Before And After Science
	Produced by Brian Eno and Rhett Davies
	Released on December 1977
	US CHART POSITION #171
	Find it at GEMM
ENO 4 cover [high resolution scan]

K ronomyth 8.0 - THE LAST OF THE TALKIES. Up to this point, the two sides of the ONE had been silence and sweet chatter. Another Green World effectively merged the two. Before And After Science slipped back into sweet futureworld of demented intellectual pop, a last hurrah and heidy-ho before the long journey into silent spaces. The first side of Science anticipates Eno’s agitated, experimental work with Talking Heads (“King’s Lead Hat” is actually an anagram of their name). The second half is Eno the soft, soporific crooner. Some reference has been made (by others, more knowledgeable others, all-knowing fearless crevice-spelunking others) to Eno’s deconstruction of these songs in the studio, and there is a turning inside-out of the music, an exoskeletal approach to art-rock on “No One Receiving,” “Kurt’s Rejoinder” and “King’s Lead Hat.” Some of that can be attributed to the occasional rhythm section of Percy Jones and Phil Collins, who would go on to play together in Brand X. While it may be tempting to see this as another Another Green World, there are only two instrumentals on Science: “Energy Fools The Magician” and “Through Hollow Lands” (the latter dedicated to Harold Budd). Rather, this album is at a crossroads between Talking Heads, the instrumental collaborations (Cluster, Harold Budd) and Eno’s own songbook to date. If mixed differently, the mixture of agitation and sedation might invite closer comparison to Taking Tiger Mountain. Listening to this music thirty years on, it’s amazing how well tracks like “King’s Lead Hat” have held up. Looking back over thirty years of instrumental music (Wrong Way Up notwithstanding), it’s a shame Eno chose to forego making pop music after this album.

TRACK LISTING

1. NO ONE RECEIVING    3:41
2. BACKWATER    3:42
3. KURT'S REJOINDER    2:53
4. ENERGY FOOLS THE MAGICIAN    (Brian Eno, arr. by Percy Jones/Brian Eno)    2:03
5. KING'S LEAD HAT    3:57
6. HERE HE COMES    5:39
7. JULIE WITH...    6:24
8. BY THIS RIVER    (Brian Eno/Achim Roedelius/Mobi Moebius)    3:01
9. THROUGH HOLLOW LANDS    (Brian Eno, arr. by Fred Frith/Brian Eno)    4:15
10. SPIDER AND I    4:25
    
    All songs written by Brian Eno unless noted

CREDITS

BRIAN ENO -- voices, synthesizer, guitar, synthesized percussion, piano, rhythm guitar, brass, chorus, 'jazz' piano, keyboards, vibes, metallics, Yamaha CS80, moog, bell, mini-moog, AKS
PAUL RUDOLPH -- bass, rhythm guitar, harmonic bass, melody guitar
Phil Collins -- drums
Rhett Davies -- agong-gong, stick, engineer
Andy Fraser -- drums
Robert Fripp -- guitar solo
Fred Frith -- modified guitar, cascade guitars
Percy Jones -- fretless bass, analogue delay bass
Jaki Liebezeit -- drums
Bill MacCormick -- bass
Phil Manzanera -- rhythm guitar, guitars
Dave Mattacks -- drums
Mobi Moebius -- bass Fender piano
Achim Roedelius -- grand and electric pianos
Kurt Schwitters -- voice (from the Ur Sonata)
Brian Turrington -- bass
Shirley Williams -- brush timbales, time
Peter Schmidt -- artwork
Dave Hutchins -- engineer
Conny Plank -- engineer

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