Music for Films

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Music for Films
Brian Eno - Music for Films.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 1978
Recorded1975–1978
Genre
Length40:39
Label EG
Producer Brian Eno
Brian Eno chronology
After the Heat
(1978)
Music for Films
(1978)
Ambient 1: Music for Airports
(1979)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [1]
Pitchfork 7.8/10 [2]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Spin Alternative Record Guide 6/10 [5]
Tom Hull – on the Web B [6]
Uncut Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [7]
The Village Voice B+ [8]

Music for Films is a solo studio album by the British musician and composer Brian Eno. It was released in September 1978 through EG Records. It is a conceptual work intended as a soundtrack for imaginary films, although many of the pieces had already appeared in actual films. It charted at #55 in the UK.

Contents

Content

The album is a loose compilation of material from the period 1975 to 1978, composed of short tracks ranging from one-and-a-half minutes to just over four, making it the antithesis of the long, sprawling, ambient pieces he later became known for. The compositional styles and equipment used also carried over onto Eno's work on some of David Bowie's 1977 album Low .

Unlike Eno's later ambient works, Music for Films utilises a broader sonic palette, with Eno's synthesizers and "found sounds" being supplemented by standard studio instrumentation played by other musicians (see Credits).

Release

Originally released as a limited-edition (five hundred copies) LP in 1976 which was sent to a selection of filmmakers for possible inclusion in their work, [9] the commercial Music for Films release was expanded to include a number of pieces for, as Eno put it, "possible use as soundtracks to 'imaginary' films". In fact, excerpts from the album were contributed to the original soundtracks of at least six films:

Film/seriesYearProducerTrack(s)
Sebastiane 1976 Derek Jarman "Inland Sea", "Quartz", and "Final Sunset"
Alternative 3 1977"Alternative 3"
Jubilee 1977 Derek Jarman "Slow Water"
Rock 'n' Roll High School 1979 Michael Finnell "M386"
Remembrance 1982 Colin Gregg "Aragon"
A Better Tomorrow 1986 John Woo "Sparrowfall (1)"

Three further Film albums were released: Music for Films Volume 2 in 1983 (originally only available as a part of the ten-LP box set Working Backwards: 1983-1973), Music for Films III in 1988 (which consisted of work by various artists), and More Music for Films in 2005, which combined tracks from the box set LP along with tracks from the original 1976 limited edition release.

Different versions

The album has manifested in several forms, featuring different track-listings and track-times.

"Deep Waters" appears in More Music for Films as "Dark Waters". "Dark Waters" is unpublished elsewhere.

Track listing

Standard edition (1978)

All tracks are written by Brian Eno.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."M386"2:49
2."Aragon"1:37
3."From the Same Hill"2:58
4."Inland Sea"1:23
5."Two Rapid Formations"3:24
6."Slow Water"3:16
7."Sparrowfall (1)"1:11
8."Sparrowfall (2)"1:45
9."Sparrowfall (3)"1:23
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Quartz"2:02
2."Events in Dense Fog"3:43
3."'There Is Nobody'"1:42
4."A Measured Room"1:41
5."Patrolling Wire Borders"1:02
6."Task Force"1:20
7."Alternative 3"3:11
8."Strange Light"2:08
9."Final Sunset"4:16
Total length:40:39
Limited-edition 1976 promo issue
  1. "Becalmed"
  2. "Deep Waters"
  3. "'There Is Nobody'"
  4. "Spain"
  5. "Untitled"
  6. "The Last Door"
  7. "Chemin de Fer"
  8. "Dark Waters"
  9. "Sparrowfall (1)"
  10. "Sparrowfall (2)"
  11. "Sparrowfall (3)"
  12. "Evening Star"
  13. "Another Green World"
  14. "In Dark Trees"
  15. "Fuseli"
  16. "Melancholy Waltz"
  17. "Northern Lights"
  18. "From the Coast"
  19. "Shell"
  20. "Little Fishes"
  21. "Empty Landscape"
  22. "Reactor"
  23. "The Secret"
  24. "Don't Look Back"
  25. "Marseilles"
  26. "Final Sunset"
  27. "Juliet"
Editions EG reissue
  1. "Aragon" – 1:37
    • Performed by: Eno, Percy Jones, Phil Collins, Paul Rudolph
  2. "From the Same Hill" – 3:00
  3. "Inland Sea" – 1:24
  4. "Two Rapid Formations" – 3:23
    • Performed by: Eno, Bill MacCormick, Dave Mattacks, Fred Frith
  5. "Slow Water" – 3:16
    • Performed by: Eno, Robert Fripp
  6. "Sparrowfall (1)" – 1:10
  7. "Sparrowfall (2)" – 1:43
  8. "Sparrowfall (3)" – 1:23
  9. "Alternative 3" – 3:15
  10. "Quartz" – 2:02
  11. "Events in Dense Fog" – 3:43
  12. "There Is Nobody" – 1:43
  13. "Patrolling Wire Borders" (Eno, Percy Jones) – 1:42
    • Performed by: Eno, Paul Rudolph, Phil Collins, John Cale, Rod Melvin
  14. "A Measured Room" – 1:05
    • Performed by: Eno, Percy Jones
  15. "Task Force" – 1:22
  16. "M386" – 2:50
    • Performed by: Eno, Percy Jones, Phil Collins, Paul Rudolph
  17. "Strange Light" (Eno, Fred Frith) – 2:09
    • Performed by: Eno, Fred Frith, Rhett Davies
  18. "Final Sunset" – 4:13

Personnel

Versions

CountryRelease DateLabelMediaCat No.Notes
UK1976EG RecordsLPEGM 1Promo – 500 copies
UK/France/AusSep 1978PolydorLP/Cass2310 623
USSep 1978Antilles/IslandLPAN-7070
W.Germany1978PolydorLP2344 123
UK1978Editions EGLPEGED 05
US1982Editions EGLP/CassEGS/EGSC 105"New" track order
Europe1987EMICD787189
USNov 1987Editions EGCD/CassEEGCD/EGEDC-5
2005Virgin/AstralwerksCD7243 5 63646 2 2

Chart performance

Chart (1978–1979)Peak
position
UK Albums Chart55
New Zealand Albums Chart 27 [10]

See also

References

  1. Lewis, Uncle Dave. "Music for Films – Brian Eno". AllMusic . Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  2. Pytlik, Mark (15 April 2005). "Brian Eno: Music for Films / Apollo / Thursday Afternoon / More Music for Films". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  3. "Brian Eno: Music for Films". Q . No. 80. May 1993. p. 105.
  4. Considine 2004, p. 278.
  5. Powers 1995, p. 129.
  6. Hull, Tom (26 November 2023). "Grade List: Brian Eno". Tom Hull – on the Web . Retrieved 26 November 2023.
  7. Stubbs, David (April 2005). "Brian Eno: Music for Films / More Music for Films / Apollo / Thursday Afternoon". Uncut. No. 95. p. 117.
  8. Christgau, Robert (2 July 1979). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice . Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  9. Kelman, John (4 April 2005). "Brian Eno: The Soundtracks Reissues". All About Jazz . Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  10. "charts.nz – Brian Eno – Music for Films". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand . Retrieved 8 July 2010.

Works cited