Waited so long to buy this cuz I admired his vocal work back to Acadie Hawk wind kills beauty etcetera ... liked goodbye to language , zzxxx So needed something !.. x. Love the man top five of my taste Dylan Lennon Floyd kilbey .... Danny ! So , the album is really great / don’t troll u toob .., buy the artist experience the music ... till there’s no medium left , meh ugh , cds are also great duh ( oh man ) hope they last ; the compositions here are mesmerizing and curious , stream of consciousness effect processing sampling organic steel , nice mixing and tempo dynamics make it cut above collages , which I love and make myself ... operatic ... overall not a long album but that’s ok ... now make an apocalyptic vocal album all like where the Hawkins kill , please!!!!!!Daniel Lanois first came to my attention when he produced a Bob Dylan Album that later won a Grammy Award. I purchased 2 CDs by Lanois, where he explored his French-Canadian roots. In "Flesh And Machine," he does no singing but uses a rock band and synthesizers to explore new avenues of music. I have listened to the album, and I like the music. I have been an avid Bob Dylan fan for many years. One can embrace the old and welcome certain types of new music. If you have a taste for rock-flavored electronic music, I would encourage you to listen to "Flesh And Machine."I’ve been a fan of Daniel Lanois for a very long timeI lost track him and who he was producing or what kind of recording he was doing, but I bought this to catch up with him and his fine tones and soundscapes. This album is actually kind of psychedelic it’s got some raging guitar work on it and it’s got some really nice the atmospherics as well.I'm a huge fan of Daniel Lanois' work throughout his career, but was disappointed with his latest cd. There are too many different styles of music with an uneven flow. Pitchfork says "a blast of frantic noise". The Wall Street Journal says ""not in the mood for a melody". Only for the Lanois completist.Daniel did it again. An album of soundscapes that take you to a different place every time. This album is a wonderful little drug. I love it. Thank you so much for this one, Daniel!Loved the whole album. An amazing talent. It's definitely the music of my summer.Lanois is one of my favorite artists. Whether writing, playing, singing or producing others, for me, he connect every time.Once again an excellent selection of songs from Mr Lanois.In a way this record should have simply been released on one of Eno's labels as an Ambient record, then nobody would have been 'misled'. If you've ever seen Daniel Lanois talking about making music you'll totally understand this record, it's all about what he enjoys most, making music out of natural sounds. If you listen carefully on the records he produced, you'll hear exactly the same ideas, but carefully mixed into a pop or rock bands own work, which is why they hire him.As the other reviews (that enjoyed the record) have said, this is a sonic outing, something that has to be experienced and listened to as such, it is not a sing-along record. There's loads of excellent pieces mine being 'Sioux Lookout', but that's because it has this great drum groove. The other pieces range from dreamy peddle steel to minimal piano and guitar(?) pieces, some with drums/percussion/rhythm and some not.My one complaint is that the CD is very short. I've seen Lanois perform some of this stuff on YouTube live, or as an example just take a look at the scorching 7 minutes performance of 'Opera' which was the record companies promo for the album. Anyhow, it's a minor quibble but I'm sure you'll see my point.My interest in Daniel Lanois's musical contribution has never wavered.From his production skills for Eno, Peter Gabriel and U2, to his own recordings, like the amazing 'Acadie' - and other gems like 'Shine' and 'Belladonna', are all sound reason why I'm so into his music.Lets not forget the live stuff too, where I was so fortunate to attend two brilliant concerts in London. One to promote 'Acadie' - where both Brian and Roger Eno were invited on stage, but they couldn't find Roger? Methinks he may have been in the bar. Still an awesome night though. The other concert was at Wembley Stadium, an unforgettable day, celebrating the landmark release of Nelson Mandela. If my memory serves me right, Daniel was musical director.My admiration has just carried on, all the way to this latest recording - but this time - for the first time, it's sort of...caught me off guard...knocked me off my perch - as they say, due to a complete change in musical direction.So what is 'Flesh and Machine' all about? Well, for a start, predictable it isn't, this is no 'Acadie' (part 2) - and according to the great man himself, it's been created to give the listener a more stimulative experience, by sourcing sounds and textures that haven't been heard before, relevant to the title of this recording, and maybe not to dissimilar to Peter Gabriel's sound experimentation on PG4, where just blowing into a pipe, created the wonderful atmospheric ending on 'San Jacinto'.And what of the music? Well...it's unusual - to a degree, but it's not unworldly. It may sound a bit strange, because - yet again, it's not 'Acadie', but take it from me, don't give up on it, because I promise, it will grow on you - like a second skin.All the elements you would expect from such an accomplished composer are there. It's experimental, undoubtedly ambient, atmospheric and luminous.Maybe a few sounds are reminiscent of Eno's work on 'Another Green World' - which ain't a bad thing, but among all the sounds - not relative to the ear, there are familiar, tried and tested ones - like trademark steel guitar on the wonderful 'Aquatic' and 'Space Love'.And while we're on the subject of 'Aquatic', may I suggest listening to that piece and 'Forest City' first, as both are just too beautiful for words, and will put you in good stead to continue with the more abstract of content.From skeptic to full on converted. This is why I love music so much.I first got excited about this release because Lanois put out a version of 'Opera' on youtube ... it was 7-8 minutes long, and it seemed almost like they were jamming - winging it with the song. I loved it and played it repeatedly. I ordered the CD (I have a few previous Lanois releases). However, I was disappointed in the full CD. It was much more 'refined' and 'predictable'. I was hoping for a lot more tracks like the 'raw' Opera, and I didn't get it.I have been a Dan fan since The Unforgettable Fire U2 album and own many of his solo albums and production albums. Ive even bought some albums solely on the basis of his production. This one however I would put last one my list of favourite Danny albums. It’s just electronic noise that meanders about pointlessly. Yes experimental, yes ambient, yes ‘out there’. No I don’t like it - sorry Danny!Sent quickly and as described , thanks :)