Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics

Hassell's trumpet is the dominant instrument on the whole album.^{[citation needed]}

Handclaps are used as percussion in "Griot", which was recorded live at the Art Gallery of Ontario.^{[citation needed]}

"Rising Thermal" repeats a 4-note, tape-looped trumpet with a heavily treated trumpet over the top that sounds like a human voice. "Charm (Over 'Burundi Cloud')", which took up the whole second side of the original LP release, is based on some of the longer pieces of Hassell's 1977 album "Vernal Equinox" (1 Archived 22 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine). The trumpets feature a reverse echo.^{[citation needed]}

The album's cover photo is a Landsat photo of the area south of Khartoum in Sudan. The map coordinates in "Rising Thermal" ("14°16'N, 32°28'E") translate to the area shown in the photo. The river is the White Nile, which is also the name of a Sudanese state.^{[citation needed]}

Eno took what he learned from making this album and put it to use in his collaboration with David Byrne, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Hassell apparently considered that album too "commercial", and castigated Eno in Andy Warhol's Interview magazine for his methods and "lack of musical pedigree". Eventually, they were reconciled.^[5]

More information Review scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[6]
Christgau's Record Guide	A[7]
Exclaim!	10/10[8]
Mojo	[9]
Pitchfork	8.5/10[10]
PopMatters	9/10[11]
Q	[12]
Record Collector	[13]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	8/10[14]
Uncut	8/10[15]

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At the end of 1980, Fourth World, Vol. 1 was named one of the year's ten best albums by many critics, including Robert Palmer from The New York Times.^[4] Village Voice critic Robert Christgau ranked it sixth on his year-end list for the Pazz & Jop poll.^[16] In Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990), he deemed the record "ambient esoteric kitsch" that was "the most seductive (and best) thing Eno's put his name on since Another Green World".^[7] Clyde Macfarlane from The Quietus was even more impressed, writing that the album's five "brilliant" recordings channel "some deep psychological urges", "breathe excitement, and are underlined by a heart-pumping, stick-whacking, distinctly human pulse."^[17] According to Ann Powers in the Spin Alternative Record Guide (1995), Fourth World, Vol. 1 "pioneered the syncretic approach to world music with which so many artists experimented during the '80s".^[14]

• Dream Theory in Malaya: Fourth World Volume Two