MUSIC FOR FILMS

This is one of Brian's early ambient albums, apparently a lot of the tunes on here were used for a demo he sent to studios while looking for soundtrack work. Ambient music at this time was still very new to rock fans, so you have to give Eno credit for having the courage to put out this album, as well as others like it.

Most of the "tunes" on here are very short and usually involve a slow repeating melody played with very interesting sound textures. Some of the cuts are actually stripped down re-mixes of more developed songs that show up on other albums. "Patrolling Wire Borders" is "Sombre Reptile" and "Task Force" is "Metal Days". I felt like I recognised a couple others too.

Some of these songs are mundane and should have been left off, yet there are many others that are brilliant in that uniquely Eno way. At his best Eno can invoke a sense of melancholy, as well as that wisdom that comes after a bad trip or similar personal catastrophe. For the most part these short songs flow together and make a nice whole, although there are a few clumsy transitions. With a little editing this could have been a much better album.