Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

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New York Times NOVEMBER 19, 1995 - by Jon Pareles

PASSENGERS: ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS 1

Among true recording-studio obsessives, songs are just a framework for sonic hanky-panky, and sometimes songs are just too confining. Brian Eno and U2, calling themselves Passengers, spent seven weeks concocting Original Soundtracks 1, a collection of sketched songs and free-form instrumentals that peek inside the workings of recent U2 and Eno efforts. For the songs, Bono stays quiet and smoky-voiced; Your Blue Room harks back to The Velvet Underground's Pale Blue Eyes; Miss Sarajevo features Luciano Pavarotti singing about amore; Slug mixes shimmering echoed guitars with swampy electronic rhythms, and Elvis Ate America is a rhymed free association over choppy percussion.

Throughout the album, what matters is texture: the ethereal electronic tinkling of Ito Okashi (with a vocal in Japanese by Holi), the raindrops and barking dogs behind the cellolike melody in Theme From The Swan. Liner notes (by the anagrammatic Ben O'Rian) describe the films associated with the soundtracks; some don't exist.