Ambient 1/Music For Airports

This is music. But it's background music. It's not meant to be listened to. (By Eno's own admission. It was literally written with the thought of having looping background music in airports and other similar spaces.) So it's inclusion on 1001 albums you've gotta hear really frustrates me. Since Eno pioneered ambient music with this album, thousands of other similar pieces of music have been made to serve as background music or meditation soundtracks. What makes this example special other than it being the first? It's not that I have a problem with this music (though I wouldn't choose to listen to it), but I have a bone to pick with its inclusion on this list.

This is the album that transformed ambient music from a concept that some artists used to toy with to a de facto music genre. Brian Eno's sensible minimalistic approach in those four compositions became a roadmap for ambient records in the late 1970s and it's still very much referentiated to this day. The piano improvisations stitched together, the vocal loops and the beautifully crafted synth sounds all come together to create an album that grows inside you like a very powerful feeling and leaves you calm, but also pensative. As a electronic music record, it also explored that dicotomy of a human-machine relationship, evoking the uniqueness of giant flying metal machines mixed with small helpless humans on the go. Altought the attempt to remove the tension of an airport terminal through music didn't really work on a practical level at the time, when it was used as an art instalation, airports enviroments changed a lot in the last 25 years and I'm curious to see how it would work like that again after all this time and in this world we currently live in. Nonetheless, it's a masterpice, an album that goes straight to the heart.

Awesomely beautiful. (And provided for a great bike ride.)

I have this one on quite frequently whilst I work - on that basis, it's absolutely the perfect accompaniment to some gentle cogitating. The title gives it away, even if Eno was being semi-ironic - it's functional music. And on that basis, a triumph

if Buddha found a synthesizer while ego tripping in a small town Midwestern Episcopal church

Yes please. So very pleasant and I believe wholly met Eno's goal of creating music equally interesting and ignorable.

I've always had a soft spot for this album.

Okay, I’m not going to lie, I actually really love this. It’s so calming and relaxing. Daughter liked it, too.

Don't really know what to say about this except that it does exactly what it tells you it's going to do and it does it very well. Great studying music and very relaxing

Music for (empty) elevators, deaf people, morgues, and trees falling in the woods when nobody can hear them.

Maan... lyssnade på denna medan jag gick ut och promenerade med katten och det mesta i livet kändes ganska kristallklart... banger

I could yoga so hard to this album. And outside of that environment, I’m not likely to listen to it again.

Already one of my favorite ambient albums. Really a genre defining album, and still very good at what it was designed to do.

Music for airports got me through a lot of grad school coding projects and has served me well when I’ve needed to call on it since. Good stuff, aptly named. I Stan Eno

Starts out as music for airports, becomes music for spaceships. Brian Eno, and more specifically his ambient albums, were a great comfort for me during a lot of recent stressful times in my life. Just to have something nice on in the background while working through some stuff. Just perfect.

PERFECT

As far as music for work - this is best album ever made.

4.5 stars. Beautiful, calming ambient music. Pretty impressive that this album was sorta the first of it's kind when it comes to this genre. Works equally well as background music while focusing on something else, or as interesting standalone art on it's own.

I listen to ambient almost everyday. So when I Review this differently than other albums. It's not about how catchy or how well it is composed it is, it's about the feeling you get from listening. I personally feel the tranquility of standing at an empty airport. The juxtaposition of imagining a usually busy place being empty often gives me an odd sense of calm. I understand why people don't enjoy it or don't know how to review an album that have very little change, it can seem boring and repetitive but that is kind of the point. I can feel how influential this album been in the development of ambient but i am skeptical on having it on this list. Still a pleasant experience.

