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 exceptions being songs for Ghost in the Shell, Miss Sarajevo, and Beyond the Clouds).

Background [link]

U2 and producer Brian Eno formed Passengers as a side-project during the preliminary recording sessions for U2's 1997 album, Pop. Their intention was to record a soundtrack for Peter Greenaway's 1996 film The Pillow Book as a warm up before the main Pop sessions.^[1] Though the plan did not come to fruition, Eno suggested they continue recording for imaginary films. U2 were unsure of the idea at first, but agreed after Eno told them that producing radio hits was not the goal of the collaboration.^[1]

	"Slug" noicon "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 [link]

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 [link]

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.^{[citation needed]}

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".^{[citation needed]}

Reception [link]

This section requires expansion.

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[8]
The Boston Globe	(favourable)[9]
Entertainment Weekly	(B)[10]
Hot Press	(10/12)[11]
The Los Angeles Times	[12]
Rolling Stone	[13]

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,^[who?] 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."^[14] Later reflecting on the album in 2002, Mullen stated, "It hasn't grown on me. However, 'Miss Sarajevo' is a classic."^[15] 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 [link]

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 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.^[16]

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.^[17] The film descriptions contain the following references:

• 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

Charts [link]

Personnel [link]

• 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"

^[22]

See also [link]

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

References [link]

External links [link]

• Original Soundtracks 1 on U2.com