Music for Films


Music for Films is the seventh solo studio album by British musician Brian Eno. It is a conceptual work intended as a soundtrack for imaginary films, although many of the pieces had already appeared in actual films.

Content

The album is a loose compilation of material from the period 1975 to 1978, composed of short tracks ranging from one-and-a-half minutes to just over four, making it the antithesis of the long, sprawling, ambient pieces he later became known for. The compositional styles and equipment used also carried over onto Eno's work on some of David Bowie's 1977 album Low.
Unlike Eno's later ambient works, Music for Films utilises a broader sonic palette, with Eno's synthesizers and "found sounds" being supplemented by standard studio instrumentation played by other musicians.

Release

Originally released as a limited-edition LP in 1976 which was sent to a selection of filmmakers for possible inclusion in their work, the commercial Music for Films release was expanded to include a number of pieces for, as Eno put it, "possible use as soundtracks to 'imaginary' films". In fact, excerpts from the album did appear in at least six films and one TV series:
Film/seriesYearProducerTrack
Sebastiane1976Derek Jarman"Final Sunset"
Alternative 31977"Alternative 3"
Jubilee1977Derek Jarman"Slow Water"
Rock 'n' Roll High School1979Michael Finnell"M386" and "Alternative 3"
Egon Schiele: Excess and Punishment1981Herbert Vesely"Alternative 3"
Remembrance1982Colin Gregg"Aragon"
A Better Tomorrow1986John Woo"Sparrowfall "

Three further Film albums were released: Music for Films Volume 2 in 1983, Music for Films III in 1988, and More Music for Films in 2005, which combined tracks from the box set LP along with tracks from the original 1976 limited edition release.

Different versions

The album has manifested in several forms, featuring different track-listings and track-times.
"Dark Waters" appears on other records as "Slow Water".

Track listing

All songs composed by Brian Eno, except where noted.
; 1978 version
  1. "M386"
  2. "Aragon"
  3. "From the Same Hill"
  4. "Inland Sea"
  5. "Two Rapid Formations"
  6. "Slow Water"
  7. "Sparrowfall "
  8. "Sparrowfall "
  9. "Sparrowfall "
  10. "Quartz"
  11. "Events in Dense Fog"
  12. "There Is Nobody"
  13. "A Measured Room"
  14. "Patrolling Wire Borders"
  15. "Task Force"
  16. "Alternative 3"
  17. "Strange Light"
  18. "Final Sunset"
; Limited-edition 1976 promo issue
  1. "Becalmed"
  2. "Deep Waters"
  3. "'There Is Nobody'"
  4. "Spain"
  5. "Untitled"
  6. "The Last Door"
  7. "Chemin De Fer"
  8. "Dark Waters"
  9. "Sparrowfall "
  10. "Sparrowfall "
  11. "Sparrowfall "
  12. "Evening Star"
  13. "Another Green World"
  14. "In Dark Trees"
  15. "Fuseli"
  16. "Melancholy Waltz"
  17. "Northern Lights"
  18. "From The Coast"
  19. "Shell"
  20. "Little Fishes"
  21. "Empty Landscape"
  22. "Reactor"
  23. "The Secret"
  24. "Don't Look Back"
  25. "Marseilles"
  26. "Final Sunset"
  27. "Juliet"
; Editions EG reissue
  1. "Aragon" – 1:37
  2. *Performed by: Eno, Percy Jones, Phil Collins, Paul Rudolph
  3. "From the Same Hill" – 3:00
  4. "Inland Sea" – 1:24
  5. "Two Rapid Formations" – 3:23
  6. *Performed by: Eno, Bill MacCormick, Dave Mattacks, Fred Frith
  7. "Slow Water" – 3:16
  8. *Performed by: Eno, Robert Fripp
  9. "Sparrowfall " – 1:10
  10. "Sparrowfall " – 1:43
  11. "Sparrowfall " – 1:23
  12. "Alternative 3" – 3:15
  13. "Quartz" – 2:02
  14. "Events in Dense Fog" – 3:43
  15. "There Is Nobody" – 1:43
  16. "Patrolling Wire Borders" – 1:42
  17. *Performed by: Eno, Paul Rudolph, Phil Collins, John Cale, Rod Melvin
  18. "A Measured Room" – 1:05
  19. *Performed by: Eno, Percy Jones
  20. "Task Force" – 1:22
  21. "M386" – 2:50
  22. *Performed by: Eno, Percy Jones, Phil Collins, Paul Rudolph
  23. "Strange Light" – 2:09
  24. *Performed by: Eno, Fred Frith, Rhett Davies
  25. "Final Sunset" – 4:13

    Personnel

CountryRelease DateLabelMediaCat No.Notes
UK1976EG RecordsLPEGM 1Promo – 500 copies
UK/France/AusSep 1978PolydorLP/Cass2310 623
USSep 1978AntillesLPAN-7070
W.Germany1978PolydorLP2344 123
UK1978Editions EGLPEGED 05
US1978Editions EGLP/CassEGS/EGSC 105"New" track order
Europe1987EMICD787189
USNov 1987Editions EGCD/CassEEGCD/EGEDC-5
2005Virgin/AstralwerksCD7243 5 63646 2 2

Chart performance