| Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Jon Hassell and Brian Eno |
| Cover: | PossibleMusics(Eno&Hassell).jpg |
| Released: | April 1980 |
| Studio: | Celestial Sounds, New York |
| Length: | 45:05 |
| Producer: | Brian Eno, Jon Hassell |
| Chronology: | Jon Hassell |
| Prev Title: | Earthquake Island |
| Prev Year: | 1978 |
| Next Year: | 1981 |
Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics is an album by Jon Hassell and Brian Eno.[1] It was recorded at Celestial Sounds in New York City and released in 1980 by Editions EG, an imprint label of E.G. Records.[2] "Fourth world music" is a musical aesthetic described by Hassell as "a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques."[3] The album received praise from many critics.
Hassell's trumpet is the dominant instrument on the whole album.
Handclaps are used as percussion in "Griot", which was recorded live at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
"Rising Thermal" repeats a 4-note, tape-looped trumpet with a heavily treated trumpet over the top that sounds like a human voice. "Charm (Over 'Burundi Cloud')", which took up the whole second side of the original LP release, is based on some of the longer pieces of Hassell's 1977 album "Vernal Equinox" (1). The trumpets feature a reverse echo.
The album's cover photo is a Landsat photo of the area south of Khartoum in Sudan. The map coordinates in "Rising Thermal" ("14°16'N, 32°28'E") translate to the area shown in the photo. The river is the White Nile, which is also the name of a Sudanese state.
Eno took what he learned from making this album and put it to use in his collaboration with David Byrne, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Hassell apparently considered that album too "commercial", and castigated Eno in Andy Warhol's Interview magazine for his methods and "lack of musical pedigree". Eventually, they were reconciled.[4]
At the end of 1980, Fourth World, Vol. 1 was named one of the year's ten best albums by many critics, including Robert Palmer from The New York Times.[5] Village Voice critic Robert Christgau ranked it sixth on his year-end list for the Pazz & Jop poll.[6] In (1990), he deemed the record "ambient esoteric kitsch" that was "the most seductive (and best) thing Eno's put his name on since Another Green World". Clyde Macfarlane from The Quietus was even more impressed, writing that the album's five "brilliant" recordings channel "some deep psychological urges", "breathe excitement, and are underlined by a heart-pumping, stick-whacking, distinctly human pulse."[7] According to Ann Powers in the Spin Alternative Record Guide (1995), Fourth World, Vol. 1 "pioneered the syncretic approach to world music with which so many artists experimented during the '80s".
Individual expressions specific to the album credits are set in italics.
| Country | Label | Cat. No. | Media | Release Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | Editions EG | EGED 7 | LP | April 1980 | |
| US | Editions EG | EGS 107 | LP | April 1980 | |
| France | Polydor | 2335 207 | LP | 1980 | |
| US | Caroline | 1537-2 | LP | 1980 | |
| US | Editions EG | EEGCD 7 | CD | 1992 | |
| US | Plan 9/Caroline | 107 | CD | 1992 | |
| Germany | Glitter Beat | GPLP 019 | LP/CD | 2014 |