Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks

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Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
Studio album by
Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno
Released29 July 1983 (1983-07-29)
Recorded1981–1982
StudioGrant Avenue Studio, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
GenreAmbient
Length48:08
LabelEG
ProducerBrian Eno, Daniel Lanois
Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno chronology
Ambient 4: On Land
(1982) 		Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
(1983) 		Music for Films Volume 2
(1983)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic89/100
(extended edition)[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Christgau's Record GuideB[3]
Mojo[4]
Pitchfork9.1/10[5]
Q[6]
Record Collector[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[8]
Spin Alternative Record Guide8/10[9]
The Times[10]
Uncut8/10[11]

Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks is a studio album by the British musician and producer Brian Eno, the Canadian producer Daniel Lanois, and Brian Eno's brother, composer Roger Eno. It was released on 29 July 1983 by EG Records. [12] The music was originally written for For All Mankind, a documentary film by Al Reinert about the Apollo program, though the film was not released until 1989.[13] The score was written and performed by the trio.

Music from the album has appeared in the films 28 Days Later, Traffic, Trainspotting, and The Lovely Bones, whose soundtrack sold approximately four million copies.[14] Two of the songs from the album, "Silver Morning" and "Deep Blue Day", were issued as a 7" single on EG Records.

Overview[edit]

The music was originally composed in 1983 for a documentary film, For All Mankind, that was released in 1989. The tracks from the album that remain on the final edit of the film are:

  • "Always Returning"
  • "Drift"
  • "Silver Morning"
  • "Stars"
  • "Under Stars"
  • "The Secret Place"
  • "An Ending (Ascent)"

The newer tracks from the film that are not on the album (but appear on Music for Films III) are:

  • "Sirens" (Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois)
  • "Theme for 'Opera'" (Brian Eno, Roger Eno)
  • "Fleeting Smile" (Roger Eno)
  • "Tension Block" (Daniel Lanois)
  • "Asian River" (Brian Eno)
  • "Quixote" (Roger Eno)
  • "4-Minute Warning" (John Paul Jones)
  • "For Her Atoms" (Lydia Kavina (Theremin), Misha Malin)

In the liner notes, Eno describes his experience of watching the Apollo 11 landing in 1969 and his sense that the strangeness of the event was compromised by the low quality of the television transmission and an excess of journalists' commentary. He thus wished to avoid the melodramatic and uptempo way the event was presented.

The album was released on 29 July 1983 by EG Records.[15][16] A release in the US followed in September 1983.[17]

On 19 July 2019, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, a special version of the album was released, featuring the remastered original, as well as an accompanying album of 11 new instrumental compositions by Brian Eno, Roger Eno & Daniel Lanois that reimagine the soundtrack to For All Mankind.[13]

Album cover photograph[edit]

The orbital photograph of the lunar surface is a hand held Hasselblad-camera photograph made during the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972. The ID-number of the photograph is AS17-150-23069[18] (Magazine 150-LL). It shows a closeup view of the most southern section of Mare Serenitatis on the eastern part of the Moon's near side. Also visible are Promontorium Archerusia (the oblong system of hills), Brackett (the shallow crater), Dorsum Nicol (the wrinkle ridge), Rimae Plinius (the three grooves), and the northern part of the rim of the pronounced crater Plinius. On the album cover, the upper margin of the orbital Hasselblad photograph is rotated 90 degrees to the right. Also visible on the cover photograph is the brightness of Mare Serenitatis to the north (rightward) of the shallow crater Brackett and Rimae Plinius. When observed through a telescope, this region shows a subtle yellowish or tannish grey color. The region to the south (leftward) of Mare Serenitatis shows a subtle bluish grey, which is the overall color of Mare Tranquillitatis. On the cover these subtle real colors are not reproduced, only the abrupt change of brightness is visible.

Hasselblad photograph AS17-150-23069 is also seen as Figure 59 in Part 1 of Chapter 4 (The Maria) in NASA SP-362: Apollo Over The Moon, a view from orbit.[19]

Small photograph[edit]

The small photograph on the back side of the LP cover is AS14-73-10116,[20] made during the Apollo 14 mission in February 1971. It shows small sections of the walled plains Fra Mauro and Bonpland. The grooves on the floors of both walled plains are known as Rimae Parry. The distinct and largest one of the small bowl shaped craters in this photograph is Fra Mauro F.

