On Land
Encyclopedia
Ambient 4: On Land is an album by the British
ambient
musician Brian Eno
. It was the final edition in Eno’s ambient series, which began in 1978 with Music for Airports
.
, though it does possess a wistful, meandering, longing, organic quality as well.
It is a mixture of synthesizer
-based notes, nature/animal recordings and a complex array of other sounds, most of which were unused, collected recordings from previous albums and the sessions which created them. As Eno explained "... the making of records such as On Land involved feeding unheard tape into the mix, constant feeding and remixing, subtracting and "composting" 1.
Eno actually found, in the long process of making the album (over 3 years) that the synthesizer came to be of "limited usefulness" and that his "instrumentation shifted gradually through electro-mechanical and acoustic instruments towards non-instruments like pieces of chain and sticks and stones .... I included not only recordings of rooks, frogs and insects, but also the complete body of my own earlier work" 2.
Despite the music's dark leanings, it is, in a sense, still highly "ambient" in that the tracks tend to blend-in to each other and thus fulfill all of Eno's original expectations of what the term means. Nevertheless, there is still room for the occasional surprise, such as Jon Hassell
's recognisable effect-laden trumpet in "Shadow". Eno, cognizant of the deeper aural qualities, said "On the whole On Land is quite a disturbed landscape: some of the undertones deliberately threaten the overtones, so you get the pastoral prettiness on top, but underneath there's a dissonance that's like an impending earthquake" 3.
Eno also had something to say about how music - this album in particular - should be listened to. In the liner notes, he suggested (even going so far as to draw a diagram) "a three-way speaker system that is both simple to install and inexpensive, and which seems to work very well on any music with a broad stereo image".
The album makes reference to definite geographical places, such as "Lizard Point", named after the exposed, southernmost tip
of mainland Britain, close to Land's End
in South-West England.
"Tal Coat" refers to Pierre Louis Jacob (1905–1985), aka Pierre Tal-Coat 4, a proponent of the French form of abstract expressionism
, Tachisme
. This interest in painting is reflected in his statement that the album was ".... an attempt to transpose into music something that you can do in painting: creating a figurative environment. At the beginning of the 20th century, the ambition of the great painters was to make paintings that were like music, which was then considered as the noblest art because it was abstract, not figurative. In contrast, my intention in On Land was to make music that was like figurative painting, but without referring to the history of music - more to a "history of listening"" 5.
"Lantern Marsh" was a place in East Anglia
where he grew up. He remarks "my experience of it derives not from having visited it (although I almost certainly did) but from having subsequently seen it on a map and imagining where and what it might be" 6.
"Leeks Hills", so Eno explains, "is a little wood (much smaller now than when I was young, and this not merely the effect of age and memory) which stands between Woodbridge and Melton. There isn't a whole lot left of it now, but it used to be quite extensive. To find it you travel down the main road connecting Woodbridge and it lies to your left as you go down the hill" 7 , 8.
"Dunwich Beach, Autumn, 1960" is named after the once prosperous seaport of Dunwich
, England which eroded into the sea over a period of three hundred years; it also marked Eno’s first collaboration with Daniel Lanois
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
musician Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
. It was the final edition in Eno’s ambient series, which began in 1978 with Music for Airports
Music for Airports
Ambient 1: Music for Airports is an ambient album by Brian Eno released in 1978.-Overview:Music for Airports was the first of four albums released in Eno's "Ambient" series, a term which he coined to differentiate his minimalistic approach to the album's material and "the products of the various...
.
Track listing
All songs written by Brian Eno unless otherwise noted.- "Lizard Point" (Eno, Michael BeinhornMichael BeinhornMichael Beinhorn is an American musician and record producer.Beinhorn started his professional career as a musician, playing keyboards in Bill Laswell's Material during the 1980s...
, Axel Gros, Bill LaswellBill LaswellBill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....
) – 4:34 - "The Lost Day" – 9:13
- "Tal Coat" – 5:30
- "Shadow" – 3:00
- "Lantern Marsh" – 5:33
- "Unfamiliar Wind (Leeks Hills)" – 5:23
- "A Clearing" – 4:09
- "Dunwich Beach, Autumn, 1960" – 7:13
Overview
On Land is arguably the "darkest" of Eno's 4 as-titled Ambient albums, and could be said to be an archetypal example of dark ambientDark ambient
Dark ambient is a subgenre of ambient music that features foreboding, ominous, or discordant overtones. Although it had its roots in the 1970s, Dark ambient emerged in the 1980s and 1990s with the introduction of newer, smaller, and more affordable Effects units, synthesizer and sampling technology...
, though it does possess a wistful, meandering, longing, organic quality as well.
It is a mixture of synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
-based notes, nature/animal recordings and a complex array of other sounds, most of which were unused, collected recordings from previous albums and the sessions which created them. As Eno explained "... the making of records such as On Land involved feeding unheard tape into the mix, constant feeding and remixing, subtracting and "composting" 1.
