Search - Brian Eno :: Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks

NOT a remaster at all

Ojo | Carrollton, TX | 05/31/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Please be aware - the recent re-issues of Eno albums are not remasters at all, they are only repackaged. A bit-by-bit analysis of any of the tracks from these supposed "remasters" and their original counterparts will show them to be exactly the same. There is no difference in the audio whatsoever, it's just the packaging that's different. Buyer be aware."

Beautiful and Terrifying

Mike Smith | Albuquerque, NM | 05/25/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I cannot imagine not liking this album. It is timeless, gorgeous, eerie, and haunting, almost not there, but definitely there, everywhere, omnipresent in its tone.



When I first got this, I put it on for my one-year-old son as he fell asleep, thinking it was peaceful and relaxing. Ten minutes later, I was in his room, and he was sobbing, crying that the music was "too scary," that there were "monsters in it."



Then I brought my copy along on a long drive to California, and it turned the southwestern desert into a place of demented terror for me, though--and only people familiar with this album will know what I mean by this--not in a bad way.



This music is enfolding, ensconcing, breathtaking. It is ambient, experimental, and not at all New Agey, featuring ambiguous instrumentation...synth that seems unidentifiable, soft bass, quiet slide guitar.... It captures all the wonders of seeing Earth from space, all the terrors of the night, presents sonic eeriness and beauty but leaves room for listeners to project their own notions of beauty and their own fears into its empty spaces.



The standout track is almost certainly, "An Ending (Ascent)," which could be played at nearly any funeral and seem perfect for it, and which sounds a lot like the loveliest song of all time dissolving into something that is not a song at all. The whole album kind of feels like that, like some unreal thing wafting half-consciously along the edge between existence and nonexistence, and its ability to transform any scene you behold while you're listening to it is just astounding.



In conclusion: GET THIS, GET THIS, GET THIS! AHAHAHAHA!



Brian Eno is a genius, and you will not regret it. This is audio peace, audio fear, audio space. Peace and fear? Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. This is large. It contains multitudes. Get it."