On a recent holiday in Cornwall, I stumbled across a wonderful second hand music shop in Falmouth, and emerged an hour later, much poorer.
Sounds OK - visit it if you can! This album was one of my purchases.
Pre-Ambient Eno passed me by at the time, probably due to my not really liking Roxy Music (or more precisely finding Bryan Ferry immensely annoying).
I've since heard a lot of Eno, and own quite a bit, but this is my first pre-Ambient purchase.
Sky Saw opens, a simple electronic tune, funked up by members of Brand X, with added viola from John Cale, while Over Fire Island continues the jazz-funk feel, with Eno's electrics enhancing. St Elmo's Fire is a lovely little song, then the laidback guitar/percussion of In Dark Trees, and the more synthy The Big Ship.
It's back to the traditional pop song (apart from Robert Fripp's "restrained lead guitar") on I'll Come Running, then the ambient title track, made famous as the theme to BBC2's Arena programme, leads off a run of short understated instrument pieces. Golden Hours is a pleasant, unremarkable song (with Eno, Fripp and Cale what's remarkable is that it's unremarkable!), then Becalmed, a gentle synth piece and Zawinul/Lava a minimal piano piece. Finally, Everything Merges With The Night, a gentle song, leading into a sombre ambient ending inSpirits Drifting.
There are some moments of true beauty on this album, as well as some gentle experimentation, but it's never a boring listen.
4* - a lovely mixture of ambience, experimentation and song
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