Customer Reviews

On Land

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Imagine sitting on a beachside deck some warm evening with a microphone capturing all the noise of the environment: waves washing up, crickets chirping, gulls singing, the neighbors' barbecue maybe becoming audible when their talking gets loud enough. Maybe some kid is driving down the next block with his stereo rattling the pavement. Maybe somebody's dog is barking far enough away that if you weren't listening closely you wouldn't even notice it. On Land is an exploration of this kind of idea in sound, but intended to re-create places far away or only imagined. Sound strange? In the world of Brian Eno I'd expect nothing less.

Basically it's an album exploring the idea of music or sound that gives a feeling of a certain place. It also perfectly accomplishes his objective with ambient music, which is that it should be "as ignorable as it is interesting." Turn it up and it can bring all kinds of alien landscapes to life in your mind; turn it down and it colors the room subliminally, barely noticeably. Where the previous three in the Ambient series were subdued and trancelike through repetition, this one is evolving all the time and never repeats itself.

And with that, On Land is probably the hardest of all Eno discs to describe. It would be one thing if it was simply made with treated notes or tape loops, as with Discreet Music or the previous Ambient albums. It would be one thing if he was using minimal melodies meant to be ignored. On Land is all and none of those. It uses musical elements but isn't music; it's minimalist but not simple or repetitive. It's pure atmosphere. Forms don't exist. If you're wondering what moods you may find here, just look at the titles. "Tal Coat" is somehow electronic-sounding but purely organic. "Shadow" is a vague lurking moment of doubt. "A Clearing" is a four-minute synth haze radiating pure tranquility. It's not all soothing, but if it's left at a low audible level the dark moments won't really be disturbing.

Comparing this disc to any other ambient music is always an apples/oranges prospect, but I think the difference makes this the most pure and timeless Eno album out there. At the very least it sounds like nothing else I've ever heard, except maybe the sounds of nature itself.

When this came out, I was so used to "Discrete Music" and the previous "Music for Airports" that I had a goodly bit of trouble wrapping my head around this set of rumbly, dark, murky atmospherics. But over the years, I've come to have a special love for this release. This is not the Satie-like ambient of those other two works, but rather like a soundtrack recording for a very obscure, dark film in which most action (action?) is obscured or is occuring just off-lens. Swampy, midnight music. Whereas it's easy to describe some other Eno works, this thing, even some 20 or so years on, defies adequate description. Suffice to say, it's something worth having for most anyone, especially if you're someone who often finds yourself awake at 2-3 AM and have trouble finding music for just that 'certain atmosphere' for the time of day. A singular, beautiful, and intriguing release.

I enjoy the music of Mr Brian Eno on this CD immensely. "ON LAND" contains environmental music which invokes for me a wide range of emotions. THE LOST DAY is a brooding piece from which I experience remorse, sadness and dismay. The piece titled UNFAMILIAR WIND (LEEKS HILLS) draws me slowly into a palpable experience of walking into a marsh. These are mind-pictures of the experiences of remembering a place rather than picture postcards. A word of caution about the term "ambient". In 1982, when Mr Eno first released this album, there was no classification, or permit me to write, marketing term, for ambient cds. This cd has no similarity with what currently is classified as "ambient" music. I'm afraid someone anticipating "ambient" music within the current context will be as disappointed as one reviwer who wrote, "Brian Eno's 'ambient music' is certainly ambient ... but it's certainly not music ... I'll bet plants love it. As for me, I'm just going to let it lull me to sleep." In the liner notes, Mr Eno explains some of the thought processes utilised in creating this landmark piece. "From 'Another Green World' onwards I became interested in exaggerating and inventing rather than replicating spaces, experimenting in particular with various techniques of time distortion. This record represents one culmination of that development and in it the landscape has ceased to be a backdrop for something else to happen in front of: Instead, everything that happens is a part of the landscape. There is no longer a sharp distinction between foreground and background." His instrumentation includes electro-mechanical and acoustic instruments as well as non-instruments like pieces of chain and sticks and stones. Mr Eric Tamm, author of "Vertical Colour of Sound", writes, "What sets ON LAND apart musically from most of Eno's quiet, contemplative music is that here the element of timbre takes over to the point of there being very few pitches in use, and often nothing that could really be called harmony." The musicians who participated in this project have successful careers of their own, Laraaji, Mr Michael Beinhorn, Mr Axel Gros, Mr Bill Laswell, Mr Jon Hassell, Mr Michael Brook, and Mr Daniel Lanois. I have done the best I could to explain what this album is and how it affects me. If you are interested in an extremely influential piece of music from the late twentieth century, this CD will interest you.

I'll have to admit the fact that when I first heard this lp, I didn't like it. It was too dark, brooding, and all together too weird for even my tastes. I was in love with "Music for Airports," and "Apollo," and was looking for the same kinds of atmospherics and simplicity that these 2 lps created.

It's been 13 years after the fact, and 1000's of plays later, on lps, tapes, and now cd, and I cam never get enough of this lp. The atmospherics are beyond ecstacy, and while the mood is dense and dark, it is Eno's crowning achievement, and moreover helped me create my current home sound system, when,b after reading an article by Eno about how he would play the lp, I played this lp with 2 pair of speakers as opposed to one and with a cheap 4 channel mixer I owned for club djing I was doing. The results were earth shattering to me. The whole world opened up. I played the lp at dusk, and the crickets outside by patio door chimed in harmony to it. My neighbors would walk by and marvel at how nature sounded better at my place, and I grinned, never telling them why that was.