The best background music. Does exactly what it says on the packaging

Ambient music is not my jam. I always prefer something with energy and drive. I expected this album to be a complete waste of my time. But... somehow... it's not. It's totally ignorable but also not offensively bland. It DOES have layers of interest. The engineering on this album is absolutely top-notch. Way beyond its time. I was actually kinda into the first track. The second track, however, completely lost me with its constantly ebbing and flowing generic human voices. It was creepy AF, to be honest. The third track redeems those vocals by using them as texture to a primarily piano-focused track. But it's only the first and fourth tracks that are listenable, in my opinion. It gets more stars than I anticipated giving it but it's still not a great listen overall.

I don't know. I'm not hearing a single. I'm not sure what this album wants from me, except for me to let it play on in the background. And on that note, it works perfectly. It is, absolutely, ambient.

Brian Eno was easily one of the most important people in music history. Not only was he at the forefront of Art Rock, Experimental Sound Design and even Drone but he also invented the actual genre of Ambient. This album was purely created because he was annoyed with the Airport music and *boom* Ambient!!! The album kickstarted a new way of approaching and looking at music and even though better Ambient albums have been created (even by Eno himself), the album is still packed with great ideas and beautiful moments as well as a Blueprint of any following Ambient projects. The album is made up of 4 tracks all titled after the number of the song and the number of the vinyl side. So, '1/1' starts the album with some great moments right off the bat. It combines Modern Classical Minimalism (which artists like Steve Reich were at the forefront of) and New Age and even Impressionism. Meaning that right at the start, the Ambient genre shows what it tries to give you: peaceful and even meditative melodies that are easy to listen too and put one into a state that is both soothing and ethereal. The track is mainly made up of simple and lovely Piano sounds as well as some synths. There isn't much more than a total of three instruments on the entire track. It is incredibly simple but it knows that and it doesn't push itself further than that. I guess that it's hard to really give a "score" or anything to a track like this because either it works for you at this moment or it doesn't but I personally love this track. Brian Eno was and is one of my biggest inspirations and a track like this just emphasizes that less can be more. The track does exactly what it wants to do and I am hypnotised by what it does: This is a perfect track. '2/1' keeps things going by adding a lot of Choral A Cappella from four vocalists including Eno himself and using that as an Ambient instrument by playing it from a tape in different ways. It does sound like it's just a few parts of a church Choral and I do like that sound on its own but this track repeats and all of that and often breaks the little bit of flow that it had. The only thing that I really enjoy here are the synths but to be honest they aren't really so prominent that it takes the fact away that the vocals are simply annoying after a while which is the least thing Ambient tries to do. It does get incredibly frustrating because it feels like the exact same thing over and over and over and yes, the first track also sounding like that but it did it better and not as obnoxious as this track. I am sorry but I genuinely think that this is a very, very unpleasent track and without a doubt one of Eno's worst songs ever put out on a major release. The second half of the album starts much better. '1/2' does feature very similar vocals but there is piano again and doesn't fully rely on the vocals. They are still very present but they are used much more sparingly and are broken up by the piano which often times does a much better job at keeping the track together than the synths did on '2/1'. I do think that after what happened on '2/1' that I am connected to these vocals a little more than I should be because they still feel a little bit annoying which does ruin the song a little bit for me. I think that it's still an incredible track but it's simply not perfect because of these vocals. The album is closed by '2/2' which is another complete change of sound because it goes much more into a genre that only later was put under the Ambient umbrella. It uses Electronic Space Ambient in the form of only synthesizers to create a similar Ambient atmosphere. It does still fall under the "normal" Ambient genre because it does set itself apart from other Space Ambient tracks and mostly the Progressive Electronic aspect but it does utilise a lot of the sounds that it first made popular. The track sounds like a dreamy sci-fi movie about astronouts and I absolutely love it. While I do think that '1/1' is overall better, this is still a perfect Ambient track and has some of the best moments on the album as well as closing it perfectly. favourites: 1/1, 2/2 least favourites: 2/1 Rating: strong 7 to light 8 https://rateyourmusic.com/~Emil_ph for more ratings, reviews and takes

