Ambient 1: Music for Airports

Ambient 1: Music for Airports is a studio album by the English musician Brian Eno. It was released in February 1979 through E.G. Records and Polydor Records.<ref name=MwFeb79>Template:Cite news</ref> It was the first Eno album released under the label of ambient music, a genre intended to "induce calm and a space to think" while remaining "as ignorable as it is interesting".<ref name="liner notes">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> While not Eno's earliest entry in the style, it is credited with coining the term.

The album consists of four compositions created by layering tape loops of differing lengths, and was designed to be continuously looped as a sound installation, with the intent of defusing the anxious atmosphere of an airport terminal as an alternative to "canned" Muzak and easy listening styles. The album was the first of four albums released in Eno's Ambient series, which concluded with 1982's Ambient 4: On Land.

In 2004, Rolling Stone credited Music for Airports with defining the ambient genre.Template:Sfn In 2016, Pitchfork ranked it the greatest ambient album of all time.<ref name="Best">Template:Cite web</ref>

Background and concept

In 1975, Eno was hospitalised after a car accident. While he recovered at home, his friend Judy Nylon brought him an album of classical harp music and set it playing quietly against the sound of the rain against the window.<ref name=p4k>Template:Cite web</ref> The sound blended with the rain outside the room and, unable to get up and adjust the volume, Eno allowed it to create an ambience aligned with his fluctuating attention.<ref name="Lysaker-2017">Template:Cite journal</ref> Alongside this experience, his concept of ambient music would build upon composer Erik Satie's idea of "furniture music", music that is intended to blend into the ambient atmosphere of the room and "mingle with the sound of the knives and forks at dinner" rather than be directly focused upon.<ref name="quiet">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The album Discreet Music (1975), per Eno's own judgement, was his first foray into ambient music.<ref name="Lysaker-2017" /><ref name="Mixmag-2013">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Szabo-2017">Template:Cite journal</ref>

After spending several hours waiting for a flight at Germany's Cologne Bonn Airport and becoming annoyed by its uninspired atmosphere, Eno conceived an album of music "designed for airports". He intended for the album to still function within various other situations.<ref name="I78">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn Ambient music was then a "relatively modest field", "more a concept than a genre", and mostly created against the context of dominant muzak practices.<ref name="Mixmag-2013" /><ref name="RS 2004" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Eno's concept was distinct from elevator music and easy listening's "derivative" background noise approach,<ref name="Best"/> and was instead to be used as a means of creating space for thought.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In the album's liner notes, Eno explained:

Whereas conventional background music is produced by stripping away all sense of doubt and uncertainty (and thus all genuine interest) from the music, Ambient Music retains these qualities. And whereas their intention is to `brighten' the environment by adding stimulus to it (thus supposedly alleviating the tedium of routine tasks and levelling out the natural ups and downs of the body rhythms) Ambient Music is intended to induce calm and a space to think. Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Eno later named the Ray Conniff Singers and the "Borgesian idea" of a self-generated "world in reverse" which is centered around music as inspirations during this period.<ref name="Gill-1998">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Recording and composition

Eno began work on Music for Airports while producing the 1977 David Bowie album Low in Berlin. In the studio of the German producer Conny Plank, he recorded individual notes sung by three female German singers.<ref name="Hewett-2016" /> After returning to England, Eno recorded Fred Firth on guitar and Robert Wyatt on piano.<ref name="Hewett-2016" /> Eno turned the recordings into tape loops.<ref name="Hewett-2016" /> Eno said the album was "conceived as deliberately austere and unemotional" and "was essentially made by machines".<ref name="Gill-1998" /><ref name="Barnes-2009">Template:Cite news</ref>

With regards to their instrumentation, dynamic range, timbre, harmony, tonality and texture, the tracks are confining and feature a "contained repertory of pitches, gestural shapes, and motivic content that lasts throughout its entirety".<ref name="Szabo-2017" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Variations of timbre are seen when comparing the tracks, such as the warm "1/1" contrasting with the cold and dark "1/2".<ref name="Szabo-2017" /> They are without backing rhythms and instead irregular repetition.Template:Sfn

