In this new 14-minute mini-doc from Noisey, Brian Eno, his music-therapist brother Roger, and producer/musician Daniel Lanois, discuss their 1983 writing and recording of Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks, their soundtrack for the Al Reinert film, For All Mankind. They also talk about the newly remastered Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks – Extended Edition and the 11 additional tracks they created for it.
There is some wonderful stuff in here, like Eno revealing that the country music influences on the record were inspired by him learning that many Apollo astronauts took country with them on their missions. He loved the idea of space frontiersmen carrying the music of an older frontier and decided to try creating a cosmic, psychedelic version of country. He and Roger also talk about how they tried to assume the character of the astronauts as they composed, for example, imagining being Mike Collins staying behind in the command module, and translating that feeling of isolation and awe into music.
There is also a touching moment when Roger chokes up talking about when Armstrong set foot on the moon, and how it seemed that, in a moment, humanity itself had jumped into a different mode, a more hopeful future, and how we now seem to have lost that leap. And that hope.
In case you’ve forgotten how glorious Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks actually is, here’s the remastered version of “An Ending (Ascent).” In the Noisey documentary, Eno reveals that this final version of the track is actually the original piece he was working on played backwards.
And here is an earlier piece that David posted with one of the new tracks, “Like I Was a Spectator,” from the Extended Edition.
Image: Public Domain Pictures/CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication