Rumination rock, anyone?

Brian Eno

“Another Day on Earth” (Rykodisc/Hannibal)

* * 1/2

There’s a charming moment on Brian Eno’s new record, his first solo pop release in over 25 years, in which he asks, “How many people can we ever be?”

It’s a poignant question for a man who’s been everything from a boa-laden glam-rocker to a pioneer of the sort of studio sampling to a major rock producer (U2, David Bowie, and Talking Heads). “Another Day on Earth” is a fascinating look at planet Eno, a record that draws equally from his mid-’70s solo releases (most notably “Another Green World”) and the tireless string of ambient records he’s completed since. “This,” a jaunty electronic drum beat overlaid with Eno’s signature stacked vocals, buried blips and some downright catchy computerized arpeggios, is Eno’s best actual song since “Here He Comes.”

Elsewhere his intellectual detachment works against him elsewhere. Songs such as “A Long Way Down” and “Bone Bomb” (about a suicide bomber’s bones turning into shrapnel) are more interesting to theory than in practice.

Yep, even a musical mastermind has difficulty dancing abut architecture.

-- Mikel Jolett