Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
All About Jazz
AllMusic
Christgau's Record Guide	A
Exclaim!	10/10
Mojo
Pitchfork	8.5/10
PopMatters	9/10
Q
Spin Alternative Record Guide	8/10

Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics is an album by Jon Hassell and Brian Eno. It was recorded at Celestial Sounds in New York City and released in 1980 by Editions EG, an imprint label of E.G. Records. "Fourth world music" is a synonym for world music. The album features Hassell's electronically processed trumpet backed by Eno's percussion-oriented arrangements.

Hassell's trumpet is the dominant instrument on the whole album, yet, it almost never sounds like one. In "Chemistry" it possesses the quality of a flute; very soft and breathy. At the same time it has an electronic, "treated" edge and "warbles" on the higher notes. A simple, slide bass motif backed by low congas forms the background. "Delta Rain Dream" is similar, minus the bass, and the congas have a more Burundi feel to them, albeit slow and dreamy.

Handclaps are used as percussion in "Griot", which was recorded live at the Art Gallery of Ontario. The trumpet sounds like a broken recording of a wounded animal and also plays a light, high drone in the background, providing a sense of literal ambience. The same trumpet-sound dominates "Ba-Benzélé", which features the return of the congas, and a synth background.

"Rising Thermal" repeats a 4-note, tape-looped trumpet with a heavily treated trumpet over the top that sounds like an eerie human voice. "Charm", 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). The voice, this time, sounds like an animal, backed by congas and ghatan and light synths in a drone; the composition is merely a repetition of parts. The trumpets feature a reverse echo.

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.

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.

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