Eno, Brian: Another Green World (Vinyl LP)

The much-loved title sequence of the BBC’s Arena arts documentaries brilliantly sets the tone for what is about to follow. You know you’re going to be treated to something alluring, out of the ordinary and mentally stimulating – thanks, in no small part, to the accompanying music: a simple, circular theme of disproportionate beauty and an indefinable longing. The theme in question is the title track of Brian Eno’s third solo album, Another Green World, originally issued on Island Records in September 1975.

Hindsight affords us the luxury of noting that this was another transitory undertaking, with Eno edging towards the ambient soundscapes that would characterize his output from 1978’s Music For Films onwards. However, while Another Green World splits its focus between winningly elliptical pop songs and minimalistic instrumental pieces, it still benefits from an inner logic. Of significance is the album’s overall musicality: while still reveling in unexpected textures, and deploying the routine-derailing Oblique Strategies cards first used during the recording of his second solo album, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), Eno nevertheless seemed to welcome aspects of melodic orthodoxy as long as they could be relocated to a different neighborhood.

While the input of his guest musicians bears fruit, it is Eno himself who impresses the most. Armed with synths, piano, and guitars, and tackling the majority of the album’s discreetly pictorial instrumentals on his own – “In Dark Trees,” “The Big Ship,” the title track, “Sombre Reptiles,” “Little Fishes,” “Becalmed,” and “Spirits Drifting” – he displays a remarkable ability to make a limited technique convey a wealth of emotions and deeper meaning. These stately fragments, simultaneously sad, proud, and disquieting, are in their way the boldest statement of intent that 1975 had to offer.

1. Sky Saw
2. Over Fire Island
3. St. Elmo's Fire
4. In Dark Trees
5. The Big Ship
6. I'll Come Running
7. Another Green World
8. Sombre Reptiles
9. Little Fishes
10. Golden Hours
11. Becalmed
12. Zawinul/Lava
13. Everything Merges With The Night
14. Spirits Drifting