5 Albums: Original Soundtracks 1

Original Story by Don Morgan (2025-04-12)

With the Passengers album Original Soundtracks 1 (OST 1) celebrating its 30th anniversary this year with a brand new vinyl reissue for Record Store Day, we thought it would be a good time to resurrect the 5 Albums series for a look at the team who first brought that controversial project to life back in 1995. Here are five Passengers-adjacent projects that you definitely need to check out!

Various Artists/Music for Films III


If there is a prototype for Passengers, it is Brian Eno’s trilogy of Music for Films albums released between 1978 and 1988. The first album (covered in our 5 Albums: Brian Eno article) was described as “a soundtrack for imaginary films.” Sound familiar? At Eno’s encouragement, this was the creative spark for the Passengers project as well. But like Original Soundtracks 1, the Music for Films albums contain music not just for “imagined” films but also tracks that were used, sometimes retroactively, in real films, documentaries, and other projects. (OST 1’s “Always Forever Now” is credited to a fictional film of the same name in the album’s liner notes, but appeared in Michael Mann’s Heat later in the year, for example.) Music for Films Volume 2 was released in 1982 and again in 2005 in expanded form as More Music for Films, but the spotlight here goes to 1988’s Music for Films III, a various artist compilation including not only Brian Eno but also other musicians that will certainly be familiar to U2 fans, including Michael Brook and Daniel Lanois. The Music for Films albums are generally more sparse than OST 1, but fans of Brian Eno’s signature ambient sound will find plenty to enjoy.

Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr./Theme from Mission: Impossible


Wait! This isn’t an album, it’s a single! But hear me out. When the various versions and remixes of 1996’s “Theme from Mission: Impossible” are taken into account, there is easily a full album’s worth of material. Even more significantly, this release features no less than three Passengers: Adam, Larry, and Howie B. And finally, there’s the fact that this release is actually movie soundtrack music. Case closed! It’s not hard to imagine that OST 1 served as a springboard for this Adam and Larry project recorded for the first Mission: Impossible film starring Tom Cruise in 1996. Sampling composer Lilo Schifrin’s original 1967 recording, Adam and Larry’s ‘96 update explodes in a much more contemporary direction with deep bass, programmed beats, and a danceable time signature. Two versions of the song were recorded, including the main theme produced by Larry and David Beal, which became a worldwide hit, and “Mission Impossible (Mission Accomplished),” produced and arranged by fellow Passenger Howie B. Numerous remixes of both tracks appeared across a wide range of vinyl, cassette, and CD formats, all released on U2’s Mother Records imprint. There isn’t a format that contains all of the mixes in one place, but the best bang for your buck might be the UK or US promo CD, both of which contain seven mixes each, more than enough to get your fix of this iconic theme. (Sadly, if you’re in the US, the Spotify stream below likely won’t work for you… a good reminder to collect your favorite music in a physical format when possible!)

Robbie Robertson/Contact from the Underworld of Redboy


Original Soundtracks 1 was Scottish DJ/producer Howie B.’s first collaboration with U2. He contributed mixing, scratching, and treatments during the studio sessions as well as programming and backing vocals on “Elvis Ate America.” He collaborated with Larry and Adam the following year on “Theme from Mission: Impossible” (see above), and then had a major role in recording and mixing U2’s Pop in 1997. Then in 1998, he produced several tracks on Robbie Robertson’s audacious solo album Contact from the Underworld of Redboy, a noisy exploration of Robertson’s first nations heritage set against a backdrop of native chants, electronica, and programmed beats. The album didn’t spawn any “hits,” but the thematically unrelated bonus track “Take Your Partner by the Hand,” written by Howie B. with lyrics from Robertson, earned considerable play in dance clubs. (A different mix of the song had been previously released on Howie B.’s solo album Turn the Dark Off in 1997.) Longtime U2 fans will know that Robertson’s first, self-titled solo album was produced by Daniel Lanois during the same timeframe that The Joshua Tree was being recorded, so in a way, Robertson’s journey from the “Lanois sound” to something more electronica-based is similar to U2’s. Like Original Soundtracks 1 in the U2 canon, Contact from the Underworld of Redboy will likely never be considered a true classic, but it’s a fascinating exploration of the creative possibilities that emerge when established artists step outside of their comfort zones.