Eno actually found, in the long process of making the album (over 3 years) that the synthesizer came to be of "limited usefulness" and that his "instrumentation shifted gradually through electro-mechanical and acoustic instruments towards non-instruments like pieces of chain and sticks and stones .... I included not only recordings of rooks, frogs and insects, but also the complete body of my own earlier work" 2.
Despite the music's dark leanings, it is, in a sense, still highly "ambient" in that the tracks tend to blend-in to each other and thus fulfill all of Eno's original expectations of what the term means. Nevertheless, there is still room for the occasional surprise, such as Jon Hassell
Jon Hassell
Jon Hassell is an American trumpet player and composer. He is known for his influence in the world music scene and his unusual electronic manipulation of the trumpet sound.-Life and career:...
's recognisable effect-laden trumpet in "Shadow". Eno, cognizant of the deeper aural qualities, said "On the whole On Land is quite a disturbed landscape: some of the undertones deliberately threaten the overtones, so you get the pastoral prettiness on top, but underneath there's a dissonance that's like an impending earthquake" 3.
Eno also had something to say about how music - this album in particular - should be listened to. In the liner notes, he suggested (even going so far as to draw a diagram) "a three-way speaker system that is both simple to install and inexpensive, and which seems to work very well on any music with a broad stereo image".
The album makes reference to definite geographical places, such as "Lizard Point", named after the exposed, southernmost tip
Lizard Point, Cornwall
Lizard Point in Cornwall is at the southern tip of the Lizard Peninsula. It is situated half-a-mile south of Lizard village in the civil parish of Landewednack and approximately 11 miles southeast of Helston....
of mainland Britain, close to Land's End
Land's End
Land's End is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
in South-West England.
"Tal Coat" refers to Pierre Louis Jacob (1905–1985), aka Pierre Tal-Coat 4, a proponent of the French form of abstract expressionism
Abstract expressionism
Abstract expressionism was an American post–World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris...
, Tachisme
Tachisme
Tachisme is a French style of abstract painting popular in the 1940s and 1950s. It is often considered to be the European equivalent to abstract expressionism...
. This interest in painting is reflected in his statement that the album was ".... an attempt to transpose into music something that you can do in painting: creating a figurative environment. At the beginning of the 20th century, the ambition of the great painters was to make paintings that were like music, which was then considered as the noblest art because it was abstract, not figurative. In contrast, my intention in On Land was to make music that was like figurative painting, but without referring to the history of music - more to a "history of listening"" 5.
"Lantern Marsh" was a place in East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
where he grew up. He remarks "my experience of it derives not from having visited it (although I almost certainly did) but from having subsequently seen it on a map and imagining where and what it might be" 6.
"Leeks Hills", so Eno explains, "is a little wood (much smaller now than when I was young, and this not merely the effect of age and memory) which stands between Woodbridge and Melton. There isn't a whole lot left of it now, but it used to be quite extensive. To find it you travel down the main road connecting Woodbridge and it lies to your left as you go down the hill" 7 , 8.
"Dunwich Beach, Autumn, 1960" is named after the once prosperous seaport of Dunwich
Dunwich
Dunwich is a small town in Suffolk, England, within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB.Dunwich was the capital of East Anglia 1500 years ago but the harbour and most of the town have since disappeared due to coastal erosion. Its decline began in 1286 when a sea surge hit the East Anglian coast, and...
, England which eroded into the sea over a period of three hundred years; it also marked Eno’s first collaboration with Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
.
Personnel
- Brian EnoBrian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
- various - Michael BeinhornMichael BeinhornMichael Beinhorn is an American musician and record producer.Beinhorn started his professional career as a musician, playing keyboards in Bill Laswell's Material during the 1980s...
- synthesizer (track 1) - Axel Gros - guitar (track 1)
- Bill LaswellBill LaswellBill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....
- bass (track 1) - Jon HassellJon HassellJon Hassell is an American trumpet player and composer. He is known for his influence in the world music scene and his unusual electronic manipulation of the trumpet sound.-Life and career:...
- trumpet (track 4) - Michael BrookMichael BrookMichael Brook is a Canadian guitarist, inventor, producer, and film music composer. He plays in many genres, including rock, electronica, world music, minimalism and film scores....
- guitar (track 8) - Daniel LanoisDaniel LanoisDaniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
- live equalization (track 8)
- Engineering: Andy Lydon (London), Barry Sage, Cheryl Smith, Daniel Lanois (Canada), John Potoker (NYC), Julie Last (NYC), Martin BisiMartin bisiMartin Bisi is an American producer and songwriter.He is known for recording important records by Sonic Youth, Swans, John Zorn, Material, Bill Laswell, Helmet, Unsane, Cop Shoot Cop, White Zombie, Boredoms, Angels of Light and Herbie Hancock's Grammy-winning song Rockit,In 1979, Martin Bisi...
