More Music For Films

Album review

A listener familiar with the pedigree of the albums of Brian Eno might assume that Virgin/Astralwerks' release More Music for Films is merely a re-packaging of Music for Films II, a bonus album included within the LP boxed set Working Backwards. Such an assumption would be incorrect, as More Music for Films represents a new spin on a variety of soundtrack material made by Eno in the years 1976-1983, including some tracks drawn from Music for Films II, others from Eno Box I: Instrumentals, and at least six selections never made public before. According to Virgin, these are taken from the limited-edition promo LP of Music for Films, a two album set pre-dating the familiar EG release by two years and only circulated to filmmakers and journalists. The last four tracks on More Music for Films relate to Apollo, a justly admired soundtrack jointly created by Eno, Roger Eno, and Daniel Lanois. Some of the previously unissued material is made up of alternate versions of pieces already familiar to listeners who know Eno's work well, but still others will appear to be wholly new even to his most seasoned fans.
This is part of Virgin's Brian Eno The Soundtrack Series, and like the others has been remastered using the Direct Stream Digital method and comes encased in a thick, transparent plastic outer cover. The glue holding this cover together is starting to come apart, even though the review copy has only been in the office a couple of months, so don't expect this part of the package to hold up over time. Eno's music, though, has held up remarkably well in face of the enormous changes that have occurred in the realm of pop-oriented electronic music since the last of these tracks were laid down in 1983. Relatively few of these pieces jump out at the listener, and the overall mood fits comfortably within the realm of his ambient music, but taken as a whole the collection has a tad darker atmosphere than, say Music for Airports. The running time of More Music for Films is certainly more generous than the average entries in Brian Eno The Soundtrack Series, and even though it is not as essential as the original Music for Films collection, it nonetheless affords a fascinating glimpse into Eno's workshop during his early days -- a period some might say was Eno's best.

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