Eno has stated a connection to death. Not wanting it to be "all bright and cheerful", Eno, a self-proclaimed "nervous flyer", considered the feelings that arise from being at an airport, including the supposed mortality salience and hoped the album would bring solace: "Really, it's music to resign you to the possibility of death".<ref name="Roquet-2016">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> John L. Waters described the album as a "logical progression from the work of the experimental and systems-based 'serious' musicians (John White, Gavin Bryars, Christopher Hobbs, Michael Parsons, Michael Nyman) that Eno recorded and championed for his label Obscure".<ref name="L. Walters-1998">Template:Cite news</ref> David Stubbs noted similarities to the work of Erik Satie.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

"1/1", features piano loops performed in an arrhythmic manner – piano being the dominant instrument throughout the album.<ref name="Lysaker-2017" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The track arose from two pianists improvising whereby neither could clearly hear the other, leading to separate yet complementary melodies being played.Template:Sfn Various motifs, played in a fitful manner, are featured.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Philosopher of art John Lysaker, while discussing the album's general sense of aimless direction, noted that "1/1" "holds together no better (and no worse) than a cloud".<ref name="Lysaker-2017" />Template:Efn The music throughout is down-tempo, without "distinct melodic or harmonic development[;] no highs or lows".Template:Sfn "1/1" is the only track to feature a melody.<ref name="Sun-2007" />Template:Clarify

"2/1" and "1/2" make use of vocal loops; the former designed to have them fluctuate in synchrony.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The disparate lengths of "2/1" were the result of each singer's differing capabilities. He modified the tape recordings offhandedly to loops,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> desiring "a silence at least twice as long as the sound" and "complicated rather than simple relationships". "And then I started all the loops running, and let them configure in the way they chose to configure".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Music professor Victor Szabo described the track as "ghostly", writing that the "non-vibrato" tape loops are "uncannily lifeless": "Through such compositional techniques and affective-expressive codes, ‘2/1' intimates human absence more overtly than any other track".<ref name="Szabo-2017" />

"2/2" was performed with an ARP 2600 synthesiser. Brian Eno described how this piece was recorded: Template:Cquote

Release

Critical reception

The first album of ambient music to become popular – and later recognised as the "first deliberately 'ambient' recording" – it was initially dismissed by critics, audiences and some of Eno's peers alike, bewildering some of the former.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="L. Walters-1998" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn It only became more favoured by the 1990s, having "entered the modern musical canon".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Sun-2007">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Blandness was a very common critique in the initial reviews, a possible by-product of its unvarying and populist conception, wrote Szabo.<ref name="Szabo-2017" /> In a 1979 review for Rolling Stone, Michael Bloom found Ambient 1 self-indulgent and lacking focus. "There's a good deal of high craftsmanship here," Bloom said. "But to find it, you've got to thwart the music's intent by concentrating."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In another contemporary review for The Village Voice, critic Robert Christgau wrote that "these four swatches of modestly 'ambient' minimalism have real charms as general-purpose calmatives. But I must also report that they've fared unevenly against specific backgrounds."<ref name="VV">Template:Cite news</ref> He later called it "a bore".<ref name="Szabo-2017" /> Writing for The Globe and Mail, around the time of its release, Alan Niester categorized the album as alien, calling it "background grunge" that was best suited for "dish-doing [and] bed-making".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In a 1979 interview with Eno for Musician, critic Lester Bangs described Music for Airports as having "a crystalline, sun-light-through windowpane quality that makes it somewhat mesmerising even as you half-listen to it," and recounted a personal experience in which the album induced him into a dream state featuring Charles Mingus.<ref name="bangs">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

PopMatters journalist John Davidson was enthusiastic in a retrospective review, deeming Music for Airports a masterpiece whose value "can only be appreciated by listening to it in a variety of moods and settings. Then you are likely struck by how the music allows your mind the space to breathe", Davidson wrote, "and in doing so, adapts itself to your mood".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> AllMusic reviewer Linda Kohanov stated that "like a fine painting, these evolving soundscapes don't require constant involvement on the part of the listener [...] yet the music also rewards close attention with a sonic richness absent in standard types of background or easy listening music."<ref name=allmusic/> Sasha Frere-Jones wrote that, by strength of its compositions, Music for Airports fails to facilitate an easily disregarded listening experience: "the album is too beautiful to ignore".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described the effect of the compositions as "sheer weightlessness."<ref name="slant" /> Q described it as "soothing and sublime, a useful album when you're feeling particularly delicate."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In a positive review, PitchforkTemplate:'s Grayson Haver Currin wrote that "to hear Music for Airports as more than a background balm, these four tracks remain wondrous and transformative, able to rearrange the air in a room."<ref name="p4k" />

