Track Listing

1. Under Stars
2. The Secret Place
3. Matta
4. Signals
5. An Ending (Ascent)
6. Under Stars II
7. Drift
8. Silver Morning
9. Deep Blue Day
10. Weightless
11. Always Returning
12. Stars

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42281 in Music
• Released on: 2005-03-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 49 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
If you ever wondered what ambient music is all about, you could do worse than listen to the soundtrack by Brian Eno that accompanied the stunning visuals of NASA's Apollo missions to the moon. Created with an intoxicating mixture of acoustic and electronic, the music makes the now-classic space travel images more magical and memorable, introducing a dreamlike element to scenes of cold reality. "An Ending (Ascent)" is about as close to an actual tune as you'll get, but, as with every track, it is a shining example of what ambient music reveals about itself--slowly and carefully. --Paul Clark

CD Description
An invitation to score Al Reinert's film of the Apollo Mission's lunar landing provided Eno with the "opportunity to explore the feelings of space travel". APOLLO is "one small stepa" for Eno, here working both within and beyond the conceptual confines of his Ambient series. The disc's dozen gorgeous, evocative miniatures see Eno's first collaborative work with producer/guitarist Daniel Lanois--a collaborator who would prove central to many of Eno's subsequent projects--and with his own brother, pianist Roger Eno.
APOLLO contains some of Eno's most carefully crafted melodies, wrought impressionistically in limpid, quicksilver synth and gilded with Lanois's liquid guitar lines. "Matta" and "Under Stars II" imagine the wonders of weightlessness and zero-gravity drift.Lanois's "Silver Morning" views the dawn's smoldering glow from above, while the golden rays of "Deep Blue Day" strain to break at the planet's horizon. "An Ending (Ascent)" watches tearfully from the heavens as a tiny blue Earth falls away into the cradling arms of space; "Always Returning" welcomes the sight of terra firma's green expanses; and the twinkling "Stars" casts its eyes heavenward with a new sense of respect and homesick longing. An ambient masterpiece.

Customer Reviews

An ambient masterpiece
In some ways, Apollo reminds me of the soundtrack to ‘2001’. They’re certainly not similar in musical style, but what brings them together is their dense and pervasive atmosphere. They both exude an astonishing range of moods – fear, triumph, beauty, mystery – all coming from the dark recesses of the universe but ending up resonating deep inside a personal inner space.

Whereas Stanley Kubrick used existing music to such perfection to accompany the free and fictional exploration of Jupiter and beyond in ‘2001’, so Brian Eno crafted a haunting and beautiful space odyssey of his own to accompany the film of the NASA lunar missions.

The eclectic, electronic mix acts as a kind of aural planetarium, taking us on a cosmic tour where harmonious melodies sit next to tuneless soundscapes. Tracks such as The Secret Place and Matta show us deep, dark and menacing outer space, eerie and disturbing, where low rumbles are interspersed with industrial-like noises and wild animalistic sounds. The moon here is less a friendly and comforting neighbour and more an alien and inhospitable cold lump of rock.

It all adds up to bring home the terrifying insignificance and solitude of earth. Should we somehow lose our moorings and go floating – slowly, helplessly – off into the vast depths, it would be a far from pleasant experience.

But then it gently shifts to warmer tones as you drift along the dark side of the moon, weightless and free from apprehension. So far (and yet still so near) from civilisation and sensory overload that your thoughts can turn inwards to meditation and maybe even some slight comprehension. Well, maybe not, but it’s a wonderfully pleasant journey nonetheless.

And then you can lie on the moon’s surface gazing up without fear at the stars to the rich and tranquil twangs of Silver Morning, Deep Blue Day and Weightless. Alien, synthesiser-driven sounds give way, possibly somewhat jarringly, to more human sounding guitars, but the seams are quickly forgotten. Such tracks make you think of all that’s right in the universe, perhaps as you cast a fond glance back to the mother planet and reminisce about all the good times you’ve had.

It is, however, the transcendent beauty of An Ending (Ascent) that caps off the album, perhaps the closest you can get to a musical epiphany and a truly celestial track. Famous from its use in films such as ‘Traffic’ and ‘28 Days Later’, it’s the shining Orion of an already sparkling album. In its entirety, a deeply moving experience.

An ambient masterpiece
In some ways, Apollo reminds me of the soundtrack to '2001'. They're certainly not similar in musical style, but what brings them together is their dense and pervasive atmosphere. They both exude an astonishing range of moods - fear, triumph, beauty, mystery - all coming from the dark recesses of the universe but ending up resonating deep inside a personal inner space.

Whereas Stanley Kubrick used existing music to such perfection to accompany the free and fictional exploration of Jupiter and beyond in '2001', so Brian Eno crafted a haunting and beautiful space odyssey of his own to accompany the film of the NASA lunar missions.

The eclectic, electronic mix acts as a kind of aural planetarium, taking us on a cosmic tour where harmonious melodies sit next to tuneless soundscapes. Tracks such as The Secret Place and Matta show us deep, dark and menacing outer space, eerie and disturbing, where low rumbles are interspersed with industrial-like noises and wild animalistic sounds. The moon here is less a friendly and comforting neighbour and more an alien and inhospitable cold lump of rock.

It is, however, the transcendent beauty of An Ending (Ascent) that caps off the album, perhaps the closest you can get to a musical epiphany and a truly celestial track. Famous from its use in films such as 'Traffic' and '28 Days Later', it's the shining Orion of an already sparkling album. In its entirety, a deeply moving experience.

Haunting Soundtrack
This album is the soundtrack to an amazing documentary made with footage from the apollo space missions. The music worked perfectly and powerfully in the documentary, but also works as an album too.

The first half is less musical - though it provides wonderful atmosphere and mood. The second half has some truly haunting moments in my opinion.

I would strongly reccomed this album if you have a taste for mood and ambience.

Similarly I would strongly reccomend the documentary, which is called 'For all Mankind'

A nice companion album to this one is Roger Eno's 'Voices'. Roger is Brian's brother and his album holds the remaining tracks used on the documentary, which are not featured on this one.