This album definitely gives hints to the Ambient projects that Brian Eno would pursue in the late 70's and early 80's. However, this is a far more rock-oriented fare than any of the Ambient pieces.

First off, you have spectacular drumming by Phil Collins, a drummer who really showed his stuff in the 70's, only to squander it all away for pop stardom in the 80's and beyond. Percy Jones of Brand X contributes some bubbling, brooding, 5-string fretless bass to some of the tracks. Then you have some mind-blowing guitar work by none other than Robert Fripp. Fripp and Eno had collaborated on a few albums a few years prior to this, most notably No Pussyfooting. This is where "Frippertronics" were invented, and the world was somehow changed forever.

Another Green World is a gorgeous album, though. I hate the word gorgeous, too, but that is the only word I can think of to describe this. I like to describe this album as just a collection of small snippets of pure electronic genius...snippets that fade in and out at their own pace, and of their own accord, ebbing and flowing at their own natural pace. It's like being led through a futuristic, aural art gallery, there to witness living, breathing, enigmatic works of art.

They change you each time you hear them, but in different ways. I hope I never get tired of this album, I really don't. It would be a shame to become jaded with such immense beauty.

This album is not for everyone. However, if you enjoy the more electronic, experimental, subdued side of things, this is your album.

Very rarely do transitional albums go on to be an artist's definitive work. This is the case with "Another Green World." Coming after "Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy" (another masterpiece) and before "Before and After Science", "Another Green World" is the hybrid between those two albums that you'd expect, the exception being that "Another Green World" is arguably better than the both of them. Joined by fellow genius John Cale (who played viola) and genius at that time Phil Collins (percussion on three tracks) Brian Eno created a classicist pop art album that went on to be an influential and definitive reference point for countless musicians that came in it's wake. The ambient beauty's marriage with the pop sensibilities of this album's immediate predecessors, and their predecessor, his work with Roxy Music, is at times sinful in it's simplicity and wonder. It lets you know how Eve must have felt when she first saw the apple in the Garden of Eden. The melodies lull you toward them while keeping their distance at the same time. If you want to find something this simple but yet so excellent you'd have to scour through prime-John Cale or Kraftwerk, and even then you'd find nothing that was as good or better.

I'm not a huge fan of Brian Eno or ambient music in general, but this 1975 post-Roxy Music album is timeless listening. Unlike most music labeled "progressive" in the same timeframe, there is no virtuoso wanking, no epic song lengths, and a refreshing lack of pretention. Eno keeps it straightforward, with tracks averaging around 3 minutes in length. And yet, this is without question innovative material for its time and has aged surprisingly well in the face of rapid technological progress--not something you can say for most albums that rely so heavily on electronics (percussion, keyboards, etc.).

The ensemble is ace. Robert Fripp is here on electric guitar; Phil Collins (long prior his boring "adult-contemporary" years) contributes percussion to several tracks; and John Cale has a mesmerizing viola spot on opener Sky Saw. Of special note here is Fripp demonstrating, detractors aside, that he can show plenty of emotion in his playing. St. Elmo's Fire has one of the greatest, most heartfelt guitar solos I've ever heard by ANYONE ("...and we saw St. Elmo's Fire splitting ions in the ether"), and it totally makes the song. He also contributes nicely to Golden Hours and I'll Come Running (too bad the rest of the song isn't much to write home about--the repeated "I'll come running to tie your shoes" line doesn't work for me). Eno's flat voice isn't ideally suited to singing, but it works for the soft nature of the material, and carries melody well enough. His lyrics are vaguely impressionistic snippets, similar to previous album Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy but less willfully strange and more genuine and emotional.

Then there's the ambient material which makes up three-quarters of the album, which I'm more ambivalent about. None of it is BAD, per se, but some pieces are far better than others. The most notable is easily The Big Ship, which builds and builds to a beautifully affecting climax before drifting away. Sombre Reptiles and In Dark Trees are also excellent, moody and dark as their titles suggest. Anyway, none of the experiments are overlong or skip-worthy, but I tend to prefer the art-pop songs, which are a clear inspiration for bands like the Talking Heads, Joy Division, David Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy," and Devo, many of whom later worked with Eno himself.

This is an essential purchase for anyone interested in '70s art rock, electronic music, ambient etc. If you don't have them already, I also highly reccommend Bowie's Low and the David Byrne/Eno collaboration My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts; the former has generally better singing, is a little edgier, and also successfully couples accessible pop tracks with Eno-produced ambient pieces; while the latter is more experimental and weird, combining Byrne's love of African music and Eno's experimental side to create a genuine masterwork. Get 'em all.