Design As Reduction: Brian Eno’s Soundtrack Work Anthologized On “Film Music 1976-2020”
Brian Eno and UMe have recently announced the release of Film Music 1976-2020 . This first-ever compilation of Eno’s film and television soundtrack work brings together highlights from five decades of music, including seven tracks previously unreleased in an audio-only format . Digital configurations will be released on November 13 while CD and 2-LP editions are set to arrive on January 22, 2021.
Multi-instrumentalist and composer Eno has long been associated with film music, starting in 1970 when he provided the soundtrack to Malcolm La Grice’s experimental short, Berlin Horse. Moving pictures inspired Eno’s 1978 solo album Music For Films, a collection of recordings from 1975-1978 that functioned more as a concept album rather than a literal soundtrack. While many of the album tracks would go on to feature in movies for decades to come, only the album’s closer, “Final Sunset,” had actually been prepared for a film. The inclusion of “Final Sunset” in Derek Jarman’s Sebastiane in 1976 sparked a collaboration that would endure until the filmmaker’s death, represented here with “Dover Beach” from Jubilee (1978).
By the ’80s, Eno’s work would be found in many major films. On this collection you’ll hear songs from David Lynch’s Dune (“Prophecy Theme”), Michael Mann’s Heat (“Under”), NS Jonathan Demme’s Married To The Mob (“You Don’t Miss Your Water,” a William Bell cover.)
In 1995, Eno and U2 recorded a new collaborative concept album under the name Passengers called Original Soundtracks 1. Similar to Music For Films, the group prepared tracks for imaginary soundtracks and paired them with four songs that had already been used in films ahead of the album’s release: “Beach Sequence” and “Your Blue Room” in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Beyond the Clouds, “Miss Sarajevo” in an eponymous documentary about a beauty pageant held in the midst of besieged ’93 Sarajevo, and “One Minute Warning” in Mamoru Oshii’s Japanese animation classic Ghost in the Shell. “Beach Sequence” can be found on the new collection.
“An Ending (Ascent)” and “Deep Blue Day” are taken from Apollo: Atmosphere & Soundtracks, a collaboration between Brian Eno, his brother Roger, and producer/multi-instrumentalist Daniel Lanois. Though first prepared for Al Reinert’s For All Mankind, “An Ending (Ascent)” has gone on to underscore scenes in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, and Miguel Arteta’s Beatriz at Dinner, while “Deep Blue Day” found its way into an iconic scene in Trainspotting.
The prolific Eno has also provided complete scores for a number of other films including Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones and more recently, Henrique Goldman’s atmospheric Brazilian serial killer biopic, O Nome da Morte a.k.a. A Man Called Death; Slavoj Žižek’s mind-boggling documentary The Pervert’s Guide To Cinema; Gary Hustwit’s spotlight on pioneering industrial designer Dieters Rams, Rams; and a documentary film on longtime friend and associate Stewart Brand, We Are As Gods. The latter is scheduled to have its public premiere in early 2021. His work also extends into television, including the U.K. series Top Boy for which he received a BAFTA Award.
Fifty years on, Brian Eno’s ties to film remain strong. Film Music 1976-2020 provides a concise look at some of his most beloved scores along with overlooked and unreleased material. You can pre-order your copy from the Amazon links below and keep scrolling to peruse the full track listing!
Brian Eno, Film Music 1976-2020 (UMe, 2020/2021)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2-LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
- “Top Boy (Theme)” from Top Boy – Series 1, directed by Yann Demange, 2011
- “Ship In A Bottle” from The Lovely Bones, directed by Peter Jackson, 2009
- “Blood Red” from Francis Bacon’s Arena, directed by Adam Low, 2005
- “Under” from Cool World, directed by Ralph Bakshi, 1992
- “Decline And Fall” from O Nome da Morte, directed by Henrique Goldman, 2017
- “Prophecy Theme” from Dune, directed by David Lynch, 1984
- “Reasonable Question” from We Are As Gods, directed by David Alvarado / Jason Sussberg, 2020
- “Late Evening In Jersey” from Heat, directed by Michael Mann, 1995
- “Beach Sequence” from Beyond The Clouds, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, 1995
- “You Don’t Miss Your Water” from Married to the Mob, directed by Jonathan Demme, 1988
- “Deep Blue Day” from Trainspotting, directed by Danny Boyle, 1996
- “The Sombre” from Top Boy – Series 2, directed by Jonathan van Tulleken, 2013
- “Dover Beach” from Jubilee, directed by Derek Jarman, 1978
- “Design as Reduction” from Rams, directed by Gary Hustwit, 2018
- “Undersea Steps” from Hammerhead, directed by George Chan, 2004
- “Final Sunset” from Sebastiane, directed by Derek Jarman, 1976
- “An Ending (Ascent)” from For All Mankind, directed by Al Reinert, 1989
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Surprised that that “Force Marker” didn’t make the cut
(de Niro’s entrance to the bank branch in Michael Mann’s ‘Heat’)