Eno's idea was revolutionary in a way that John Cage's could never be. Eno had the advantage of popular appeal. He produced Bowie, and later Talking Heads and Devo and near countless other New Wave bands, and helped shape that movement in a singular way. When Eno talked, people listened. It is fortunate then (and probably not coincidental) that his compositions carry the stamp of a man who feels his sounds as deeply as his ideas. Even the popular Philip Glass and his forays into minimalism couldn't have the impact that Eno did, precisely because the music sounds so deliberate, so thought-out. It sounds like he's trying to revolutionize something. Music for Airports is as organic a piece of avant-garde music as could ever be made.

That's something that a great many musicians have taken to heart since then. Not one of them has achieved the direct simplicity of Music for Airports, but Eno never again made an album this perfect, either. This record remains the ultimate example of ambient music, and one of the best, most influential records of the 70's.

Related recordings
Brian Eno - Eno Box 1: Instrumentals
Harold Budd - Lovely Thunder
Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air
John Cage - Empty Words, Part III: Live Teatro Lyrico Di Milano, 2 Dec. 1977

Track Listing
1. 1/1 - 16:30
2. 1/2 - 8:55
3. 2/1 - 11:45
4. 2/2 - 12:20