Original Soundtracks 1 by Passengers

Original Soundtracks 1, credited to Passengers, arrived on Island in November 1995, and behind the alias sits U2 with Brian Eno promoted from producer to full songwriting partner. The fake name was the point: Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. wanted room to wander far from the stadium roar, and wander they did.

The conceit is a set of scores for films that mostly don't exist, with a few real ones in the mix, among them Ghost in the Shell and Beyond the Clouds. The sound is electronic, stripped to the studs and drifting into ambient and post-rock territory, less a U2 record than a mood board. Howie B turns up on "Elvis Ate America", a year or so before he helped produce Pop. The big exception to the fog is "Miss Sarajevo", an art-pop hymn with Luciano Pavarotti soaring over it, and it did well where the album itself drew shrugs and split reviews.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.