland) 'David Sheppard's meticulously researched biography ...[with] the kind of footnote that make this doorstopper such an engaging read' INDEPENDENT 'On Some Faraway Beach provides an extensive introduction to a lifetime of constructive, and very English, pottering.' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH Sheppard has corralled the many strands of Eno's hectic creative life into a coherent and highly readable accountOn Some Faraway Beach will take some beating as a chronicle of one of popular music's few truly original practitioners. TOTAL MUSIC MAGAZINE 'A vivid, well-observed and absorbing biography replete with relevant context and cultural references.' THE BEAT 'How do you pin down an enigma like Brian Eno? Music journalist David Sheppard makes a valiant stab at it in this lively biography.' YORKSHIRE EVENING POST

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