, Neal Teeman - The frogs on track 6 were recorded in CholomaCholomaCholoma is a municipality in the Honduran department of Cortés. The mayor is Polo Crivelli. It is now the third largest city in Honduras.Many factories are stationed in Choloma due to cheap labor which has helped the municipality's economy. As a result of this fast food joints like Pizza Hut,...
, HondurasHondurasHonduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
by Felipe Orrego. - Special thanks: Robert QuineRobert QuineRobert Wolfe Quine was an American guitarist, known for his innovative guitar solos.A native of Akron, Ohio, Quine worked with a wide range of musicians, though he himself remained relatively unknown in comparison...
, Alex Blair, Harold BuddHarold BuddHarold Budd is an American ambient/avant-garde composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles, he was raised in the Mojave Desert, and was inspired at an early age by the humming tone caused by wind blown across telephone wires....
, Laraaji and Danny Lanois - Mastered by: Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, New York
- Artwork
- Design & Text: Brian Eno
- Typography: Chong-Donnie
Versions
| Country | Label | Cat. No. | Media | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | Editions EG | EGED 20 | LP | 1982 |
| France | Polydor | 2311 107 | LP | 1982 |
| Australia & NZ | Editions EG | 2311 107 | LP | 1982 |
| UK | Editions EG | EEGCD 20 | CD | 1986 |
| UK | Virgin | ENOCD 8 7243 8 66499 2 8 |
CD | 2004 |
In popular culture
- "Mistaken Memories of Mediaeval Manhattan" is a 1981, 47-minute ambient video created by Eno which uses music from the album (cat # HEN 2134). IMDB link.
Two time-lapse animated GIFS from the production - (133K) , (270K).
This title was later repackaged with his Thursday AfternoonThursday AfternoonThursday Afternoon is a 1985 album by the British ambient musician Brian Eno consisting of one 60 min eponymous composition. It is the rearranged soundtrack to a video production of the same title made in 1984.-Overview:...
video as "14 Video Paintings", RykoDisc, (HNDVD 1508) 9 , 10. - The Khumba Mela (Same as it Ever Was), A 1982 90-minute video filmed in the waterways of Kashmir in India about a Saddhu's pilgrimage by Albert FalzonAlby FalzonAlbert "Alby" Falzon is an Australian surf filmmaker, photographer and publisher.He grew up in the beachside suburb Maroubra in Sydney. He did not begin surfing until age 14, when the family moved to the New South Wales Central Coast....
, features music from the album (Hendring, HEN 2135) 11 , 12 , 13 , 14. - Mythological Lands - Symbols from the Magic Drum, by David Bickley, a film about Lapland (1990, 45 minutes) features music from the album 15 , 16 , 17.
- Ocean Of Sound, a book by David ToopDavid ToopDavid Toop is an English musician and author, and as of 2001 was visiting Research Fellow in the Media School at London College of Communication. He was notably a member of The Flying Lizards. He was a prominent contributor to the British magazine The Face. He is a regular contributor to The Wire,...
, has been accompanied by a 2-CD compilation including "Lizard Point" (Virgin AMBT 10; 7243 8 41367 2 7) 18 , 19 , 20. - OHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic MusicOHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic MusicOHM: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music is a compilation of early electronic music and excerpts from the period of 1948 to 1980. Many included works are essentially experiments with sound, using a variety of non-traditional instruments including homemade circuits, tape ribbon and early...
1948-80 (Ellipsis Arts, 2000) features the track "Unfamiliar Wind (Leeks Hills) 21.
See also
- Ambient 1: Music for AirportsMusic for AirportsAmbient 1: Music for Airports is an ambient album by Brian Eno released in 1978.-Overview:Music for Airports was the first of four albums released in Eno's "Ambient" series, a term which he coined to differentiate his minimalistic approach to the album's material and "the products of the various...
- Ambient 2: The Plateaux of MirrorThe Plateaux of MirrorAmbient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror is a 1980 album by ambient musicians Harold Budd and Brian Eno. This is the second installment of Eno's Ambient series which began in 1978 with Music for Airports, identifiable by its similar cover art which looks like it depicts rural terrain on a...
- Ambient 3: Day of RadianceDay of RadianceAmbient 3: Day of Radiance is an album by the American ambient musician Laraaji which was produced by Brian Eno.-Overview:...
- Ambient musicAmbient musicAmbient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
- Electronic musicElectronic musicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
External links
- Liner notes from On Land
- Interview; Trouser Press, Aug 1982
- Interview; Musician mag, Oct 1982
- Interview; Modern Recording & Music, Oct 1982
- Interview; Reality Hackers, Winter 1988
- Interview; Sound On Sound Vol 4 Issue 3, Jan 1989
- Interview; MOJO 55, June 1998
- Stylus mag feature, 2004
- ProgArchives review