Brian Eno releases a new remix of his collaboration with Bowie, “Get Real” to fund conservation

Brian Eno, who famously collaborated with Bowie on the Berlin trilogy albums as well as 1. Outside, has released a remix of one of their lesser known collaborations, “Get Real,” which was an outtake from the 1. Outside sessions. The remix is part of an album, Sounds Right, the will include songs that include sounds from nature. The “Get Real” remix now includes animal noises. The whole project is intended to raise funds for conservation. You can read more about it HERE.

So…I’m going to add this to the list of things that are better to exist than not, but I don’t think the presumably well-intentioned effort really works. “Presumably” because I wouldn’t put it past Brian Eno for this to be a kind of parody. Assuming it’s not a parody, to my ears it sounds like what it is— animal noises added to a song. It doesn’t sound like the animal noises are part of the song, they way similar noises are used by the Beatles in “Good Morning Good Morning.”

“Get Real” itself, without the remix, is a decidedly minor Bowie song. It sounds little like the rest of what made it on to 1. Outside, and I misremembered it as a bonus song from Reality. It isn’t bad or unpleasant, but Eno himself said he doesn’t actually remember making it with Bowie. I guess, the upside is that this remix draws renewed attention to a nearly forgotten Bowie song, so that’s good. It might be totally new to some listeners.

On a tangentially related note, I’m posting this despite my criticisms because at the end of the day it is a new variant of a Bowie song, and it has the imprint of Eno, so it deserves a place somewhere on this blog. But it is also an example of “Bowie in the news.” I’ve been thinking about launching a new series, a weekly roundup of Bowie news, that would include a summary of this type of thing and more. My hesitation is that you more or less can get a sense of Bowie news stories from doing a Google search, so it seems a little like cheating. Also, it would either eat up my one non-scheduled day of the week (Sunday), or replace one of the other series, and I’m not sure I want to do that. If you have read this far and have an opinion, please let me know your thoughts. Meanwhile, enjoy this remix of “Get Real.”