Brian Eno – The Shutov Assembly

Pioneering Ambient minimalism…

After departing glam band Roxy Music, the self-described non-musician ventured as an outsider into the world of rock & roll. But given his art school education and dexterity with mechanized tape loops and the manipulation of found sounds, his initial solo projects were not met with great success.

However, once he channeled his fascination with abstract music into albums with Robert Fripp and David Bowie, he ultimately pioneered the evolution of the Ambient Music genre, of which this recording is a fine example.

Initially released in 1992, the ten “themes” area tribute to multi format artisan Sergei Shutov. The Russian-based craftsman was a longtime listener of Eno’s sound portraits that frequently express emotion over melody. Eno awarded Shutov -and his fans- with a tribute album of sorts.

Initially the pieces, recorded between 1985 and 1990, were conceived as symphonic works. However, Eno ultimately embraced his trademark synthesized sound to achieve his goals. (It should be noted that the Amsterdam Metropol Orksest interpreted the pieces in June of 1999).

The second disc contains bonus instrumentals made during this period, yet the style contrasts with the Shutov recordings. These extra cues are aesthetically more attuned to to Eno’s 1970’s “Music For Films” promotional recordings.

Accompanying the newly remastered music is a hardbound digipak with a vintage transcription devoted to Eno’s reflections on the classifications of various art forms and musical genres, many of which he was an integral collaborator in.

A better companion to the original album would be the Netherlands ensemble’s evocative acoustic imagings of his music. It remains a testament to the integrity of electronic music, sometimes unjustly dismissed as aural wallpaper.

Picked this great LP up (IMO 1 of his best Ambient outputs), cleaned, played, and put in a poly inner...The packaging/gatefold is crisp and well presented. Both LP's have slight warp (fixable), both LP's have light surface noise, the holes are drilled a tad larger, and the sound is damn good (output is loud, fades are smooth, I would recommend @ least one sub for the deep bass undercurrent, nice sparkle to the highs, good depth, and separation) on my modest set-up...The DL Card still doesn't add the Bonus tracks of the 2cd set but does include Cavallino from the original CD release which is fine...

(Fluance RT-82 w/Acrylic Platter, ATN-XP cart/5 stylus. Nobsound T3 Phono Amp, Aiyima A07 Pro, Kicker KB6B, & 2x Polk PSW10 Subs...Simple Low Cost Setup)...Happy Listening

Mine has man ticks and pops on side 3 second track rather disappointing.

There was a 2cm hairline scratch on the c-side.
I had that replaced once, but there is same scratch in the same spot and it causes noise.

Is this a problem during pressing?
If anyone knows, please let me know.

I just got this 2014 pressing, unopened. It is an extremely clean press. Almost zero pops and clicks. Quite flat (although not perfect). Very quiet. Super impressed with this version.

This old article just popped into my head: "The Shutov Assembly will cease to exist".
https://irdial.com/w34.htm
Good to see that vinyl editions were eventually released! :)

I really do enjoy Eno's ambient albums, and only discovered this one originally from 1992, quite a bit later than the other ambient albums I have from him. It's interesting music either in the background or foreground, and creates quite a mood, darker and more electric than other ambient albums that I have of his.

It's a shame that this release doesn't contain the bonus tracks which are readily available from this label. They could have included them as part of the MP3 code, but sadly not. The website for All Saints says they are available when purchasing this version of the LP, but they weren't. Several messages to their website and Facebook page went unanswered. Pretty bad customer service. EDIT: The website that manages the s finally got back to me after a 4-month wait and were able to add the bonus tracks to my . Glad it was resolved and hopefully the issue is fixed for anyone buying the LP and expecting the bonus tracks as MP3s.

one of my favourite ambient albums of brian eno. very organic, perfect for listening with good headphones. although more a compilation of tracks recorded in different years, it sounds very much like an real album. cd 2 is different and darker, some tracks could be from nerve net sessions. great stuff from the master.

Repress/Expanded edition on the way!