What an odd thing...setting out to make music that's intentionally unremarkable and inventing a new genre in the process. The synth voice was probably pretty novel for the time, but I prefer the piano-based track. It has its place and could be a repeat listen. 4.0

Music for Zen! Delicate notes, I enjoyed everything about this album. And now it's on my Lounge folder 4/5

I didn't really notice it

The middle vocal loops are too New Age to me, while the opener and closer are gorgeous. Having got into ambient music through friends a couple of decades ago, coming to this for the first time is peculiar; I was expecting something even more abstract or perhaps sublime, and my initial thought was that this is almost too tuneful to be ambient. 1/1 and 2/2 earn the stars.

The absolute finest music to fall asleep to, which is meant as a compliment. 1/1 in particular is the peak of the ambient genre and could last forever with no complaints from me

An interesting album to be featured on this list. This album offers almost nothing, but is a very peaceful listen. I don't think anyone would actually listen to this without doing some other activity concurrently. Since it has the element of deliberately naming it self background music, I think the album does an incredible job at that.

I felt less anxious while listening to this in an airport. But then suddenly became enraged as I was trapped in a dystopia.

The most ronseal of albums, this sounds like ambient music for airports. Not something to be actively listened to, but nice and relaxing. I wouldn't be unhappy if this was playing in an airport or a spa. 5/5 for achievement of artistic intent. 3/5 for my enjoyment of the output. Rating: 3/5 Playlist track: 2/1 Date listened: 19/04/22

You're better off taking some Xanax if you're that nervous about flying. Suitable album title, as it sounds what it's like to be stuck in an airport. But who the hell wants to spend time in an airport? I'm also guessing airports could get a better deal from Muzak than they could from Brian Eno. In the interest of full disclosure, I put this on once to put me to sleep, and I'm pleased to report that it worked in that regard. The only reason this album is getting bumped up a notch from a 1 rating is because I really needed sleep that night, so much so that Spotify kept playing a shitload of songs after this Airport Album ended. The following is an incomplete list of artists played after "Music For Airports" ended. I have to assume these artists are all approved by TSA, Airport Group International, and any other group associated with airports: • Galaxie 500 • Goldmund • Julianna Barwick • Scott Walker • Television (!) • John Cale • Library Tapes (go figure) • Harold Budd • Stereolab • The Fall • Boards of Canada (should have been called BORED In Canada, amiright?)

Nah

Ambient? I guess Ambivalent? Absolutely! A whole lot of nothing.

There’s a reason I wear headphones in airports. Absolute garbage.

It's not exactly BAD, but I'm still giving it one star because why in the hell is this part of the list? What's next - an album of elevator music?

I wanted to like it because I've heard this album referenced before and I think it was kinda new or influential for it's time. Was painfully boring for me to listen to.

it's difficult to rate ambient music because I wouldn't vibe to this but maybe it would be nice for sleeping?? idk I've heard way better ambient sounds than this

Otra vez Brian Eno? Ideal para echarse una siesta, uf

This album has served as a little place of calm reflection and headspace, and I think much of the music I both listen to and make today can be routed back to Ambient 1/Music For Airports.

Baanbrekend, en mooi.

General impression: groundbreaking ambient that still holds up Detailed review: The fact that this album is seen as sort of an “origin” of ambient music may suggest that it’s rudimentary and has been surpassed. Not so. This is still one of the best albums in the genre and is honestly still the best gateway album for someone to get into ambient music. It’s hard to beat that beautiful and unparalleled piano motif in “1/1,” but the other three tracks differentiate themselves nicely. There’s comfort, there’s a little bit of eeriness, there’s piano, there are wordless vocals, there’s some cool synth work. It’s really all one needs for a nice ambient listen. Deeper thoughts (context): I said it above. This is like the Kind of Blue for ambient. Score: 5 Number of albums left to review: 952 Number of albums from the list I’d consider “must-listens”: 29 (including this one) Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 20

Gotta love someone that establishes a brand new genre of music. I enjoy having this on in the background while I am working. I know I have heard it in airports.

