Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5900 in Music
• Released on: 2005-03-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered

Amazon.com essential recording
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, a shining example of what ambient music reveals about itself--slowly and carefully. --Paul Clark

Customer Reviews

Ambient masterpiece indeed
This is the epitome of ambient music. I originally bought this back in the early 80s and it's aged well. My personal favorites are 'Silver Morning', the slightly menacing 'A Secret Place' and of course, 'An Ending(Ascent)' which has got to be one of the most sad yet beautiful songs I've ever heard. But the entire album is excellent, and all the songs flow together to create a beautiful atmosphere.

THE ALL-TIME CLASSIC OF AMBIENT MUSIC
Of all Brian Eno's ambient works (I believe he's the guy who actually coined the term "ambient"), Apollo is the most accessible, the most cohesive, and the most stirring. Alternately wondrous, menacing, and melancholic, Apollo evokes a strong sense of awe in the attentive listener.

One major standout is "An Ending (Ascent)," a surging and magestic tune reminiscent of Eno's unforgettable introduction to U2's "Where The Streets Have No Name."

But the album's centerpiece (and, for me, the centerpiece of all Eno's work)is the gooseflesh-inducing sonic orgasm called "Deep Blue Day." Featuring a gentle lullaby bassline, Daniel Lanois' soulful slide guitar, and Eno's richest, most evocative synth work ever, this is ambient musuc heaven. Nonbelievers: listen to it on headphones and be transformed.

RELAXING FORGROUND
Apollo is not the best of Eno's Background/Forground ambient experiments IMHO. But it's a very very nice recording and is recommended to those who desire soothing but not corney music.

Apollo is more of a relaxing forground recording. If you are looking for Forground/Background I'd say Thursday Morning is more interesting. Thursday Morning is very unobtrusive but very interesting and spatial on closer examination.

Apollo is more straigh forward, relaxing, pretty music. I want my copy to rip onto a mp3 player for backpacking. Specifically for those moments before sleep when gazing at the stars of the Milky Way overhead. A Perfect sound track for drifting out into the cosmos.

Does anyone know if the remastered version is superior?