Brian Eno, Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks (1983)
One of the great pleasures and treasures of interviewing musicians is getting to talk to them about music; not just their music but music – in general. It’s often inspiring, always interesting, sometimes quite exciting and – well – it beats talking to yourself. Recently Dave Dobbyn very generously gave up nearly three hours of his time to chat with me about songwriting, the craft, his approach. And of course his career. We spent a lot of that time talking about other music; other musicians. But it was always on-topic; always relevant. It was nice to hear him speak – with such passion, fondness, familiarity – about Brian Eno. We talked about favourite albums; about collecting them on vinyl. I have a few Eno LPs, most of the ambient works, those early classic albums – and I’ll definitely look to get the most recent albums too. My favourite Brian Eno album is almost always whatever one I am listening to. The ambient albums are so gorgeous; so perfect. I’m a big fan of Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks because it was one of the first Eno albums I heard. It also features Roger Eno and some of that wonderfully sweeping, country-epic guitar of Daniel Lanois. I think An Ending (Ascent) is beautiful, hopeful. Perfect. Eno so often makes music that is just, well, correct. It is the right music for the right time. And I love so much of his music for and because of that. And it was amazing to share stories and this love of music with Dave Dobbyn. And now I guess I’m sharing that with you. In this way that I do. Are you in to Eno? And do you like this album? Let’s ‘talk’ about that. (In as much as a blog allows).
Sample Track: Deep Blue Day
The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown
Was just playing Eno this morning – b side> Before & After Science (so I guess the “after”) and the a side> Another Green World. Such amazing “pop” music, that whole period – the 2 Roxy LPs and then the solo run. Have you read his book “A Year With Swollen Appendxies”? I love how he is both a total egg-head avant artist, and this down-to-earth kinda square dad type. If I ever see an LP with his name on it I’ll grab it, even though I’ve got some duff stuff – that band James for one.