Well, what do you know… ANOTHER CLASSIC BRIAN ENO RECORD.

Nothing happens in this album and that's why its beautiful! There is so much emotion conveyed in the ambient spaces and sparse musical material of this wonderful recording that I will always be in the mood for.

Wow... I did not expect this! What a great album, and amazing that he more or less invented this genre! Love it.

Does what it does very effectively. Great album, this is what Brian Eno does best

Beautiful. Classic. Created a new genre

Remind me to add this album to my roster of things I can do to mediate anxiety.

If you listen to this backwards, it fucking rocks.

I’ve been getting more into ambient music this past year or so and loving it. It makes for great background music while I’m writing. This album is one I discovered earlier this year and put into rotation. It’s also a great album to end the night with. I’ve sat out on my porch late at night listening to this. It’s really tranquil music. The piano melody on “1/1” is particularly gorgeous. And on “1/2” as well. I also love the synths on “2/2” that sound like sad, muted horns. Beautiful music and all the more impressive knowing that it was one of the pioneering works of ambient music.

Ahead of it's time.

Ambient perfection by the patron saint of Ambient. I couldn’t love it more.

Has taken me years to wrest this back from it's pigeonhole of 'music we put on constantly 13 years ago in desperate bids to get the baby to sleep.' Same as Satie's Gymnopedies. Perhaps it's the familiarity of those liminal evenings between sleep and waking that this music brings to me, that makes it so easy to just drift off inwardly when this music is played. Particularly 1/1 and 2/2. I could not disagree more strongly with the idea that this is background music. It's music to get lost in, swim around in, go on journeys inside your own head. I sometimes wonder if people who don't appear to appreciate that aspect to this music simply aren't that introspective. That might be harsh but if it's true it's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm sometimes jealous of that as it probably provides a much tougher exterior to the world around you, bad things must simply bounce off your psyche without you noticing. But on the other hand, yes, you can drift in and out of it and use it as a backdrop to get into a flow state while working. So it's simultaneously absolutely not background music and definitely is background music.

Ambient gold

Felt more like a day at the spa than a day at the airport. Very relaxing.

I pressed play and within 30 seconds realized I have heard the opening track somewhere before… fairly recently… I think it was maybe an art installation - perhaps even at an airport. There’s something strangely interesting about this album. I played it driving in rush hour traffic and I’m sure it lowered my blood pressure as it put me in a space to just sit back and be. I think I love this album and will definitely keep it at hand for the upcoming election season.

Love the ambient vibes

I have listened to this album probably 100 times. The unofficial soundtrack to my doctorate. I always get the opening of 1/1 and Gymnopedie No 1. Mixed up in my head. This album is my personality.

Fell asleep at work listening to this, accidentally caught myself on fire

Ground Zero for Ambient Genre. Eno created a whole new thing.

I played a game of League and was very tilted. Then I put on this album. Tilt is no longer a word in my vocabulary. Such an incredibly peaceful album. There's not much to it, it's just a synthesizer and piano. Reading up on it, Eno wanted to make an album that diffused the stress felt in airports? Yeah, good job dude, you friggin nailed it.

The master of his craft. Old soar puss himself.

I remember this album from years ago - loved it then and still do

It was a very chill album

Beautiful ambient music, great for relaxing or meditation. Allegedly the first of its kind so it gets a 5 for that landmark.

This is exceptionally comforting while trying to work from home with a terrible head cold. I usually rage against electronic music and tracks with interminable lengths but somehow this is perfect. The ambient nature feels like I'm in a spa getting a massage and lightly floating between the awake/asleep consciousness. Lovely.

One of my favorites.

