Music for 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 (see Credits).

Release

Originally released as a limited-edition (five hundred copies) 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, "Sparrowfall (1)" in John Woo's A Better Tomorrow, "Slow Water" in Derek Jarman's Jubilee, "Final Sunset" in Jarman's Sebastiane and Jim McBride's Breathless, and "M386" and "Alternative 3" appear in Rock 'n' Roll High School. "Alternative 3" appeared in Herbert Vesely's Egon Schiele: Excess and Punishment (1981), and was also used as the theme tune for the television programme Alternative 3. Two further Film albums were released: More Music for Films, in 1983 and Music for Films, Volume 3 in 1988.

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.

1. "M386"
2. "Aragon"
3. "From the Same Hill"
4. "Inland Sea"
5. "Two Rapid Formations"
6. "Slow Water"
7. "Sparrowfall (1)"
8. "Sparrowfall (2)"
9. "Sparrowfall (3)"
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"

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 (1)"
10. "Sparrowfall (2)"
11. "Sparrowfall (3)"
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"

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)"  – 1:10
10. "Sparrowfall (2)"  – 1:43
11. "Sparrowfall (3)"  – 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" (Eno, Percy Jones) – 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" (Eno, Fred Frith) – 2:09
24. Performed by: Eno, Fred Frith, Rhett Davies
25. "Final Sunset"  – 4:13

Personnel