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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Obscure and beautiful,
By A Customer
This review is from: Discreet Music (Audio CD)
Many readers will know Brian Eno from his work with global superstars U2. There are other, parallel sides to Brian's musical work, and 'Discreet Music' is the first example of a particular strand of experimentation. First released in Britain in 1975 on his own Obscure Records label, it was an attempt to set up a system by which the music would evolve itself over time, with relatively little compositional or instrumental input from the composer, other than to set the muscal and technical parameters of the piece and pressing 'Go'....'Discreet Music' is a piece lasting about 25 minutes. Brian takes two complementary musical phrases, played on a synthesiser, and loops them through his tape delay lines. The two fragments then come and go against each other indefinitely, creating new and unexpected juxtapositions, like cloud formations, before fading slowly away. If this simply idea sounds boring, listen to the music. One reviewer at the time said that it sounded like the dreamwaves of a sleeping computer. And this captures the gentle, harmonious quality of the music perfectly. As soothing as water lapping gently at the shore, 'Discreet Music' has apparently become a great favourite for mothers-to-be while in labour. While I haven't had that experience, I can say that this music, which I first bought as a teenager in the 70s, has travelled the world with me and even now is never far from a stereo of some kind. Despite the knowing jokiness of the 'Obscure' label, this is a piece of conceptual music which succeeds first and foremost as music. The idea is great: the music even better. The second side of the album, also included on the CD release, takes a slightly different approach to the same idea, where the 'input' in this case is described as fragments from Pachelbel's 'Canon' (you'll know it) and arranged for a string quartet. A strict compositional framework gives interesting - and always listenable - results. Brian Eno has gone on to explore what he termed 'self generating' music on a number of other releases, including, 'On Land', 'Thursday Afternoon' and 'Neroli', and latterly via software-generated pieces using the KOAN programme. Although each is different, there is a coherence of texture and stylistic tone which affirms the strength of the original idea. And if it's chill-out music you're after, there is none better.....
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yoga for the mind,
By
This review is from: Discreet Music (Audio CD)
It could be argued that there's not much to this record; the first piece comprises a pair of tape loops drifting in and out of phase, but actually contains as much silence as tones (technically, it's done on a single piece of tape, but it's in stereo after all, and sounds like a pair of instruments responding to each other). The second suite is a piece by Pachabel played by a string quartet, with each part played to a different timing, causing the instruments to drift in and out of phase with each other.
So, in actual fact, Brian Eno isn't really even on the recording, so why am I rating "his" work so highly? Simply put, the result of his grand design is a pair of pieces of extreme beauty. The sparse and minimalist sounds have both a fascination - in as much as I am always wanting to hear what comes next - and a quality of inducing extreme relaxation. Frankly, if I put this on at night, I'm likely to drift off to sleep before the first piece finishes; it's so minimal that I rarely get to hear it! So what's the point of buying a record that you're not necessarily going to listen to? Well, besides the beauty of the sounds, it's not often that a non-chemical can create such profound feeling of relaxation - it's like yoga for the mind. Subsequently imitated, but never in my opinion bettered, this is so good that it makes it onto my Desert Island list.
14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Did ambient originate from this startling beautiful music?,
By russell clarke "stipesdoppleganger" (halifax, west yorks) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE)
This review is from: Discreet Music (Audio CD)
A genius if ever there was one. Indeed such a genius I am even willing to forgive him for working with that pompous arse Bono, Eno has produced a body of work that just about blows out of the water every other artist …..ever. Now there are generally putting it in fairly simplistic terms two distinct areas of Eno, s work, the conventional (in relative terms) songs with lyrics and verses and chorus and stuff. Recommended examples of these include …err everything he has ever done actually. My favourites are “Before And After Science “and “Wrong Way Up” with John Cale but feel free to choose your own. Then there is his ambient work mainly released on his own “E.G.” label of which Discreet Music is arguably ( Some days I would argue vociferously it was another of his ambient works but mostly I would plump for this one) the zenith. Whether it’s an apocryphal tale or not I don’t know , but apparently Eno conceived the idea for this album while convalescing in bed from an auto accident he put an album of classical music at very low volume by mistake and intrigued by the mixture of the music and the natural ambient sounds around him decided to produce music of his own that mirrored that effect. For the title track he used two complimentary musical phrases which he produced on a synthesiser then looped together so the two juxtaposed and interpenetrated each other , ebbing and flowing in a serene often nebulous piece lasting around 25 minutes, yet which could often seem to last much longer. As if time had somehow become infinitely elastic while the music was playing. What was side two on the original vinyl version sees Eno take the fulsome irreducibly gorgeous Pachelbels “Canon Suite” set to a string quartet for an ever evolving , often fervid interpretation that occasionally sounds nothing at all like Pachelbels work but is always brought back to the original by the taut compositional structure of the piece. Eno being Eno he has gone on to invigorate and embellish the medium using new technology, or new techniques to make more startling examples of what he calls “Self replicating music”. While I would heartily recommend investigating anything Eno has a hand in - yes even his work with bloody U2 though it pains me to admit it-i would strongly advocate anyone with an interest in ambient to hear “Discreet Music”, after all this is really where it all started , and it’s rarely been bettered.
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