Very chilled out, practically sent me into a coma

5/5. Beautiful. Transcendent. A perfect relaxing album full of patience and quietness, it allows the listener to reflect and truly listen or ignore completely and let it follow your mindset, coming along with you on the internal journey. It's similar notes and patterns yet feel distant and with additional notes here and there, it never gets old or boring. A must-listen experience in the dark or laying down, or even with loud sounds elsewhere, it adds to what whatever atmosphere you find yourself in. Best Song: The Whole Album

I listen to this regularly, and just listened to it over this past weekend. This is an easy 5 bagger here.

I listen to this album and all of Eno's ambient music regularly. I really connect with the concept - of having some "music" in the background almost all the time, and I like to play these albums in my house when people are over for a casual atmosphere or when I'm cooking or cleaning sometimes. Eno helped create an entire genre that is growing even more today due to the way it connects people to another mental state.

Actually really Ambient music for airports. Also useful as Ambient music with crying Kids.

I’ve studied with this on in the background multiple times, and I loved it every time.

Before I listened to this album, I told my group that I wasn't gonna be listening to this album. Which is to say, I wasn't going to afford it the same level of attention I've given every other album on this list. It's ambient music, after all; it's not meant to be listened to in the same way you would other genres. And that's not a knock against the stuff, of course. That's just, bluntly, how it is by design. And I understand, for that reason, the frustration some have about the inclusion of an album like this on a list like this. Ambient music, to most ears, is essentially wallpaper. You put that next to ABBEY ROAD and THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON and TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY, and how does it even stack up? How does it even compare? For me, yeah, I kept my word. I didn't really listen to the album; it just kind of floated in and out of my attention as I did other things. But whenever I did catch it... Damn, it's some transcendental shit. Just, these vast, open, beautiful soundscapes. Heaven stretches before your ears. There's not much there melodically, true. If you're looking for it, I get the disappointment. But just for how it evokes for me a sense of safety and calm... Damn. A++ tape loops.

I mean, in terms of doing exactly what it’s supposed to do, I’d say it gets a 5 as an ambient album. In terms of the music itself… it’s like a 3.5, maybe, but the point of the album is almost certainly not to critique the actual composition – sure, there are layers to the music, intentional production decisions, and a general melody loop each track follows, but that’s not the stuff to focus on. It’s just about getting lost in the soundscape and going for it. Obviously, it would be dumb to go, “oh, it’s a 5, that means it’s as good as Illmatic or something” because it’s obviously not, but like… what else am I supposed to rate it, you know? The only knock I have is that 2/1 was probably the most “distracting” of the tracks, but it’s like complaining that a bird is chirping while it’s sunny outside. It happens. Seriously, I think I’m gonna go with a 5 in terms of keeping me focused, steady, and relaxed for its entire 48 minute runtime. If I had to go out of 10, it’s almost certainly like a 7/10 or something, but that’s just because it’s clearly not at the highest of high levels or anything. What a strange album to include in the 1,001 set, but like… I’m glad it came up, because now I have new focus/study music to add to my collection. Pretty good.

saying this album is bad is just plane stupid

This album is functionally good for a lot of things, but let me ask, have you ever listened to this in an actual airport? Crank this thing up on headphones, get to the airport early for your flight, dad-style, and move slowly through the airport. Stand on the moving sidewalks, speak to no one, take everything in around you while you let this 4 track collection rip. What results is a very calming, cinematic experience. The title is not just Eno being cheeky, this is extremely well designed music for the headspace you’re in just before travel, in the purgatory of society where nobody is exactly living their ideal life. For better or worse, we’re waiting at the gates of a complete reset of our circumstances, and Eno is there to give us some simultaneous reflection and peace of mind about that. The concept came to him in an actual airport, anxious before his own travel, which was not exactly eased by the top 40 coming out of the universal speakers. It was a new, beautifully designed airport, however, and why shouldn’t every sensory experience about it be as meticulously designed? This is, in part, why I feel ambient music today seems to be having another moment. It’s music architecturally designed for the optimum headspace for a variety of states. It’s a functional tool in your toolbox for being present in oneself, for reflection on the impact of the past, all in the service of an optimal future. Maybe more calm, reflection, and stillness is what the world needs more of in recent years, whereever it is we’re headed.

