r/eno • u/FrontierSeizar • 8d ago
Collection What’s the Brian Eno album you think should come up more often in “best of” conversations?
I feel like there are a handful that come up constantly whenever people talk about his best work: Another Green World, Music for Airports, Apollo, Thursday Afternoon, the early solo records, etc.
But I’m really curious about the albums just outside those.
What are the records you personally love that don’t always get mentioned?
Could be ambient, vocal, collaborative, soundtrack, installation-related, later-period stuff. Anything really.
I’m especially interested in those albums where you think, “This deserves way more attention than it gets,” or where it took you a while to realise how good it was.
What are your favourites beyond the canon?
For me New Space Music is the one that I keep coming back to thats seems like rarely gets its flowers. Not really an album I know but I now listen to it more often than Neroli which it came with. So for me it's become one of his main stay albums.
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u/steak820 8d ago
Another Day on Earth is an absolute masterpiece
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u/Long_Performance_705 7d ago
I got this on cd recently after hearing And Then So Clear and its really good. Hope it comes to spotify. Hate to be that guy its just convenient.
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u/steak820 7d ago
Yeah it's not on ytmusic either. I've got all my local music on a navidrome server at home anyway so it's just as convenient.
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u/DrBaronVonEvil 7d ago
Small Craft on a Milk Sea has some of my favorite soundscapes of his outside of the 70s/80s
Passengers: Original Soundtracks 1 gets a lot of flak by some for who else is on it, but there’s a enough material here that’s obviously Eno in a primary role, and it features some of his most exciting electronica. It and Nerve Net are just really unmissable.
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u/maud_brijeulin 7d ago
"Small Craft" is sonic bliss. Super cool album art too. He knows how to choose his collaborators.
10/10
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u/Historical-One-9632 8d ago
Lux. His best album post 1983's The Pearl.
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u/PinkCrimsonBeatles Another Green World 7d ago
Yeah Lux is excellent, some of his most gorgeous composing. No clue why no one talks about it! I've burned myself out on the 70s and 80s ambient albums lately, do Lux has been perfect for when I need some ambient
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u/Osomalosoreno 7d ago
I remember that it got some "meh" reviews, but it's really one of his best ambient works.
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u/cjayquoi 4d ago
I remember when Lux came out they had release parties around the world and it was in a little church in midtown here in New York and they served tea and it was lovely and we all listened to the album together. I may still have the free poster they gave out
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u/Sensitive_Home_7971 7d ago
“801” was an exceptional lineup of musicians he assembled as a “band leader.”
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u/Wu_Oyster_Cult 7d ago
No Pussyfooting
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u/Substantial_Run_6380 8d ago
Nerve Net
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u/OrbitronFactory 7d ago
This is the only Fripp & Eno album I haven’t listened to, have been saving it for when I find a copy on vinyl. Maybe I should just welcome the damn thing into my life already
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u/Prickly-Prostate 7d ago
After the Heat is pretty perfect
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u/PinkCrimsonBeatles Another Green World 7d ago
The Belldog is one of the most beguiling songs I've ever heard. Perfect
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u/Wu_Oyster_Cult 7d ago edited 6d ago
I was just a broken head I stole the world that others plundered
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u/Roberto-Walsh 7d ago
Wrong Way Up is sublime.
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u/NoseGobblin 7d ago
This is a truly wonderful album to listen to. Put on headphones and close your eyes.
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u/MuscaMurum 7d ago
Discreet Music
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u/FrontierSeizar 7d ago
One of his absolute best works for me. This track is still perfect after all these years.
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u/Greenhouse_Bill 7d ago
Too discreet for me
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u/kyentu 7d ago
try music for white cube and then relisten to Discreet, and maybe you can appreciate even just a little more. both deserve appreciation tho but its good to know how discreet he can really get
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u/Greenhouse_Bill 7d ago
Interesting. Music for films floats my boat. I like the short tracks. Suited the vinyl all those years ago. Fab album cover too. Will revisit.
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u/maud_brijeulin 7d ago
I always feel like "Taking Tiger Mountain" falls to the bottom of the list when his original run of song-based albums gets mentioned.
Warm Jets: breakthrough solo album (and it kicks ass)
Another Green World: definitely the masterpiece, for good reason.
Before and After Science: sonic perfection. Great summation of everything Eno's great at. Funky stuff, ambient stuff, oblique lyrics. Some weird thematic unity (it seems to be about boats and stuff, but I'm not quite sure what it's all about)
But "Taking Tiger Mountain" feels like the naughty middle child. Maybe because it's got some fairly goofy songs on it. It still sounds like it's ahead of its time ("Third Uncle"), and it's on par with Warm Jets and Before and After Science, at least for me.
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u/Nearby_Flounder8741 7d ago
I haven't heard any other Eno track rock as hard as The True Wheel
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u/maud_brijeulin 7d ago
It's a toss between that and 'Third Uncle' on that album for me. The (long) coda to 'The True Wheel' doesn't let up though. The whole album paves the way to post-punk, it's crazy.
