Brian Eno 1

Before the New Age market lit bonfires of inanity, Eno was sculpting his mode of ambient music with the idea of creating musical matter ''as interesting as it is ignorable.'' Twenty years later, his various and sundry instrumental escapades — heard here on a three-CD retrospective of solo work and collaborations with Robert Fripp, David Bowie, and others — are as soothing as ever. Let Brian Eno 1 loop all day; this is guilt-free navel-gazing music at its finest. A+