2018 reissue - During one clear, near-perfect morning in 1977, the inclinations of ambient music as we know it today, began to materialize. Waiting for the arrival of his flight at the Cologne Bonn Airport, Brian Eno was repulsed by the music played within the beautiful setting. Of course, as any innovative genius would do with this discomfort, Eno began to think. He stretched his singular imagination into a reality only he deemed conceivable, pondering what combinations of sound would do the near-perfect atmosphere justice.
From this moment, Eno birthed excellence in the form of Ambient 1: Music for Airports. Amidst the glam of the seventies and the righteous rambunctiousness of punk rock, Eno provided perfected repose and a space to breathe in 1978. Though Eno's leanings toward an ambient sound can be gleaned from earlier endeavors like his work with Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius (Cluster), parts of Another Green World and of course, Discreet Music, his full immersion into ethereality came with Music for Airports, the first of four albums released in Eno's Ambient series.
Washed with heaps of synth, delicate piano and a few moments of horns blaring beneath, this four-track masterpiece radiates with a spellbinding gravitas. Soothing, meditative and sparse, it is easy to simply close your eyes and shut yourself off from reality when listening to this hypnotic epic. But what makes Music for Airports so special, is that it’s best enjoyed and most effectively experienced though hustle, bustle and rapidity of everyday life—just how Eno intended it.
| A1 | 1/1 | 16:39 |
| A2 | 2/1 | 8:24 |
| B1 | 1/2 | 11:36 |
| B2 | 2/2 | 9:38 |
