Jon Hassell/Brian Eno, Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics (1980)
I have to thank Sean Donnelly. I was at his place in Auckland last year – recording this episode of the podcast and he referenced this album. That sent me on the quest. I mean, to clarify: I knew the album. I’m not across absolutely everything that Brian Eno has done, but close to it. I try. And Jon Hassell I knew a bit too – and I knew this album. But it was Sean’s mention of it, of how important it had been to him, that made me seek it out. First the album (CD, streaming) and then just recently the vinyl. The reissued LP arrives to me as part of a renewed focus on those spectacular ambient albums that Eno created in the late-70s/early 80s. And in about a half-decade or so Eno’s magic, his worldview, his focus, his skill, his concepts, his conceit, his understanding…I mean wow! There’s the Bowie “Berlin Trilogy”, the Talking Heads/David Byrne connection, a half dozen or so ambient records – on the back of some great “singer/songwriter” albums. And there’s stuff that just keeps coming up. Appearing. Or reappearing. It’s possible that Possible Musics is among his best. But how big – how deep, broad, wide and vast – is his best? And he’s on a roll once again too, for that matter…

Sample Track: Charm (Over Burundi Cloud)
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