Original Soundtracks 1

Original Soundtracks 1
Studio album by Passengers (U2 and Brian Eno)
Released	7 November 1995
Recorded	Westside Studios, London, England and Hanover Quay Studios, Dublin, Ireland, 1995
Genre	Experimental, alternative rock, ambient, electronica
Length	58:03
Label	Island
Producer	Brian Eno
Professional reviews
Allmusic [1] The Boston Globe (favourable)[2] Entertainment Weekly (B)[3] Hot Press (10/12)[4] The Los Angeles Times [5] Rolling Stone [6]
U2 chronology
Zooropa (1993) Original Soundtracks 1 (1995) Pop (1997)
Brian Eno chronology
Spinner (1995) Original Soundtracks 1 (1995) The Drop (1997)
Singles from Original Soundtracks 1
"Miss Sarajevo" Released: November 1995 "Your Blue Room" Released: scheduled for early 1996, later cancelled

Original Soundtracks 1 (also known as Original Soundtracks) is a 1995 album recorded by U2 and Brian Eno, as a side project, under the pseudonym Passengers. It is a collection of songs written for mostly imaginary movies (the exclusions being songs for Heat, Ghost In The Shell, Miss Sarajevo, and Beyond the Clouds).

History

Because the album is highly experimental, bespeaking the increasing influence of Brian Eno on the band, Island Records was reluctant to release it as a U2 album, so the invented name was devised instead.

There is some argument amongst U2 fans as to whether this is considered a U2 album or not, but it is usually not included in the band's discography, due to the pseudonym under which it was released.

Because of the nature of the music and the decision to release it under another name, the album is easily the least known and worst selling in the U2 catalog. Further, critical reaction from the press, the fans, and even the band members, has been mixed. Drummer Larry Mullen, Jr., is noted for his dislike of the album: "There's a thin line between interesting music and self-indulgence. We crossed it on the Passengers record."^[7]

About half of the album is instrumental, and the vocal tracks generally stray from the clear hooks and melodies that usually define U2's work. Of these, the delicate "Miss Sarajevo", featuring Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti on vocals, is considered the most memorable. Reflecting on the album in 2002, Mullen stated, "It hasn't grown on me. However, 'Miss Sarajevo' is a classic."^[8] Bono objected to Mullen's statement in the same documentary, claiming that "Larry just didn't like [Passengers] because we didn't let him play the drums."

The genesis, recording and subsequent release of the album is detailed in Eno's diaries A Year with Swollen Appendices.

One of the tracks, "Your Blue Room", features Adam Clayton reciting the final verse. This marks only his second recorded vocal on a U2 project, the first being on "Endless Deep", the B-side to 1983's "Two Hearts Beat as One".

Brian Eno alluded to some extra tracks that were recorded with the Japanese singer Holi at the time and that they may be released at some point in the future: "...in fact we did several things together in four hours. Some of the other pieces are really lovely too, and I'm sure will see the light of day. But she was absolutely fantastic."^[9]

Music for films

The album alleges to be a collection of songs written for movies, hence the title Original Soundtracks. The album's booklet contains detailed descriptions of the film for which each song was written. Most of the films are non-existent; however, three of the 13 films listed on the album are real: Beyond the Clouds, Miss Sarajevo, and Ghost in the Shell.

This concept can be seen as something of a successor to Eno's Music for Films album and is also the base of the Dutch electronic duo Arling & Cameron's album "Music for Imaginary Films".

Easter eggs

Among the film descriptions are many Easter eggs with hidden references and in-jokes. For example, the film descriptions are credited to "Ben O'Rian and C. S. J. Bofop." "Ben O'Rian" is an anagram of "Brian Eno", and "C. S. J. Bofop" is also "Brian Eno" with each letter of the alphabet shifted forward once. The following film descriptions feature the listed easter eggs:^[10]

• Slug
  • "Peter von Heineken" – a play on U2's manager Paul McGuinness
  • "Karl Popper" – the name of an actual philosopher
  • "Jutta Minnit" – a mumbled spelling of the phrase "Just a minute"
• Always Forever Now
  • "Venda Davis" – an anagram of David Evans, the real name of The Edge
  • "Tanya McLoad" – an anagram of Adam Clayton
  • "Kiley Sue LaLonne" – an anagram of Anne-Louise Kelly, the album's production manager
  • "Pi Hoo Sun" – a phonetic spelling of P. Hewson, referring to Bono's real name, Paul Hewson
• An Ordinary Day
  • "Lurlene Clewman" – an anagram of Lawrence (Larry) Mullen
• Ito Okashi
  • "...the face of a child drawn on a melon..." – a reference to the child's face on the albums Achtung Baby and Zooropa, as well as a reference to the album Melon: Remixes for Propaganda
  • "Evans" – a reference to David Evans, the real name of The Edge
  • "Tony Corbin" – a reference to Anton Corbijn, a famous photographer who has worked with U2
• The Swan
  • "Joseph Mamat" – an anagram of James Topham, Director of Marketing for War Child Canada and former General Manager of Brian Eno's publishing and management office
• Let's Go Native
  • "Barry Boedders" – one "r" away from being an anagram for Des Broadbery, a member of the album's studio crew

Track listing

All music composed by Passengers (Brian Eno, Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, and Larry Mullen, Jr.).

"Miss Sarajevo" was released as a successful single, competing (in the UK) for the Christmas number 1 spot ultimately losing to Michael Jackson's "Earth Song", however; it also later appeared on U2's The Best of 1990–2000 compilation in 2002.

"Your Blue Room" was intended for the second single following "Miss Sarajevo," but was cancelled after poor album sales. The song was later released as a B-side on the "Staring at the Sun" single in 1997, and on the B-sides disc of The Best of 1990–2000.

The Japanese edition includes "Bottoms (Watashitachi no Ookina Yume)" as a bonus track, which is also featured as B-side to the "Miss Sarajevo" single. The track is an instrumental version of the U2 song "Zoo Station", which appears on 1991's Achtung Baby. The Japanese subtitle "Watashitachi no Ookina Yume" translates to English as "our big dream."

The track "Always Forever Now" appeared only briefly in the film Heat, but managed to make its way onto the Heat soundtrack, which also includes other tracks by Brian Eno.

Charts

Personnel

• Brian Eno – strategies, sequencers, keyboards, backing vocals, guitar, treatments, mixing, chorus voices, vocals on "A Different Kind of Blue", production
• Bono – vocals, additional guitar, piano on "Beach Sequence"
• Adam Clayton – bass guitar, additional guitar on "Your Blue Room", percussion, narration on "Your Blue Room"
• The Edge – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Corpse," church organ on "Your Blue Room"
• Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums, percussion, rhythm sequence on "One Minute Warning," rhythm synthesizer on "United Colours"
• Luciano Pavarotti – tenor voice on "Miss Sarajevo"
• Holi – vocals on "Ito Okashi," voices on "One Minute Warning"
• Howie B – mixing, treatments, scratching, and rhythm track on "Elvis Ate America"
• Craig Armstrong – string arrangement on "Miss Sarajevo"
• Paul Barrett – string arrangement on "Always Forever Now"
• Des Broadbery – sequencer on "Always Forever Now"
• David Herbert – saxophone on "United Colours" and "Corpse"
• Holger Zschenderlein – additional synthesizer on "One Minute Warning"

^[14]

See also

• U2 discography
• Heat (soundtrack)
• Ghost in the Shell

References

External links

• Original Soundtracks 1 on U2.com