Brian Eno has worn many hats.  In his history, he has played rock star with his flamboyant stint in Roxy Music, mentored and produced many enduring albums for other bands (Talking Heads, U2, Bowie, Coldplay), helped pioneer electronic experimentation, popularizing minimalism within music, as well as create more than a handful of progressive and experimental albums that stand to this day as influential building blocks of an avant-garde flow of music over decades.  That’s a lot of work.  But Brian Eno loved every minute of the part he played in the growth of the phenomenon known as Rock.

Upon leaving Roxy Music, he quickly recorded a batch of songs and issued them as his first solo album, Here Come the Warm Jets.  Assisting on his effort were some pals from Roxy Music, notably Phil Manzanera, and King Crimson heavyweight, Robert Fripp (he would later team up with Fripp on their No Pussyfooting collaboration).  Eno followed with the engaging Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), which contains a strong brew of poppy songs like “Third Uncle,” “The Fat Lady of Limbourg,” and “Burning Airlines Give You So Much More.”  Eno produced several more uniquely evolving solo albums (Another Green World, Before and After Science – listen closely and you can hear the strains of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts w/Byrne in these two albums, years before that album was recorded and released) before his work with Fripp would begin to engage his creative side more fully than had already been prodded.

Brian Eno released his ambient album, the defining Discreet Music, with a complete continuous side (30+ minutes) of beautiful ambient electronics.  The second side contained his own interpretation of a popular classical piece, Pachelbel’s “Three Variations on the Canon in D Major” (also hear Tomita’s short version on his Canon of the Three Stars (US-RCA Records).  All musical output was created via a set of synthesized instructions through various recorders and then recorded on tape.

In 1978, Eno developed the first of what would be a series of works entitled Ambient.  Birthed from the concept of Muzak, Eno envisioned a series of softly played original compositions designed to enhance the surroundings in a background manner, much like Muzak achieves in elevators.  Ambient 1: Music for Airports was the first fruit of that endeavor, followed by Ambient 2: Plateaux of Mirror, Ambient 3: Day of Radiance, and Ambient 4: On Land.  On Ambient 2, Eno was joined by Harold Budd, while the remaining two were composed and produced by Eno with other musicians playing the pieces.  It is on the Ambient series that Eno began to work with Daniel Lanois, who would work more closely with Eno in later years.

In between that series, Eno would engage in Music for Films, which was a collection of recorded experimental pieces, perhaps envisioning a move away from the traditional scores for future films.  It was followed, after the conclusion of the Ambient series, with More Music for Films, using Lanois and Roger Eno (brother who is an excellent artist of ambient sound in his own right; check out Voices (1985)).  It featured pieces that were even more experimental.  This album followed closely on the heels of Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks released in the same year, an extension of sorts.

Eno would shift his interests and experimentation in various directions with the release of the singular 60+ minute track, a soft-sound palette that makes up Thursday Afternoon; the collaboration with David Byrne with My Life in the Bush of Ghosts; and eventually his growing catalog including his recently released second collaboration with David Byrne called Everything That Happens Will Happen Today.  Weaving in between all of these releases are various collaborative works with other emergent (at the time) ambient masters.

This batch of Eno releases are the collectible Japanese-styled (and Japanese issued) mini-LP CD releases that emulate closely the original LP issue in every way.  They come with white, fold-out Japanese print inserts that have some English on them, enough for the English-speaking purchaser to put two and two together.  In 2004, Virgin reissued these same re-masters in excellent packaging (with plastic O-card slip-casing and sturdy digipaks, perhaps the best I’ve seen).  And like their 2004 reissue cousins, the album artwork is stamped on the CD itself.  The CD covers are encased in a durable resealable plastic sheath to help protect the fragile LP-like covers.

The Simon Heyworth remixed and re-mastered audio are recreated using DSD (Direct Stream Digital, the same platform used to mix SACD), and yields great clarifying audio of these Eno classics.  As a collector, if you were unable to pick up any of the Virgin 2004 reissues, then here is an excellent chance to make up any or all deficits.  Also bear in mind that releases like these almost always come in small numbers and are almost always never reproduced.  If you are of a serious mind, don’t hesitate.