Brian Eno and Jah Wobble/Spinner


In 1994, before work with U2 had begun on Original Soundtracks 1, Brian Eno composed the music for a very real film, Derek Jarman’s Glitterbug. The film itself was released in 1994 shortly after Jarman’s death, but Eno’s soundtrack was never issued commercially. The following year, Eno sent those tracks to Jah Wobble, the original bassist for Public Image Ltd., who had by that time established a reputation of his own in the arenas of ambient music and dub. Without soliciting additional input from Eno, Wobble added bass, keyboards, and other elements, as well as instrumental contributions from a handful of guest players. Eno wrote in the liner notes, “[Wobble] received from me a number of stereo tapes and did what he does–spanning the gamut from leaving them completely alone (such as “Garden Recalled”); playing along (such as “Like Organza”); or using them as atmospheres for entirely new compositions (such as “Steam”).” The resulting album, Spinner, with its combination of Eno’s atmospherics and Wobble’s more organic bass and guitar sounds, in places does not sound that far removed from what Eno and U2 achieved together on Original Soundtracks 1 that same year.

Pavorotti & Friends/Together for the Children of Bosnia


Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti was only a Passenger for one song–but what a song! “Miss Sarajevo” is widely regarded as the crowning achievement of Original Soundtracks 1 and was released as a single to promote the album. Even Larry Mullen, Jr., whose disdain for the Passengers project is well-documented, admitted in 2002, “[OST 1] hasn’t grown on me. However, ‘Miss Sarajevo’ is a classic.” Pavarotti hosted a series of benefit concerts under the “Pavarotti & Friends” moniker between 1992 and 2003, many of which were subsequently chronicled on video and audio releases. The 1995 concert, “Pavarotti & Friends for the Children of Bosnia,” took place at the Parco Novi Sad in Modena on 12 September. In addition to Pavorotti himself, performers included Zucchero, Dolores O’Riordain of The Cranberries, Simon LeBon of Duran Duran, The Chieftains, Meat Loaf, Michael Bolton, and–performing as Passengers months before the OST 1 album had even been released–Bono, the Edge, and Brian Eno. The September concert not only marked the live debut of Passengers, but also the premiere of “Miss Sarajevo,” as the OST 1 album and single would not be released until November. A CD and DVD of the concert were released in 1996, featuring not only the live debut of “Miss Sarajevo” but also a live version of “One” (also credited to Passengers and previously included as a b-side on the “Miss Sarajevo” single). Bono, the Edge, and Eno also appear with many of the other performers for the concert finale and the closing track on the CD, a rendition of Puccini’s aria “Nessun Dorma.” Pavarotti & Friends Together for the Children of Bosnia is worth tracking down for the live version of “Miss Sarajevo” alone, offering a unique opportunity to hear the song performed with a full orchestra and showcasing the “King of the High Cs” himself.

Honorable Mention: Holi

One additional Passenger worth mentioning is Japanese singer Akiko Kobayashi, better known by her alias Holi, who contributed vocals to two tracks on OST 1. In interviews, Brian Eno suggested that the band recorded several interesting tracks with her during their four-hour recording session, and that those tracks may see the light of day, but that has not happened to this point. Most of the singer’s success came in Japan prior to relocating to the UK and adopting the alias Holi. She released an English-language album called Under the Monkey Puzzle Tree in 1994, and while it does not appear to be widely available via streaming, you can listen to it via this YouTube playlist.

Related Bits:

Original Soundtracks 1 is out today for Record Store Day. Below are a few of our recently updated items pertaining to the release.

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