| Ambient 1: Music for Airports | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 1978 | |||
| Recorded | 1978 | |||
| Studio | London and Cologne | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 42:20 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | Brian Eno | |||
| Brian Eno chronology | ||||
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Ambient 1: Music for Airports is the sixth studio album by English musician Brian Eno, released in March 1978 by Polydor Records. It is the first of Eno's albums released under the label of ambient music, a genre of music intended to "induce calm and a space to think" while remaining "as ignorable as it is interesting".[1][2] While not Eno's earliest entry in the style, it is credited with coining the term.
The album consists of four compositions created by layering tape loops of differing lengths, and was designed to be continuously looped as a sound installation, with the intent of defusing the anxious atmosphere of an airport terminal. Eno defined his approach in opposition to "canned" Muzak and easy listening practices. The album was the first of four albums released in Eno's Ambient series, which concluded with 1981's Ambient 4: On Land.
In 2004, Rolling Stone credited the album with defining the ambient genre.[3] In 2016, Pitchfork ranked it the greatest ambient album of all time.[4]
- ^ Eno, Brian (1978). Ambient 1: Music for Airports (liner notes). Brian Eno. PVC Records. PVC 7908 (AMB 001). Retrieved 23 October 2020.
- ^ LeBlanc, Larry (2018). "In the Hot Seat with Larry LeBlanc: Brian Eno, musician, artist, producer, thinker". Celebrity Access.
- ^ Considine 2004, p. 279.
- ^ Sherburne, Phillip. "The 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time". Pitchfork. Retrieved 30 May 2022.