Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks - Definition and Overview

Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks (1983) is an album by the British ambient musician Brian Eno. It is played by Brian Eno, his brother Roger and Daniel Lanois.

This music was originally recorded in 1983 for a documentary called For All Mankind. This film’s release was delayed until 1989. By that time several tracks on this album were omitted from the soundtrack and replaced by other pieces by Eno and other artists. The tracks from this album which remained on the film are “Always Returning”, “Drift”, “Silver Morning”, “Stars”, “Under Stars”, “The Secret Place” and “An Ending (Ascent)”.

In the liner notes, Eno relates that when he watched the Apollo 11 landing in 1969 he felt that the strangeness of that event was compromised by the low quality of the television transmission and an excess of journalistic discussion. For All Mankind was originally intended as a non-narrative collection of NASA stock footage from the Apollo program. The non-narrative version with the Eno soundtrack was released on video in 1990 by the National Geographic Society. An alternate version was also released by NASA featuring audio interviews but omitting the Brian Eno soundtrack.

The album contains a variety of styles. “Under Stars”, “The Secret Place”, “Matta”, “Under Stars II” and “Stars” are all dark, complicated textures similar to those on Eno’s previous album Ambient 4/On Land. “Signals”, “An Ending (Ascent)” and “Drift” are smoother electronic pieces. “Silver Morning”, “Deep Blue Day”, “Weightless” and “Always Returning” are country and western inspired ambient pieces featuring Daniel Lanois on guitar.

“Under Stars” is a recurring theme in the album, first appearing as an ambient electronic bed behind a treated guitar. “Under Stars II” is the same composition, but with different effects and treatments. “Stars” is the pure background texture without the guitar.

“An Ending (Ascent)” is the most well known piece from this album. It has been used for a variety of purposes, including the soundtracks of the films Traffic (2000) and 28 Days Later (2002).

Track listing

1. ”Under Stars” (Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois) - 4:25
2. ”The Secret Place” (Daniel Lanois arr Brian Eno) - 3:27
3. ”Matta” (Brian Eno) - 4:14
4. ”Signals” (Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois) - 2:44
5. ”An Ending (Ascent)” (Brian Eno) - 4:18
6. ”Under Stars II” (Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois) - 3:15
7. ”Drift” (Roger Eno, Brian Eno) - 3:03
8. ”Silver Morning” (Daniel Lanois) - 2:35
9. ”Deep Blue Day” (Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Roger Eno) - 3:53
10. ”Weightless” (Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Roger Eno) - 4:28
11. ”Always Returning” (Brian Eno, Roger Eno) - 3:49
12. ”Stars” (Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois) - 7:57

See also

• Brian Eno
• Roger Eno
• Daniel Lanois
• Ambient music
• Electronic music