Original Soundtracks 1

Passengers
Studio album by Passengers
Released	7 November 1995
Recorded	Westside Studios, London, UK, November 1994 and Hanover Quay Studios, Dublin, Ireland, Summer 1995
Genre	alternative rock, Dance
Length	58:10
Label	Island
Producer	Brian Eno
U2 chronology
Melon: Remixes for Propaganda (1995) 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 films (the exceptions being songs for Ghost in the Shell, Miss Sarajevo, and Beyond the Clouds).

Background

U2 and producer Brian Eno formed Passengers as a warm-up for U2's 1997 album, Pop. Their original intention was to record a soundtrack for Peter Greenaway's 1996 film The Pillow Book.^[1] Though the plan did not come to fruition, Eno suggested they continue recording for imaginary films. At this time, the US charts were dominated by movie soundtrack albums and singles. Once Eno pointed out that it would not be a real ploy for radio airplay, but a spoof of one, U2 agreed to the concept.^[1]

	"Slug" "Slug" was written with the idea of the street lights and advertisements in Shinjuku, Tokyo turning on as day faded to dusk.
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U2 had frequently improvised in the past, and in the Original Soundtracks 1 sessions they engaged in free-form jamming to video clips from various films.^[1] Eno stated, "Listening to the original improvisations as they came off the floor, you feel the excitement of the process ... You have to be careful not to disturb the organic flow of the thing."^[2] The group brought in producer Howie B to cut down and mix some of the tracks after several hours of jam sessions had been recorded.^[1]

Part of the group's intent in creating Original Soundtracks 1 had been to make a "night-time" record.^[3] Lead vocalist Bono said, "It feels like it's been set on the bullet train in Tokyo. Every record has a location, a place where you enjoy listening to it, whether that be a bedroom or a club, well this record location is a fast train. It's slo-mo music though. But it has an odd sense of speed in the background."^[4] He also noted that when creating works for soundtracks the visual suggestion from the music is more important than the story told by the lyrics. With this in mind the band had tried to create "visual music" when recording, continuing a trend that began with their 1993 song "Zooropa".^[5][6]

Writing, recording, and composition

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

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.

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."^[7]

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 (One Minute Warning played during the closing credits).

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".

"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 release include "Bottoms (Watashitachi No Ookina Yume) (Zoo Station Remix)" 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." Some UK Promo copies of the album list "Bottoms" as well but the track is not actually present on the compact disc.

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. The track "Plot 180" was also used in the film Heat but only in a deleted scene.^[8]

The film descriptions contain many hidden references and in-jokes, beginning with the descriptions' supposed authors, "Ben O'Rian and C. S. J. Bofop", both references to Brian Eno. The first is a simple anagram of the name, while the second replaces each letter with the alphabetically following letter.^[9]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[10]
The Boston Globe	(favourable)[11]
Entertainment Weekly	(B)[12]
Hot Press	(10/12)[13]
The Los Angeles Times	[14]
Rolling Stone	[15]

Because of the nature of the music and the decision to release it under another name, the album is easily the least-known and poorest-selling in the U2 catalogue. Further, critical reaction from 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."^[16] Later reflecting on the album in 2002, Mullen stated, "It hasn't grown on me. However, 'Miss Sarajevo' is a classic."^[17] 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."

Track listing

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

Charts

Personnel

Passengers

• 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"
• Brian Eno – strategies, sequencers, keyboards, backing vocals, guitar, treatments, mixing, chorus voices, vocals on "A Different Kind of Blue", production
• Larry Mullen, Jr. – drums, percussion, rhythm sequence on "One Minute Warning," rhythm synthesizer on "United Colours"

Additional personnel

• 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"

See also

• Music for Films – a similar concept album series by Eno solo
• Heat (soundtrack)

References

External links

• Original Soundtracks 1 on U2.com