Fourth World Vol. 1: Possible Musics
	Produced by Brian Eno with Jon Hassell
	Released on April 1980
	no chart information
	Find it at GEMM
EGS 107 cover

T he term “Fourth World” implies an extension of the third world into an as-yet-unknown realm, which would describe Eno’s collaborative effort with trumpeter Jon Hassell on Possible Musics. Using Eno’s ambient beds as the backdrop, Hassell’s radically altered trumpet (the instrument produces a mournful Middle Eastern sound that almost sounds human) rests on top of sparkling, subtle electronics much like earlier Fripp and Eno albums. The result sounds like “trumpetronics,” as Jon’s trumpet achieves the same muted, dreamy effect as Robert Fripp’s frippertronics. The album represents one in a series of Eno albums that sought to re-cast Eastern music for avant-garde Western ears, of which My Life In The Bush of Ghosts and Ambient 3: Day of Radiance were a part. However, Possible Musics isn’t nearly as troubling as Eno’s collaboration with David Byrne, leaning instead toward the meditative, ambient tones of Discreet Music (recalled most clearly on “Rising Thermal”). The opening “Chemistry,” which prominently features fretless bass player Percy Jones, also invites comparison to earlier Eno albums. Otherwise, the album is Hassell’s for the taking; Eno’s electronics play a diminished role, joined by various percussionists as distant sounds in the background. Unlike The Plateaux of Mirror, in which Eno’s electronics had an audible effect on Harold Budd’s piano, Possible Musics doesn’t seek to alter Jon Hassell’s sound so much as augment it (a point underscored when Hassell released the similar-sounding followup, Dream Theory In Malaya). Given the variety of ambient albums in Eno’s catalog to choose from, listeners may do better to start with the Ambient series first. Possible Musics is, ultimately, no better and no worse than an album of Frippertronics (e.g., Let The Power Fall). Both manage to build compelling constructs from a limited number of musical “blocks,” and yet the initial newness soon wears off, leaving listeners to pace back and forth over the same exotic terrain as a point for meditation.

EGS 107 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. CHEMISTRY    (Jon Hassell/Brian Eno)    6:48
2. DELTA RAIN DREAM    (Jon Hassell/Brian Eno)    3:22
3. GRIOT (OVER "CONTAGIOUS MAGIC")    (Jon Hassell)    4:00
4. BA-BENZELE    (Jon Hassell)    6:03
5. RISING THERMAL 14° 16' N; 32° 28' E    (Jon Hassell/Brian Eno)    3:34
6. CHARM (OVER "BURUNDI CLOUD")    (Jon Hassell)    21:24

CREDITS

BRIAN ENO -- background cloud guitars, Prophet 5 "starlight" background, high altitude Prophet, rare minimoog, treatments
JON HASSELL -- trumpet, Prophet 5 touches, "Aluar" loop, ARP loops
AYIBE DIENG -- ghatam, low congas, congas
NANA VASCONCELOS -- ghatam, low congas, congas, loop drum
Michael Brook -- bass (3)
Paul Fitzgerald -- electronics (3)
Jerome Harris -- bass (4)
Percy Jones -- bass (1)
Night Creatures of Altamira -- (5)
Tina Pearson -- handclaps (3)
Gordon Philips -- handclaps (3)
Andrew Timar -- handclaps (3)
Michael Jay -- engineer
Cream -- design
William Coupon -- photo of Jon Hassell
Roberta Bayley -- photo of Brian Eno

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