Music[edit]

The album contains a variety of styles. "Under Stars", "The Secret Place", "Matta", "Signals", "Under Stars II", and "Stars" are all dark, complicated textures similar to those on Eno's previous album Ambient 4/On Land. "An Ending (Ascent)", "Drift", and "Always Returning" are smoother electronic pieces. "Silver Morning", "Deep Blue Day", and "Weightless" are country-inspired ambient pieces featuring Daniel Lanois on pedal steel guitar.

Country music, which Eno listened to as a child in Woodbridge on American armed forces radio, was used to "give the impression of weightless space."[21]

"Under Stars" is a recurring theme in the album, first appearing as an ambient electronic bed behind a treated guitar. "Under Stars II" is the same composition, but with different effects and treatments. "Stars" is the pure background texture without the guitar.

The track "An Ending (Ascent)" was sampled in the song "Hear Me Out" by the group Frou Frou, in "Forgive" by British producer Burial, in "Ascent" by Michael Dow, a London electronic music producer, and in "The Ending" by British DJ Graham Gold. It has also been used in several films, such as Traffic and 28 Days Later, and in the memorial wall section of the London Olympiad opening.

Many of the tracks on the album were recorded with soft "attacks" of each note, then played backwards, with multiple heavy echoes and reverb added in both directions to merge the notes into one long flowing sound with each note greatly overlapping each adjacent note, producing the "floating" effects that Eno desired.

Daniel Lanois has stated that a Yamaha CS-80 was used on "Deep Blue Day".[22] Eno once stated regarding the soundtrack: "...so many processings and reprocessings – it's a bit like making soup from the leftovers of the day before, which in turn was made from leftovers..."[23] Eno said, ".... Well, I love that music anyway .... what I find impressive about that music is that it's very concerned with space in a funny way. Its sound is the sound of a mythical space, the mythical American frontier space that doesn’t really exist anymore. That's why on Apollo I thought it very appropriate, because it's very much like 'space music' — it has all the connotations of pioneering, of the American myth of the brave individual...."[21]

Live version[edit]

In the summer of 2009 a live version of the album was performed at two concerts in the IMAX cinema of London's Science Museum and in an arrangement by South Korean composer Woojun Lee for the ensemble Icebreaker with featured artist B J Cole on pedal steel guitar. The album was performed in its entirety, with the tracks in a different order, to a silent and edited version of For All Mankind, closer to the original conception than the released version of the film. A revised version was performed twice at the 2010 Brighton Festival, where Eno was guest artistic director, before subsequent touring in the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe.

Due to the heavily processed nature of the studio-based sound on the original tracks, an exact reproduction would have been impossible to reproduce in a live context, so Woojun Lee chose to apply a free interpretation of the sound world and to make an impression of the original tracks through use of Icebreaker's instrumental resources.

The performances from Brighton were recorded and an album of the live interpretation was released in June 2012.

Track listing[edit]

Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Under Stars"Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois4:25
2."The Secret Place"Daniel Lanois, arranged Brian Eno3:27
3."Matta"Brian Eno4:14
4."Signals"Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois2:44
5."An Ending (Ascent)"Brian Eno4:18
6."Under Stars II"Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois3:15
7."Drift"Roger Eno, Brian Eno3:03
8."Silver Morning"Daniel Lanois2:35
9."Deep Blue Day"Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Roger Eno3:53
10."Weightless"Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Roger Eno4:28
11."Always Returning"Brian Eno, Roger Eno3:49
12."Stars"Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois7:57
For All Mankind (2019 remaster second disc)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The End of a Thin Cord"Brian Eno4:09
2."Capsule"Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois3:14
3."At the Foot of a Ladder"Brian Eno, Roger Eno3:36
4."Waking Up"Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois2:29
5."Clear Desert Night"Brian Eno3:11
6."Over the Canaries"Brian Eno4:42
7."Last Step from the Surface"Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois3:58
8."Fine-Grained"Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois3:37
9."Under the Moon"Brian Eno, Roger Eno3:10
10."Strange Quiet"Brian Eno, Roger Eno4:09
11."Like I Was a Spectator"Brian Eno4:23

Personnel[edit]

Versions[edit]

Country Release date Music label Media Catalogue number Notes
Netherlands 1983 Editions EG LP 813 535-1
US 1983 EG Records LP EGLP 53
US 1983 Caroline CD 0 1704-61514-2 9
UK 1983 Virgin CD 0777 7 86778 2 6
UK 1986 EG Records CD EGCD 53
UK 2005 Virgin CD 7243 5 63647 2 1
Europe 2005 Virgin CD ENOCD 10 Remastered
US 1983 Editions EG 11 x LP EGBS 2 Working Backwards
1983–1973 (Box set)

