Audiopile Review: Brian Eno, it seems, is widely considered a compiler of other people’s ideas and a curator of other people’s talent. That view does little justice to the beauty of his solo music or the brilliance of his best production work. Furthermore, even when Eno is functioning as a compiler and a curator, he leaves an indelible stamp. Frankly, Eno has a genius for compiling and curating. Consider the 10 albums his Obscure label released between 1975 and 1978. Focusing on minimalist composition, with dips into ambient music and improv, these albums were truly cutting edge. They were also many folks’ introductions to Gavin Bryars, John Adams, Michael Nyman, David Toop, and the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Heck, if all Obscure had ever released was Harold Budd’s ‘The Pavilion of Dreams’, it would have been a worthwhile enterprise. This new box set contains all 10 LPs plus an 80-page book. And it’s limited to 1,000 copies, so do not sleep on this essential historical document.

10 LP box set version. Includes hand-numbered certificate, 10 LPs in faithful replicas of the original covers and polylined inner sleeves, an 80-page LP-sized book in English, all housed in a custom lavish linen box; edition of 1000. Over the last few years, the Italian imprint, Dialogo, has showed a remarkable dedication to the history of experimental music via reissues of seminal artefacts from the Cramps catalog, and important albums by Piero Umiliani, Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai, Enrico Rava, and others. This initiative now takes on a towering scale with the first ever box set gathering the entire ten album collection of Brian Eno’s Obscure Records, originally issued between 1975 and 1978. A truly groundbreaking body of recordings – many of which have remained out of print and difficult to find for decades – it contains some of the most important, influential, and enduring music to emerge during the second half of the 20th Century, which collectively reconfigured the terms of minimalism and laid the groundwork for the emerging movement of ambient music over its short, three-year run. Each box set contains all of Obscure’s albums, completely remastered by Andrea Marutti and housed in faithful mini-replicas of their original covers and liner notes, as well as a 130-page booklet, this historic collection marks the first time such a seminal series has received a complete repress. This is certainly one of the year’s most interesting, essential, and widely anticipated releases, stunningly produced with the complete involvement of all the artists or their estates. When viewed collectively, the Obscure catalog reveals a remarkable, and previously unexplored counterpoint — bridging the United Kingdom and the American West Coast — to the dominant threads of minimal and experimental music, centered in New York that had long dominated the public consciousness. This historic collection marks the first time the seminal Obscure catalog has received a complete repress; simply a dream come true. Featuring Gavin Bryars, Christopher Hobbs, John Adams, Brian Eno, David Toop, Max Eastley, Jan Steele, John Cage, Michael Nyman, The Penguin Café Orchestra, John White, Tom Phillips, Gavin Bryars, Fred Orton, and Harold Budd.