ANGELS IN THE ARCHITECTURE

"Angels in the architecture" was an early example of a record label sampler released for CD. This collection gathers together 14 tracks recorded by artists with a connection to Brian Eno and EG Records. The music is almost exclusively ambient electronic recordings by artists ranging from the obscure (Harold Budd, Hans-Joachim Roedelius) to the famous (Patrick Moraz, Bill Bruford, Phil Manzanera). The tracks were recorded over a 10 year period from 1976 to 1986.

You could be forgiven for thinking after the first couple of tracks, which both feature the aforementioned Budd, that you had mistakenly picked up a cure for insomniacs, such is the dreamy, ponderous nature of the sounds. Roger Eno carries on the same considered but unquestionably dull ambience with both of his contributions.

Things finally get going with Bill Bruford and Patrick Moraz duet "Split seconds" from their "Flags" album. This rather strange duet of drums and piano fails to work for me, due in no small part to the overly jazz nature of the music. Further tracks of an all too similar pattern follow, giving the impression that this is not in fact a compilation at all, but the work of a single artist.

The Penguin Café Orchestra offer some variation with delicate violin introducing another repetitive theme. The benefits of making this compilation available on CD instead of LP are exploited to the full on PCO's following track, the 12 minute "The sound of someone you love who's going away and it doesn't matter". This is a pleasant, lightly symphonic piece which, while far from riveting, is easy on the ear.

Things start to veer towards the unstructured ambience again with Manzanera's "Europe 80-1", while Fripp himself contributes two similar pieces.

The music contained on this sampler is undoubtedly designed for those with a specialist taste for it. There are no vocals and discernible melodies are few and far between. It is fair to say though that if you enjoy one track here, the chances are the entire album will appeal. For me, the music is just too lazy and laid back to offer anything other than background themes for other activities.

Share this VARIOUS ARTISTS (LABEL SAMPLERS) review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Easy Livin
• Report this review (#113467)
• Buy VARIOUS ARTISTS (LABEL SAMPLERS) music online with PA partners
• Show all VARIOUS ARTISTS (LABEL SAMPLERS) MP3/Stream
• Go to VARIOUS ARTISTS (LABEL SAMPLERS) page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Angels in the Architecture page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for VARIOUS ARTISTS (LABEL SAMPLERS) related discussions