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Ambient 1: Music for Airports

Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports Audio CD

A fair review of the Brian Eno "Ambient 1: Music for Airports" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Brian Eno reviews here, or go back to the Brian Eno tabs.

Band: Brian Eno
Title: Ambient 1: Music for Airports
Rating:

Release Date: 2004-10-05
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: 1/1 2: 2/1 3: 1/2 4: 2/2

why don't we play this at airports?
Discreet Music from 1975 is his first ambient music album, aside from the name. Here is the first ever album called Ambient, as Brian Eno had decided to call that the music he had been making for a while prior to 1978. Brian's collaboration with Cluster from 1977 called Cluster & Eno is a great ambient album as well. Music For Airports. . . Such a great idea, to play this music at airports, bus terminals, train stations. Who knows, perhaps a taxi company playing mellow repetitive music of Brian Eno in their cars would be a success. . . There was a time in my life when I needed to develop some distance between myself and music. That space was filled by Brian Eno's ambient albums, and Music For Airports is one of my favorite Brian Eno's albums, next to Thursday Afternoon, On Land, Bell Studies For The Clock Of The Long Now, Music For Films, Neroli, Discreet Music and Apollo Atmospheres And Soundtracks. If you like ambient music of this nature here is what else I would recommend; Jean-Michell Jarre -En Attendant Cousteau (title song only); James Johnson & Robert Scott Thompson - Forgotten Places; Kuhlman Rehberg Mense - The Sunken Road; Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht; Labradford - E Luxo So; Dead Texan; James Johnson & Steven Philips - Lost At Dunn's Lake; Pete Namlook & Tetsu Inoue - 2350 Broadway 3; Pete Namlook - Air 2; Recycle Or Die; Labradford - Mi Media Naranja; Klaus Schulze - Body Love; Zoviet France - Shouting At The Ground; Wiese Klaus - El-Hadra; Vidna Obmana & Sal Rosenthal - Terrace Of Memories; Gavin Bryars - Sinking Of Titanic; Alio Die & Mathias Grassow - Expanding Horizon; Popol Vuh - Hosianna Mantra; Harold Budd - Pavilion Of Dreams; Sigur Ros (. . ); Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume 2; David Sylvian - Approaching Silence; Rapoon - The Kirghiz Light; Ultra Milkmaids - V/S Part 1; as well as many other albums where elements of great ambience are just part of equation; Godspeed You Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven; Harold Budd & Eraldo Bernocchi - Music For Fragments From The Inside; Pieter Nooten & Michael Brook - Sleeps With The Fishes; the music of Craig Armstrong (The Space Between Us and As If To Nothing), John Serrie (Planetary Chronicles and The Stars Go With You); Vangelis (1492, Conquest Of Paradise and The City and many others). Oh well, I guess I have given you a few recommendations. Please return the favor, because you can clearly see what ambient music I like. . .
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4 Stars for the Disc, but don't double-dip!
I have tried (with high-end equipment), but both sound exactly the same to me!

Despite buying what is essentially a duplicate of my older CD (my pain can be your gain), I can easily forgive the work itself, which in my opinion is a great ambient album. I have the newly remastered version of this album, as well as the older CD version, and I cannot tell any difference between them. It was my first real foray into the genre, and I went from here to other Eno, Harold Budd, Stars of the Lid and even Miles Davis.

Most reviewers will sing the praise of track 1, but the fourth track is the standout in my opinion. If you want to give ambient music a try, or even if you have experienced it before, you cannot go wrong with this album.

If you are interested in more ambient discs, try Eno's Thursday Afternoon, The Pearl, or Ambient 2 (both with Harold Budd). Ambient 4: On Land is much different that Ambient 1, and you will detect the difference immediately. Ambient 3. . . well, check the reviews and see for yourself.

Harold Budd is also a great ambient musician, and if you like Ambient 1, I would suggest also giving some of his albums a try. In addition to The Pearl, and Ambient 2, which are mentioned above, look into The White Arcades and The Serpent (in Quicksilver) & Abandoned Cities.

As I mentioned above, my interest in ambient brought me back to Jazz and Miles Davis. The trumpeter's funkier records actually come across as proto-ambient to me. Check out In a Silent Way, and Get Up With It for a taste.

If you already have the older CD, I would strongly suggest getting it up used. Do not, however, simply buy up all the new Eno remasters. I think you will be disappointed by the lack of enhancement.

Simple, Yet Effective
I heard it was a good place to start. Music For Airports is my introduction to Brian Eno. First and foremost I'd like to say if you are looking for beats or a traditional melody, you won't find it here. But you aren't likely looking for that if you are here searching for Brian Eno's ambient work.

On this disc, There is no complexity to speak of, and it has an almost soporific feel to it. That may be just what you are looking for. If you want beauty and simplicity, peace and calm, and a soft effortless way about it's expression, you have found something worth adding to your collection here. It's really quite nice. Never jarring. It strikes me as something that could assist you in falling asleep, but has more applications than just that. As for me personally, I like to listen to ambient music with headphones in bed right before I fall asleep. I was able to get several other Brian Eno albums that I have not explored yet, but if this album is any indication of what I will uncover on the others, I will be most pleased. I hope you are pleased as well.

Music Less For The Conscious and Aware, Music More For The Relaxed State of Mind
Brian Eno's "Ambient 1: Music for Airports". . where to start without sounding like a scatterbrain? Lets conspire for a moment, this is a man who believes he is not a musician, yet has crafted a musical genre for the free flowing, a genre collectively gaining interest ever since a resurgence in the 90's. This is a genre that can captivate you passively. Adding subtle intensity flairs without you hardly noticing. What is it that Eno did, to make this genre so appealing, and lastly what is this genre?

This genre is called ambient and widely diversifies, but maybe not to the extent of rocks crevices. This is a genre that bends and goes with the flow. The music itself is highly conditioned to moviegoers and even gamers. It can be herd in some stores and even on your television. It's very much so transparent as much as it is apparent.

This is THE album to softly connect ambient, from a visual arts perspective, to an atmospheric style of abstract music. So before I sound like I'm rambling on specifically of the genre itself I just wanted to fill in a few readers on the premises. This album is fluently graced of gradient sounds that will flow in and out much like the listeners consciousness of the album. It was said to be more pleasurably at low volumes, just to warmly and atmospherically fill your room in, with wave after wave of sound it feels full yet oddly spacious. It's really a difficult album (and genre) as a whole to describe what it sounds like, as the notes are less important in comparison to the actual feel and mood it offers.

Four tracks are at your disposal here. No superior tracks to stumble upon and kick the rest down a notch (at least in my opinion). The four tracks are all equally interesting (I tend to favor the two middle tracks "2-1" & "1-2"), but in terms of duration "1-1" (the first track) is noticeably the longest clocking in past the seventeen minute mark.

Just to do a little homework, I researched the reason to why Eno called this style `ambient'. Apparently `ambire' is a Latin term meaning `to surround'. I believe this thoroughly fits. I hope this album will get you into this calm soothing experience ambient has to offer. If you're already familiar with this please pick this up.
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ambient ambiance at its FINEST!
The ULTIMATE trip. Easy to listen to. Awesome use of space.

I've listened to thousands of recordings over the past 30 years, but this is still in my top 3. . . . the other 2 are "Northern Song" by Steve Tibbetts and "Strata" by Robert Rich/Steve Roach.

5,000 stars. Not for dancing!

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