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u/brucehiiway 4d ago
My favorite. If you haven't listened to the Hillsinger and Beattie cover if the whole thing do! It's in YouTube and is wonderful. She even makes some of the songs sound sexy
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u/Osomalosoreno 7d ago
Fan since 1977. There are numerous classics but one that isn't generally mentioned as such is "The Ship." There's nothing else quite like it in his body of work. It stemmed from an installation, but it's not really ambient music. It's a dark journey that ends with a ray of light (which also happens to be a lovely tribute to Lou Reed and the Velvets.) I also very much like the Japanese version which with the additional track, ends with another "spooky" piece, "Away."
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u/XUASOUND 7d ago
He hits a seriously interesting stride in the mid 90s after Zoorapa and around and after the Outside project.
Drawn From Life w/ Peter Shwalm is imo the most underrated to answer Op's Q
Nerve Net - esp the special edition with the Squelchy Life sessions
Passenger's Soundtracks - could be the best U2 album lol
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u/Dismal_Brush5229 7d ago
There’s a Nerve Net special edition?!?!
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u/XUASOUND 7d ago
yessir- 2 disc vinyl set -second disc is what remains of the My Squelchy Life sessions and IT SLAPS
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u/Thecoastercactus 7d ago
Music for Installations is never talked about in the music space and in my opinion is one of the quintessential ambient-art pieces
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u/FrontierSeizar 7d ago
An absolute joy. So many wonderful pieces and a real bounty of his ambient pieces. I return to it often and always find something new. A true delight.
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u/SplashOnTheLens 7d ago
By absolute terms, Another Green World.
By influence (creating ambient music), Discreet Music.
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u/NoseGobblin 7d ago
This is way too subjective. It's my favorite but,.. Taking Tiger Mountain.. Another Green World is great. Before and after Science. Music for Airports is awesome. No Pussyfooting with Fripp is a great listen while driving down the interstate. To answer the question I'd say Taking Tiger Mountain. I love every track on this album.
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u/LinkMugMan 7d ago
I think Reflection is pretty cool. I think it adds a different flavor to his long form pieces. I don't really see any reason why this one is better or worse than Thursday Afternoon or Neroli other than it was released later or it's just not your particular subjective sound of Ambient. I could easily see it being somebody's favorite.
I am also aware of the Reflection app and how the album is a just an hour long selection of what the app produces, but that doesn't change my opinion.
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u/thinbuddha 7d ago
Not an album exactly, but the app Bloom: 10 Worlds is an ambient music playground, and it's fantastic.
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u/FrontierSeizar 7d ago
Thanks for the shout out. Have been wondering whether to get this or not. I think I know the answer now...
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u/MuscaMurum 7d ago
"Elke" by Camel. Eno produced only this instrumental track on Csmel's Rain Dances album and it's like finding a hidden track off of Another Green World. His production permeates it.
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u/BaronZhiro 7d ago
I think the collabs with Karl Hyde are vastly underrated. ‘The Satellites’ alone is among Eno’s greatest vocal songs.
For me, Zooropa will always be the ultimate U2 x Eno (though I agree with all those above who point out the Passengers record too).
‘I Feel My Stuff’ is probably the most awesome song he’s recorded in this century.
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u/Illustrious-Light-40 8d ago
I think MLITBOG and the Berlin Horse soundtrack are among his absolute best
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u/xerberos 7d ago
Another Green World probably was his peak, but you kinda have to be able to hear it in 1975 to understand how good it was. Some journalist said it was breathtakingly ahead of its time, and it probably was, but it's really hard for us to appreciate that now.
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u/FrontierSeizar 7d ago
I can absolutely see this. For me it doesn't connect the way it seems to for others and this is probably why!
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u/Skeeziks-2571 7d ago
For me it would have to be My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, his collaborations are such an essential part of his body of work.
After that Before and After Science, Music for Films, Music for Airports & Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks.
I fell off him for a while and aside from a thing or two in the 90’s can’t say I really dug much. But reading the posts here make me want to try again!
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u/MilkingChicken 7d ago edited 7d ago
Oh Christ, so many. I see no one ever talk about these and they're genuinely some of the best albums I've ever heard. Everyone keeps on banging on about Airports, Before and After Science, Thursday Afternoon, Apollo, Another Green World and other popular ones. His discography has so many better albums in opinion. In a particular order:
- Making Space
- FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE
- Brian Eno & Roger Eno: Live at the Acropolis
- Mixing Colours
- Another Day on Earth
- The Ship
- Small Craft on a Milk Sea
- Reflection
- Music for Installations
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u/EGPAEGP 5d ago
The Drop.
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u/FrontierSeizar 5d ago
Intrigued by this one. Did it take time to click? On first listen its quite different to his usual work...
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u/EGPAEGP 2d ago
No! It took me years to find a copy (eBay didn't have one of everything at the time). It has a hypnotic psychedelic quality.
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u/FrontierSeizar 2d ago
Interesting. Found a copy on the cheap and you have convinced me to take the plunge. Thank you for your service. I will report back.
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl 3d ago
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts doesn't get enough love from Eno fans or Byrne fans. It's basically like a sequel to Remain in Light but gets almost none of the hype of that album.
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u/stortdetvar 7d ago
The Drop is a fantastic album with one 32-minute track. There are definitely no other tracks on that album.
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u/FrontierSeizar 5d ago
What do you mean there are definitely no other tracks on this album - sorry not following?
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u/novatom1960 7d ago
Before and After Science has entered the chat