Legacy

Ambient 1 was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.Template:Sfn Chuck Eddy from Spin later named it the fourth most essential ambient album.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In September 2016, Pitchfork named the record the best ambient album of all time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The album has been recognized as a seminal and influential release, an icon of the genre and Eno's discography.<ref name="Lysaker-2017" /><ref name="Roquet-2016" /><ref name="Hewett-2016">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Sfn J. D. Considine wrote in The Rolling Stone Album Guide that the record defined the ambient aesthetic while providing a name for the genre.Template:Sfn Chris Richards of The Washington Post wrote that it "taught an entire generation of musicians to consider music as a texture".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Reflecting on the album, Jon Caramanica called it the best of Eno's work which shortly followed Roxy Music.<ref name="RS 2004" /> Due in part to Music for Airports, perception of Eno's career shifted and he became aligned with highly influential minimalist composers: Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, and La Monte Young.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Artists such as Pauline Oliveros, Riley and Harold Budd would expand on Eno's style of ambient music, which would feature prominently on his following albums; Music for Airports acted as a genesis for Eno and collaborators exploring the style, such as in the numbered Ambient series (1978–82).<ref name="Szabo-2017" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His conception would soon become more mallable and less reliant upon locations.<ref name="Szabo-2017" /> Music For Airports has sold over 200,000 copies, making it one of Eno's best-selling solo albums.Template:Sfn

Installation and covers

The album has been installed and performed in at least five airports; it has been met with resistance from some travellers and workers, who deem it disruptive.<ref name="Szabo-2017" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Clinics and hospitals have used the albums to soothe patients.Template:Sfn In 1998, Bang on a Can performed the album live, favouring a "technicolour style".<ref name="Sun-2007" /> Discussing their performance, Eno described it as the ensemble "trying to act like machines, but they don't sound like machines at all, they sound like people and it's quite touching when that appears".<ref name="Barnes-2009" /> He felt the rendition's emotive quality was the result of the supposed human element; it moved him to tears, he said, and others he knew – such as Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson – had similar reactions.<ref name="Gill-1998" /> Critics echoed Eno's praise, including that of the rendition's superiority.<ref name="Sun-2007" />

In 2010, the Black Dog, by means of their ninth studio album, Music for Real Airports, issued a "musical rebuttal", chastising the perceived dehumanisation of airports and Eno's supposed intention of "lull[ing] customers".<ref name="Szabo-2017" />Template:Sfn

In 2023 and 2024, Bruce Brubaker released "Eno Piano" and "Eno Piano 2" – including a piano transcription of "Music for Airports" made with the assistance of Simon Hanes.<ref>Template:Cite interview </ref>

Track listing

The track labelling refers to the album's first release (1978) as an LP, and so the first track means "first track, first side", and so on. The CD pressing adds 30 seconds of silence after every track, including "2/2".

The album's back cover features four abstract graphic notation images, one for each track, representing their structure and instrumentation.<ref name="Lysaker-2017" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Personnel

• Brian Eno – synthesiser, electric piano, vocals
• Christa Fast – vocals ("2/1", "1/2")
• Christine Gomez – vocals ("2/1", "1/2")
• Inge Zeininger – vocals ("2/1", "1/2")
• Robert Wyatt – acoustic piano ("1/1", "1/2")

Recording

• Brian Eno – producer, engineer
• Dave Hutchins – engineer ("2/1", "1/2")
• Conny Plank – engineer ("2/2"),
• Rhett Davies – engineer ("1/1")

Design

• Brian Eno – cover art

Recording Location

• London ("1/1", "1/2", "2/1")
• Plank's Studio, Cologne ("2/2")

Release history

Country	Label	Cat. No.	Media	Release date
US	Polydor	AMB 001	LP	1978
France	Polydor	2310 647	LP	1978
Canada	GRT	9167–9835	LP	1978
Italy	Polydor	2310 647	LP	1978
US	Editions EG	EGS 201	LP	1981
UK	Editions EG	EGED 17	LP	1983
UK	Editions EG, Virgin	EEGCD 17	CD	Aug 1990
US	Editions EG	EEGCD 17	CD	Aug 1990
UK	Virgin Records	ENOCD 6, 7243 8 66495 2 2	CD	2004

See also

• Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror
• Ambient 3: Day of Radiance
• Ambient 4: On Land

References

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External links

• Template:Discogs master
• Interview on Ambient 1: Music for Airports
• Liner notes of initial American release