Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois and Roger Eno – Apollo: Atmospheres And Soundtracks (Extended Edition)

UMC

I first bought a copy of Apollo: Atmospheres And Soundtracks when it came out in 1983 on vinyl and a copy has remained in my collection ever sincem as its one of my all-time favourite Brian Eno albums.

The early 1980s were a high water mark for ambient music as many artists began to explore this area and records were beginning to sell rather well. For Eno, his output at this time was some of his finest work and his collaborations with artist such as Harold Budd and Michael Brook produced some truly beautiful work.

Apollo was the soundtrack to Al Reinhart’s film For All Mankind, a documentary about the moon landings from 1969 to 1972. At that time I had never seen the film, and it wasn’t until BBC2 (if I remember correctly) screened it for the twentieth anniversary of the first moon landing that I witnessed it for the first time. So in my minds eye, for those six years I had to imagine how the music fitted with the images of space rockets and astronauts. This extended release is being put out as part of the fiftieth anniversary and celebrations of the day Neil Armstrong made “one small step for a man”. The two albums feature a crystal-clear remastering of the original album, plus an album of new material recorded by all three artists.

It’s always kind of difficult to review an album that you have lived with for thirty-six years, one that most people reading this review will also probably know well. “Under Stars” still has its shimmering unearthly atmosphere, with its bass dropping down and descending in to the black void of space. “Matta” hangs there in the vast emptiness, its synthesizers clattering like debris hitting the nose of the Saturn V rocket. “An Ending/Ascent” is probably one of the best-known pieces of music Eno has ever composed, as its been used for countless adverts and documentaries over the years, its beatific rolling chord sequence can still capable of giving you goose bumps.

Side two of the original album has a bit more of a country feel to it compared to the starkness of the first side. “Silver Morning” and “Deep Blue Day” make use of Daniel Lanois‘s pedal steel guitar, all awash with tons of Eno reverb. The eight-minute “Stars” sounds all weightless as its chiming synths leave you floating in the endless universe, and it’s on this track especially that you can hear the wonderful job of the new remaster that takes nothing away from the original, but adds an extra level of clarity to the wash of sound. Of course in my opinion, any new version of this album, especially on vinyl, is worth buying alone, especially if you don’t have a copy already. So let’s now discuss the album of new material and see if it adds to the already sublime original.

The second album is subtitled For All Mankind and opens with “The End Of A Thin Card”. This is full of flanged instruments and a beautiful hanging keyboard melody that sends you into Earth’s orbit. Obviously, you can spot that the instruments used are of a newer variety than those of 1983 as the sound on this track seems less muddy, but it still keeps the same vibe as its older sibling, which is wonderful. Guitar chords introduce “Capsule”, which has more of a feeling of side two of the original release. The sound is slightly melancholy as it drifts against the backdrop of a star-filled sky, and for some reason this track reminded me of pieces on Eno’s Before And After Science, with a more progressive rock feeling to it.

“At The Foot Of A Ladder” plays more heavily on sequenced-sounding notes and has the bass carry its main melody line. So far, the pieces have been less ambient than on the first album, which played a lot with static ethereal sounds during its first part, rather than looking at more melodic structures. Dare I say, it but I thought this track was more reminiscent of 80s art rockers Japan. “Waking Up” has a twinkling keyboard sound that shimmers until some lower notes come in to give it an almost Erik Satie feel, it’s quite beautiful and has a true sense of otherworldliness to it as you can imagine the astronauts gazing out over the surface of the moon for the first time. Big synth pad chords introduce “Clear Desert Night”, it’s sound conjuring up the vast emptiness, its view of the night sky making you think about how small you are in the vastness of space as the Milky Way climbs overhead.

“Over The Canaries” starts with low bass notes, while an electric piano plays a series of tumbling notes over the top to give a sense of freefall. Synths bubble up now and then to add to the strangeness of the sound. You can imagine the craft in Earth orbit travelling across the blue oceans and land masses of our home planet at top speeds, before it shoots off on its way to the moon. “Last Step From The Surface” captures the feeling of the original album the best, not just because the sound sculptures used sound similar, but because its bass also conjures up the same emotions as those tracks within its space. “Fine Grained” brings back the flanged guitar to play some cosmic blues for strolling along the lunar surface; again, its keyboard melody is haunting, but the overall sound is quite luscious.

Piano notes drift through the air on “Under The Moon”, and here I can see elements of Roger Eno’s album Voices as there is a sense of hovering above and a weightlessness to the music that somehow brings a sense of calm. “Strange Quiet” has synths that almost seem to breathe beneath some wonderful notes that feel quite restrained, until the lush pads come in and give an odd feeling of hope among the stillness of space. “Like I Was A Spectator” is the final track on the album, and starts with a bright chord sequence, like the sun shining through the windows of the rocket. These chords build as the track goes on and even appear to hint at “An Ending” in some way, bringing the album just that little closer to the original — almost like a satellite orbiting a larger body, and it’s mesmeric and wonderful.

The two albums fit perfectly together, and completes Eno’s conjuring of aural imagery for the moon landings so well you will soon not be able to imagine one without the other. Now Apollo: Atmospheres And Soundtracks is twice as good as it ever was, if that were even at all possible.

-Gary Parsons-