Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks

Eno, Daniel Lanois and Brian's brother Roger made Apollo for Al Reinert's documentary For All Mankind, built from NASA footage, which finally appeared in 1989. Eno wanted to avoid the melodramatic, up-tempo way the landings were usually shown; the pieces use soft attacks, reversed sounds and deep echo around a Yamaha CS-80. Lanois played pedal steel on three country-flavored pieces, Deep Blue Day among them, because astronauts had taken country tapes into space; Eno joked that it was zero-gravity country and western. Roger, a former music therapist, said he supplied melody and harmony, and that they spent much of the time in tears of laughter.

It reached sixteen in Britain. An Ending (Ascent) played at the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, and the record turns up in films from 28 Days Later to Traffic. A 2019 anniversary edition remastered it at Abbey Road and added eleven new pieces.