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EBay has invited me to review Brian Eno's DISCREET MUSIC, as I recently had to replace a copy that got damaged. I am happy to offer this. It's May 10. Exactly 10 years ago today, an article appeared in The Independent (a British periodical) entitled "50 Eno Moments." The article is on the EnoWeb, a site devoted to Brian Eno and his total accomplishments which now go well beyond music and producing bands like U2 and James. An "Eno moment" is a fortuitous chance event or decision which totally changes your approach to something, and maybe your entire life. If you're an Enophile, you've probably had a few "Eno moments" of your own. I know I have. One of these Eno describes: hospitalized after being struck by a taxi in early 1975, a girlfriend brought him a record of harp music. However, one of the channels had failed, it was raining, the sound of the rain was drowning out the music (implied in the account), and Eno was unable to get up and fix things. He relates how at first he was annoyed, but then realized that he was having a different and totally new listening experience, of music as part of a much larger environment and not even necessarily the most important part. Recordings like DISCREET MUSIC came out of that. It's a very simple recording - a handful of notes played on a cheap synthesizer and recorded on tape loops of apparently different lengths so that they repeat, fall in and out of sync with one another, and create a quiet environment piece that could have begun at an indefinite moment in the past and continue indefinitely in the future. It actually clocks in at 30 mins and 35 sec., which is quite long considering that this was first released on vinyl as one of the first three releases on Eno's Obscure Records label (now collectible; I still own a copy I could probably get good money for if it didn't have sentimental value). Eno has a diagram of the technology that created DISCREET MUSIC on the sleeve. This was one of the first compositions of "ambient music" designed to integrate smoothly and almost unnoticeably into a larger environment; it was recorded roughly the same time as the classic EVENING STAR (recorded with Robert Fripp) which features a few "bars" from this under the title "Wind on Wind." Later, we would have the better-known MUSIC FOR AIRPORTS and follow-ups such as THE PLATEAUX OF MIRROR and THE PEARL (both with Harold Budd), the incredible ON LAND, APOLLO: ATMOSPHERES AND SOUNDTRACKS, and eventually the music Eno would use in his installations as a visual artist (e.g., COMPACT FOREST PROPOSAL). Of course, Brian Eno didn't event the uses of repetition in music or even the use of tape recorders. He had studied the works of composers like LaMonte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and others which "ordinary" people find unlistenable. But when he created the "ambient music" genre, he took what they began to the next level - "humanizing" it with something that really is listenable if you give it half a chance. If you've been listening to most of what today gets marketed as "ambient" (sometimes as "ambient-techno" or "ambient-dub"), that's not the real thing. As I believe Eno says somewhere, it's too "busy." DISCREET MUSIC, like its follow-ups listed above (especially ON LAND) is the real thing. This CD is a classic, and belongs in every serious Brian Eno collection. Oh, the curious title I gave this review. In five days as I pen this, Brian Eno will turn 60. Think of this as the "60th Eno moment."Read full review
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