Charts[edit]

Chart (1983) Peak
position
New Zealand Albums Chart[24] 48
Chart (2019) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[25] 127
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[26] 138
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[27] 61
Scottish Albums (OCC)[28] 8
UK Albums (OCC)[29] 16
US Top Album Sales (Billboard)[30] 48
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[31] 16
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[32] 9

Certifications[edit]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[33] Silver 60,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Uses in other media[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks [Extended Edition] by Brian Eno Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  2. ^ Simpson, Paul (2020). "Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks – Brian Eno". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  3. ^ Christgau 1990, p. 138.
  4. ^ Simmons, Sylvie (April 2005). "Brian Eno: Music for Films / Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks / Thursday Afternoon / More Music for Films". Mojo. No. 137. p. 114.
  5. ^ Pytlik, Mark (15 April 2005). "Brian Eno: Music for Films / Apollo / Thursday Afternoon / More Music for Films". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 14 July 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  6. ^ McEwen, Simon (August 2019). "Brian Eno: Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks". Q. No. 401. p. 119.
  7. ^ Quantick, David (August 2019). "Brian Eno: Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks (Extended Edition)". Record Collector. No. 495. p. 99.
  8. ^ Considine 2004, pp. 278–280.
  9. ^ Powers 1995, pp. 128–130.
  10. ^ Hodgkinson, Will (19 July 2019). "Brian Eno: Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks review — an undimmed celestial vision". The Times. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  11. ^ Pattison, Louis (19 July 2019). "Brian Eno – Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks". Uncut. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  12. ^ Prendergast 2000, p. 125.
  13. ^ a b Peacock, Tim (8 May 2019). "Extended Edition Of Brian Eno's 'Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks' Set For July Release". uDiscoverMusic. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  14. ^ De Lisle, Tim (10 May 1998). "50 Eno Moments". The Independent. Retrieved 24 November 2007.
  15. ^ Burbeck, Rodney, ed. (30 July 1983). "New Albums" (PDF). Music Week. London: Morgan-Grampian. p. 25.
  16. ^ Imamura, Richard, ed. (6 August 1983). "International Dateline" (PDF). Cash Box. New York: Cash Box Publishing Co. p. 24.
  17. ^ White, Adam, ed. (17 September 1983). "New LP/Tape Releases" (PDF). Billboard. New York: Billboard Publications. p. 60.
  18. ^ AS17-150-23069 in the LPI's Apollo Image Atlas
  19. ^ NASA SP-362: Apollo Over The Moon, a view from orbit, Chapter 4: The Maria (Part 1), Figure 59: Southern part of Mare Serenitatis
  20. ^ AS14-73-10116 in the LPI's Apollo Image Atlas
  21. ^ a b Prendergast, Mark (October 1990). "Brian Eno: Breaking the silence". Sound on Sound. Vol. 5, no. 12. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
  22. ^ Gearspace: Interview with Daniel Lanois
  23. ^ Pendergast, mark (February 1989). "Brian Eno: "A fervent nostalgia for the future"". Sound On Sound.
  24. ^ "charts.nz – Brian Eno – Apollo". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  25. ^ "Ultratop.be – Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno – Apollo - Atmospheres & Soundtracks" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  26. ^ "Ultratop.be – Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno – Apollo - Atmospheres & Soundtracks" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  27. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno – Apollo - Atmospheres & Soundtracks" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  28. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  29. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  30. ^ "Brian Eno Chart History (Top Album Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  31. ^ "Brian Eno Chart History (Top Dance/Electronic Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  32. ^ "Brian Eno Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  33. ^ "British album certifications – Brian Eno – Apollo". British Phonographic Industry.
  34. ^ "Coldplay Concert Setlist at Royal Albert Hall, London on July 1, 2014 | setlist.fm". setlist.fm.
  35. ^ "Coldplay Concert Setlist at Royal Albert Hall, London on July 2, 2014 | setlist.fm". setlist.fm.
  36. ^ "Cancer Research UK 'Enemy' TV ad". YouTube.org. Retrieved 31 December 2012.[dead YouTube link]
  37. ^ "BMW 'Ode to tarmac' ad". campaignlive.co.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  38. ^ "Complete list of songs".

Works cited

External links[edit]

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