Discreet Music

by

Brian Eno

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The first, title track, is over 30 minutes of sonic bliss

that never ever gets boring and only gets better with

repeated listenings. Fantastic discreet music to play while

you're involved in creative activities. It's probably the best single

track of ambient music I've ever heard. The remainder of the CD,

at first, doesn't seem to match the mood...but after that initial

observation the BEAUTY shines through...so the whole CD is great.

The other Eno ambient CDs I'd recommend are: Ambient 2, with Mr.

Budd on piano; Ambient #4: On Land; and the Apollo Soundtrack CD.

As far as Ambient 1, Music for Airports...well, this is a prime candidate for the greatest CD of all time.

In sum, all other ambient CDs can only hope to be in the same

ballpark as these Eno masterpieces.

Well, Discreet Music is certainly *exactly* what all the reviews said it was (and warned me about)- nothing but soundtrack music. Pretty, lovely, *extremely repetitive*, tolerable SOUNDTRACK music, by the same man who just FLOORED me with all kinds of experimental pop music a few years earlier (including a take on a more melodic and creative style of ambient that's significantly more satisfying in Another Green World).

Well, if you like soundtrack music, pleasant background sounds, and a carefully created smooth approach to your music, this is exactly the right album for you. Not sure what Brian Eno was thinking when he went in THIS direction with his music career, but whatever. Actually I heard the story how he was bedridden, so I do know how and why this album was made.

We can't have brilliance every single time, now can we? A drastic change compared to Here Comes the Warm Jets, and even Another Green World for that matter- you've been warned.

I'm aware that technically Discreet Music isn't actually part of a soundtrack. Instead it's an ambient explosion of sounds, mostly very peaceful and quiet ones. In fact, the music flows a little *too* smoothly. That's why I can't get into it.

That's also the main thing that separates this album from the more melodic and creative Another Green World, where on that album the songs are much shorter overall, and each track is *clearly* in a different style which goes a long way in creating a different feeling for each moment of that album.

Discreet Music is like a jam album full of ambient sounds including much less experimenting, and therefore the album is much different from Another Green World. This means it's harder to differentiate one track from the next. As a result, to me at least, it's an incredibly dull album. Brian Eno was too much into a creative groove at the time to release an ordinary album like this. In other words, Another Green World is a masterpiece but this is not.

The most obvious problem is that the title song is 30 minutes long and does *nothing* but repeat the same set of notes over and over and over. Sure there's extremely slight changes as it moves along (especially in between the 15-20 mark) but would you really spend your hard earned money on this? I don't think so... well then again, millions of people have.

The second side of the album consists of classical pieces taking advantage of Eno's ambient style. This side is definitely better and I actually don't hate it. Sure, "Brutal Ardour" is the worst song because it's insanely repetitive, but "Fullness of Wind" is decent. If it's repetitive I'm not able to sense it, so that's a good thing. Of course the REAL fullness of wind is better described in what happens when arctic blasts or hurricanes move through my area, but I guess in England they don't experience such extreme weather conditions so it's understandable Eno wouldn't realize that and would focus a theme concerning wind around peaceful arrangements.

Discreet Music is waaaaaaaay too long, but I have no problem admitting ambient music isn't my main cup of tea. Never was, probably never will be. With that said, everyone else seems to love it, so it's probably better to listen to those reviews instead.