Ambient 1: Music for Airports

Edition: Audio CD

Genre:  Keyboards  Pop  Electronic  Experimental  Synthesizer  Rock  Rock/Pop  Chamber Music  Chamber  Ambient  Rock, Alternative Music Artists:  Brian Eno

Play all track samples  —  Stop Tracks: 1. 1/1 2. 2/1 3. 1/2 4. 2/2

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Editorial review:

Eno's theory of the "discreet music" he called ambient was far from the modern chill-out room: the idea was that it should function at very low volumes, unobtrusively coloring the atmosphere of a room. Evolving by tiny gradations, the long pieces of Music For Airports (the first in a series of albums that followed the statement of purpose Discreet Music) defy close attention, but then they're not meant to be listened to consciously; they're meant to serve as a counterpoint to the frantic arcs of travel, or rather to be imagined in that setting. --Douglas Wolk

Customer reviews:

Musical Sorbet

If you're like me, you probably listen to any number of musical genres ranging from funk to classical, jazz to folk, rock to techno, and everything and anything in between. Listening to music, along with brushing my teeth or bathing or eating, is one of the few things in my life which I do with such consistency that it has almost become an unconscious behavior. The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is turn on the CD player and press play; then I make coffee. The rest of the things in my life seem to circle around those two simple actions.
Yet, there are times when I listen to music that I can't quite grasp what I'm listening to; or the music feels heavy and whines in my ears; or the music just doesn't move me in any particular way. At these times, I often find myself thinking of other songs I'd rather be listening to, but when I play these other songs they don't seem to be what I want to listen to either. Usually, a good dose of silence is all I need; then I start to hear the neighbors fighting or their children playing a game in the street or toilets flushing or tires making that unique swishing wet-road sound. That's all I need to resume listening.
Brian Eno's Ambient 1 works almost as well as silence to "cleanse the (musical) palate". Whereas silence has a way of pressing in and drawing attention to itself, much like when you suddenly notice the shadows around objects you hadn't paid much attention to, Eno's Ambient 1 instead seems to do the impossible by simultaneously softening the edge of silence while muffling the demands of listening to a piece of music.
For that reason, Ambient 1 has become an integral part of my music collection, brought out on an almost daily basis to ease ear-strain (let's face it, you can listen to TOO much music) in those moments when silence is too sharp. I like to think of it as musical sorbet which lets me wash away the residual sounds left over from listening to various artists. Besides, there are times when it's just not a good idea to progress too quickly from, say Vaughn-Williams' "The Lark Ascending" to Primal Scream.

Apt for Airports, Eno is a major innovator

Nearly everyone who uses a computer is familiar with at least one piece of Eno's work; he wrote the little 3 second Windows booting-up music for Microsoft.

This album is a perpetual favorite, one of the New Age genre classics. Divided into 4 sections ("1/1," "2/1," "1/2," and "2/2"), it soothes the listener with repetitive piano and synthesizer motifs, and adds the color of chimes and vocals. This is the "ambient" music style, something to play while you need to concentrate, perhaps, or to relax or go to sleep by. I can also recommend the newer "Glitters is Gold" which also has non-linear music of this type.

Music for Airports...Sunrises too!

We use to play this record around 5:30 am when the sun was rising.
This was such wonderful sunrise music, also especially
comforting for a mind that had been up all night on LSD.