11
the nineteenth-century variety finds few parallels in his work. Some of his ambient music is of
such apparent surface simplicity that one critic, Jon Pareles, has questioned whether his con-
ceptual approach's allegedly bland results do not "hedge against questions of content or in-
trinsic interest."
13
Ed Naha has accused Eno of walking "the fine line between the musically
artistic and autistic,"
14
while Lester Bangs has written of "still waters that don't necessarily
run deep."
15
Such criticism illuminates a paradox that must be faced when confronting Eno's music, a
paradox that can be expressed in a number of ways. Is Eno's music divinely simple or merely
simplistic? Is it primal and elemental, or primitive and elementary? If it proceeds from a won-
drous, enchanting "What if?" attitude, do the results sometimes call for a cynical "So what?"
response?
16
Eno himself combines a sophisticated, well-read intellectual sensibility with a
vulnerable, child-like curiosity, in an alchemical mixture as rare in the rock world as outside
it. Faced with the paradox, the listener must ultimately make his own decision.
13
Jon Pareles, "Riffs: Eno Uncaged," Village Voice 27 (4 May 1982), 77.
14
Ed Naha, "Review: Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)," Crawdaddy (May 1975), 76.
15
Lester Bangs, "Eno," Musician, Player & Listener 21 (Nov. 1979), 43.
16
Stephen Demorest, "The Discreet Charm of Brian Eno," Horizon 21 (June 1978), 83.