Another Green World [Original recording remastered]

Brian Eno | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 1, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Astralwerks
• ASIN: B00022M51I
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,693 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This 1975 recording catches the ex-Roxy Music member in transition between art rock and his more progressive-ambient recordings. With an all-star cast including drummer Phil Collins, guitarist Robert Fripp, and John Cale on viola, Another Green World explores instrumental landscapes and aural textures not normally associated with rock recordings. Drawing on musical influences ranging from Weather Report to La Monte Young and Terry Riley, Brian Eno created layers of quirky sonic atmospheres and electronic tone poems. Using synthesizers, artificial percussion devices, and additional electronic accouterments, he found that the studio itself could become a useful instrument of creativity. Compositions like "Becalmed," "Sombre Reptiles," and the title cut all anticipate Eno's later ambient excursions. One of the many utterly essential Brian Eno albums. --Mitch Myers

Product Description

Eno's 1975 masterpiece found him brilliantly transitioning into ambient territory on songs like Sky Saw; St. Elmo's Fire; I'll Come Running; Golden Hours and Everything Merges With the Night .

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great album, great sound a pity one track isn't complete June 2, 2004

By Wayne Klein HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

One my favorite Eno albums, "Another Green World" shows him already on the path to ambient music with about 1/3 of the album devoted to instrumental pieces. In many respects, it's an extension of the work he did on his first two solo albums but the emphasis here is on the more melodic side of things. With Roxy Music's "Stranded" and "Avalon", one of the more atmospheric albums put out by a former member of the band.

The sound is spectacular although you won't hear a huge improvement. Most of the improvements are subtle; it's akin to seeing someone after a facial vs. a facelift. You know that something's different but can't pin it down. The depth of the recording and actual atmosphere of the studio are more readily apparent as are more sonic details.

The damaged track "Everything Merges with the Night" has been repaired in all later editions of this terrific album. Other things that might have improved this set include a booklet with notes on the production of the album, bonus tracks with outtakes (I keep waiting for the singles that Eno released on CD invain it seems) or rough mixes of the album. While I appreciate that Eno wants the album presented as it originally was, it's a pity that we don't know more about the making of the album.

Overall a terrific re-release even. I just wish that it had been packaged with more details about the making of the album.

38 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sadly, I was ignorant in the 1970's... February 6, 2005

By B. Kevin Maples

Format:Audio CD

I was born in 1971, so, with the exception of receiving Sabbath's "Paranoid" on cassette when I was about 9, my exposure to important music from the 70's was highly limited. I lived under the false assumtion for many years that the best music the 70's had to offer was pre-punk classic rock. However, I have been voraciously consuming music from the 1970s onward for the last 5+ years and I fell face forward over Brian Eno.

Finding Eno was like finding a diamond in your toilet: completely unexpected and unpleasant to get to. In my opinion, this is the pinnacle of Eno's pre-ambient works (which I also appreciate highly). Every song is lovely, haunting, and brilliant. From the opening note to the last note, I am continually in awe. As with all trancendent music, Another Green World is not limited by the period in which it was recorded and it is still fresh and breathtaking 30 years later.

I use the descriptor "mind-blowing" for only a few musical works. Another Green World is on this very short list, along with Iggy & the Stooges' "Raw Power," Pixies' "Come on Pilgrim/Surfer Rosa," My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless," and Sigur Ros' "()."

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Eno's Masterpiece April 2, 2005

By Steve Vrana HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD

In an interview ten years after the release of his acknowledged 1975 masterpiece ANOTHER GREEN WORLD, Brian Eno said, "I want the music to be as much as possible a continuous condition of the environment...in the same way as a painting is." This goes a long way toward explaining Eno's approach to music, where tone and texture take precedence over lyrics and melody. These are not so much songs as they are ambient sound paintings. Even on songs like "I'll Come Running", which seems to follow a conventional song structure, there is an ethereal beauty about it.

Even on the songs where Eno includes lyrics, they seem to be there not so much for meaning, but for the images they conjure. Consider these lines from "St. Elmo's Fire": "Then we rested in the desert/ Where the bones were white as teeth, sir/ And we saw St. Elmo's Fire / Splitting ions in the ether." In fact, in the Lyrics to "Sky Saw," Eno seems to be saying the words really aren't that important since most people don't pay any attention to them: " All the clouds turn to words / All the words float in sequence / No one knows what they mean / Everyone just ignores them." Besides, only five of the tracks include vocals; the remainder are instrumentals.

Several tracks are less than two minutes ("Over Fire Island," "Little Fishes" and the title track), but the longest track--the vocal "Everything Merges with the Night"--is just barely over four minutes. While the opening track ("Sky Saw") is a gritty guitar-driven song, the rest of the album has a gentle, lush quality. Eno is joined on some tracks by John Cale, Phil Collins and Robert Fripp, as well as a handful of other musicians. If you're new to the music to Brian Eno, this is the place to start. ESSENTIAL