Music For Films
	Produced by Brian Eno
	Released on September 1978
	UK CHART POSITION #55
	Find it at GEMM
EGS 105 cover [high resolution scan]

K ronomyth 9.0: AMBIENTOUT. If you enjoyed the short ambient pieces on Another Green World and Before And After Science, you weren’t alone and you were about to get more company. Music For Films collects 18 short ambient works recorded between 1975 and 1978. The title is deceptive, since only a handful of these songs (“Slow Water,” “Alternative 3,” “M386”) were originally used in films. For years, my reaction to this album has been cool; I saw it as a cabinetful of curios rather than a self-standing album. But the only deficiency in the work is its brevity. The songs are tantalizingly short to a fault, dissipating like vivid dreams at the waking edge of sleep. A handful are long enough to create self-sustaining environments, notably “Events In Dense Fog” and “Final Sunset.” But more often, a good idea is gone just as it becomes interesting; “Slow Water,” “Quartz” or “Strange Light” are examples of pieces that could have been captivating over the course of twenty minutes. Eno himself seems to have conceived the album as a collective listening experience, going so far as to alter the track order slightly on the Editions EG reissue for better continuity. While a wider picture doesn’t emerge from Films, the album remains entertaining and (perhaps more importantly) edifying as a sketchbook of ideas from (arguably) the artist’s most fertile creative period. Those interested in Eno’s ambient works will want to add this to their collection sooner rather than later. I’d highly recommend the CD route, as it gives you the option of putting this on a random loop and extending its original, limited borders into a wider horizon.

EGS 105 back cover

TRACK LISTING

Original 1978 track listing

1. M386
2. ARAGON
3. FROM THE SAME HILL
4. INLAND SEA
5. TWO RAPID FORMATIONS
6. SLOW WATER
7. SPARROWFALL (1)
8. SPARROWFALL (2)
9. SPARROWFALL (3)
10. QUARTZ
11. EVENTS IN DENSE FOG
12. 'THERE IS NOBODY'
13. A MEASURED ROOM
14. PATROLLING WIRE BORDERS
15. TASK FORCE
16. ALTERNATIVE 3
17. STRANGE LIGHT
18. FINAL SUNSET
    
    Editions EG reissue track listing
    
1. ARAGON    (Brian Eno)    1:39
2. FROM THE SAME HILL    (Brian Eno)    2:58
3. INLAND SEA    (Brian Eno)    1:25
4. TWO RAPID FORMATIONS    (Brian Eno)    3:24
5. SLOW WATER    (Brian Eno)    3:15
6. SPARROWFALL (1)    (Brian Eno)    1:13
7. SPARROWFALL (2)    (Brian Eno)    1:52
8. SPARROWFALL (3)    (Brian Eno)    1:24
9. ALTERNATIVE 3    (Brian Eno)    3:12
10. QUARTZ    (Brian Eno)    2:01
11. EVENTS IN DENSE FOG    (Brian Eno)    3:46
12. 'THERE IS NOBODY'    (Brian Eno)    1:43
13. PATROLLING WIRE BORDERS    (Brian Eno)    1:42
14. A MEASURED ROOM    (Brian Eno, arr. Percy Jones/Brian Eno)    1:02
15. TASK FORCE    (Brian Eno)    1:21
16. M386    (Brian Eno)    2:50
17. STRANGE LIGHT    (Brian Eno, arr. Fred Frith/Brian Eno)    2:10
18. FINAL SUNSET    (Brian Eno)    4:10

CREDITS

BRIAN ENO --
John Cale -- viola
Phil Collins -- percussion
Rhett Davies -- trumpet, assistant producer
Robert Fripp -- electric guitar
Fred Frith -- electric guitar
Percy Jones -- bass guitar
Bill MacCorick -- bass guitar
Dave Mattacks -- percussion
Rod Melvin -- electric piano
Paul Rudolph -- guitar
Ritva Saarikko -- cover photograph

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