Ambient 1: Music for Airports

Brian Eno (Composer, Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Brian Eno
• Composer: Brian Eno
• Audio CD (August 31, 1990)
• SPARS Code: AAD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Editions Eg Records
• ASIN: B000003S2K
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #46,990 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
Eno's theory of the "discreet music" he called ambient was far from the modern chill-out room: the idea was that it should function at very low volumes, unobtrusively coloring the atmosphere of a room. Evolving by tiny gradations, the long pieces of Music For Airports (the first in a series of albums that followed the statement of purpose Discreet Music) defy close attention, but then they're not meant to be listened to consciously; they're meant to serve as a counterpoint to the frantic arcs of travel, or rather to be imagined in that setting. --Douglas Wolk

Product Description
Limited Edition Japanese "Mini Vinyl" CD, faithfully reproduced using original LP artwork including the inner sleeve. Features most recently mastered audio including bonus tracks where applicable. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a classic ambient work, September 22, 2000

By	Sean M. Kelly (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I was 14 in 1984, and I remember laughing when I first saw the title to this lp- what is a Music for Airport, anyhow? (such a silly 14 year old thought) But I was intrigued by the concept, I saw one of my idols, Robert Wyatt, as a credit on the lp, and the lp was used, so for a mere .50, I ventured into the world of Brian Eno for the second time (I loved his Roxy Music works).

From the opening piano strokes of Wyatt, I was hooked. I couldn't listen to the lp enough. I listened to it at high volume,and at low volumes. At night; during the day; during rain; windy conditions; perfect calm. It didn't matter. The music transcended all conditions. I was amazed. I was (and still am) a huge Erik Satie fan, and Eno was the modern day Satie. The concepts were beautifully simple and effective, yet wreaked of sophisication. My friends at school were listening to Ratt and other 80s hair bands, and I was into Eno. They didn't get it. It was fine. Eno was mine.

Today, almost 16 years later, "Music for Airports" is one of the cornerstones of my musical identity. I have listened to it 1000's of times (as with all instrumental Eno lps), and still am amazed by the absolute simplicity of it. While Eno played with ambient soundscapes before ("Discreet Music," Fripp and Eno's 2 recordings), none better encapsulated at the time what he was driving towards better than this lp (in my view, "Ambient 4: On Land" best encapsulates ambient music).

This lp is a gem of the highest calibre, and is a must in any reputable music collection. A must have.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Ambient", as such, starts here, April 3, 2000

By	DAC Crowell (Rankin, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This is the first of four albums that Brian Eno released on his 'Ambient' label around the end of the 1970s. It is not, however, this first musical exploration of this sort that Eno engaged in. For those, one should turn to his "Discrete Music" or his collaborations with Robert Fripp. It does not directly have anything to do with his pop output of the same period, also, although parts of "Another Green World" and "Before and After Science" definitely share some of these aesthetic territory with these compositions. Rather, this is something which finds its parentage in both the 'furniture music' concepts of Erik Satie and process music techniques as used by diverse composers such as John Cage, Steve Reich, et al. These four works, very sparse and slowly-evolving, were intended for use as installation pieces for LaGuardia airport in NYC, and are intended by Eno to be a calming, contemplative set which 'prepares the listener for death', in Eno's words. One gets the impression he's perhaps not too enamored with air travel? Anyway, this music is beautiful, sublime, and perhaps to this day some of the greatest ambient music ever composed. The free-running tapeloop process that Eno devised to 'collage' the spare musical fragments here together into their works created a slow, gradually-shifting, and organic atmosphere, very unlike those achieved by more recent ambient musicians making use of MIDI and/or other methods to achieve much the same ends. Ownership of this should be mandatory, quite honestly, especially for anyone who has to deal with stress on a routine basis.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Listening to Eno's Thoughtful Quietness, August 18, 2000

By	"drleathers" (Chelsea, NYC) - See all my reviews

Brian Eno is a master of sound, simply put. In "Music for Airports" (Ambient 1) he has crafted the soundtrack of inner peace.

This sound sculpture was originally meant as a background setting for an airport terminal. It is easy to close your eyes and imagine hearing "1/1" tinkling mutedly like an electronica wind chime being stirred by the flow of travelers going to and fro. It could provide a calming center about which all the fracas and hurriedness revolves. I also imagine hearing it as the last traveler to leave the airport at night, as the final weary travelers stumble from the last flight of the night through the emptied terminal toward their cars.

Equally as wonderful - listen to Ambient 1 on a rainy day. Let it intermix with the sound of rain falling on your windows.

I use this CD to calm myself, as an accompaniment to yoga, and have used it to fall asleep. There is something in the gentle yet uneven rhythm of the tones that induces a deep relaxation state. I have found it enhances my study time as well.

Ambient music is meant to be played as a background to a normal activity. Think of it as a fluid frame surrounding a variety of daily activity. It also functions well as a mask for everyday noise, becoming a calming, peaceful environment to guard us from outside intrusion so that we may turn inward to find our own peacefulness inside. Eno has produced in this recording a multifaceted jewel of quietness, inner rhythms, and a soothing refuge inside which we can listen and let echo through our souls his own special rhythm.

I highly recommend this beautiful work of art.