This is The Benchmark for ambient albums. I have probably listened to it thousands of times going to sleep at night over the past 30 years of my life.

Love the idea of this. Album definitely does what it sets out to do. The last movement is the most evocative of ‘airport’

5 stars. a favourite.

An album I've been meaning to listen to for years and it didn't disappoint

A chef's kiss of ambient bliss

Just went home and got this album for today! Very fitting cause I was gonna study for my exams and this will 100% help!

This album introduced me to ambient and it's a banger

Amazing!!

I can’t really add much to Tom’s review. I think it might have been you that introduced it to me and I love it for the same reasons you do. It’s almost more of a well-being tool than a record, but it’s precisely the fact that it has musical value that lifts it above the kind of ambient pap you hear in any spa or masseuse’s office. It’s genuinely moving and hugely influential. The simple repetitive melodic figures are wonderful, but the beds he creates underneath them are amazing, there’s always a bass note drone or harmony note swell coming in or out, but it never feels cluttered and the mix is perfect. Doing this with the technology of the time is so impressive. You can tell how influential it’s been too - I imagine every member of Radiohead, Kate Bush, Daniel Lanois and Peter Gabriel have well worn copies. People go on about the healing power of music, but this is one of the few albums I could point to as evidence of it.

Ambient 1: Music For Airports I love this album and after giving Another Green World 4 I can’t not give this 5. I listen to it a lot, sometimes when I’m working, sometimes commuting or driving. The beauty of it for me is that I find it genuinely calming, and it works as background music or something I actively listen to. It’s slow and without distinctive melodies or structures, but it never feels slight or pointless. The more you listen the more you hear and connect and the better it gets. Of the four tracks 1/1 has the closest thing to a recognisable melody, and I really think it is a beautiful piece of music. The piano is obviously very Satie influenced, but for such a simple arrangement of just synthesiser and pianos it does an incredible job of evoking a mood and a feeling, while musically holding your attention. I like how 1/2 pulls together the piano elements from 1/1 and the vocal elements of 2/1 to create a kind of denouement or crescendo to the first two tracks before 2/2 is a kind of end credits piece, taking what’s come before and transposing the previous ideas and themes into synthesised horns. I really do adore this album, it gets better each time I listen and it genuinely has a physical and emotional effect on me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Best ambient. Listen to it all the time.

If this played at actual airports air travel would be much less stressful.

I've grown into this album (and ambient music in general) in my middle age in a big way. Gorgeous.

The OG of ambience. I aspire to be this good.

Maat. Hoe dit ooit in de top 1001 is gekomen is me een raadsel. Maar dit is top. 5 sterren all the way.

Another great Brian Eno album - my favourite of all his ambient work.. Perfect for background music while working, but also great for listening to when you want to relax.

This one's a real banger. I've listened to this album a lot. I find this type of music helps me focus and stay calm. Mellow. One of my favorite ambient albums.

This is exactly what I needed today. And possibly every day. Fantastic job, album generator! A true gift. As the origin story of ambient music, this album clearly deserves inclusion on this list.

Once when to the Amsterdam Schiphol airport where this was played live, as it was meant to be! Music composed in a way it fits the airport sounds, "Mr Smith", last call for the flight to Athens" and it worked. Am into minimal music, and he is a pioneer as he is also in the popular music world: Roxy Music, producer of Talking Heads and U2, his African album with David Byrne. Full marks of course

Erinnert sehr an Arvo Part.

As someone who likes ambient music, it's nice to come back to where it all began. This isn't a terribly interesting insight but like Velvet Underground, it's revolutionary in its approach, but to a completely different end.

my mood is vastly improved from what it was before i clicked play