Track Listing

1. United Colours
2. Slug
3. Your Blue Room
4. Always Forever Now
5. A Different Kind Of Blue
6. Beach Sequence
7. Miss Sarajevo - Passengers, Luciano Pavarotti
8. Ito Okashi - Passengers, Holi
9. One Minute Warning
10. Corpse
11. Elvis Ate America - Passengers, Howie B.
12. Plot 180
13. Theme From The Swan
14. Theme From Let's Go Native

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19720 in Music
• Released on: 2005-05-30
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Dimensions: .21 pounds
• Running time: 58 minutes

CD Description
Following their post-modern vibe further into Brian Eno's futuristic sound-space, U2 have now floated so far out of their customary atmosphere they've even abandoned their moniker. And with good reason. ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS 1, a loose collection of compositions written for films which may or may not exist, resembles a U2 album in only the vaguest of ways--it is basically a Brian Eno concoction, with Ireland's finestcontributing not much more than their distinctive instrumental feel and Bono's new-found subtlety around a vocal mic. Yet these characteristics are enough to identify the participants, and to raise Passengers above the standard electronic/ambient din that has taken over clubland in the 1990s.
ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS 1 is not strictly an experimental excursion. While much of the album follows the atmospheric norm of Eno's own Soundtracks series (after which this project was named), there are a number of traditional "songs" interspersed between the synthetic canvases, and most of these are softer extensions on the ZOOROPA aesthetic. "Slug" finds Bono whispering wishes over tension-filled keyboard washes and layers of rhythm. "Your Blue Room", a relaxed kin to "One" and "The Unforgettable Fire", is U2 playing Tindersticks--full ofmenacing organ, faint, Duane Eddy-like guitar, and starringLarry Mullen, Jr. as a Euro Funky Drummer. Finest among these surreal moves is "Miss Sarajevo", which uses Luciano Pavarotti's tenor as a voice of empowered grief in the melancholy story of a war-torn beauty contest.
When ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS 1 moves outward, it flies in the direction of the nearest rave--adding world-wide rhythms to Eno's ambient soundscapes, to form a compass of emotions. "United Colours" is a straight-up techno track with passing samples of scratched records, fly-by vehicles and looped voices. "One Minute Warning" is an eerie alarm, complete with African and electronic beats, a machine-gun ticker-tape pulse, and an incomprehensible Eno-led choir seemingly ushering in the apocalypse. The album ends with a mixture of the two explored worlds: "ThemeFrom Let's Go Native" is a bit of tribal rockisms, led by astray dub bassline and Edge's simple chords. As Bono repeats a wordless vocal phrase and the band gains a forceful rhythmic confidence around him, it becomes obvious that what started out as foreign turf for these Passengers, has become a musical home away from home.

Customer Reviews

ladies and gentlemen they are floating on space
right after the experimental period of "zooropa" (u2 on the moon, according to the edge) that followed the succesfull "achtung baby", U2 owed brian eno a favor. like david byrne with "my life on the valley of ghost", they left the safety of pop to adventure on the eno-dimension, outer space as you are suggested from the painting on the cover. the results couldn t be better, a soundtrack for art films, with the collaborations of luciano pavarotti (out of place on miss sarajevo) and howie B (elvis ate america), that apart from 4 of the films, only exist for the mere reason of musical landscaping. great job by the edge on hipnotic guitar . highly enjoyable, a must for u2 or brian eno fans.

DIFFERENT, BUT GOOD
its so important to constantly remember that this is NOT U2. its more Brian Eno's influence that anyone else. Bono once said that is an after midnight kind of record, and it is. its relaxing to listen to, but might not be to everyones taste. but I really love it, even if Bono, Adam, Edge and Larry arent so sure.

Ambient, atmospheric stuff
In case you don't want to plough through a 1000 word review by Amazon's #1 reviewer (below), I'll keep this brief:

This is a fine collection of ambient, largely instrumental tracks by that fine collective known as "U2". VERY different to their commercial song-based albums, this is a Brian Enoesque soundtrack to a film never made. Having said that, some of the tracks HAVE since featured in films (most notably for me, "Always Forever Now" features in the soundtrack to the Michael Mann film "Heat").

Stand-out track must be "Miss Sarajevo", featuring Luciano Pavarotti - truly beautiful. This is a quality "chill out" album, ideal for those moods where you just sit and relax.