This lp has absolute sacred value to me, and I play it every evening before I retire for the night, and I sleep well. It is best listened to with excellent pairs of speakers that allow you to get surround sound, then to set levels to allow the bass to work on its own against Eno's use of prepared soundscapes and his electronics. This is your excuse to get more speakers!

The lp is so good that I implore everyone to get it. Your life will be more enriched by it.

This was made to be played on a 3 speaker system...so if you have a "wide stereo" or "music expansion" button on your player push it and you will not believe all the hidden sound that appears throughout this dark and beautiful CD!

One of the best(ie;most interesting)ambient releases by Eno.A lot of variation here between songs,and the tracks don't go on "forever". As one other review says here,it is not always a pleasant ,"new age" ambience...but some dark visions are nice for a change too.

A great place to start for those interested in Eno's version of "ambient"...if you like this,then get Eno's "Music For Films" too(or try and find the "Eno and Cluster" CDs).More cool stuff!

Imagine perhaps that Eno has penetrated the consciousness of lazy reptiles who lay about and chew on psychedelic mushrooms and he was somehow able to translate their experience into 'music'. This is one incredible, unique work of art. I don't play it a lot, but when I do, I always remember why I love it. Great for creating alone at night around 4 AM.

Brian Eno intended his ambient recordings to be sonic wallpaper, interesting wallpaper certainly, but still wallpaper. These aren't "songs" in any sense of the word, unconventional or not. These are soundtracks for your life in it's quieter moments.

To get the best enjoyment from On Land, I recommend starting it with the volume very low. Then slowly increase the volume until it covers any other sounds inside or out, basically functioning as white noise. Then commence reading, studying, meditating, sleeping, painting, daydreaming or whatever. I've also listened to it on Walkmans while hiking in the woods for a real weird experience. Eno builds sound collages meant to invoke outdoor settings ranging from peaceful to creepy. "The Lost Day" sounds to me like standing in an old abandoned pasture as dusk approaches, the wind rustling the overgrown grass while the weathered door of the old farmhouse bangs open and shut and some old rusty cowbells, slung over the sagging fence with some mouldering tack, clang away in the breeze.

After years of listening to Eno's ambient stuff like Evening Star (with Fripp,) Music for Airports and this one, I think I've figured out the secret to their success: Eno never lets any piece actually GET anywhere. Now in conventional music that would be a very bad thing, but in ambient music it's not only a good thing, it's the entire point. If any of it got anywhere, that would require active participation on the part of the listener, and it's no longer wallpaper, but more akin to minimalist classical music. Eno knew all of this and that's what makes these records work, and what makes them steer clear of new age blather or elevator muzak.

All of Eno's reissues from Here Come the Warm Jets up to this one are highly recommended.

It's part of our earth and brine bodies. We tread on it. We wade through it. We soar upon it.

I have used this music on several occasions to remove groups of people from their familiar surroundings and put them in touch with where they were NOW.

How many times have you traveled to a remarkable place with a group of people you know and instead of experiencing the uniqueness of the moment, the group drags along its familiar associations and interactions? If you are in search of the miraculous, the above situation can be intolerable. Change people's perceptions about who and where they are with this music. Cause them to examine their surroundings with innocent eyes. Cast aside the baggage and explore.

I used to drag a solar-powered cassette player down to the remote lagoons of the Baja California dessert when on group excursions. After an all-day drive, while others were complaining about being hot or tired or thirsty, the people that had ridden in the car with "On Land" playing were walking among the dunes finding art, washing each others feet in the cool clear water, making tea, and gazing at the sky.

Define your own reality with this music.

Of Eno's four "ambient" works, this is the one that is the least musical and the most atmospheric; it is the one that takes the most chances, and while some of its tracks simply don't hit their rather ambitious mark, others far exceed it. The worst tracks are simply too hokey for their own good (did Eno really need to add horror-movie clanking noises to the first piece, "Lizard Point?"). The best, however, grab the casual listener, and utterly enthrall the attentive one. The last track, Dunwich Beach, is every bit as good as anything on Another Green World, and manages a grand finale of sorts, which is incongruous with the rest of the record, but enjoyable all the same. "A Clearing" is like a scrap of film soundtrack without the film, but it is fun enough to make you run an appropriate film in your own head.

I bought 'On Land' this afternoon and have been playing it constantly -- it's been round about six or seven times already. The first time, it sounded utterly familiar, like music I'd heard a long time ago and forgotten. Every time since, it sounds different and new. I already had 'Music for Airports' and 'Plateaux of Mirror' (with Harold Budd), but 'On Land' has convinced me that Eno is, without exaggeration or qualification, a great artist. Even his liner notes are intelligent without being pretentious, a rare achievement for a musician!

Although very superficially similar, it doesn't take long to realize that Eno's ambient works are a world away from the lazy, sonically unadventurous tinklings of countless 'New Age' pieces (many of which were probably inspired by Eno, unfortunately). In 'On Land' every sound is meticulously placed, every treatment thoughtful and, needless to say, beautifully produced. Moving away from the idea of 'performable' music towards pure studio recordings allows a degree of control -- crucially, control of tonal contour and spatial organisation -- that makes these tracks more like aural sculptures than music. That's probably why they sound so different on different systems, in different rooms, at different angles from the sound source etc.

If that makes it sound like an academic exercise, be aware that this is also a very emotional record -- although the emotions communicated are usually obscure, ineffable, almost impalpable. Whereas some of Eno's other ambient works are explicitly NOT to be listened to directly, I can't help feeling that 'On Land' demands more focused attention. It will certainly repay; after just a few hours, it already feels like one of my favourite records.