An Ambient Masterpiece from the Enos and Lanois
Written: Jan 07 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful effort from the Enos and Lanois
Cons: Very hard to find in record stores.
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| thevoid99's Full Review: Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks by Brian Eno |
Note: (This is a re-edited and updated review of my original review on this record originally done on 9/16/00 that was in the Pop/Rock section)
For the past decade, Brian Eno has been experimenting with musical soundscapes and atmosphere which he called Ambient. Around that time, he worked on seminal albums for David Bowie, Talking Heads, and Devo. At the same time, he worked on albums with Robert Fripp and on his own with such masterpieces as "Another Green World", Taking Tiger Mountain", and his series of Ambient albums. The "Apollo: Atmosphere & Soundtracks" album is probably one of Eno's best recordings. "Apollo" is a collaboration with brother Roger Eno and producer Daniel Lanois.
For those who aren't familiar with Brian Eno's work with Daniel Lanois, their collaboration together are more well-known on albums by U2 like "The Unforgettable Fire", "Joshua Tree", "Achtung Baby" and their new effort "All That You Can't Leave Behind".
"Apollo" album is a soundtrack used for a documentary film on the Apollo moon landings of the late 60s and early 70s. What the Enos and Lanois did was capture that atmosphere of the moon using beautiful textures and lovely soundscapes. Tracks like "Under Stars", "The Secret Place", "Matta", "Drift" and other tracks used ambient soundscapes with weird drops of water or soft percussion booms. Many of the stuff has been used by ethereal soundscapes from Brian Eno using a synthesizer to make these sounds. Eno has been known for making weird sounds with synthesizers since his days as a member of the glam rock band Roxy Music.
A lot of the music on this album is smooth, soothing, and quiet. On tracks eight to ten, there's a steel-slide accompaniment from Daniel Lanois who gives the album a more dream-like feel by making the slide sounds not so loud but not so quiet at the same time on tracks like "Silver Morning", "Weightless", "Deep Blue Day" which was the track that introduced me to Brian Eno's music which appeared on the "Trainspotting" soundtrack. Those tracks have each have a delicate sound with its ambient soundscapes and Lanois's steel pedal accompaniment.
"Apollo" is a beautiful album from Eno and co. It does serve as an introduction to ambient music and its wonders. To really enjoy this, you really have to open mind widely as possible. The one problem with this album is that it is very hard to find and there isn't a lot of copies of this album. If you find it, you will enjoy this.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
thevoid99
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Member: Steven Flores
Location: Smyrna, Georgia
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